Common Craft Blog

Microsoft and Sun Microsystems Enter Broad Cooperation Agreement; Settle Outstanding Litigation

Am I in some kind of time warp? Is it April Fools day again? This is a pretty amazing announcement.

Via: Scoble

The following article is the first in a three-part series that will serve as an introduction to two terms that have had a profound effect on me and my work. The terms are "stock" and "flow" and this article is an introduction to these terms.

Background:

In a meeting recently, Jerry Michalski drew a diagram of communication tools and media in the context of "stocks" and "flows". His diagram first introduced me to how these terms can be used to describe online communication.

After the meeting, I contacted him and we talked more about the terms, what they mean, where they originated, etc. He related that they likely originated from the economics world. Upon doing a little research, I found that the terms are used frequently in systems dynamics and economics.

Update: I have recently learned that the terms were first used by Jay Forrester at MIT in the 1950's. Thanks to Bill Harris for the info.

Jerry also related that he wasn't aware that anyone else had used the terms in the context of communications or media. With his encouragement and help, I've written this article to help introduce "stocks and flows" to the world in the context of online communication. I hope that you'll see, like me, that these terms provide a powerful new lens through which we can view and discuss online communication tools and resources.

What are stock and flow? How do they relate to online communication?

In this context, stock and flow are states of electronic communications. Communication is either in a state of flow or it is stocked, and sometimes in transit from one to the other. For example, the kind of communication that comes from an instant message is flow- its value is linked to the timeliness and context of the message. The information is used as it is created. People engage in a flow, like a conversation.

A message board archive is a good example of a stock- it is stored until needed or requested. Its value is linked to accessibility and organization as opposed to timeliness. People access a stock, they don't engage in it. Stocks are generally static and presented when requested, like search results.

General definitions:

Flow: Information flows to the user; timely, emergent and engaging
Stock: Information exists at a specific location, static, archived and organized for reference.

With the emergence of weblogs, email lists, wikis, message boards, instant messaging, etc., Internet users are surrounded with ways to communicate and share information. By understanding stocks and flows, we have a new way to analyze and codify communication resources. Stocks and flows give us a new tool for describing the applicability and value of online communication tools and methods.

An Example:

A year ago I was an online community manager. The community started as an email list and eventually moved to a message board. Before the transition to the message board, we asked members about the most important elements of the community. They overwhelmingly agreed that the email notifications were very important, but the volume had become unmanageable on occasion. Further, they saw value in a message board system that archived each message (sent in email) in a searchable and organized fashion.

Looking back, I can see this situation as a classic example of stocks and flows. The community was originally founded on pure flow – the messages flowed into email inboxes as they were posted. As the volume of messages grew, the need for stocks became apparent - the members couldn't keep up with the flow and needed a back-up in the form of message archives. The emails provided the flow, the message board provided the stock.

In this case, the ultimate value came from using stocks and flows in concert. By continuing with automatic email updates (flow), we were able to keep members engaged while at the same time giving them confidence that the messages in email were also being archived on the web site for future reference (stock).

Next Section:

As we'll see in the next section of this series, similar examples emerge when we look at other online communication resources. Specifically, we'll look at how weblogs, wikis and RSS fit into the picture of stocks and flows. This section will be posted on April 5th, please stay tuned.

Next: Weblogs Wikis and RSS

As you can see in the right nav, I’m now offering two different “feeds�? for my site, Atom and RSS. Having both may prompt you to ask “What’s the difference? Why have both? What are they for anyway?�?

What you need to know is that they do the same thing. They allow Internet users subscribe to a “feed�? from a web site. By subscribing to a feed, a user can be notified when a website has been updated. More on this here.

The whole RSS vs. Atom history is rich and interesting, but I’ll spare you. Just know this: RSS came first, it worked, but was deemed imperfect by many. Updated: Be sure to check out Dave Winer's Version History of RSS.

However, the RSS concept was so good that it brought together a wide variety of developers and companies to develop a new syndication format that would benefit everyone equally. This new format is called Atom and you could call it a competitor to RSS.

So, there are now two basic formats for syndicating a web site. RSS is older with many different versions, Atom is newer, more standard, and only beginning to be adopted. Atom was constructed to work across a wide variety of platforms and devices.

I offer both so that I do not exclude any user from subscribing from my site. I would personally like to see Atom become the leading format because it is built by a diverse community who “baked-in�? the ability for Atom to evolve with consistency over time.

