Lisa Williams is a prolific multi-media content creator, a key player in the emerging OPML community and the founder of H2otown, a thriving community blog covering news and events in Watertown, Massachusetts.

In the following interview Lisa and I talked about how she set up a successful community blog, her cutting edge research methods and her hope to make the H2otown site even more inclusive of area residents.

I interviewed Lisa by Instant Messenger, and have kept the interview in that basic format. You can skip to any of the particular sections of the interview by clicking the links in the Table of Contents below. Your browser’s back arrow will return you to the beginning of the interview.

 

Table of Contents

• Building H2otown
• Super search and RSS for research
• Future goals for community inclusion

 

Building H2otown

 

Lisa:

The H2otown community just decided to throw itself a birthday party.

They're going to meet each other face to face.

Marshall:

wow! how long has the community been online?

Lisa:

One year on Feb 21st.

There are 300 registered users

Marshall:

and there had never been any face to face before?

Lisa:

Well, H2otown is for a geographic community

so some of the members have preexisting Real Life relationships.

That's particularly true of the crowd that is involved in local politics

and uses H2otown as a watercooler for talking about local politics.

But there are also a "new" crowd of unknowns

people who had no prior connection to civic life

who are now writing posts about things like branch libraries

In particular, I think of one member, Glen Mohr

Who's a very smart guy, and discovered H2otown and uses it as a canvas for his great pieces

which contain tons of research.

He crunches numbers on things like school test scores and comes up with interesting results

and writes about them.

And this is someone who probably wasn't well known in town prior to having a place to put his stuff in H2otown.

Marshall:

What sorts of contributions have other regular players made to the site?

Lisa:

I love the contributions of WaterTownCrier (whose real name is Karl Neugebauer)

He hadn't been blogging before, but has been a pillar of the local historical society

and the Watertown Art Association of amateur artists

and now he has his own blog

and he's been producing videos for H2otown

very funny short things

like the one about how every day people are parked on the lawn of our high school under a big No Parking sign

He sets them to music, has title screens, etc.

I think he's always been a funny guy with lots of interest in tools -- cameras, video cameras, etc. -- but now he has sort of a framework, and people to share things with.

Also, last year the president of the Town Council opened a blog at H2otown.

She was turned out in the last election, but now she liveblogs Town Council meetings, and it is hilarious -- and educational

like having an expert commentator tell you what to watch for.

Her name is Pam Piantedosi, she writes under her own name.

Marshall:

is there a secret to the site's success with users?

Lisa:

I'm not sure -- one thing I've learned

is that I'm a very, very bad predictor of what will be popular on the site.

This is one thing that I think would be instructive for any publisher

is to look at per-story popularity, and which stories get people talking.

Marshall:

What can be done with that information?

Lisa:

We think we know what's important, and what's interesting, but we're fooling ourselves.

Well, for my own part, I allow the community's interest to inform where I'm going with the site.

They point me to things of interest that I wouldn't

have discovered on my own.

But you asked about secrets to success.

I think the main thing I would impart to anyone trying to create a community site is that they have to be committed to rolling the rock uphill indefinitely.

For a very long time, I was the only contributor to the site, and I did between 3 and 8 items a day, and I tried to do that every day.

Marshall:

How long did it take to build momentum with other contributors?

Lisa:

It took 6-7 months.

I'm very lucky in that I enjoyed blogging, so I was willing to do it on my own indefinitely.

I felt very strongly that I should, from the beginning, allow contributions to the site

But I was willing to do it on my own forever.

Marshall:

Wow, that's a lot of work on your part! But you feel like it's paid off?

Lisa:

Yes, absolutely.

I feel connected to an actual physical place on the Earth in a way that I haven't since I was a kid.

Marshall:

Why was it so important to you? What was your inspiration?

Lisa:

Well, I had resigned from a fascinating but very high-pressure job.

(I enjoyed the pressure to a certain extent -- I liked the excitement)

But when I had children, I found that the constant travel, and the sleep deprivation involved in raising small children, was really hurting me.

