A messsage from J. Clarke Price

For the past nine years, I’ve attended the DigitalNow conference, which is co-produced by Fusion Productions and Disney Institute. It’s always been a phenomenal program. The information, education and support from the community of my peers at DigitalNow have been instrumental in helping me meet the diverse challenges of effective association leadership.


This year more than ever, I am going to be relying on DigitalNow to put me in touch with the people I need to know and the tools I need to put into practice now if I’m to survive this tumultuous economy. We all know that it’s a tough business today, and only getting tougher. Figuring out what’s needed for my association to compete and succeed in the future is more difficult than it’s ever been.


At DigitalNow 2009, I’m looking forward to seeing how others are successfully incorporating new media tools such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, etc. into their strategies to effectively reach out to the next generation of members. I will also be connecting with the community in order to see how solutions and strategies are already creating results for survival today, while still positioning associations for growth tomorrow.


I know you're grappling with these same issues, and I urge you to be part of the community and the conversation at DigitalNow as a means to learn about the solutions you need.


I also know that things are tough and you're in the position of making difficult decisions about expenditures – especially when it comes to travel. But DigitalNow is not a professional development activity – this year, it's about getting access to the critical information you need so that you'll still be left standing when the smoke clears.


Don't let knee-jerk, short-term decisions hinder both your short-term and long-term success. Join me at DigitalNow. When these tough times pass (and they will pass) the steps we take now will result in new skills and capabilities so we can face the future with renewed hope and confidence.


DigitalNow is being held April 15 – 18, 2009 at Disney's Yacht & Beach Clubs. To learn more and register, visit http://www.digitalnowconference.com.


Let's connect on site at DigitalNow and share ideas – our community is our greatest asset now.


Sincerely,
J. Clarke Price, CAE
President and Chief Executive Officer
Ohio Society of CPAs
DigitalNow Advisory Group Member

View the preliminary list of workshops at the official DigitalNow web site.

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DigitalNow 2009: The premier conference for association leaders Early Bird Registration Still Available!

Follow DigitalNow on Twitter.

Contribute to the DigitalNow blog. Suggest a blog topic, or reference an article or other item you think would be of interest to the DigitalNow community. Drop us a line at DigitalNow@fusionproductions.com

Untangling Twine

If you attended DigitalNow 2008, then you had the rare opportunity to get in on the ground floor of Twine, a tool that uses Semantic Web technology to support search, research, networking, and collaboration.

Often, when we embark on experimenting with a new tool such as Twine, we become tripped up in trying to understand the technology behind it, even though such understanding doesn't actually enhance the value of the tool. According to Nova Spivack, Founder of Twine, it's less important for the end user to understand how Twine works than it is to understand what it can be used for.

"The Semantic Web is a technology that's useful. It's a means to an end, not an end in itself," says Spivack. "What we're doing... is talking about what you can use Twine for, and the fact that it's powered by the Semantic Web is a detail for geeks."

But even understanding what Twine can do for us is a challenge because it takes us beyond our traditional understanding of how web search works. For an overview of Twine and the semantic web technology that enables it, read this article from Technology Review.

It's not too late to hear the DigitalNow 2008 keynote by Twine Founder Nova Spivack. Watch the first of four clips of Nova's presentation below, or visit http://www.FusionProductionsNetwork.com.

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DigitalNow 2008 was a sold out event; did you miss it?

Save the dates for 2009: April 15 - 18 at Disney's Yacht and Beach Club Resorts. Mark it on your calendar!

Follow DigitalNow on Twitter.

Fusion Productions is your unique E-Learning partner. Watch the overview.

Contribute to the DigitalNow blog. Suggest a blog topic, or reference an article or other item you think would be of interest to the DigitalNow community. Drop us a line at DigitalNow@fusionproductions.com

More CoP Resources: Books

Books

Net Gain: Expanding Markets Through Virtual Communities: by John Hagel III (Author), Arthur G. Armstrong (Author) "The rise of virtual communities in on-line networks has set in motion an unprecedented shift in power from vendors of goods and services to the..."

The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier (revised edition)

Written by the man known as the First Citizen of the Internet, this book covers Rheingold's experiences with virtual communities. It starts off with his home community, The Well, out of Sausilito, CA, and makes its way through MUDs and beyond. No one understands the compelling strength of online community like Rheingold.

Building Virtual Communities: Learning and Change in Cyberspace (Learning in Doing: Social, Cognitive and Computational Perspectives): This study examines how learning and cognitive change are fostered by online communities. The chapters provide a basis for thinking about the dynamics of Internet community building. They consider the role of the self or individual as a participant in virtual community, and the design and refinement of technology as the conduit for extending and enhancing the possibilities of community building in cyberspace. The volume will interest educators, psychologists, sociologists, and researchers in human-computer interaction.

Community Building on the Web : Secret Strategies for Successful Online Communities; There's been a marked shift in the philosophy of developing successful Web sites. The technologies (HTML, JavaScript, JavaServer Pages) no longer occupy center stage. Rather, functional objectives and the communities that grow up around them seem to be the main ingredient in Web site success. In her carefully reasoned and well-written Community Building on the Web, Amy Jo Kim explains why communities form and grow. More importantly, she shows (with references to many examples) how you can make your site a catalyst for community growth--and profit in the process. From marketing schemes like Amazon.com's Associates program to The Motley Fool's system of rating members' bulletin-board postings, this book covers all the popular strategies for bringing people in and retaining them.

Nine core strategies form the foundation of Kim's recommendations for site builders, serving as the organizational backbone of this book. The strategies generally make sense, and they seem to apply to all kinds of communities, cyber and otherwise. (One advocates the establishment of regular events around which community life can organize itself.) Some parts of Kim's message may seem like common sense, but such a coherent discussion of what defines a community and how it can be made to thrive is still helpful.

Read this book to help crystallize your thinking about community building, and to review strategies that work for real sites already. --David Wall

How Communities Add Value to the Member Experience: If communities are rich networking environments created to enable communication and interaction, why do we use listsrvs and discussion boards that limit our ability to provide context, personalize or harvest knowledge shared? This is largely in part due to the lack of understanding of a community's charter, it's reason for existing and the characteristics of its members. Fusion Productions and APQC recently presented together at ASAE on what a winning combination of community processes plus technology would look like.

COPs in Progress: APQC and the Texas Medical Association: APQC was enlisted by The Texas Medical Association (TMA) to help build new and better ways to work and succeed in a competitive marketplace through the implementation of Communities of Practice (CoPs). With over 40,000 physician and medical student members, TMA wanted to create a portal that would allow everyone in the organization to share solutions to the challenges of practicing medicine. Find out how APQC and TMA developed and piloted a CoP designed around one of the key issues for doctors and their staff.

~DigitalNow 2007: April 11- 14 at Disney's Yacht and Beach Club Resorts~

SOLD OUT! DigitalNow- the proven leadership conference for associations - has officially sold out - again! Conference materials, workshop notes, survey result information, and up-to-the-minute on-site news will continue to be available before, during, and after the conference. Visit the conference web site at http://www.fusionproductions.com/digitalnow