Positive Attitude Award of the Year - Project description

General Project Description
The Positive Attitude Award of the Year is an award attributed to Empire Avenue users by members of Phoenix's Nest. This award aims to promote positive attitude as being contagious in social media.

Attitude is a mindset. A positive attitude is the outward manifestation of a mind that focuses primarily on positive things. A positive attitude gives and brings energy to a person and her entourage. Furthermore, a negative attitude saps energy. Members of Phoenix's Nest are asked to describe why they nominate a person. This collective exercise will ultimately list the different winning strategies of using social media, and will indicate why some users are more succesful, and what is their secret. Valuing and appreciating each other is also an important element of Phoenix's Nest mission.

About Phoenix's Nest
Phoenix’s Nest has 248 members (December 20, 2010) and is currently the second Top Personal/Private community of Empire Avenue. Phoenix’s Nest’s mission is to develop strong networking links in social media and convey warmth in relationships. At Phoenix’s Nest, we appreciate, respect and support each other. Members feel that they are part of an active and thriving community that is there for them. Empathy and a playful attitude are being encouraged.

Nominees (by alphabetical order)
Adriel Hampton (e)ADRIEL
Allie Wojtaszek (e)ALLIE
Andrew Yochum (e)YOCHUM
Chris Latko (e)CLATKO
Cindy Smith (e)REIGN
Claire McGonigal (e)CMCG
Collin Eagles (e)COLINEAGLES
Fee Easton (e)BOOTCOOT
Fozzie Dog (e)FOZDOG
Greg Scratchley (e)ITCH
Jitesh Panchal (e)UNS33N
John Moore (e)JOHNFMOORE
Jordan Hodges (e)JORDNH
Judy King (e)MICRA
Krimsom Gray (e)ANIME
Lyne Robichaud (e)PAPIER
Nick Provost (e)NICKP
Pooch Land (e)WOOF
Ron Stark (e)RSTARK
Teagan TheDog (e)TEAGAN

OUTSIDE PHOENIX'S NEST
Karen Suhaka (e)SMOODLE

Award Presenter
Josepf Haslam (e)JOSEPF agreed to be Presenter of Ceremony Night.

He defines himself as a catalyst for Change. He brings passion to businesses. Josepf is extremely charming and has great personality for this event. Members will be delighted with his performance.
(Listen to his incredible voice) Mercedes-Benz USA Tweet Race - #UsGuys on Twitter
(Euh, let's hope he has classy wear for Ceremony Night!) Ugly Sweater Contest Video

Josepf suggested Lyne Robichaud (e)PAPIER to make a few presentations as well. You will get to hear Lyne's French accent!

Location – San Francisco City Hall
The San Francisco City Hall building's vast open space is more than 500,000 square feet (46,000 m2) and occupying two full city blocks. Its dome, which owes much to Mansart’s Baroque dome of Les Invalides, Paris, is the fifth largest dome in the world, rising 307.5 ft (93.7 m) above the Civic Center Historic District Civic Center District. It is 14 in (360 mm) higher than the United States Capitol. The principal architect was Arthur Brown Jr. It is considered one of the finest examples of classical architecture in the country. Many people have been married at the San Francisco City Hall, but one of the most famous marriages was Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe.

Invited chef – Ferran Adrià
Ferran Adrià is considered one of the best chefs in the world. Adrià is often associated with "molecular gastronomy." He has referred to his cooking as deconstructivist. Adrià's stated goal is to "provide unexpected contrasts of flavour, temperature and texture. Nothing is what it seems. The idea is to provoke, surprise and delight the diner." As he likes to say, "the ideal customer doesn't come to El Bulli to eat but to have an experience."
Invited Performers
POP LEVI - SKINNY JEANS, BANGS AND TALENT
Pop Levy is an English singer, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and filmaker. Pop Levi likes to explain what is good in pop music and how it is "astral". Pop Levi takes and carries us through a sea of jagged guitar riffs, drums thundering, bass fluffy, guided by a unique voice. The boy was also noted for its scenic supercharged performance, such as an electrified Dylan. There is no question for him to tell about the severity of reality. Pop Levi is not a reporter. He wants to recreate reality and recreate its image.
P0P LEVI - JEAN SLIM, FRANGE ET TALENT
Pop Levi aime à expliquer ce qu'il y a de bon dans la musique pop et en quoi elle est «astrale». Pop Levi prend et transporte à travers un océan de riffs de guitare déchiquetés, de batteries grondantes, de basses duveteuses, guidé par une voix unique. Le garçon s'est également fait remarquer par ses performances scénique survoltés, tel un Dylan électrifié. Il n'est pas question pour lui de raconter la sévérité de la réalité, Pop Levi n'est pas un reporter, il veut recréer la réalité et la recréer à son image.

Two other performers to be announced.

Award Design Project
Brandon Burke (e)BLIND is designing the award (conception, creation, digital art).

Nominees Video Clip Project – Thank You Acceptance Speech
This project consists of filming nominees when they receive their award and give a Thank You speech. The purpose of a Thank You or Acceptance Speech is to express gratitude for something shown/given you, be it an award for achievement, a gracious, helpful and loving attitude.
• Acknowledgement of the audience come to witness the occasion
• An appreciative awareness of those who made it possible for you to achieve the award
• What the award means to the nominee - including reference to the values/goals/aspirations the donor organization represents and how they inspire
• Stories - small personal heart-felt annecdotes to show what receiving this gift/award means to the nominees’ life. These make it real for the audience.

Nominees are contacted by Josepf Haslam. He films each participant while they are giving their Thank You or Acceptance Speech on Skype. These video clips are a small section of a larger video presentation. They will then serve as material for the general video of the Award.

