WikiMetroNet Launches

This is an exciting day for me because I've worked hard to create this Wiki, its the first Wiki I've ever launched, and its a gas to have a vision and execute on it. While I'm quite convinced that Wikis have a great future because the software lets everyone participate and promotes collaboration, we're all going to find out over the next year - if it takes off, my vision is right. If it flounders and nobody contributes, I was off the mark.

So, please, help me be right. Go to the website now and take a look - and why not register and try your hand at writing. There is little to fear, nobody is looking over your shoulder to tell you whether you got it right or not (well, actually, the whole world is, but with a Wiki, its a matter of perspective - there is no penalty for being wrong, and "wrong" is a very subjective term). The point is, in the Wiki Universe, nothing is permanent until the community says its permanent, nothing is correct until the community says its correct, and its less about being right or wrong than it is about participating in a collaborative event. Its more about getting your thoughts out there onto the website and then letting the rest of the community have at it. At some point, the community decides that the entries have reached a harmonic state and the content becomes stable. But by sharing your ideas, thoughts, wisdom, and learning, the entire community benefits.

Anyway, that's how its supposed to work. My one concern is that the Wikis are still too new a concept to many people and that many people will think they're too busy to contribute, or not experienced enough to chip in. Please don't be one of those - jump in and write something, come back and read and then write some more, and before you know it, we'll all have a resource that we all can benefit from. Pass along the site to five or ten people who are interested in this space, and the Wiki will be off and running.

Finally, let me know how I can improve it. Please.

Here's the letter I sent out today:

Dear Friend,

Lighting a Candle in the Darkness

I've been active in the metropolitan broadband space since mid 2003, and despite all the incredible change and progress we've seen in nearly three years, at least two things have grown ever more apparent: 1) the tremendous potential of this fascinating technology; and 2) the need to raise awareness and educate interested parties on the details and potential of wireless broadband.

Last summer, I began my efforts to raise awareness and educate with my first blog, www.unwiremycity.com, which I relaunched as www.metronetiq.com in February, with a new look and feel. I've tried to fill a gap and provide something new and useful - practical resources for interested parties, regardless of skill level or experience. Over the past year, I've had numerous discussions with colleagues about the need for a Metropolitan Broadband Users Manual to capture the lessons learned, expand the number of users, and speed up the pace in deployments.

Problem is, nobody has yet found the time to write that manual, and even if they did, this industry is so new that no one party would have all the answers, and anything put into print would risk being out of date before the ink dried, so fast is the pace of change. What to do?

Once again, technology to the rescue: on-line wikis provide a way to collaborate and work together on a document, in this case, an on-line manual to share lessons learned with each other. Using an open-source wiki software, I've put together www.wikimetronet.com, a website that features an outline for a User's Manual, which I've started to fill in. I'll keep working on adding content, but this is a far more ambitious project than I can handle alone. It's not perfect, but it's not supposed to be - it's just a start, and an invitation to make it better. It should change as more and more content is added, growing before our eyes.

I'm sending this email to the friends in this industry whom I've met over the past three years and to a few other friends. This project is an experiment to see if there's sufficient interest to create and develop such a shared on-line resource. This email is not just an announcement - it's also an invitation for you to check it out and join in adding text. I've never started a Wiki, so I'm not sure of the "right" way to do it, but this seems as good a way as any to get started. That's part of the fun of this business, you can just jump in and try new things! So go ahead - jump in.

What's a Wiki?

What better place to go to find out than to the phenomenal on-line encyclopedia Wikipedia, which in just a few short years has gone from relative obscurity to a top ranking on Google, demonstrating the power of the Web and of collaboration using Wiki software? The definition of a Wiki then:

A wiki (wee-kee) or (wick-ey) is a type of website that allows users to easily add and edit content and is especially suited for collaborative writing. The term Wiki also sometimes refers to the collaborative software itself (wiki engine) that facilitates the operation of such a website (see wiki software).

In essence, a wiki is a simplification of the process of creating HTML web pages combined with a system that records each individual change that occurs over time, so that at any time, a page can be reverted to any of its previous states. A wiki system may also provide various tools that allow the user community to easily monitor the constantly changing state of the wiki and discuss the issues that emerge in trying to achieve a general consensus about the wiki content. Wiki content can also be misleading as users may add incorrect information to the Wiki page.

What's the Plan?

By using a Wiki for this document, we'll be able to track and promote development in this industry, capturing input not only from subject-matter experts in the industry, but also from city officials at all stages of the process. From investigating to planning, from designing to deploying, from operating the new networks to employing network applications to innovate government and civil functions, the vision is for this site to be a place where we all can share our collective knowledge, real-time, as it develops. Because this is such a new and dynamic area, it just made sense to use a dynamic, on-line tool to spread a wide net and capture the best knowledge and lessons learned about the process, the technology, etc. This will be an exciting project. Please email me at john.cooper@metronetiq.com if you would like to discuss, or if you need advice on how to get going. I'm eager to find contributors for this project to get it jump started - and that's contributors as in ideas and time, not money.

How do you launch a Wiki?

I've created the beginning outline with nearly 200 line items, and added topics and sub-topics to get us started - I've set it up so that the first contributor for any page signs their work as "Originator," and subsequent contributors sign as "Editors." By contributing, each of you can identify yourself to the world as a subject matter expert, choosing those areas of most interest to you. I'll follow up this email with a campaign to spread the word to city officials and staff - please help me by passing along the news as well. This should prove to be a good way for public officials and staff to identify and share information and resources. It's pretty easy to compose new content and very easy to paste content from elsewhere, then adapt it with simple formatting changes. Anyone can read what's on the site, but to edit, contributors will need to register. I hope that city officials and staff will begin to add content as well.

How do you get a quick start?

First, check out the pages under the Home Page banner, register as a contributor, and add some paragraphs to the About WikiMetroNet Perspectives section - stand up and be counted, so to speak. I'd like to see all my friends up near the top, and order is based on when entries are logged in, so please don't jump the queue, and please do this step first. After you've done so, go ahead and send me a logo and I'll add it to the sidebar to identify your company as a contributing sponsor. (see below).

Second, see the House Rules section - I'd appreciate your feedback on the mechanisms that I set up to organize this joint effort.

Third, add content after you practice a little in the WikiSandbox.

Fourth, link this site to yours, blog about it, tell a friend - pass on the good news.

What's in it for me - and you - and all of us?

- Help to pick up the pace in this industry
- Raise the level of debate
- Dispel rumors based on bad information
- Improve the quality of RFPs
- Promote Digital Inclusion
- Share what you've learned to help others
- Stand out and be recognized for your hard-earned subject-matter expertise
- Promote your commercial products and services
- Place your logos on the right sidebar
- Place a listing in the opening About section
- Enter content wherever you choose, with your name and contact information as Originator or Editor
- (When website traffic is sufficient, I'll ask for a small sponsorship fee for the logos, but initially, all I ask is that you contribute content and promote the site).
- And finally, when we have lots of content gathered together, I hope you and others will use this site as a primary resource to write books and produce other types of resources to raise public awareness and network knowledge even further.