VooDoo Projects

What has changed is the more organised structure around them - specific, structured groups, dedicated wiki pages, organsised places to post agendas and transcripts, participation guidelines, a fixed calendar (if you have Gmail btw - its a great idea to import that calandar to your own gmail account like I have done - great for keeping track of upcoming hours). Plus potentially adiitional supporting channels such as a Twitter feed, forum etc that are there if you want to use them. There are no more 'structured groups'. As we established - there is just a open call as far as user groups are concerned and anyhone that shows up is a user group member. The fixed google calendar and e-mail notifications have been available for years. And of course, twotter and the forum suppoert has been there for quite some time also. We have been using Blondin Linden's wiki page to post agenda items for several months now. So really, there are no major changes with the introduction of User Groups except that User Group meetings will no longer be weekly but monthly (according to whch ever Linden User Group Leader's decision). This is a major announcement and all Lindens that are now User group Leaders were included in anydiscussion about these changes and when these changes would take place. It is not plausable that Brook was not informed weeks, if not months ago, about the User group changes and could have written up her 'Foucs Group' proposal at that time, created a google form to recruit residents and make the entire 'Focus Group' initiative apart of the User Group announcement. This way, she is just sneaking in her focus group inisiati8ve where she has already hand picked participants and closed the meeting to everyone else under the guise of it being apart of the User Group initiativre. It's existence, I imagine, is covered under this comment from the blog post here: "It’s up to the User Group leader and the core Resident team to determine how they best communicate with one another". I guess It's possible other group leads may decide to run similar additional focus groups, and some may not. So draw up this huge program and then these few sentences allow the Linden User Group Leader to 'opt-out' of it and just hand picked people to attend unscheduled, un-advertised private meetings. Brooke is being open and transparent about it and giving everyone the opportunity to be involved. No, that is not what has occurred. She sent messages to the people she wanted to attend a closed meeting. I know she says she will, eventually, create a mechanism so that everyone has a chance to apply to attend these closed meetings (focus groups) - but that has yet to happen. Again, being a glass half full sort of person, I would say LL has gone from a few confusing weekly meetings that covered muddled topics, had a tendency to get derailed and left people feeling frustrated to a number of more structured meetings that have a supporting system around them and should help to achieve better results (plus the potential for some additional focus groups to allow even more specific issues to be targetted). I do not believe that focusing on the un-announced focus group agenda is the best way to go for the commerce team. And since the Commerce Usr Group Leader set the precedent that all Linden User Group Leaders can just ignore the User Group initiative (which does not really set any new standards at all) and just hand-pick residents - then the User Group program has been scrapped before it even got going.

Everything on that calandar is an open User Group that anyone can attend, including the monthly Marketplace User Groups you will see on that calandar (that is run by Brooke). In that respect no-one needs to sign up or apply for any User Group. You just go along and attend. I'm not sure that makes sense. If anyone can attaend and anyone that shows up is considered a User Group Member - then what exactly is the changes that 'User Groups' have created? The only precendent Brooke has set is periodic focus groups in addition to the fully public User Group she runs for the Marketplace. These focus groups are on very specific topics and, as is clearly shown on the links I provided, Brooke fully intends to make them as inclusive as possible, rotating the participants. She has clearly stated that she intends to have a process where people can express an interest in attending a focus group soon. Brooke has also clearly stated that all transcripts of these focus groups will be posted, as they already have been for one that she ran. This was a major announcement - and it focused on 'User Groups'. For there now to be these exclusive 'focus goups' (that were never discussed at any time) seems odd. I am wondering why each Linden User Group Leader can develop their own way of recruiting and screening people that want to attend 'focus groups' and whythese exclusive meetings with hand-picked residents is now going to be the allowed. Brooke's focus groups are no different to focus groups companies hold day-in, day-out. The select a group of their customers to discuss, evaluate and give thoughts on specific products and services becuase it is completely impractical for them to get focussed discussion from every single one of their customers. Well, it is not impossible if you know how to run an open meeting. What these private chats do is allow Brooke to ignore people at the open 'user group' meetings and allows her to steer the conversations and conclusions at here hand-picked 'focus group' meeting. If anything, the public User Groups that LL are running are something way above what most other companies would do. Most companies might hold select focus groups, may have areas (like forums etc) where customers can give feedback, but how many companies do you know who offer completely open, public sessions for their customers on at least a monthly basis (and in some cases more frequently). But actually, the communty meetings (aka User Groups) is going to be taking a back seat to these focus groups that will be exclusive to a few selected individuals. Brooke now says that User Group meetings are monthly (no longer weekly). This means that meetings that were open to everyone will no longer be weekly but monthly. Then the rest of her time interfacing with the community will be private 'focus group' meetings. So LL has gone from predominantly weekly open meetings to private meetings that have no set criteria for participation and no set timetable.