TEAM: Josepf Haslam (e)JOSEPF (animation, filming, editing)

Nominees Digital Art & Scrapbooking Project
This new project consists of digital art, computer-generated images, using nominees' faces and turning them into rock stars: photo-montages of nominees walking up the red carpet alley or anything Hollywood style; paparazzi taking pictures of nominee stars; nominees proudly holding their award, or waving hand; nominees coming out of a limousine; nominees posing on the walkway, etc. Group pictures, nominees interacting with each other, people kissing (*blushing*), nominees giving a speech, nominees dancing together, or nominees performing a song on stage, etc.

Blog post Call for nominations
Inspiration for style , idea provided by Nick Provost (e)NICKP: POP LEVI - Never Never Love

Digital art and scrapbooking team: Brandon Burke (e)BLIND (digital art, people accompanying accompanying), Josepf Haslam (e)JOSEPF (photo search, digital art, pasting backgrounds), Mitch Neff (e)MITCHNEFF (teaching and guidance about Photoshop), and Lyne Robichaud (e)PAPIER (preliminary digital art work, scrapbooking, project managing)

Award Video-clip & Photojournalism Project
Photojournalism is a particular form of journalism (the collecting, editing, and presenting of news material for publication or broadcast) that creates images in order to tell a news story. It is usually understood to refer only to still images, but the term also refers to video used in broadcast journalism. Narrative — the images combine with other news elements to make facts relatable to the viewer or reader.

A series of several elements – Thank You and Acceptance Speech, digital art, scrapbooking, photos of the location, texts and descriptions, etc. - are run in succession to produce a short, animated video. This compilation of video frames results in a genera video of the Award.

TEAM: Josepf Haslam (e)JOSEPF (project managing, conception, planification, production) and Lyne Robichaud (e)PAPIER (assistant, content provider, edition); Fee Easton (e)BOOTCOOT (digital art, removing backgrounds); Cindy Smith (e)REIGN (suggestions of apps).

Users Shell Virtual Experience Project
This project aims to keep users engaged in a virtual experience: an event-based networking linked to a form of digital interaction and social networking online (Pearltrees connect). It adds a new dimension to participation to Ceremony Night. Users surf through the virtual event (user experience, user engagement and user flow). The user experience is enriched by offering productive engagement opportunities such as surfing through shells of information, opening up shells of content, discovering profiles and photos of nominees and video streaming, and connecting to internal social networks. Content is concise and interactive.

TEAM: Josepf Haslam (e)JOSEPF (project managing, conception, planification, production) and Lyne Robichaud (e)PAPIER (assistant, content provider, edition)

Timeline
December 5 – Creation of the Positive Attitude Award of the Year – New Discussion Thread
December 5 – Invitation to members to suggest nominees
December 8 – Call for Collaboration – Digital Art – Blog post L’Ère du temps and AveInfluence
December 13 – Brandon Burke accepts to collaborate to Digital art project
December 15 – Brandon Burke asks for specifications (people accompanying nominees)
December 16 – Josepf Haslam accepts to be Presenter
December 17 – First team Brainstorming session (Lyne Robichaud and Josepf Haslam)
December 18 – Invitations to 5 nominees – Thank You and Acceptance Speech
December 19 – First Draft tool – Gathering of all the information, and presentation of the project to Community Administrators
December 20-23 – Josepf Haslam contacts 5 nominees for Thank You and Acceptance Speech
December 20-23 – Preliminary work, digital art. Search, background photos and nominees.
December 23-29 – Digital art and scrapbooking project
Early January 2011 – Preliminary elements, in preparation for general video presentation – editing, voice recording, coordination of all projects
Mid January – Final step, general video, montage, edition
Third week of January – Launching of general video, posting, marketing and communications
Last week of January – Shell virtual experience project
First week of February – Launching and posting, Shell virtual experience project

It takes a community to raise a calendar

Posted on December 13, 2010 by Brad Grier (e)BGRIER in Announcements, Planet Empire Avenue.
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In mid-November I became aware of some activity happening in one of the more active communities in Empire Avenue. It seems that within the Phoenix’s Nest was a group of folk with heart and creativity to spare.

And thus, The Men of Empire Avenue calendar was conceived. You can buy the calendar through eBay (it’s a .pdf you’ll download) and proceeds go to the Canadian Red Cross, but if you’re interested in some of the detail and background on the genesis of the calendar, read on, gentle reader, read on.

To fill in some of the details, I decided to ping the head honcho over at the Phoenix’s Nest, Lyne Robichaud (e)PAPIER for the details. She kindly consented to an email interview, so without further adieu, here’s the what how and who of The Men of Empire Avenue calendar.

So, where did this idea (of calendars) come from? What made you think is is a great idea?

By mid-October, after Phoenix’s Nest completed the Hairdo Competition (where members were asked to add their wildest hairdos at the Phoenix’s Nest group pool on Flickr, and then voted for their favorite picture via an online survey), Darcy Kieran (an ex-EAv user) and Victoria Lee (e)VIXLEE came up with the idea of calendars. The Hairdo Competition made us realize that there was interest from members for projects featuring popular members of the community.

Members were first asked to create a wish list of people they would like to see selected. In two weeks, they came up with several suggestions that led to designing two calendars: one for the men of Empire Avenue, and another one for women. Furthermore, Adriel Hampton (e)ADRIEL suggested we should make a calendar dedicated to ‘talking animals’ as well, but we extended this project to 2011. Dragon_flaming suggested we use the calendars as fundraising tools. Allie Wojtaszek (e)ALLIE proposed the Canadian Red Cross as our cause. The Canadian Red Cross raises funds to provide immediate needs and longer-term relief for survivors of a disaster.

