Active members of Joomla Chicago will not be surprised that the house was packed when Avery Cohen and Ken Novak of web Internet marketing strategy, implementation, and web analytics firm Metrist Partners gave a seminar this morning sponsored by the Evanston Chamber of Commerce. What many come as a surprise is the high pitch of interest in web development, online business, content management systems (CMS) and epublishing business in Evanston.

Avery and Ken were peppered with questions from members of the audience, including advertising/creative promotion provider Linda Frothingham from Frothingham Communications, writer/editor Jim Morris from Tagline Jim, and film/video producer John McCarthy from InterImage, about how to improve Return on Investment (ROI) using web analytics. Business people like attorney David Kahn and Henry Funkenbusch of Sign One zeroed in on issues like how to use Google Analytics and do search engine optimization (SEO).

Evanston is filled with innovative tech firms that are keen to expand their web presence - firms such as biotech company Precision Biomarker and high resolution sensor and test system provider Psylotech, as well as the "Technology Incubator" (Technology Innovation Center) that houses them and about thirty other tech firms. Some, like advanced IBM partner Taishan Works, are Internet experts and yet still found plenty to learn in the Metrist presentation.

Other participants included landscaper Nature's Perspective, NWU affiliate The Family Institute, patent specialist Cardinal Law Group, financial planning firm JAS Financial Services, and portfolio manager Blue Sky Investment Partners Inc.. Key your eye on them for upcoming web enhancements.

Jonathan Perman and Brooke Saucier of the Evanston Chamber of Commerce, together with Chuck Happ of the Technology Innovation Center and Laura Folkl of the Downtown Evanston marketing/promotion association, were on hand to foster follow-on opportunities within the group and with the rest of the Evanston business community.

With all this interest in web business and content management (CMS) for the web, is it any wonder that the CMS Association has has selected Evanston as the site for the 2010 CMS Expo?

Stay tuned for more developments in the Evanston web community! Thanks, Avery and Ken!

Joe Scarry is head project manager for Chicago firm Arc Technology Group -- the web design, development and content management company whose open solutions drive business success.

I have to say I'm impressed with the Joomla Chicago Web site.  I'd love to know what you're using for your blogging component, and I don't have time to try to take a peek under the hood right now.

I am editor and publisher of eNews Park Forest, a news site serving Park Forest, IL, and surrounding communities. I'm looking forward to networking with all of you, and, hopefully attending a few meetings here and there as my day job permits.

Again, very nice site.

The November 11 Joomla Chicago meeting promises to be a sell-out - the presentation will provide a preview of Joomla 1.6.

I've seen a couple of previews so far, and it looks like 1.6 is going to have some powerful features, especially with respect to Access Control Levels (ACL). I can't wait to start developing in 1.6!

As for existing sites . . . what will the path to upgrade look like?  One of the important topics we covered in Joomla Chicago meetings during 2009 was the 1.0 > 1.5 pathway.  Presentations included hands-on programming steps, as well as decision model for site managers about if and when to make the migration.

What do people think?  Should we get some similar events on the calendar for 2010 with respect to the 1.5 > 1.6 upgrade path?

With so much hype being put on social networking websites these days I thought it would be a great idea to post an article with specific focus on your website profile. A great website profile could help you land that next big client. Or you never know, you could end up life long friends with another person that shares your interests. Whatever your interest, your profile is your billboard to the world.

How you would like to meet and communicate with other internet users, especially ones that share the same views and beliefs as you do? If you would then you may want to think about joining a social networking website, if you haven’t already done so. When it comes to easily finding and communicating online with other internet users, social networking sites are, perhaps, the best way to go.

If you are interested in joining a social networking website, the first thing that you will need to do is find a network to join such as JoomlaChicago.com. You can easily find a number of networks by performing a standard internet search. For the best search results, you may want to search with the words social networking or social networking websites.  In your search, it is likely that that you come up with a fairly large number of different networking sites.  Popular sites that may be included in your search results may include, but will not be limited to, MySpace, Orkut, Yahoo! 360, FriendFinder, FriendWise, Facebook, and Classmates.

Once you have made the decision to join a particular social networking website, whether or not it is one of the ones mentioned above, you will need to need to register with the site.  Even free networking communities require that you go through the registration process. Once you are registered, you should be able to start communicating with other community members.  Before you start communicating, you may need to develop your online profile or profile page, depending on the networking site in question. Although it may seem easy enough to create a profile, there are many internet users who are unsure exactly what they should and should not include.

Perhaps, one of the most important things to include in your online website is your picture. While a personal picture is optional, it is ideal. Many internet users enjoy taking to someone that they can see in their minds, without a picture this is difficult.  If you are looking to use social networking websites just to meet new friends you may not necessarily need to post a private picture, but you may need to if you are looking to find love online. When it comes to internet dating, many individuals will not even view an online profile if a picture is not included.