I understand how to access the transcripst of these User group meetings. I would like to know how one becomes a member of these user groups - before you said that anyone can just show up at any open meeting and be considered a member of the user group. BUT Brooke Linden the User Group Leader of the Maturity User Group hand-picked the residents for her User Group and then the meeting was not open to everyone that wanted to attend. Brooke also told some residents that she will be putting some volunteer mechanism in place 'soon'. It looks as though the overall master plan does not dictate to the Linden in charge of the User Groups how to allow residents to become user group members and the Linden can choose anyone they want to populate their user groups and there is not process in place for this to happen. All User Groups are open to the public, including Markeptlace ones. If you look at the calandar on the Wiki page you will see Marketplace User Groups listed too. Anyone can attend those. There is nothng to 'join' here - simply go along and attend. However, as is stated in the Wiki, and group lead can have alternate arrangements too if they work best for them. What Brooke has decided to do (rightly in my opinion) is to hold periodic 'focus groups' in addition to the open User Groups. She discusses that here: http://blogs.secondlife.com/message/611589#611589 The targetted discussions are designed to get some serious, focussed discussion going which is easier to do in smaller groups. The transcripts of these groups will always be posted, as the one's for Brooke's initial focus group have been. https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/User:Brooke_Linden/Maturity_User_Group_2_10_2011 Brooke has stated that participants in these focus groups will be chosen based on a variety of metrics to ensure that people with a storng interest in a particular topic are involved, but that people will also be chosen at random and rotated to ensure that as many people as possible can be involved in these focus groups. More on that here: http://blogs.secondlife.com/message/613040#613040 I can assure you that, as far as I can tell, Brooke is very keen to make sure people are rotated in these focus groups to ensure that as many as possible can participate. I say that based on my personal experience. Brooke invited me to her initial focus group on Marketplace maturity ratings. I got back to her and said I'd be happy to attend but that I may have more to say about future focus group topics as the maturity ratings didn't hugely affect me. I didn't want to take up a place at that User Group if someone else would have more constructive input on the topic than me (I'd like to hope everyone considers Brooke's focus groups this way. Show an interst if you have lots of constructive input on the topic, but don't take up a space just because you can.) Anyway, based on that, Brooke and I amicably agreed that I should sit this one out. Brooke told me that she wants to rotate people as much as possible and it would be unfair for me to attend this one and also be very keen to attend, say, the next one where I may have a stronger interest. I was perfectly fine with that and agree with the process entirely. The only thing I would imagine may prevent someone from being involved in any User Group would be repeated none compliance with the Participation Guidelines. Some people seem to think this is some sort of censorship, but I don't see that in the slightest. What I see is a strong desire to make communications with the lab meaningful and constructive. As long as participants are not rude, insulting, harassing etc I believe we will be able to communicate with the Lab better than ever before. I really hope LL are serious about this desire and that they will take action against the few who do not want to adhere to the guidelines. More to the point, I hope we all as customers recognise this opportunity for constructive dialogue and abide by the guidelines so that they essentially become a non issue. Criticise and even have heated debate on a topic, but keep it civil and respectable and we might actually achieve results. Saying "I think LL policy abc is flawed and doing it way xyz is better because ' has more chance of achieving results than saying "Policy abc is just stuipd! LL don't know what they are doing and are just f'ing mad!" The latter is the type of thing that is going to be against the guidelines, and really doesn't achieve anything anyway. Bear in mind though that both LL and other attendees may have a differing point of view even when you give constructive criticism. That, I think, is the whole point of this communication strategy. Recognising that not everyone has the same opinion about things in SL and that it's a fine balancing act between taking into account all opinions but coming to a solution that broadly meets the needs of a wide user base (and also still mets company policy - bear in mind that LL always has to take into account a whole host of legal impications and has a board of directors to consider in most things they do too!) As for the reference to 'core resident team' - I was wondering where that came from but now I see where it was reference (below). I think there are some wording issues that are causing confusion here, but I don't think 'core resident team' refers to any particular defined group that is chosen or has particular tasks. I believe in this context 'core resident team' merely means anyone who is involved in the User Groups. In other words, what that statement below is saying is this: "It's up to the LL staff member responsible for the group (i.e. the User Group leader) and the residents who attend (i.e. the core resident team) to agree amongst themselves how best to run the user group" That would, I imaigine, includes things such as whether they have a formal agenda, whether they do it on a more ad hoc basis and just fire out questions etc. Most User Groups are public and may include any or all of the following: inworld meetings, JIRA sections, a Twitter feed, an SL Forum, and/or an SL email list. It’s up to the User Group leader and the core Resident team to determine how they best communicate with one another. The discussions should be open, direct, and be more forward-looking and focus more on how we can improve your user experience. So, to summarise, there is no requirement to 'join' any User Group - just go along to one of the inworld meetings There may be cases, such as with Commerce, where additional focus groups are held and Brooke is working to ensure that they are as inclusive as possible while at the same time ensuring that they achieve constructive results. At least, that's how I interpret it all. If I've got anything wrong I'm sure Amanda or someone will correct me When this new User Group Program was announced there was no mention that Linden User Group Leaders would be able to hand-pick and exclude people that wanted to attend without having a clear criteria made available to the residents. Obviously not everyone can just show up at any meeting and attend - because Brooke has set the precedent that any Linden can choose whomever they want to attend the meetings. The calendar does not indicate which meetings are closed focus groups and which are open to the public. And there is no published way for any resident to apply to become a member of a User Group (a simple google form could be used for this purpose). I assume that Amanda Linden purposely did not set a standard on developing user groups so the Lindens in charge of user groups could choose whom they wanted to interface with. And that's too bad. The idea of community meetings being replaced with the hand-picked few in private meetings does not sit well with me. I really hope tp hear back from Amanda Linden (since this is her program) and find out how residents can really become members of user groups. 'Just show up' is obviously not the answer - as Brooke Linden demonstrates.