No project of this scope happens in a vacuum. Tell us about your team and what they’re bringing to the table.

The dynamics within the Phoenix’s Nest community are wonderful. Since this community has been founded, Dragon_flaming and I have continuously hammered these three words: friendship, solidarity and love. This last word – love – is very strong, and I did not think it would become widely used. This week, Adriel Hampton (e)ADRIEL declared: “No secret, I love everyone! “. If we were selling content, as we sell shares on Empire Avenue, I would not accept the bids go below a million eaves for this comment. So much has been accomplished in just three months!

We manage to consolidate strong networking ties by ongoing conversations happening simultaneously on all platforms – Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and Empire Avenue.

Our community administrative team is scattered around the world: Jitesh Panchal (e)UNS33N is in India, Fee Easton (e)BOOTCOOT in United Kingdom, Steve Jaeschke (e)DRAGONSCALE in Australia, while Doug Walters (e)DARING, Avenue Influence (e)AVEINFLUENCE (edited by John Moore (e)JOHNFMOORE) and Adriel Hampton (e)ADRIEL are in United States, and I am [(e) PAPIER] in Canada. This has proven to be an advantage as we are able to cover all time zones.

Phoenix’s Nest community administrators are building a group that focuses on a passionate niche by interacting with community members and engaging in conversations; by being helpful to others, by responding to their requests of calls of action and information (it is important to listen and react to the needs of the community); by participating to group projects; by bringing ideas – consistent, relative and relatable content.

Sometimes we do fun and silly things and we all have fun together. However, we are also capable of conducting extremely deep and serious conversations on difficult topics, such as the beneficial effect of social media on the structural crisis of gender relations (a discussion thread called ‘Active Directory of Couples and Secret Lovers’).

Community development seeks to empower individuals and groups of people by providing these groups with the skills they need to affect change in their own communities.

Phoenix’s Nest is an exploratory laboratory, where we contribute to online community development.

How did you select the images profiled in the calendar?

Once members completed the wish list of ideal participants, we sent invitations to these people. Most of them accepted. We did a second round of (collective) suggestions to fill up our number of months/participants to 13. We are still looking for three to four more ladies for Women Calendar 2011, which should be completed by January 2011. In most cases, participants handed in one photograph, while some gave us access to their complete online portfolio of photos, where we were allowed to choose one.

For the cover of Women Calendar, we insisted on selecting an image as strong as the one provided by Brian Smith (e)COMEDY for cover of Men Calendar (he’s sitting with legs open, while two voluptuous women are tearing apart his T-shirt). In order to optimize the selection process, we set up a jury composed of Jordan Hodges (e)JORDNH, Fee Easton (e)BOOTCOOT, Chris Latko (e)CLATKO, Jitesh Panchal (e)UNS33N and Brian Smith (e)COMEDY.

Adriel Hampton (e)ADRIEL was the first of participants to write his biography. He set the standards high! Completing all the biographies took quite a bit of time, spending numerous hours communicating with participants and editing biographies. While participants were asked to write in English, I decided to compose a completely different version in French. I met three of the participants in person last October in Edmonton (Jordan Hodges (e)JORDNH, Tim Conrad (e)TIMCON and Adriel Hampton (e)ADRIEL). But for the remaining ten ones, I had to get really well acquinted with them, in order to be able to synthesize in a few sentences the essence of who they are.

A big thank you to Greg Scratchley (e)ITCH for his attention, dedication and his aesthetic sense (Greg is in charge of the graphic design of the calendars). Visual communication uses visual cues in order to exchange with others. By visually enhancing our Empire Avenue environment, Greg allows recognition of projects by a larger set of members.

The gentlemen profiled in the calendar are: (e)ADRIEL, (e)JORDNH, (e)UNS33N, (e)BLIND, (e)SILGOV, (e)YASH, (e)TIMCON, (e)CLATKO, (e)COMEDY, (e)DRAG0N, (e)ITCH, (e)CJUNKY, (e)MRWORK

What is your favorite ‘month’ and why?

I often say that everyone is unique, like a flower; we each have a special beauty. I don’t have a favorite month just as I do not have a favorite member; they are all fantastic. I like to encourage people to see the best in others; encourage them to do the best they can do to make themselves a better person. I am always working to do the same. That is how our society will change. I believe that every act has a universal dimension.

Egotistical materialist society is running rampant through the world at the moment. Change can only occur when the “influential” members of the society really want to change themselves and influence others to value and recognize that we are useful and involved in something bigger. Within any community, there is a wealth of knowledge and experience which, if used in creative ways, can be channelled into collective action to achieve the communities’ desired goals.

Tell us a little bit about yourself

I am a creator and analyst with 12 years of experience in managing Web projects. I possess an ability to synthesize all without losing the thread, to see pieces of the whole. I led marketing and community development projects – from conception and organization of contests, community involvement, content partnerships – for the family and childhood vertical portal, PetitMonde.com. I founded and edited, for three years, the international bilingual forum Zonegrippeaviaire.com, which focused on the role of social media in pandemic preparedness. Unfortunately, the Quebec government rejected social media, and categorically refused to collaborate with the online Flublogian community of practice of Zonegrippeaviaire. For this reason, I ended the project in January 2010. I worked as a pandemic preparedness analyst for a consulting firm, Web Escape Agents, based in Versailles, France, where I analyzed policies of industrialized countries and UN, and helped businesses to plan and implement preparedness.

