Meeting2007–04
Milwaukee Urban Agriculture Network
Minutes
4:00 Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Bucketworks
1319 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive
1. Introduction & Check-ins
Julilly 15 min 1/2 min each: name, org (if any) and special interest/why you are here
See And Please Edit the sign-in page for this meeting: Meeting 04-2007 Sign-In?
2. Getting & Staying Connected: 60 min
So much is going on in Milwaukee we need to get connected to it.
Web Page/Wiki lesson: Tegan Dowling, Mary Lou Lamonda, Nicoles Lightwine and Penick and Howard Leu
Intro, Mary Lou: group got together to determine how it would be set up. Wiki means “quick” in Polynesian. The Home page to be clean and attractive. It can only be edited by an administrator. Tegan will take us through the navigation of the rest of the site. Log in and add calendar info, profile of organization, project information. Also to discuss permission and other aspects. Tegan has put a lot of time into it and went way beyond the call of duty. It’s a wonderful start.
Tegan: This is what the network is about, and collaborating to create the website has been an example of that. The idea of the website is that it is quick and easy to edit with the password. Some Wikis do not use passwords, and that actually works well too because people typically don’t mess with other people’s stuff. Wiki tracks all the changes that have been made, so you can keep it how you want it. It can be messed up and fixed again.
What a visitor will see without logging in is the site without the “Edit” and other tabs. Will have links, discussion page, calendar. Also Members will have profiles of their organizations — each have a page of their own design.
Login: one password, given at the meeting, will be used by all members of MUAN to edit almost all pages of the wiki.
Once logged in, the tabs become visible. The magic button is EDIT. Get over your fear of this button. You can do it!
The History button is what makes it safe to edit the pages. It keeps track of all changes saved so changes can be undone. When you make a change you have to enter an Author name in order to save the change. You have thus changed the website. It’s like having a pen that lets you write on the internet.
Once logged in, the Right-hand SideBar also shows up, along with “Edit” and the other tabs. This SideBar provides quick easy links to things you need while editing. Editing tools. Add a new page in the profiles by typing its name in the “Create new page” box. Ex. Urban Agriculture. This takes you to the new page in edit mode. You can cut and paste info in there. Good information to have on a Profile page is Mission statement etc., and a link to the organization’s website, or contact information. Look at existing examples.
Formatting: The “!” is formatting which makes a heading. Single exclamation is largest heading, add more ! get smaller headings. Font and color of headings are automatic for the site. There are tips below the edit box, and then below that is a preview screen.
Most important: Don’t worry about formatting — put the text and info in there and we can go back and add the formatting. Formatting is the last thing to worry over. Content is what matters.
If you are the type of person who cares about details like grammar, for example, get into the Wiki and fix it up! We need you! People can wander around the site and make it better.
If there’s disagreement about wording or grammar, you can go back and forth until someone gets worn out. Wiki creates a record of the argument. Also can add comments “Summary” about the changes you are making when you save an edit. The “History” tab shows all the changes for that particular page. The “Recent Changes” links on the right-hand SideBar show changes to the Wiki in general. Someone could edit a Recent Changes page, but that would be recorded in the page’s history. Page histories can only be changed administratively.
If you are not listed in the member profile please go in and add your organization. You can build more pages with your profile pages. If a member organization needs more than one page, we can create a group of pages with its own HomePage and SideMenu. Tegan is looking for a group to do this. One example on Milwaukee Renaissance site is a “mini-site” with many pages. See Bob Graf. A group of pages creates a mini-website. His is the “Diary of the Worm” — a Growing Power home version.
This can also be done for projects as well. Once we have one project-group like this, it can then be used as an example for others.
Suggestion: have members linked to the organization site. Most are related to an organization. The project pages will capture the synergy in the group between different network groups and members.
Wiki is an excellent tool for conducting the work of a project. It eliminates the emails and word doc and tracking those changes. On the Wiki the information is in one place and everyone can access on the world wide web. Web browser lets us access everything instead of having to worry about servers, filing cabinets. Worry about those things does not help with the mission of the project.
Instead of talking about changes just change it. If not sure what to change, you can have a discussion thread. We then move the outcome of the discussion to the Wiki page and change the document. Or just change something to see how it would look. Feel liberated to change it, because you can always put it back. Things continue to change over time and sometimes something that has been removed is true again and you can find the previous material in the History. A living history and repository of information.
Calendar: click on a date and go to edit mode for that date’s page. Enter info about an event then save it. you can copy and paste it from another wiki entry. Find a page where what you want to do has already been done and click edit and find how it was done. You can use existing pages as templates. Also use the other buttons for formatting. See the Calendar’s HomePage for the link to instructions on how to enter two events on the same day — do not leave any empty lines or spaces between the two.
Links: put the page name in brackets — find an example somewhere to see how it’s done.
Wiki sites are like a plant — start with stem then add a change which is a branch and then link somewhere else and then it goes somewhere else. It is an organic growth process.
Adding Images: Each images in the left side bar is added on its own page. Once you are logged in there is a side menu random image link underneath the left side photos. This takes you to instructions to add the picture. It will appear in the random photos on the left side. Learning by Example. Two-step process to create a link for where to show the picture. The second step is the uploading of the photo.
See FAQs about editing digital images and uploading them.
Getting Help:
The last tab in the row, on the upper right, is “wiki Help”. The wiki Help page has a link to the WikiSandbox; this is where you can experiment with Wiki editing. Also a link to RequestAssistance, which will email James and Tegan for help. There is the FAQ. MarkupQuickReference gives more formatting tips and helps. Also see TipsForEditing and the Documentation Index for more info on adding more to the Wiki site. The wiki is keyboard-friendly. Do not have to use the mouse a lot.
