Griff Wigley

My Google profile

I’ve compiled all my web-based info about me using Google Profile. See it at google.com/profiles/griffinjay. (People who are in my Google Contacts can see more info about me than the general public.)

My griffinjay profile comes up at the bottom of the first page of a Google search on my name, Griff Wigley. The [...]

Optimizing WordPress for mobile devices

I’ve been installing the WordPress plugin WPTouch on all my blogs and many client blogs lately. It “deliver a fast, user-friendly and stylish version of your site to your iPhone, iPod touch, Android, Opera Mini mobile, Palm Pre and BlackBerry Storm visitors without modifying a single bit of code (or affecting) your regular desktop [...]

WordPress under attack; sites hosted by Tiger Technologies have been protected for 3 weeks

Most of the blog sites I’ve set up for my clients run on WordPress. Late last night, I spent a couple of hours checking and upgrading sites to Version 2.8.4 ASAP because there’s a nasty worm making the rounds this weekend:

WordPress blog: How to Keep WordPress Secure
Lorelle: Old WordPress Versions Under Attack
Mashable Social [...]

Social network update: Students Speak Out

As I noted in a May, 2007 blog post, the Citizens League contracted with me to set up, launch, and run the Students Speak Out (SSO) social network, part of their MAP 150 Project. Over the 5 months of my involvement, Erin Sapp, Lars Johnson, Stacy Becker, Kim Farris-Berg, Sean Kershaw and others working on [...]

Tutorials and a YouTube Channel for the Trials Training Center

I’ve been building a series of “How to Ride Motorcycle Trials” tutorial pages for the Trials Training Center (TTC) in Sequatchie, TN.

Many of the pages have video clips and I’ve created a TTC YouTube Channel to house them all.

Each video has a description, several tags, and a link back to the specific [...]

Using Twitter for a geographic community

What is twitter?

Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?

Like my colleague Michael Fraase, I tried Twitter a few times when it was first introduced but it didn’t ‘take hold’ for me.

But [...]

Screencasts on community blogging

I’ve created eleven screencasts for the Northwest Area Foundation’s Horizons Community Blogging Project.

The topics:

Why blogWhat to blogHow to blog effectivelyHow to promote a blogHow to use WordPress basicsHow to embed imagesHow to embed videoHow to customize a blogHow to manage blog commentsHow to set up new bloggers

Although these community blogging screencasts are specific [...]

Basecamp and 37 Signals in Time magazine

I was delighted to see 37Signals and their flagship product, Basecamp, featured in Time Magazine last week in an article titled Small Is Essential.

This tiny crew, only three of whom graduated from college, has built software that many in the world of Web 2.0 consider the best for small-business collaboration.

I’ve been using Basecamp with my [...]

Is your web host carbon neutral?

Michael Blaha at Organic Arts told me last week that my favorite web hosting company, Tiger Technologies, is carbon neutral.

See their environmental policy for more.

Blandin brainstorming

 

I was invited to a Blandin Foundation brainstorming session today on the topic of rural communities and the development of broadband infrastructure, online content, and civic engagement. We met at the home of Bill Coleman in Mahtomedi, where his mailbox and backyard wildlife (click photos to enlarge) made for a unique setting.

[...]

Testing Windows Live Writer as a blogging client

I am exploring Windows Live Writer, wondering if the word processor can be a good blogging client, even better than my current favorite, Zoundry Blog Writer.

First test is to see how it handles images and whether or not it allows text to be wrapped easily. Looks good.

Can it link URLs to images? Apparently, yes. [...]

Using Google Analytics for web traffic stats

I installed the new Google Analytics tool here on my own site a few days ago. “Google Analytics tells you everything you want to know about how your visitors found you and how they interact with your site. “

Here’s an initial snapshot from what they call the executive summary.

It’s a free service and is not [...]

Olympus WS-100 Digital Voice Recorder

I used my Olympus WS-100 Digital Voice Recorder to record yesterday’s Citizens League forum at MPR. A couple of my colleagues asked what I used (“surprisingly good audio capture from your device”) so I thought I’d blog it here… trying to practice what I preach (answer your email with your blog).

What immediately attracted me [...]

Using email lists for weblog notification

I’ve been searching for other tools to automate the email notification options for a weblog. While RSS is all the rage and the best way to go, IMHO, most visitors to a website/weblog still don’t use it or know how to use it.

For several years, I’ve used Dada (Mojo) Mail for my own blogs and [...]

Allowing comments, preventing spam

I have a couple of leaders now who are ready to make selective use of the WordPress comment feature.

So I’m experimenting with it here to find the best way to make it easy for the site visitors, yet prevent spammers from abusing it.

Upon the recommendation of this recent message thread in the WordPress forums, I’ve [...]