I also worked as a director of communications for fundraising campaigns, where I learned how to communicate on a large scale with 30,000 graduates. I led government relations (lobbying) for several years where I succeeded in changing provincial and municipal laws, and influenced decisions of elected leaders. Now, I’m passionate about Government 2.0, and I would like to work in this area. “Government 2.0″ is the integration of the new generation of digital media to the structure and functioning of an Administration. It is about transparency, data access, participation, collaboration and citizen engagement. The key to success? The message must be contagious and reach people on an emotional level. I have a tremendous amount of passion, an iconoclast way of thinking, analytical abilities, and moreover, I speak French: I can be a good voice for government 2.0.

In late October, I took over leadership of Phoenix’s Nest – currently the third Top Personal/ Private community of Empire Avenue – when Dragon_flaming deleted her account. Phoenix’s Nest’s mission is to develop strong networking links in social media and convey warmth in relationships. At Phoenix’s Nest, we appreciate, respect and support each other. Members feel that they are part of an active and thriving community that is there for them. Empathy and a playful attitudes are encouraged.

What’s next for you and your team?

FOR ME – I want to find a job! I would like my dreams of becoming a Government 2.0 implementater to come true. The current Quebecois political situation is not conducive to this – our Premier Jean Charest’s nickname is ‘The Godfather’ – so I hope that someone, somewhere, will see me, and integrate me into an international (or foreign) government 2.0 team, or hire me as a community manager.

FOR PHOENIX’S NEST TEAM – We have two ongoing projects to complete before jumping into next year’s planning: Women Calendar 2011 and Positive Attitude Award of the Year. The Positive Attitude Award of the Year is an award given to Empire Avenue users by members of Phoenix’s Nest, which aims to the use of social media in positive ways. This collective exercise will ultimately list the different winning strategies of using social media, and will indicate why some users are more succesful, and what is their secret. We’re stretching the Award project by adding a digital art component: computer-generated images, using nominees’ faces and turning them into rock stars. Nominees will be announced in Grammy-Awards-style.

Our 2011’s planning includes several projects. In February, we will unveil ‘The Mysterious Lips’ project. In March, we thought of something that will highlight interesting information about our members. We are also planning another competition in the Spring. In the Summer, we will share our ‘Cool flip-flops’. And we are thinking about redoing the calendars at the end of the year, but we would like to add a bolder much better prepared fundraising campaign. We have also recently associated ourselves with Avenue Influence (e)AVEINFLUENCE, an online community where Empire Avenue users can come to discuss Empire Avenue, share guides, blog posts, and other general information to benefit fellow users. Avenue Influence will contribute to creating opportunities for Phoenix’s Nest to learn new skills and, by enabling members to act together.

So there you have it. The Men of Empire Avenue 2011 calendar is now available, and it looks like things are on track for the much anticipated Women’s calendar shortly. Stay tuned!

CALL FOR COLLABORATION - Digital art for Positive Attitude Award/Phoenix's Nest

Phoenix's Nest is looking for creative people to make a photo-reportage Grammy-Awards-style for our Positive Attitude Award of the Year.

The Positive Attitude Award of the Year is an award attributed to Empire Avenue users by members of Phoenix's Nest, which aims to promote positive attitude as being contagious in social media. Attitude is a mindset. A positive attitude is the outward manifestation of a mind that focuses primarily on positive things. A positive attitude gives bring energy to a person and her entourage. Furthermore, a negative attitude saps energy. Members of Phoenix's Nest are asked to describe why they nominate a person. This collective exercise will ultimately list the different winning strategies of using social media, and will indicate why some users are more succesful, and what is their secret. Valuing and appreciating each other is also an important element of Phoenix's Nest mission.

This new project consists of digital art, computer-generated images, using nominees' faces and turning them into rock stars: photo-montages of nominees walking up the red carpet alley or anything Hollywood style; paparazzi taking pictures of nominee stars; nominees proudly holding their award, or waving hand; nominees coming out of a limousine; nominees posing on the walkway, etc. Group pictures, nominees interacting with each other, people kissing (*blushing*), nominees giving a speech, nominees dancing together, or nominees performing a song on stage, etc.

We also would need scenario designers and script writers. These contributors will help Phoenix's Nest create a fun outstanding and very original photo-montage.

Woouuu ooouuu! I wonder what kind of nice dress I will end up wearing to the Positive Attitude Award ceremony... and who will be my consort! So thrilling!

Examples of digital art involving Empire Avenue users

Claire McGonigal (e)CMCG with Brad (digital art by William Pitcher (e)RZR)

Lance Taylor (e)LANCETAY with Brad (digital art by William Pitcher (e)RZR)

Duleepa Wijayawardhana (e)DUPS in squirrel suit (digital art by Lance Taylor (e)LANCETAY)

Deadline for participation
Deadline for digital art: January 5th, 2011.

All nominees will be announced in the photo-reportage.

Have fun playing with images!

About Phoenix's Nest
Phoenix’s Nest has 237 members and is currently the third Top Personal/Private community of Empire Avenue. Phoenix’s Nest’s mission is to develop strong networking links in social media and convey warmth in relationships. At Phoenix’s Nest, we appreciate, respect and support each other. Members feel that they are part of an active and thriving community that is there for them. Empathy and a playful attitude are being encouraged.