For more info:

The Atom Wiki (motivation page)
Webmonkey: Mighty Atom -Really Similar Syndication?
Atom Enabled.org

If you are a Movable Type user, you can get the Atom index template from the site.

Over dinner last weekend, I had a discussion with some folks who run conferences for a software company here in Seattle. These folks were concerned about the weblogging of conferences. Their concern wasn’t rooted in the fact that it was happening, but how to understand it and act upon what was being said.

One of their leading concerns was how to keep track of how the weblog world was reacting to the conference. They seemed genuinely interested in how they could make conferences better by understanding the weblog community.

After that dinner, I put some thought into their predicament and below you’ll find what I would recommend for conference organizers:

1. Identify the bloggers, especially the influential ones. Of the thousands that may attend a conference, there are a handful of folks that have the influence to impact the overall perceptions of the event in the weblog world. Look at recent conferences like yours and who blogged what. Look for a community of bloggers that will feed off one another’s posts. You might even ask attendees if they will be blogging the event ahead of time.

2. Get an RSS reader and start subscribing. Don’t waste your time jumping from site to site looking for insights. Once you’ve found a group of bloggers, subscribe via RSS feeds so you can be notified when they post something new. You’ll find that RSS lets you browse a wide variety of blogs quickly. More on RSS here.

3. Use Feedster. Feedster allows you to search RSS feeds based on a search word or phrase. For instance, a Feedster search for “SXSW�? returns weblogs that have most recently posted with the word “SXSW�? in the post. The same would work for your conference.

4. Use Technorati. Technorati shows you the influence or popularity of a blog or blog post in terms of how many (and which) other weblogs are linking to it. This gives you an idea of the reach of a particular post.

For instance, Joi Ito (an A-list blogger) posted that “SXSW is blogger unfriendly�?. Technorati can tell you that 7 other weblogs have linked to that single post from Joi. Technorati shows you conversations across blogs.

5. Get involved. Conference blogging is not going away- so you need to consider how you are going to work with the bloggers. First, don’t plan to overtly influence what you think they should blog. This could easily backfire and word of your actions will travel fast. The best thing you could do is create a weblog that is authored by the conference organizers- or at least those that represent the organizers. Use this weblog to post official news and information about the event as it is happening, using a personal tone.
More points:

• Provide an RSS feed and make sure everyone knows about it.
• Use the tools above to find out what is being said and react to it using the conference blog.
• Show that you are listening and do what you can to address or explain any problems being exposed.
• Become a news source- you have information no one else does- let the webloggers help you spread the news
• Point to things that may interest the bloggers
• Be personal, reliable and do what you can to engender trust in the bloggers.
• Do not personally attack, intentionally mislead or attempt to disrupt- these actions will make for great blog headlines that will negatively affect your reputation.

SXSW is actually an interesting case. When folks like Joi and Cory Doctrow posted that SXSW was unfriendly, word traveled fast. Cory posted a call-to-arms encouraging an overthrow of the rules. Soon after, the conference rules changed.

I think we'll see perceptions of conferences ripple through the online world via weblogs more an more often. Conference organizers should understand that it doesn't have to be a threat. In fact, it could be the most powerful form of PR a conference has in the future and the key is understanding and working with the bloggers.

Have you ever made a connection in your head that made you want to immediately run out and tell everyone you know what you just learned? I had one of these moments recently when I learned about a new way to describe online communication resources like online communities, email lists, weblogs and wikis.

The terms are "Stock" and "Flow"and they have prompted me to look at the online communication world through a different lens. My excitement has also prompted me to write an article so I can share the application of these terms with the world.

I’ll be using this weblog to present the article over the next week. I’ve divided the article into three parts and will post the sections using this title: An Introduction to Stocks and Flows (part X of X).

The 3 sections are:

I: What are Stocks and Flows? An Example. (April 1st)
II: Stocks, Flows, Weblogs and Wikis (April 5th)
III: The Case for Stocks and Flows. Conclusion (April 7th)

My hope is that these new terms will contribute a new perspective to our community. I encourage you to be part of the flow as these sections are posted over the next week. Subscribe via RSS and the information will flow to you. More on RSS here.

Just so you know, I considered the title “Come Flow with Lee�? for this post, but thankfully reconsidered.

The Perfect Corporate Weblogging Elevator Pitch Competition- The Social Software Weblog

I'm doing this. Should be interesting to see the submissions. Thanks to Judith for putting it together...