I woke up one day with this absolute conviction that what I was doing was shortening my life.

Many people in my family are Type A types -- who work hard and die early.

My own father died at age 60.

But once I stopped, I had no idea what to do with myself.

I was like a man who gets a gold watch at 65

and looks out upon a vista of rounds of golf stretching off towards death.

Only I was female, 35, and didn't play golf.

Grim.

So I started many projects, of which H2otown was only one.

I was inspired by sites like Baristanet [of Essex County, NJ] and UniversalHub [Boston]

and I thought, I'm the perfect person to do that.

Marshall:

How do users contribute to H2otown, can anyone post to the site?

Lisa:

Yes, anyone can post.

Every registered user gets their own blog.

Each blog has a unique URL with that user's blog posts, photos, calendar entries.

Whatever they post, I can push to the front page.

With some users, I've given them the ability to promote their own posts.

Marshall:

And it's done in Drupal.

Lisa:

Yes.

But I promote almost everything everyone writes to the front page.

Also, we have the H2otown Newswire (http://h2otown.info/aggregator)

which shows a live-updated view of headlines from bloggers who live in Watertown.

Marshall:

Is the ability to syndicate off site feeds part of Drupal or do you use something else?

Lisa:

No, it's a core module of Drupal.

I think it's very important to encourage a local blogosphere

and be agnostic about whether stuff comes from blogs on H2otown or blogs that residents build and maintain on their own.

We're very lucky to have some really talented bloggers who have their own weblogs.

Marshall:

And those appear in the newswire section?

Lisa:

Yes.

When I find a blogger who lives in Watertown, I add their blog's feed to the Newswire.

I do have some exceptions -- I don't add blogs by teens to the Newswire.

Marshall:

Any push back on that?

Lisa:

No

I have a ton of RSS subscriptions -- and RSS based search feeds

I end up seeing tons of teen blogs griping about their algebra teacher,

but I don't really want to "out" them to the grownups.

Marshall:

good call there

Lisa:

One thing I do hope to do is that our high school does not have a newspaper

and I would love to host such a publication.

I think that having kids learn online publishing would actually be of greater value than publishing a paper on paper

and cheaper, too

Marshall:

Why would it be of greater value?

Lisa:

Because online publication is going to grow, and newspapers are shrinking.

 

Super search and RSS for research

 

Marshall:

Can you tell me about your local search query feeds?

Lisa:

I use gada.be and Monitor This

to create OPML files from 20-30 search services

that will produce RSS feeds for search queries. <

So if I have a Monitor This OPML file,

it will poll about 20 services, which will kick out any new results for the word "watertown"

I also have a bunch for names, company names, local elected representatives.

Marshall:

Oh my goodness, so you're not just doing Yahoo news and Technorati searches for "Watertown."

Lisa:

No, although I started with just Technorati and Feedster

but I've graduated to the "RSS Elephant Gun."

So for each search term I'm interested in

I have a folder in my RSS reader

and when I open them up, they show me any new results for that term across a few dozen search engines.

The problem with Watertown, of course, is that there are a lot of places called Watertown.

Marshall:

And you find that using 20 to 30 search services gets results, the usefulness doesn't fade after 4 or 5?

Lisa:

Well, one thing I like about the multiservices is that they search kind of odd places that I wouldn't have thought of, like eBay and Amazon.

I love seeing weird Watertown memorabilia on eBay

Marshall:

That's awesome!

Lisa:

and I find out about local authors via the Amazon search sometimes.

And occasionally, coupons through the shopping search engines.

And then I tell the readers about the coupons, books, and weird memorabilia.

Basically I have a giant antenna

Marshall:

Would you be willing to share your list of search engines that you use for this with readers? Perhaps other folks looking to start something like this?

Lisa:

I pick up a lot of static, but I try to receive as much as possible.

