2008 June

Archive for June, 2008

Counting Down to 1 Million Wetpaint Sites

Posted by Michael on June 24th, 2008 2 Comments

In the two years since we launched Wetpaint.com, users from every continent have created sites about their pets, favorite sports team, TV show, or whatever passion or interest they may have.

We’re inching closer and closer to the creation of our millionth site and to celebrate when we hit this milestone, Wetpaint will reward the one millionth site creator by giving him or her the chance to give back to the community and the planet by offsetting the carbon emissions of their house, vehicle, and the local school or non-profit organization of their choice for one year.

Taking it one step further: if the millionth site is created as a referral generated by an email or website, Wetpaint will offer up the same thank-you package to the referrer!

To help you get the word out, we’ve created some badges for you to put on your site, blog or social network profile.

(To use this badge, copy the following HTML into the site or social network of your choice: <div><a href=”http://www.wetpaint.com”><img src=”http://image.wetpaint.com/image/1/ziD-uFHKkXSrcYYQxbG4cQ7399“></a><br /><font size=”-2″>Create your <a href=”http://www.wetpaint.com“>free website</a> now</font></div>)

Learn more about how it all works at onemillionsites.wetpaint.com.

Keyword Tags: General

A Wiki Profile - eLearning Australia

Posted by Kevin on June 13th, 2008 comments 1 Comment

Learning in an online forum is getting more and more popular as the internet becomes more and more prolific. Unfortunately, most information for eLearning is fragmented across the Web. Because each country has disparate standards for education and the Internet has no geographical and political boundaries, gathering information on eLearning within a specific country can become even more complicated.

Talia, an Australian education coordinator, decided to make things a little bit easier for eLearning enthusiasts in her home country. She was swamped in her job spending endless hours combing through the Internet for online certification courses for the company’s electricians. Talia decided to combined all of her blood, sweat, and painstaking research to create eLearning Australia , an extensive resource for learning online in Australia. Her number one goal for the site is to offer a simple, collaborative, and comprehensive database for people in the industry to find, share, and contribute different eLearning programs in Australia.

Check out Talia’s wiki, and help build an amazing resource for eLearning across Australia!

Keyword Tags: Web 2.0, User Experience, User Generated Content, General, Wikis, Wetpaint

Obama National Delegate Wiki

Posted by Kevin on June 11th, 2008 No Comments

With the impassioned and lengthy democratic primary finally coming to a close, Senator Obama is now the presumptive Presidential nominee for the Democratic Party.

There is a lot of chatter on the Web about how the Senator from Illinois has won the democratic nomination. Political experts are praising Obama’s ability to work from the ground up trough a quintessential grassroots campaign. Obama’s success has been attributed to his adoption of the key online tools of young voters: Facebook, Flickr, Youtube. While Obama may be “the closest thing yet to a GenX” candidate, writer Douglas Rushkoff argues that there is much more Internet Real Estate to be had by any candidate.

I wish I had had the opportunity to tell Mr. Rushkoff that while Obama’s campaign didn’t have a wiki to grant a truly “open-source” democracy, his supporters did. That’s the key difference in this primary race: Senator Obama’s supporters were connected online– not only to Obama, but to one another.

ObamaDelegates.org was created by Suzi LeVine here in Washington State. She wanted a central site where the delegates for Obama in Washington could collaborate and discuss. The wiki she and others created is used to promote their candidacy to travel to Denver and represent their candidate on the Big Day, discuss issues critical to the race, and keep diligent track of important dates and forms.

So popular was ObamaDelegates.org (two weeks old and over 500 members strong), that the site has extended nationally. This has created the chance for other states to join up and help rally around Senator Obama’s bid for the presidency. If you have caught the Obamamania, ObamaDelegates.org may be your kind of place.

Keyword Tags: Web 2.0, Collaboration, General, Wikis

Super Painter Spotlight: Stickmeninc

Posted by Michael on June 11th, 2008 4 Comments

Meet Stickmeninc: a 17 (soon to be 18) year-old student, admin assistant, Wetpaint Central moderator, and all-around Wetpaint extraordinaire straight out of the UK. Chock-full of imagination, Stickmeninc is a masterful site header creator (see above) who considers scriptwriting to be his number one passion.

