What's Up Doc?
My team has been using SharePoint as a document repository and collaboration tool. We are required, as are many application support groups, to deliver and maintain documentation that covers standardization, maintenance, enhancements, and change control or release management. From past experience I’ve seen content management systems grow and devour what it was initially implemented to do. With that, I’m not saying SharePoint is built to be a document dumping ground but it’s very easy to turn it into one. If you’re like me and are tired of saving doc after doc, creating tables of content, linking and referncing each doc, you may want to create a wiki. Why a wiki? With a wiki, all members of the site can truly collaborate on content without emailing docs back and forth. It’s truely ‘live’. Wiki’s save your history so you can always roll back to previous versions of your pages. Creating a wiki in SharePoint is really simple and if you need some assistance, just talk to your site admin.
The first day I had our wiki up and running I demo’d my idea to our technical lead. Just that same week we met to discuss and review a set of docs we had to finalize for a new application that our group was supporting. It took us about three hours I would say to each write Word docs, review them together offline, revise, and update them. When he saw the wiki, read the identical content, and edited one of my pages within two minutes he was sold. I even surprised myself. The more I kept building out the wiki content, the more I realized how much time this was going to save our team and how it would improve our reposirtory organization habbits.
There’s not alot to explain if you have any experience at all with HTML or web based document management. The only thing you need to know is in order to create new pages or link to existing pages, the following characters are required [[ ]]. For the home page I created a custom graphic or logo, then added a general wiki description and what its purpose is for our site, followed by a table of contents representing our applications. Below is an example on how to link to a specific file and/or and alias of the file.
Example List
[[Demo Link 1]]
[[Demo-Link-2|Demonstration #2]]
[[Demo Link 3]]
Demo Link 1 will link us to a file named Demo Link 1 as well as a page titled Demo Link 1.
Demo-Link-2 will link us to a file named Demo-Link-2 but a page titled Demonstration #2.
Demo Link 3 is underlined and the page to hold the wiki content hasn’t been created yet. Once clicked, the editor opens up to begin typing or pasting in from Word or whatever writing program you choose.
There’s really nothing to it if you want to get your hands dirty using a wiki in SharePoint. If you’ve got a document control and organaztion problem like me, I recommend you consider it or at least look into it if the technology is available to you.
The following links and videos may also add guidance in how to use a SharePoint wiki and how it might help you.
Wiki While You Work by Mauro Cardarelli
Video on SharePoint Wiki, Blog, and RSS by Tom Johnson
Buy Local Foods
My family has been participating in a crop share program with Red Fire Farm in Granby Massachusetts for a few years. This year has been especially rewarding and has really demonstrated the value to me in supporting local farms. At the beginning of the season we pay a lump sum and on Tuesday, every week, we head to Forest Park in Springfield to pickup our share. It’s a crap-shoot each week as whatever the farm has available, they setup tables and distribute the rations. It’s on an honor system which I’m guessing works for the most part. They put out ‘x’ amount of food, you cross your name off on the “I showed Up List”, and then you follow the signs that display the allowed amounts for that week. In selecting, the vegetables are in whole numbers, like a head of lettuce for instance, while at other times you simply use a scale to measure your squash or cucumbers, etc. I really enjoy going every Tuesday because Red Fire Farm isn’t alone. There are multiple local vendors there selling their goods. The majority of it is organic, locally grown foods, but usually there’s flowers, a musician performing, an ice cream truck, and more. Last week I ran into a ‘small shop’ out of Southwick. The gentleman was very nice and he had a specific item I was looking for. Local, unsprayed or untreated raspberries. I picked up a jar of pickles from him too. Honestly I wasn’t blown away by the pickles but I’m glad he’s there offering local products, and I’m glad I can help support him, as well as the others.