Nominees, Positive Attitude of the Year
So far, 17 nominations have been received for the Positive Attitude Award of the Year:

Adriel Hampton (e)ADRIEL
Allie Wojtaszek (e)ALLIE
Chris Latko (e)CLATKO
Fee Easton (e)BOOTCOOT
Fozzie Dog (e)FOZDOG
Greg Scratchley (e)ITCH
Jitesh Panchal (e)UNS33N
John Moore (e)JOHNFMOORE
Jordan Hodges (e)JORDNH
Krimson Gray (e)ANIME
Lyne Robichaud (e)PAPIER
Nick Provost (e)NICKP
Omar Habayeb (e)OKMMH
Pooch Land (e)WOOF
Reign @reigny (e)REIGN
Ron Stark (e)RSTARK
Teagan Thedog (e)TEAGAN

New community administrator on Phoenix’s Nest team: Adriel Hampton

Adriel Hampton. Photo: ©Jeremy Maurer
PHOENIX’S NEST, IN A SECRET LOCATION. SUNDAY, DECEMBER 5th, 2010 − Today, Adriel Hampton (e)ADRIEL @adrielhampton joined the community administrative team of Phoenix’s Nest.

Adriel has been a “valued contributor” for three months at Phoenix’s Nest. His official title was Sergeant-of-arms (when this community was called The Dragon’s Cave). Members of the community appreciate his assiduous presence, friendly contribution, and common sense. (e)ADRIEL is currently in the first position as Top People Shares on Empire Avenue.

Phoenix’s Nest has 238 members and is currently the third Top Personal/Private community of Empire Avenue. Phoenix’s Nest’s mission is to develop strong networking links in social media and convey warmth in relationships. At Phoenix’s Nest, we appreciate, respect and support each other. Members feel that they are part of an active and thriving community that is there for them. Empathy and a playful attitude are being encouraged. But most important is the feeling that they are useful and involved in something bigger. Within any community, there is a wealth of knowledge and experience which, if used in creative ways, can be channelled into collective action to achieve the communities' desired goal.

Adriel Hampton is an early Gov 2.0 adopter and co-founded the popular public interest podcast Gov 2.0 Radio show (also on Empire Avenue, (e)G2R) that has featured tech and public policy leaders including Jeffrey Levy of the Federal Web Managers Council, Tim O’Reilly of O’Reilly Media, and Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist. He has worked with U.S. state and federal Gov.2.0 experts to develop and launch an official Twitter account for San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera. Since 2003, Adriel has worked as an investigator for the San Francisco City Attorney's Office, and he began his career as an editor, designer and writer for several San Francisco Bay Area daily newspapers. In 2009, he ran a grassroots campaign for U.S. Congress.

With the administrative team, Adriel Hampton will contribute to creating opportunities for Phoenix’s Nest to learn new skills and, by enabling members to act together.

Community administrators Lyne Robichaud (e)PAPIER (Canada), Jitesh Panchal (e)UNS33N (India), Fee Easton (e)BOOTCOOT (United Kingdom), Steve Jaeschke (e)DRAG0N (Australia), Doug Walters (e)DARING (United States), and Avenue Influence (e)AVEINFLUENCE look forward to collaborating with Adriel Hampton in the months ahead.

New community administrator on Phoenix’s Nest team: Avenue Influence

PHOENIX’S NEST, IN A SECRET LOCATION. SUNDAY, DECEMBER 5th, 2010 - Today, Avenue Influence (e)AVEINFLUENCE joined the community administrative team of Phoenix’s Nest. Avenue Influence – www.avenueinfluence.com @avenueinfluence, the real scoop on Empire Avenue – is a We-blog and online community edited by John Moore (e)JOHNFMOORE. This community is a place where Empire Avenue users can come to discuss Empire Avenue, share guides, blog posts, and other general information to benefit fellow users.

So these two communities, Phoenix’s Nest and Avenue Influence, will be working together.

Phoenix’s Nest has 238 members and is currently the third Top Personal/Private community of Empire Avenue. Phoenix’s Nest’s mission is to develop strong networking links in social media and convey warmth in relationships. At Phoenix’s Nest, we appreciate, respect and support each other. Members feel that they are part of an active and thriving community that is there for them. Empathy and a playful attitude are being encouraged.

But most important is the feeling that they are useful and involved in something bigger. Within any community, there is a wealth of knowledge and experience which, if used in creative ways, can be channelled into collective action to achieve the communities' desired goals.

Community development seeks to empower individuals and groups of people by providing these groups with the skills they need to affect change in their own communities.

Empire Avenue is in a startup phase of development, a jumpstarting a landmark initiative in social media. “Empire Avenue is a great game which is also a social network tool for creating value-based relationships,” wrote Duleepa Wijayawardhana (e)DUPS, in ‘Freedom to expand’.

How can the communities of Empire Avenue contribute to development of relationships?

Avenue Influence brings fresh ideas and dedication to community development. Avenue Influence’s editor John Moore has an impressive background as consultant necessary to help guide Phoenix’s Nest as it works to achieve this goal.


John Moore is an open government strategist, consultant, and analyst. He has experience working with local governments and small and medium business owners to achieve their goals. John is also a prolific blogger, a frequent speaker on open government, government 2.0 and social business strategies, and has grown strong, thriving communities across the web. His experience in this area is regularly used to help organizations and individuals to achieve their goals while building a loyal and engaged following.

With the administrative team, Avenue Influence will contribute to creating opportunities for Phoenix’s Nest to learn new skills and, by enabling members to act together.

Community administrators Lyne Robichaud (e)PAPIER (Canada), Jitesh Panchal (e)UNS33N (India), Fee Easton (e)BOOTCOOT (United Kingdom), Steve Jaeschke (e)DRAG0N (Australia), and Doug Walters (e)DARING (United States), look forward to collaborating with Avenue Influence in the months ahead.

Tools to avoid inadvertent loss of discussion threads and metrics (EAv communities)

This is the 3rd time I inadvertly delete a discussion thread (in 2 months) at Phoenix's Nest.

