Not another social network please! Let's do some forward thinking and incorporate trends like the data web, real time web, distributed social networking, etc. Less destination site, more of a network. If I have to *visit* siliconbeachaustralia.org to get value from it - then that's a fail in my books.
As for the value, I want to answer the following questions - who is part of the Australian community? - what skills do they have that I can leverage? - Where can I find resources to help me operate in this industry? I want to know in real time - what startups are active in Australia? - who are the people behind them? - what resources are they using that would benefit from community collaboration and sharing? - Which people are connected to capital for investment, skills for hire, and influencer's for removing roadblocks? - What is the aggregated industry's current gripe so that we can focus action and attention? I want it to be a distributed system - I don't want to have to create another profile. I want to reuse data I have in other systems. Rather than Ning, I'd like to see Facebook connect, Google connect, OpenID as the basis of an account system. As Mark mentions, Buddypress might be a good option over others as it incorporates community, real time streaming, content sharing. I like Drupal, but it's better as a portal - not a community site. In terms of requirements, I'd like minimalistic. If we can do this with core web technologies and not a CMS, then rocking. Heck - Google Wave was invented in Australia. Let's tap into the Google employees on this list who are developing it (Hi Alex! Hi Pamela!), and make it a shiny example later this year of collaboration that helps a community. A real time answers engine powered by people, rather than resorting to email (which is what the bulk of traffic on this forum is). The SBA.org server can be the parent message node for discussions (which is required in the Wave architecture), and it can allow everyone in the industry to be a double click away from a (distributed) discussion, The goal of silicon beach is to build community. You do that by connecting people, building friendships, and generating alumni network's established through collaboration activities (which is the secret sauce of silicon valley that no one talks about). So to do that we need to - identity who are the people (to bring them into the community) - connect those people (to grow into a bigger, richer, more useful community) - build rapport amongst the people (to strengthen the community) If any efforts can satisfy one of those needs, then it's a winner. Elias Bizannes http://eliasbizannes.com --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach Australia mailing list. No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself: http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia/browse_thread/thread/99938a0fbc691eeb To post to this group, send email to silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to silicon-beach-australia+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
