Wigley and Associates

Old clients become new clients. Joan and Jim Spaulding, owners of James Gang Coffeehouse & Eatery, have opened another location in Northfield called James Gang HideAway.

I created their coffeehouse site two years ago using Blogger and NetObjects Fusion so when this new store opened, we took the opportunity to revamp the old and combine it with the new. Rather than creating two sites, we just registered another domain and aliased to the original.

I installed WordPress with the excellent 3-column, widget-ready Tiga theme by Shamsul Azhar. It recently won “Best 3 column theme” in a WordPress 2.0 theme competition. This theme includes a very handy Tirarator addition to the Word Press presentation menu which “… allows you to configure some variables to suit your blog.” Very cool. I sent Shamsul a donation for his work, as I plan to use the theme for other clients.

Craig Stroeing, above right, is the HideAway manager, and today I trained him on all aspects of maintaining the website and weblog.

I met with the MAP 150 project team at the Citizens League today. We’re moving ahead on several fronts: blogging, project management via Basecamp, a wiki, and more.

L to R (click photo to enlarge): Stacy Becker, Sean Kershaw, Executive Director of the League, Erin Sapp, and Ann Kirby McGill, Deputy Director of the League.

5/29 Update: The MAP 150 site is up with the WordPress platform.

I had coffee in Northfield this morning (at my corner office at the Goodbye Blue Monday Coffeehouse, natch) with long-time Minnesotan Steve Borsch — blogger, podcaster, and a Web 2.0 thinker/doer/collaborator.

Steve contacted me via email earlier this week after we both contributed some brainstorming emails via Sean Kershaw at the Citizens League. It turns out we have other Minnesota colleagues in common, including Patricia and Craig Neal at Heartland Circle, Mike O'Connor, and Eden Prairie City Manager Scott Neal.

Among the multiplicity of topics we discussed: how Web 2.0 technologies can improve the civic health of geographic communities. See Steve's recent blog posts, Web 2.0: Connecting people to dots and Lessons of Community for Web 2.0 for more on this issue. But more importantly, subscribe to his Connecting the Dots weblog and podcast to follow his thinking at it evolves. I'm going to enjoy getting to know him better and will look for ways to collaborate.

I’ve worked with a bookstore here in the Northfield called River City Books the past couple of weeks to help them launch a companion weblog and podcast to their existing website.

Normally I use a photo of the person I’m working most closely with on the project but in this case, they’ve opted to add a little intrigue to the blog by identifying the blogger only as The Raven. I initially objected, given my strong beliefs about “authentic voice” but since it’s not a leadership blog — I think of it as a PR/announcement blog — I don’t see any harm to it. I’m looking forward to seeing how it evolves.

I’ve added a little gizmo to my right sidebar here that indicates whether or not I’m currently logged into my Skype account.

For geographically distributed teams, I see this form of instant messaging (real-time voice and/or text chat) as the equivalent of showing up at an office, hanging your coat on a rack near your workspace, and turning on the lights — all little cues to your colleagues that “I’m here. I’m around. I’m available to talk/collaborate/socialize.”

Last week I tagged along with Tim Erickson and St. Paul e-democracy colleagues (left) at the Lexington Outreach Library.

I took some photos and teamed up with Tim to record some audio for possible inclusion in a podcast. Click photos to enlarge and see 20+ photos in the edemocracy outreach photo album.

Left: library patron Robert McCaster and Tim Erickson;
Center: Alice Neve, Supervisor, Lexington Library and Kaltun Deriye, Somali Outreach Coordinator.
Right: Tim interviewing members of a Somali family

See 20+ photos in the edemocracy outreach photo album.

I attended a Heartland Circle Happy Hour last night, courtesy of the firm's co-founders, Patricia Neal and Craig Neal. They hosted an informal gathering of some of their area members at the Enjoy! restaurant in Apple Valley. Click photos to enlarge.

Left: Yogiraj Achala, Vonda Vaden, Patricia Neal, Craig Neal, unidentified, Francois Paradeise, unidentified
Right: Mary Hamann-Roland, Matthew Rochte, Craig Neal

Left: Dave Labno, Don Thomas, Loretta Anderson, Russ Schoen, Myron Lowe
Right:  Virginia Selleck, Cheryl Persigehl, Dave Labno, Don Thomas, Loretta Anderson

Last week I had a meeting at the Citizens League with Sean Kershaw, Executive Director, and Stacy Becker, Becker Consulting, who’s heading up the League’s Minnesota Anniversary Project (MAP 150).

We explored the variety of ways that tools like blogs, forums, salons, podcasts, etc. could be used for the project and they’ve invited me to submit a proposal.

I’ve got a long and satisfying history with the League, back to the late 80s and early 90s when Curt Johnson (now with Citistates and a client) was executive director.

Click photos to enlarge

This 1981 Montesa Cota 349 is near perfect condition. I got it on trade from US Montesa importer Martin Belair last year. I’ve not ridden it much and Martin told me it probably has only 75 hours on it. $1,995. Contact me if interested.