Today, I asked Duleepa 'Dups' Wijayawardhana, CEO of Empire Avenue:
A) if it is possible to get the lost content back;
B) to create a tool for community-administrators in order to avoid inadvert loss of content.

My letter:

Thanks for checking if there is a back-up of group discussions.

A confirming message would be helpful to community administrators. 'Do you want to delete this discussion thread?' and click 'OK'. It is very frustrating for the members, when interesting conversations get lost. And I have to do a lot of apologies, which is really embarassing...

What was lost is a thread created this week. I don't remember the exact name of it. Something like 'Everybody give a hand. Phoenix's Nest lost it's second top position. Please invite your friends'.

It was one of the most interesting relevant conversations I've seen in Phoenix's Nest, about the current metrics measuring community activity and what metrics should be about. In this thread, we talked about what is community animation (a sort of job description of an online community manager), and we compared different styles of online community leadership. We also looked at the growth pattern of Phoenix's Nest.

The current second top community is lead by an 'anonymous' leader. We discussed what that represents for Empire Avenue.

We imagined what an ideal online community on Empire Avenue should be.

We decided to concentrate on what we do and let others do what they want. Fun and passion are more important to us, than being in a crisis mode (Adriel Hampton).

Then Chris Latko made a very positive comment about the new device for communities in the upper right menu. He said he had no idea there was so much richness in the content, and that this tool was helpful.

Focus on quality of content, quality of interactions, quality of networking, freshness of content and amount of teamwork / participation to group projects: we concluded that these should matter more than prestige and number of members in community metrics. It does not make much sense to measure a group by the whealth of the people standing in one room (prestige) and the number of members. What people do together is really what defines a community. The top best communities on Empire Avenue should be those with the best skills in online community management, production of content/discussions, and member participation. The current list of top communities and metrics do not reflect excellency of online community management and participation.

Chris Latko's comment gave me the idea this morning for the Phoenix's Nest Positive Attitude Award of the Year. These past months, there has been a lot of criticism and frustration. Members are invited to nominate people and explain why they have a positive attitude. What we will end up with is a list of various ways and attitudes adopted by users, that contribute to a winning networking strategy in social media. List of nominees will be published by press release in January 2011. Phoenix's Nest will start the New Year on a positive note.

Nothing ever happens for nothing. I did delete the thread inadvertly, which is unfortunate, but this gave me the opportunity to inform you about this discussion.

Thanks for checking if there is a possibility to get this thread back, and also evaluating the tasks of implementing a confirmation message before deletion of content for community-administrators, and how this could be inserted it into your work load.

When growing Online communities, Trust matters. Why are current metrics only about size?

In every engagement, the ultimate metric is always Trust and Reputation. People will go out into the world and carry it with them. Trust conveys a sense of empowerment because people trust the reputation of an engagement. This is how an engagement in a community gets promoted.

In his book Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust, Chris Bogan demonstrates that 'when you've learned a trust agent's secrets, your words can carry more power and more weight than any PR firm or big corporate marketing department.'

Several things about engagement can be measured.

Strenght is the likelihood that a community is being discussed in social media.

Sentiment is the ratio of mentions that are generally positive to those that are generally negative.

Passion is a measure of the likelihood that individuals talking about a community will do so repeateadly.

Reach is the measure of the range of influence (the number of unique authors referencing a community divided by total number of mentions).

The 5 'C' of measuring engagement are:
- 'Creating' content
- 'Critiquing' feedback
- 'Chattering' comment
- 'Collecting' bookmarking
- 'Clicking' traffic

So why are Empire Avenue community metrics presently focusing only on Size?

In the Leader board section of Empire Avenue, personal/private communities are measured by the number and prestige of members.

Phoenix's Nest has currently 240 members. This community grew naturally. It used to be no.2 Top personal/private community. But not anymore. Another community took the lead, while Phoenix's Nest fell to the 3rd position.

I asked some friends what was going on in the other community, and the answer was: «There is nothing going on in this group. It's really boring and inactive. I don't know why it's doing so well!»

The essence of growing an online community is building a group that focuses on a passionnate niche, by:
- interacting with community members and engaging in conversations;
- being helpful to others, by responding to their requests of calls of action and information (it is important to listen and react to the needs of the community);
- participating to group projects;
- bringing ideas: consistent, relative and relatable content.

You get out of it what you put into it.

The goal is to keep the content fresh and new.

NONE of that is measured on Empire Avenue right now.

The only thing that matters, is the number and prestige of members. Size.

Flirtation and love are back at Phoenix’s Nest (EAv)

Our society is going through a structural crisis in gender relations. See my blog post 'Eros Bendato et les médias sociaux'.

We live in a society where marriage is declining, divorce explodes, celibacy extends and monoparental families are increasing.

This week, a new discussion thread has been created at Phoenix's Nest: 'Active directory of couples and secret lovers on Empire Avenue'.

Phoenix’s Nest has always been an exploratory territory. I would like this community to explore it all, talk about these issues, think, analyse.

A) There is a need to revalue love-friendship, one that does not try to live continuously in a torrid untenable love over time, that accepts the highs and lows, and above all that does not seek a merger stifling of the individual that kills in the long run.

B) Women, like men, can have a ferocious sexual appetite. They have not become so because of feminism. Women only claim the fact that they can be the same as men. As a member of the community pointed it out earlier this week, society has not given the right to woman to have a sexual appetite. It has just been admitted that women have a sexual appetite, just like any human being.

C) There is this idea that if we invest everything in the love relationship, it somehow becomes the pinnacle of success. By doing so, we overload the boat. Hope is so great that at the slightest disappointment, we leave.