Let me open my RSS reader

So OK, the MonitorThis OPML file for "watertown" searches the following engines for "watertown":

Blogdigger

Blogg.de

Blogmarks

del.icio.us

Feedsfarm

Feedster

Findarticles

Flickr (which is fabulous)

Furl

Google Blog Search

Google News

MSN News

MSN Search

NewsNetPlus

Plazoo

Search4RSS

Technorati

Topix.net

WiredNews

YahooNews

YahooSearch

Wow.

Some of those I don't think I've ever visited the site itself

Marshall:

I've never searched with Wow. before [joking]

that is a lot

so the above list is more than what's on Monitor This?

Lisa:

Yes.

Marshall:

Which I've never seen either, btw, thanks so much!

Lisa:

Gada.Be has some overlap, but searches some different stuff (including travel sites and white pages directories)

White pages are interesting because sometimes it kicks out listings that are for new local businesses.

Of course, the problem with this approach is that it

creates tons of false positives.

Marshall:

Like republished feed items?

Lisa:

There are a lot of places named "Watertown"

some of which have a larger population.

I now know way more than I should about Watertown SD and Watertown NY

Marshall:

You don't include MA in your queries?

Lisa:

no, because people blogging never say Watertown, MA

I just take the hit for the team

Marshall:

So what feed reader do you use to read these puppies?

Lisa:

I use FeedDemon

which I love.

It's a Windows client-side reader

meaning you download and install a program

It's very powerful and fast.

Because of the multiplier on the search feeds, I subscribe to about 1,300 feeds

but only about 400 are for H2otown,

and of those a very tiny minority produce results on a given day.

Of individual feeds I subscribe to -- feeds associated with a local blogger's blog, or our local newspaper, there are probably about 60-75.

Marshall:

And do you use del.icio.us to save the good results?

Lisa:

Yes!

I use del.icio.us all the time.

Most of the web is not RSS enabled, of course.

So del.icio.us is the way I save links to sites I want to monitor on a daily basis.

My H2otown links are at

http://del.icio.us/lisatmh/h2otown/

Marshall:

do you scrape feeds?

Lisa:

Very rarely.

I find the results aren't that great, and a few scrapers I've used have suddenly shut down.

It's a drag to set all the sites up again.

I probably only monitor 30-40 standalone sites, though.

Then, of course, there is that strange and wonderful thing people call

"Real Life."

I get a surprising amount of stuff just driving around in my car

or walking around in my neighborhood.

Marshall:

How do you deal with information overload? We'll have readers crying at this point in the interview.

Lisa:

I have to say, I don't feel overloaded.

And I don't think it's because I'm superhuman.

When I load my feeds, I see one long page in a browser, reverse chronological order.

I just scan it and pick out the interesting bits. Takes about ten minutes.

Marshall:

Do you read all the new items?

Lisa:

One of the problems with the implementation of RSS in many RSS readers

is that many RSS readers use an "email" paradigm

so that users, subconsciously almost, feel that they have to read every new item.

That's wrong.

Marshall:

Spiritually wrong, even.

Lisa:

I really recommend that people use a reader that allows a "newspaper" or "News River"

display, so that the experience is like a newspaper.

Generally, we don't read every story in the newspaper.

Marshall:

Yay for rivers of news and scan-what-you-can!

Lisa:

We flip the pages, skim, and then pick a few items to read.

But RSS readers often make users feel as though they've been delivered the New York Times every day, and they're not "finished"

until they read every article.

I think RSS readers that encourage that idea really set up the wrong contract between a blogger and their readers.

Blogs (and the web) is largely a free-will gift, and we can take what we need and leave the rest.

Marshall:

Do you prioritize some feeds over others?

Lisa:

Well, I have about 12 folders in my aggregator, each of which has some number of feeds.

And I scan some folders with more frequency than others.

Basically, I've created a number of "news rivers"

for my different interests.

I have an H2otown river (and a few tributaries)

Some rivers of blogfriends

An OPML river [on the topic of OPML, see part 2 of this interview - to be posted soon], etc.

And then some lower-priority interests, like science, mental health policy and research

I'm also interested in things that produce RSS feeds that are not websites, blogs, or news organizations.

I get an RSS feed from a buoy in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Massachusetts.

Marshall:

No!