Stop by one of Stickmeninc’s many sites to check out his scripts and say hi!

Stickmen Inc. | Doctor Who Makes Torchwood | TimeSplitters: Future Fans

Keyword Tags: User Generated Content, General, Wetpaint

Wetpaint on Twitter

Posted by Kevin on June 9th, 2008 2 Comments

Even though May was a tough month for Twitter to stay up and running, its technology continues to be a very valuable tool for online communities — and that’s why Wetpaint loves it! I recently created a Twitter account, which can be found at http://twitter.com/Troy_Wetpaint, to be even more involved with our awesome Wetpaint Community (yes, you!).

I will be ‘tweeting’ about all sorts of neat things (I hope you consider them neat):

New Wetpaint Freshcoats blog posts (RSS with love)!
Super Wetpaint sites!
Wetpaint sites in the news!
Any interesting news from Wetpaint HQ!
Engaging conversation with YOU (yes, you!).

As you may be able to tell, I’m really “shakin’ my tail feathers” over this because through Twitter, Wetpaint can become even more connected with YOU (yes, you!). So come follow along and we’ll chat!

What else would you like to hear about from me on Twitter?

Keyword Tags: Web 2.0, New Media, Social Networking, General, Wetpaint, Fun

Wiki Profile - Better Food in Iowa City Schools

Posted by Kevin on June 3rd, 2008 4 Comments

In the U.S., one in three children are overweight. Today’s average 10 year-old weighs 11 pounds more than their 1960 counterparts. Pediatricians are treating more and more children with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, painful joint conditions, type-2 diabetes and even gallstones. All added together, Thomson Reuters’ researchers estimate the national health care bill for our overweight youth at $14 billion per year.

To help fight this dire situation, parents across the nation are attempting to integrate healthier food options into public schools. The latest battle can be found in Iowa City, Iowa, with a group of parents known as the Better Iowa City School Foods committee (BICSF).

BICSF members are gravely concerned about the underwhelming and unhealthy food options offered in their children’s public schools. The group was inspired into action after researching a 2001 study conducted by researchers at the University of Minnesota. Over two years, the researchers presented students with healthy and unhealthy options (with the healthy foods priced lower), and the students overwhelmingly went for the healthy options. Iowa City parents wanted to give their children the same options, so they began the long battle school by school.

To marshal their efforts, the BICSF has created a Wetpaint site that they use to share information on healthier food choices, gather signatures to petition the school district to act on a pre-existing wellness plan and discuss top health food priorities. The group recently became affiliated with the Center for Science in the Public Interest. They hope to see the wellness plan begin to be implemented the new school year, this fall.

Want to get involved? Join the Better Iowa City School Food site now!

Keyword Tags: Web 2.0, User Experience, Collaboration, User Generated Content, Wikis, General, Wetpaint

Super Painter Spotlight: Bill and Billie

Posted by Kevin on June 2nd, 2008 No Comments

When superfan Bill Reynolds was a kid, he loved to get dirt under his fingernails scampering up the tallest trees and hunting for the most awesome rocks. Some things never change. Decades later Bill, a Chemical Engineer for a mining company, skips the tree-climbing but still goes out digging up dirt to unearth real gems. His life is dedicated to his passion: he speaks to the local Boy Scout troops about geology; writes for treasure hunting and geology magazines; and, with his wife, turns his finds into gorgeous jewelry.

His attraction to the Travel Channel’s Cash and Treasure Wiki. was natural for Bill. It was another extension of his passion for geology where he could share his love for finding gems, minerals, and fossils with other enthusiasts. Bill quickly became recognized as a Super User within the community. Just last week he was out in Alabama searching for the perfectagate to win the contest on the wiki!

We here at Wetpaint wish Bill the best of luck in all his treasure hunting trips, even though he’s quick to say he’s already found the best treasure on Earth– his wife, Billie Reynolds.

Keyword Tags: User Experience, General, Wikis, Wetpaint, Fun

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