D) What matters most is not to love, but to love better. If someone wants to build something, intensity should not be the only thing involved, a pact should be establish with time.

What impact and role could social media have on the structural crisis of gender relations? Can social media help to love better?

A member of the community said this week: "The truth is I like the online company."

Diversity determines adaptation change (Empire Avenue)

It takes all kinds of things and people to make a world. Diversity is the key to human evolution. From a scientific standpoint, we know that maintaining a genetic diversity determines the ability of a population to adapt to future changes.
This same principle applies to the evolution of micro-systems, such as the system Empire Avenue.

It takes diversity for a system to evolve. We should encourage diversity and make sure it is preserved.

Study of populations/varieties can:
(1) understand the role of natural processes and management practices involved in the evolution of populations/varieties conducted in dynamic management;
(2) identify management practices and culture conditions that allow the conservation of biological diversity and maintenance of evolutionary potential in a trade network.

Four possible areas of research:
1. Understand the evolutionary mechanisms responsible for population differentiation;
2. Study a managing system and analyze the link between management practices and diversity;
3. Co-construct programs of population diversity with users;
4. Study impact and measure diversity.

Duleep Wijayawardhana
Last week, Duleep Wijayawardhana, CEO of Empire Avenue, was guest speaker at the Conference Beyond 2010 Edmonton. He said that Empire Avenue was having more popularity among users than what was set in estimates. About a third of planned projects have been completed so far, said "Dups" (with such a complicated name, everyone prefers to use his nickname).

I do not want to criticize the admirable work done by the designers of Empire Avenue. I’m convinced that everyone does its best. However, I think it is important to take a pause, and to try to analyze what happened last week. Several super-users of Empire Avenue have completely stalled and they deleted their user account. It was the case for Javier Lopez Agudelo (e)JAVI1, Darcy Kieran (e)SCUBA and Dragon_flaming@:}~~~ (e)SLEEP. What happened is a sort of collective suicide. This situation is not just a trivial objection, because (e)SLEEP occupied the first global position (Top People Shares). These three people also occupied positions as community administrators of The Dragon's Cave.

When the main user of a system suddenly deletes herself, it sends a negative message and it could tarnish the reputation of the entire system.

I am very disappointed that this mourning coincides with a particularly positive momentum that has developed via the event Beyond2010 in Edmonton. IT Director of the City of Edmonton, Jordan Hodges @jordanshodges (e)JORDNH examined this phenomenon in his blog Alifeintheday: Connections (#Beyond2010, #AVe, #Tweetups).

This element caught my attention: "After the tweetup as we were saying our goodbyes Pam Broviak (@pbroviak made an insightful comment. She said that when we have social media connections with people and we have to say goodbye, it isn't ever really goodbye since we already have an ongoing relationship. This was the first time in my life that a goodbye wasnt such a permanent thing." This shows the thickness (depth) of links/relationships that are created on Empire Avenue. Users feel so close to each other that it comes to the point that relationships occupy a permanent place in their minds. When users get to meet each other in person, they feel comfortable with one another. They know these people will remain present in their lives tomorrow, and every day after that.

Several meetings in person occured last week in Edmonton. Users did not only shake hands. They went out together. They had fun together. Members of The Cabal community had a meeting (photograph, (e)ADRIEL). Some Empire Avenue users visited a Jurassic Park together (see also this photo of (e)RANGER’s hat, and (e)ADRIEL being hatched in a dinosaur’s egg!). They had a friendly breakfast at Cora together. They took a tour of government buildings together (also see this incredible photo by (e)ALLIE of a reflection in a mirror). They also participated in an evening tweet-up session (also see this photo of (e)ALLIE and (e)RANGER). And so on. I also have been fortunate to enjoy the meetings I had in Edmonton, especially with Adriel Hampton and Jordan Hodges. All these moments, spent in nice good company, forged lasting memories and contributed to consolidation of solid relationships. And all of this happened thanks to Empire Avenue.

A few weeks ago, I asked a 'bank loan' to Dups as 'first follower' of (e) SLEEP and community administrator of the Dragon’s Cave. This community has over 210 members, and in order to communicate with them – i.e. to reach an effective level of mass communications - I have to buy their shares with my personal eaves. Empire Avenue is not designed for mass communications, so building mass communications systems remains a challenge. Last week, I met Dups in person in Edmonton (at Beyond2010), and I subsequently sent him a written request about development of tools that would help super-users to promote community development on Empire Avenue.

The "Rewards" section is quietly starting to fill in on Empire Avenue.

I do not know what kind of Business Plan Empire Avenue has, but I confess that I would like to read it from A to Z. I would be good bedtime reading! Is there something planned in this Plan that would support the evolution of the diversity of users and communities, and help maintain it? And if so, when will these projects be undertaken? Would it be possible to address these issues today?

At (e) SLEEP’s request, I took over leadership of the EAv community she created: The Dragon's Cave. The administrative community team decided to change its name. We now call ourselves The Phoenix's Nest. We reached second place in popularity among all communities of Empire Avenue.

I do not want to eventually share the same fate as the Dragon. I have no desire to delete my account on Empire Avenue. I do not want to strand myself to burnout. I’m not interested in having to bend under the weight of (volunteer) tasks. Adriel Hampton (e)ADRIEL told me: "The level of effort she was exerting was unsustainable. I know from experience."

I consider that the mass exodus of super-users that occurred this week is a mess, a very sad waste of talent and energy. These users are real people. These people have contributed to enrich networking links forged via Empire Avenue. Many users of Empire Avenue have felt a sense of emptiness after they left. I spent an entire day answering at least one hundred inquiries about them, on all social media platforms, both in private and open form. These super-users we lost: they are unique and wonderful people. These people cannot be replaced in the networking web of Empire Avenue.