Lisa:

It tells me the hourly wave height, periodicity, and wind speed off my favorite kayak launch point.

In the same folder I have the NOAA mariner's forecast for the same area.

So if I feel like kayaking, I open that folder and see if I can go, or if the conditions are too dangerous for open-ocean work.

Yes, the buoy is part of the GoMOOS program (I have no idea what that stands for)

but the buoys transmit data to satellites, which NOAA puts on web pages as well as produces feeds.

It's mostly about having realtime access to maritime conditions.

Marshall:

OMG, do you have any other examples of things like that??

Lisa:

I wish I did.

Marshall:

Yah, that is cracking me up.

Lisa:

I think there's going to be a big growth of nonhuman entities producing RSS.

I would love it if my home's oil tank had an RSS feed

then it could tell me when I needed to refill.

Maybe in the same folder I could have a feed of prices at local oil dealers.

RSS is a very efficient way of transmitting data

Right now we transmit things to mobile devices using the Web, but that's very problematic.

RSS would be a lot simpler.

Marshall:

I use immedi.at a lot to get IM messages whenever select RSS feeds update, sometimes my partner asks who's IMing me and I tell her it's just a robot that loves feeds.

Lisa:

Heh!

 

Future goals for community inclusion

 

Also, the Perkins Institute for the Blind [alma mater of Hellen Keller] is in Watertown, and RSS feeds are great for people with visual disabilities.

it's a lot easier for their screen reader to parse them, because all the graphical crud is gone.

In terms of outreach, there are three communities I'd like to get deeper into

-- our large community of blind and visually impaired residents

-- our large community of residents of Armenian descent

-- kids, particularly junior high and high school age kids

for the outreach to the blind, I'm hoping to have H2otown output braille.

Ideally, we'd have an RSS feed with Braille enclosures -- kind of like podcasting, except serving Braille files.

Marshall:

Are there people doing that?

I suppose an enclosure is an enclosure, right?

Lisa:

I got the idea from the St. Louis World Journal [ed. I think Lisa meant the Lawrence Journal World?]

they have a little "Braille" link right under the "Print this" link.

the STL has a really great community outreach/citizen journalism initiative.

Yes, enclosures are enclosures; technically it can be any kind of file. [not just podcasts as is most common]

Some people are experimenting with distributing patches and antivirus updates via RSS

many programs that are not RSS aggregators now "speak" rss.

Marshall:

How hard is it to get content converted into Braille?

Lisa:

I've heard that XBox Live scores use RSS.

If you have text, it's easy.

The one thing is that the generator is fairly pricey. I am considering applying for a grant to buy the software and get help from the vendor with implementation.

Even the most popular screen reader for the blind is also expensive -- $300 a pop.

Marshall:

That sounds so much cooler than text-to-computerized voice.

Lisa:

Well, from what I hear, that's what they really prefer.

Marshall:

Voice?

Lisa:

No, Braille

because it's faster, and as with text for a sighted person, you can browse, scan, skip, go back.

I do think text to speech is interesting too, though.

Although in terms of sound and pictures, I think H2otown will have more audio and video in the next year.

That's something a site like H2otown can offer that a newspaper has a hard time doing.

Marshall:

Why is that?

Lisa:

(I'm not sure why they don't do it on the web, but I know of few community newspapers that do).

I think it's because the physical paper is the moneymaker

so there's a reluctance to do something labor-intensive on the web.

And audio and video are labor intensive, no doubt about it.

That's going to get better, I think.

Marshall:

That or everyone will start releasing audio in the style of morning coffee notes.

Lisa:

Yes. I love MCN

And I should note that I would not be doing what I am doing if I had not met Dave.

Lisa Williams is the founder of H2otown.info, blogs about the emerging medium OPML community at OPML Fan and maintains a personal blog. Readers here may be especially interested in Lisa’s heartwarming 4 Minutes About Podcasting, an excellent introduction to that medium. Watch for part II of this interview coming soon, where we’ll talk about OPML - the reason I contacted Lisa for an interview in the first place!

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