In addition to your photograph, you may want to include your name.  Now, when it comes to your name, you need to be cautious.  You are advised against giving your full name, especially if your profile or profile page contains a personal photograph of you.  In addition to your name, you may want to put down your location.  As with your name it is important to display caution.  Your picture, your address, and your full name can be dangerous, especially if it falls into the wrong hands. As much as you would like to fill your social networking profiles with personal information, you are advised to think about your safety before anything else.

You may also want to include information on yourself. This information may include your hobbies, issues that are important to do, your likes, and your dislikes.  With many social networking websites, including MySpace, you will find that there are preset profile fields for this information. In addition to preset questions or categories on your likes and dislikes, you may also find additional information, including fun questionnaires.  Many social networking websites will ask that you describe your favorite color, your goals in life, your most embarrassing moment, and so on. As with your other personal information, it is important to stay as vague and possible and not use any full names, especially real ones.

By keeping the above mentioned points in mind, you should not only be able to create an online social networking profile that is filled with valuable information, but you can do so while staying safe at the same time.  Your safety on the internet is in your hands, that is why it is important to think about safety, as well as internet popularity.

Great presentations today at Joomla! Chicago's September meeting. Especially liked the Socialnomics video and the walk through of some of the extensions John mentioned. After the ringing endorsement, I'm looking forward to giving ninjawave a try when it gets out in the open. 

Also thanks to Kendall and Peter(?) for answering questions and walking through the differences between JCE and TinyMCE.

If you want to see a very interesting use of Twitter, take a look at:

http://twitter.com/search?q=#jazzlives

One of the problems facing the jazz community is that it is a niche interest that is pursued in an extremely dispersed fashion.  The lifeblood of jazz is the clubs and other live venues, but that doesn't offer an obvious to tie keep the community together.

A hometown Chicago jazz authority (Howard Mandel) came up with the idea of tweeting any time you see a live jazz performance - name of artist, venue, and #jazzlives.  You can read about the inception of the Twitter campaign here.

Just look at the action surrounding the Chicago Jazz Festival!

This gave me some real insights into how Twitter can be meaningful in special situations.

Has anyone else seen a Twitter campaign that made you say "Aha!" ??

This is a question that came up in our poll of Joomla Chicago members.  They're trying to compare the benefits and disadvantages of standalone social networking communities (like the Joomla Chicago site, with its JomSocial install) vs. mega communities like Facebook. So . . . 

I'm trying to assemble as many thoughts on this as I can.  My first goal is to identify "10 Benefits of Standalone Social Networking Communities" . . . .

C'mon everyone . . . help me out!

As of today, it's good to see we're just three people from another "sell-out" for the 2009 JoomlaChicago Meetings - so sign up today for the August 2009 JoomlaChicago Meeting if you haven't yet! We've been at max capacity (50 seats) for five out of our seven meetings this year. There's definitely strong need for knowledge on Joomla! web design, development and admin here in Chicagoland...but are we doing enough?

Please let me know what we can do to make JoomlaChicago even better via email, our Community Area (join the Meeting Group) and/or comment on the JoomlaChicago Blog, called "The Loop."

August JoomlaChicago Meeting Agenda:

11am - 11:45: CMS KickStart: Joomla! Basic Training for Beginners (Linda Coonen)
11:40 - Noon: Five-Minute Site Showcases, Featuring the Oak Lawn Children's Museum (Glen Kato) & Parker Guitars (Patrick Szczypinski).
Noon - 1pm: Joomla! Template Design, Using Artisteer (Phil DeKoker & Robert Nowak)
1pm - 1:30: After Half Hour (Networking)

Linda and I look forward to seeing you soon!

Important Links:

Register for August Meeting
Register for September Meeting
Full 2009 Schedule

I'm writing this post as this is the only way I could find out to communicate with all other members of this community.

It appears at the moment that JomSocial is more group-oriented than is community-oriented. In a sense, it breaks off the community by separating users within each group. 

Groups have all the tools to build and grow healthy communities, but if you are not part of a group or if you are a new member and would like to ask a questions and get quick response, how do you do that?

Using JomSocial now, there is not much you can do to interact with the community, besides write a blog post or the article, in order to ask a simple question. Also, if you want fast response, you should probably spam all the members with PMs. 

You would be in everybody's favor :-)

Anyway, the question I had was, should we put the link to this blog in a main menu? 

Of course we should, how else people will find it?

:-)

We're excited that the folks over at The Acquity Group stepped up to produce a great one-hour presentation for JoomlaChicago tomorrow. They'll be doing an unvarnished comparison and contrast of four of the top Open Source Web CMS solutions for enterprise:

 - Joomla!
 - Drupal
 - Alfresco
 - Magnolia

Last year, we compared Joomla! and Drupal. The goal at the end of the day is to see which WCM is best suited for certain situations. We'll be posting the report online. Stay tuned!