VooDoo--Good question. The User Group leader is a Linden and is clearly listed on the User Group wiki page. And, if you click on the User Group name, you’ll see the agendas, transcripts, etc. These groups are just getting started, so many of them are not filled in yet--but they will be over time. And, not sure what the Core Resident Team is either.... Not sure where that came up. - Amanda I understand how to access the transcripst of these User group meetings. I would like to know how one becomes a member of these user groups - before you said that anyone can just show up at any open meeting and be considered a member of the user group. BUT Brooke Linden the User Group Leader of the Maturity User Group hand-picked the residents for her User Group and then the meeting was not open to everyone that wanted to attend. Brooke also told some residents that she will be putting some volunteer mechanism in place 'soon'. It looks as though the overall master plan does not dictate to the Linden in charge of the User Groups how to allow residents to become user group members and the Linden can choose anyone they want to populate their user groups and there is not process in place for this to happen. Questions: 1.Will there be a set procedure that every User group Leader Linden will be mandated to follow and will this procedure be published so residents know how to join ANY User group? 2. Does this new system indicate that only those in the user group can attend these meetings? 3. How do we know which meetings are open to the public and which are just open to residents chosen for the user groups? ____________________ I mentioned The Core Resident Team because it was mentioned in the original announcement Most User Groups are public and may include any or all of the following: inworld meetings, JIRA sections, a Twitter feed, an SL Forum, and/or an SL email list. It’s up to the User Group leader and the core Resident team to determine how they best communicate with one another. The discussions should be open, direct, and be more forward-looking and focus more on how we can improve your user experience. This seems to be a layer between the Linden Group Leader and the residents in the user group. Questions: 4. How is the Core Resident Team chosen? 5. What are the specif tasks assigned to the members of the Core Resident Team? _____________________ I am really concerned that the User Group recruitment model is not mentioned so the Linden Group Leaders can use any method they would like to fill their resident user groups and then close the groups to other residents. Brooke Linden was even sending private IMs to some merchants to join her User Group. We have to have a open fair procedure in place for residents to join these user groups.

VooDoo/Nathaniel/Medhue/Ann/Mike--Great question! Clearly an oversight on my part for not mentioning it earlier. To join a User Group, you just pop into their public meetings listed on the User Group page. No sign up sheets and no hassle. And, no special passwords. And, Ann--glad you like the calendar! Thank for your response Amanda. I understand now that we go to any public meeting on the calendar and register with the Linden in charge as a USER GROUP MEMBER. The original announcement also mentions a USER GROUP LEADER that will publicly post agendas and notes from each meeting that may include an audio recording or a text chat log. QUESTION: Is the User Group Leader a resident or a Linden? If this volunteer position is filled by a resident - how is that person chosen? And will there be a seperate site that these User group Leaders access to post transcripts or will the Second Life Wiki page of each Linden running each group be used for this purpose? Also there was mention of another seperate group entitled CORE RESIDENT TEAM that will work with the User Group Leader to determine how they best communicate with one another. QUESTION: What defines the CORE RESIDENT TEAM? And how does a resident apply to become a member of the Core Resident Team?

The Linden Lab Official:Community Participation Guidelines do not mention how to become a member of a user group or how to become a member of a core resident group. I found no mention of this anywhere. What is the procedure to become members of these groups?