Is there a way to include in current action plans of Empire Avenue (short term), support and tools that would aim to give a hand to super-users in charge of communities? What could be done to help and support super-users? What could be done to help develop networking links? What could be done now? What could be done in medium and long term?

Men and Women Calendars 2011 (The Phoenix’s Nest)

Two weeks ago, Darcy Kieran came up with the idea to create a calendar project, featuring members of The Dragon's Cave on Empire Avenue.

These calendars will feature the #hottest best people of the community. By #hot, we don’t necessarily mean sexy. "Awesome is the new sexy", said Gina Montana (e) 21GUNS. This community is composed of many people, more active one than other in social media, and they happen to be stars in their respective professional fields.

Being recognized is to feel acknowledged by offering gratitude to others, through simple gestures. Others feel important, important to us. Recognition is very important at The Phoenix's Nest.

The calendars will be sold for real money, not virtual eaves. Funds raised will be donated to a charity organization.

Meanwhile, Kieran Darcy and the Dragon pulled themselves out of Empire Avenue.

Yesterday Dragon_flaming asked me to take over leadership of the community on Empire Avenue. The administrative team of this community of 220 members was consulted, and we decided to change the name of the group.


The Phoenix’s Nest
Now we call ourselves The Phoenix's Nest.

A phoenix is a mythical bird that is a fire spirit with a colorful plumage and a tail of gold and scarlet (or purple, blue, and green according to some legends). It has a 500 to 1000 year life-cycle, near the end of which it builds itself a nest of twigs that then ignites; both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix or phoenix egg arises, reborn anew to live again. The new phoenix is destined to live as long as its old self.

The phoenix is considered a "bearer of light."

So we turned into a fabulous bird, endowed with longevity. We are reborn from the Dragon’s ashes of fire, and we are determined to exist forever.

Wish list
I originally asked several people to dream a little and to come up with a wish list of people who should be in the calendar, 12 men and 12 women.

These last two weeks, suggestions from the community accumulated themselves in the discussion thread for that purpose. 55 messages have been posted. Thirty men have been proposed, as well as a dozen women.

Today, invitations to participate in this project have been forwarded on Twitter to 17 men and 17 women.

Some details
The date for submission of photographs has been set for November 11, 2010.

The photos of 2 MB maximum must be submitted to the following email address: robichaud.lyne at hotmail.com.

In the upcoming weeks, a fundraising plan and a graphic layout of the calendars will be outlined. These should be announced before the end of November 2010.

Calendriers Hommes et Femmes 2011 (Phoenix's Nest)

Il y a deux semaines, Darcy Kieran a eu l’idée de créer un projet de calendriers mettant en vedette des membres de Dragon’s Cave sur Empire Avenue.

Ces calendriers mettront en vedette les gens les plus #hot de la communauté. Par #hot, il ne s’agit pas nécessairement d’être sexy. «Awesome is the new sexy», comme l’a indiqué Gina Montana (e)21GUNS. La communauté est composée d’une foule de personnes plus actives les unes que les autres dans les médias sociaux, qui s’avèrent être des étoiles dans leurs domaines professionnels respectifs.

Être reconnu, c’est sentir de la reconnaissance et en offrir aux autres, par des gestes simples que nous posons et qui font que l’autre se sent quelqu'un, important pour nous. La valorisation est très importante à The Phoenix's Nest.

Les calendriers seront vendus pour du vrai argent, et non pas des eaves virtuels. Les fonds recueillis seront remis à un organisme de charité.

Entre-temps, Darcy Kieran et la Dragonne se sont retirés de Empire Avenue.

Hier, Dragon_flaming m’a demandé de reprendre le flambeau de la communauté sur Empire Avenue. L’équipe d’administrateurs de cette communauté de 220 membres a été consultée d’urgence, et nous avons décidé de changer de nom.


The Phoenix’s Nest
Désormais, nous nous appelons The PhoenIx’s Nest.

Le phénix est un oiseau mythique dont la légende dit qu'il peut renaître de ses cendres. Il symbolise les cycles de mort et de résurrection. N’ayant pu se reproduire, le phénix, quand il sentait sa fin venir, construisait un nid de branches aromatiques et d’encens, y mettait le feu et se consumait dans les flammes. Des cendres de ce bûcher surgissait un nouveau phénix.

Le phénix est considéré comme un «porteur de lumière».

Nous nous sommes transformés en oiseau fabuleux, doué de longévité. Nous renaissons des cendres de feu de la dragonne éteinte, et nous sommes déterminés à exister pour toujours.

Wish list
J’ai initialement demandé à plusieurs personnes de rêver un peu et de dresser une liste idéale – wish list - des gens qui devraient figurer dans les calendriers, soit 12 hommes et 12 femmes.

Ces deux dernières semaines, les suggestions de la communauté se sont accumulées dans le fil de discussion destiné à cette fin. Il y a eu 55 messages à ce sujet. Une trentaine d’hommes ont été proposés, ainsi qu’une dizaine de femmes.

Aujourd’hui, des invitations à participer à ce projet ont été transmises sur Twitter à 17 hommes et 17 femmes.

Quelques détails
La date de soumission des photographies a été fixée au 11 novembre 2010.

Les photos de 2 Mo maximum doivent être transmises à l’adresse suivante: robichaud.lyne at hotmail.com.

Au cours des prochaines semaines seront ébauchés un plan de campagne de financement ainsi qu’une maquette graphique des deux calendriers. Ces éléments devraient être dévoilés avant la fin du mois de novembre 2010.