For those of you who know me, you know I have chickens and enjoy making my own maple syrup. Being part of the local farm gig has really inspired me to do even more. Next year we’re going to take a whack at our first vegetable garden. My wife did grow a few tomato plants and a handful of potatoes this year but we’re going to attempt alot more next year. We have problems with insects, bugs, and animals out where I live but I’m not going to let them deter me from trying something I just want to do and learn more about. It’s hard to describe the reward or feeling you get, knowing you’re literally providing food for your family. You know where the food comes from. You get dirty, sweat, and spend some of your own money to deliver the product but you can’t really put a price on it. Not when it’s from your own back yard. Our primary source for 2010 has been eggs from our three hens and about six months worth of maple syrup. It’s not much I know but it’s plenty of production for our family. Hens are cheap to purchase and maintain. At times you may get a dozen eggs per week, maybe less, maybe more. Our syrup is cooked outdoors on an open flame which allows some of the smoke sense or taste to get into the syrup. It’s not overpowering at all, it’s perfect, and it’s the real deal. Curious about having ‘backyard’ chickens? Check out this site. It’s a great way to get started.
Whether or not you have the best yard for owning chickens, planting a garden, or tapping maple trees, I highly suggest you look into your local farmers markets. They’re out there and have been expanding greatly over the last 5-10 years. In fact, in the western Massachusetts area alone, (#westernma via Twitter hashtag) the number of farms selling to the public has increased 50%. Get involved. Care about your health, care about what you’re eating, and care about where your food comes from. Visit buylocalfood.org and mass.gov/massgrown for more information.
Cable Go Bye-Bye
This week something amazing happened. My wife and I decided to kill cable. Since our latest Charter bundle had expired and we were paying out the nose for television service we were considering jumping into a new package or canceling the TV service. I was very close to going with a package that wasn’t too expensive but after all the nickel and dimeing combined with poor customer support, I decided to pull the plug. Charter phone support and even local office support can be really bad. The added fees to make changes and the extra dollars each month for just a few channels (even children’s) is ridiculous. Sometimes I think people forget that you’re a customer and that they have jobs because of you. Also, what happened to respecting customers who auto-pay or never miss payments? No one cares about great credit or customer history anymore either. I do need to say that, of the two or three service people we’ve had come to our house for cable related issues or tasks, they all have been phenomenal.
Although it’s only been a few days, I completely feel that we’ve made the right decision. Please don’t forget that channels are still broadcasted over the air and you may be able to pickup your local stations by using an antenna. This includes some HD channels as well. Our current home entertainment setup is pretty basic now. We have a Roku, DVD player with up-conversion, and a Macbook. All three devices are using HDMI cables to transmit video and/or audio connectivity to a HiDef LCD. The Roku (our latest toy) delivers a ton of streaming media depending on your subscriptions. Netflix being the blockbuster, MLB TV being the second charmer, and Amazon Video being third. Roku offers free and premium channels that clearly show where home entertainment is headed. The ‘Newscaster’ channel is all the news you need with feeds coming from CBS, NBC, CNN, ESPN, and ABC, just to name a few. Streaming my Pandora channels is an awesome feature as well. The more I dig and research on the Roku, the more I love knowing I have one. Just recently I found a private channel code online that unlocked the USB plugin option. Simply connect a usb hard drive or memory stick to the back of the Roku and you can play .mp4 video right on your TV. My initial testing of this functionality hasn’t been perfect but I’ll give it more time.
Our Philips DVD player was $40 about a year or two ago and still works like a charm so we’re not changing it at this time or upgrading to BluRay. The Macbook HDMI video out is impressive and I’m looking forward to using my laptop for media streaming more. Do you realize how many series and episodes are available online? Our son began watching Special Agent Oso on the Disney Channel a few weeks ago and I felt bad cutting him off completely. He likes to watch it on Saturday mornings so alI I do now is plug in the laptop to the TV, goto disney.com and launch one of the episodes and set the video to full screen. He loves it and I love that I can do it all without paying for cable TV. For my own enjoyment, I began watching an FX show called Justified. Hulu.com was streaming the episodes as the season was moving along. Although I can’t watch them on the night of their release, I can watch them shortly after and on my schedule. Now if only Hulu would do the same for Rescue Me, I’d be thrilled. What I need to buy next is a wireless keyboard and mouse that works from 10-14 feet away. I feel my setup is fairly minimalistic and anyone with broadband internet could be utilizing the same technology. My cable connection is about 10mb and I can’t complain. Web browsing and downloads are fast enough for me. Gaming online and streaming video and audio is flawless. Honestly, I wish I switched 6 months ago instead of picking a new cable package at that time.