Mailing List: Members will be subscribed, new members can self-subscribe to the list. Will let you send one email to the whole list. Also get updates on changes to Wiki site.
Address is mkeurbanag.org; you can add a group of pages and then add it to the address with a slash. ex. mkeurbanag.org/UrbanAquaculture (Case Matters, after the slash! mkeurbanag.org/urbanaquaculture would NOT work)
Each person has information to share. Wiki is a fantastic tool to use to share it. Collaborate with folks to supplement and complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
3. Interest Groups
Sharon Adams
Groups will get together in real time and determine what the work and projects of those groups will be. They can share their projects at the social meetings during the odd months of the year. We will get back as a feedback loop, and the Wiki can also help the work of the interest groups - Order out of Chaos or “Chaordic”, self-organizing.
3.1 Policy
Jullily, Erin K., Jessie, Nicole, Young, Dave B., Martha, Sharon, Stephanie, Sister Margaret Troy., Juantia Lara.
3.2 Education
Janet, Margaret, John, Linda, Martha, Howard, James, Ron, Jeff, Young, Nicole, Jessie, Erin
3.3 Garden Clubs
James Godsil, David, Janet, Linda, Camille, Melissa, Sister Margaret Troy,
3.4 Green Roofs and Walls - Green Roof Convention in Minn, and Chicago. What are the best plants for green roofs. Has econ. implications.
Jullily, Howard, Margaret, Olde, Janet, Linda,
3.5 Cooperatives
Sharon, Young, Margaret, Ron, John, Olde, Mary Lou
3.6 Aquaculture
John, Young, Howard, Ron
3.7 Green Collar Jobs Econ. Dev.- Sharing Green Prosperity
Nicole, Sharon, Ron, Mary Lou, Janet, Margaret, Julily
4. Next Meetings:
Meetings will be on the 2nd Tuesday of the month. Alternating social meetings with the formal meetings; always at 4pm.
Bucketworks is looking for a new space. As we find our new home to we invite MUAN to our table and be a part of the family.
4.1 May Social Gathering/Tuesday May 8 Timbuktu: who plan?
Sister Margret and Juanita will be doing a presentation on the Flowering Tree on indigenous gardening and culture based on the tradition of Black Elk. We will give them some space on the wiki site for this.
4.2 June formal meeting/Tuesday June 12: where?
Location Milwaukee Public Market will be open to public and use it for meetings. they have kitchen. Ron Dutch will talk with them about reserving the market for the meeting. it can accommodate this group.
5. Old Business- check the wiki
5.1 Summer Documenting Proposal- please self-document and share it for talking about the network and what we do by tracking and connecting the projects. This will give us a muscle with the city to get urban ag to have a permanent solution. Please start this as you start your projects gardens growing seasons.
Wiki can be used for journaling similar to the discussion forum. Tegan will walk you through the process of setting up the special journal pages.
5.2 Jan Christianson
Had to leave.
See back of agenda- security food coalition. It has many members and resources and web pages. individual and organization members.
Young has positive experience with it. Email is large but questions are answered. It takes nothing but joining to be a member. Urban ag at a local level. Minimal fee for $35 there may be a group charge which can be covered.
5.3 Spin Workshops/Wally report
Janet Gamble- small plot intensive farming trademark methodology production oriented food growing in small space which is applicable to urban ag. had workshop three weekends ago with the farmers who developed it from Saskatchewan Canada. they presented their materials and this workshop was used as a launching pad for implementing it in Milwaukee as a model for anyone; lots of walnut way folks, scholarship people from all over; last day was spent at Growing Power — people loved it had a great response. What was missing were the social component and political side of maneuvering urban ag in cities and addressing feeding lower-income folks SPIN does not address those aspects and it spurred Michel Fields to improve the workshops to address those issues and the SPIN will volunteer and come back feedback from other cities; people with stories and amazing work in communities and taking on the world and what the challenges are and the isolation people feel. People thought Milwaukee was light- years ahead of big cities like LA. This group MUAN has a lot of power because we are doing what other folks in cities want to do; they want more training from us and we must stand behind this and keep working
MF has videos of the trainings.
5.4 Chicago Green Festival
Saturday and Sunday the 21st. Demonstration and lectures from grass fed cattle ranching, electric car, coops from around the country. Lot of money is now behind the green movement, facilitating different organizations, and helping small farms.
small fee to attend $19 for two days
Speakers diet for a small planet, John Perkins, also discussion groups with green groups in Chicago,
Last weekend of April and first 3 days of May, green roof convention in Minneapolis, it’s technical, green walls, green roofs 101 and higher levels.
We need a strong city development to say we are doing this. Policy group we need your.
Sustainable Pathways for SE WI movies and meetings at UEC see calendar.
Brian Vanderwald with the M7 group for the economic plan for the counties with a strong focus on green building and urban agriculture and aquaculture. Ron is consulting with them on including the seven counties with urban ag — this came as a result of the MUAN group and the orgs it represents. See Greater Milwaukee Committee for info. Check out Milwaukee Renaissance for lots of amazing info
6. New Business
announcements, jobs, conventions
everyone must post their info on the calender edit you know how go for it. The scribe is tired.
7. For next time
7.1 Add to the discussion thread.
Mission: clarity and brevity are important, and being committed to what we say we will do; it should move us forward and lead to positive advancement.
8. Adjournment — Bucketworks tour/social time