In all seriousness folks, television is going to change and we can help make it change. I just downloaded the Roku SDK and I’d love to get my hands dirty on their BrightScript programming language. I’m surprised other major networks and distributors haven’t jumped in and begun designing their own premium channels. Imagine not paying for cable TV. Imagine only paying for cable internet or broadband and using a small HiDef box to stream what you want to watch, when you want to watch it. Honestly, how many networks or shows do you religiously watch? First of all, if they were taken away tomorrow, you’d most likely get by just fine. Second of all, if a network like FX or HBO offered their original series for a small monthly or annual fee, would you pay? I sure as hell would and that’s the message we need to communicate. To summarize, if you’re a Netflix subscriber, go buy a Roku. Within one week, if you’re not blown away, and don’t see the potential, I’d be shocked. I truly hope customer after customer begins dropping their cable TV service in order to show the networks that they should be delivering their content in a new and modern medium. The bandwidth is here and it’s about time we start using it for more than just web browsing and email.
Checkout this post on WiseBread/Living Large on a Small Budget: Stop Paying For Cable Television But Keep Up With Your Favorite Shows
My goal here isn’t to make you call your cable provider and drop your service now. My goal is to inform you of what’s possible, let it all sink in, and realize how much time you waste channel browsing and simply watch shows just because they’re on. Of course, saving money on a monthly basis isn’t bad either. Also, reading more rather than watching more is a good idea. If you have a broadband internet connection do yourself a favor and think about the possibilities. Do you own a laptop that has a high quality video output capability? Purchase the right cable and begin testing it out on your big screen.
At the CA Regional Exchange this year (CARE), CA Technologies went live with a new website for CA.com. The CA.com Online Communities 
have been designed to allow customers to help customers. Of the software vendors I’ve worked with, CA understands the value in social media, online communities, and even offline community involvement. Local and global user groups had already existed with CA and their primary means of communication was email, webcasts, and message boards. What the new site will allow is a more personal and integrated control set. Individual members can now have a unique and customizable profile, a wall similar to Facebook, their own blog, rss feed content, and more (coming soon). The groups both global and regional have far better capabilities than they used to. This includes event calendars, blogs, welcome statement, membership listing, member ‘mass’ emailer, and individual message boards.
The new site without question shows the potential and in my mind, helps to make CA an even better software or technology vendor. If you’re a manager or someone who makes or influences purchasing decisions. Before you buy, you need to ask yourself, “How is this application supported?” Know the user base, know if there are communities and individuals outside of your company actively involved with the application and if there are local groups, join them! I guarantee that not only will your organization and IT resources be better prepared to handle problems, but they will also be better prepared for projects that impact or contribute to the effected application and as a result, make the application more successful in your organization. I could dig even deeper here and state that it’s possible your ROI time may be decreased simply due to the community support and how they end up helping you.
For example, the Clarity Global Community has just over 3,000 members. Not all of them monitor the message boards mind you, but a great number do and are routinely posting and replying to one another. Let’s say you have run into an issue in your QA environment, have scanned the logs, and know what code or term you want to search for. You have three general places to find your answer prior to opening a support case with CA. First, search the CA knowledge-base. Second, search the user community message boards and blogs. Third, search Google. Please do understand that possible answers or solutions in the forums should be tested thoroughly in your lower environments before considering them a successful fix. In many cases it may not be a bad idea to open a CA support ticket even if you think you have solved your problem because CA support will let you know if your resolution is a supported function. Lastly, reporting your fixes to CA is a good idea as it could help expand their online knowledge-base.
I can’t express enough how helpful user community message boards are to customer satisfaction and productivity. As I said previously, if you’re ever considering a software purchase, know what the quality of the support is like for that specific vendor and how many people who are out there that can help in solving your potential issues. It makes an incredible difference. CA Technologies has taken a great step in enhancing their user community and in time it can only get better.
