1. Intro Rethinking the community calendar Jon Udell Hampton Roads April 23, 2013 http://elmcity.cloudapp.net

2. Where I’m working to solve this problem

3. Why do posters on kiosks succeed? there’s no central point of control everyone is directly responsible for their own stuff Why do posters on kiosks fail? you can’t add them (easily) to your personal calendar you can’t find them (reliably) in community web calendars

4. Why do posters on kiosks succeed? there’s no central point of control everyone is directly responsible for their own stuff Why do posters on kiosks fail? you can’t add them (easily) to your personal calendar you can’t find them (reliably) in community web calendars Search: “posters on kiosks” Replace: “standard web calendars”

5. Why do standard web calendars succeed? there’s no central point of control everyone is directly responsible for their own stuff Why do standard web calendars fail? you can’t add them (easily) to your personal calendar you can’t find them (reliably) in community web calendars Search: “posters on kiosks” Replace: “standard web calendars”

6. Why do standard web calendars succeed? there’s no central point of control everyone is directly responsible for their own stuff Why do standard web calendars fail succeed? you can’t can add them (easily) to your personal calendar you can’t can find them (reliably) in community web calendars Search: “posters on kiosks” Replace: “standard web calendars”

7. How not: AnnArbor.com

8. Or: A2Y Chamber

9. Or: ArborWeb.com

10. But: A2Chronicle

11. So: Washtenaw County calendar of events https://secure.ewashtenaw.org/eventcal/ViewCalendar.do?view=month

12. A2Cal today http://elmcity.cloudapp.net/a2cal/html

13. What is iCalendar and why would I care? What is iCalendar? -The standard Internet format for exchanging calendar information. -Supported by Google Calendar, Hotmail Calendar, Outlook, Apple iCal, Lotus Notes, others. Why should I care? When you use a iCalendar-aware program to manage your web calendar: 1.It creates HTML for people to read. 2.It also creates an iCalendar feed for automatic data exchange. Unfortunately… Most web calendars (including eWashtenaw’s) are only available as HTML (or even PDF). So people can view them, but computers can't automatically exchange the data.

14. A2Cal today all Today in Ann Arbor

15. Wurster Park

17. A2cal feed stats snapshot Some Ann Arbor feeds I found

18. A2cal feed stats all All the Ann Arbor feeds I found

19. A2cal quick stats Sources feeding the Ann Arbor hub

20. iCal PRODIDs Applications that produced the feeds

21. Feed count by iCal producer

22. Bright lights: AADL Syndication from the Ann Arbor District Library

23. Bright lights: Crazy Wisdom Syndication from CrazyWisdom

24. Bright lights: City of Ann Arbor Syndication from the City of Ann Arbor

25. calendar “dark matter” dark matter

26. The HTML/PDF/RSS fallacy How humans represent calendar events: “Community Information Sharing Seminar with Jon Udell, Ann Arbor District Library, Sept. 26 at 4PM“ How computers represent calendar events: DTSTART;TZID=EST;20120926T160000 SUMMARY:Jon Udell: Community Info Sharing LOCATION:Ann Arbor District Library HTML, PDF, RSS iCalendar

28. school# events in feed

30. 1.Create a calendar 2.Share the calendar 3.Capture HTML (for widget) and iCal URL (for feed) 4.Embed widget in site 5.Transmit iCal URL to syndication hub Note: These steps are once only. Once done, all current and future events on the calendar syndicate to the hub.

31. Google create new calendar Step 1: Create a calendar (once only) Syndicating from Google Calendar

32. Google share calendar Step 2: Make it public (once only)

33. Capture Google HTML and iCal https://www.google.com/calendar/ical/ajgh1q3t9plrlcoobkovsdfm88%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics HTML (for people) iCalendar (for computers) Step 3: Capture HTML for website, iCalendar URL for syndication (once only)

34. Embed Google HTML Step 4: Ask webmaster to embed the HTML in your site (once only)

35. Transmit URL to curator Step 5: Send the iCal URL to the syndication hub (once only) From: lucast@ewashtenaw.org 1 To: jonu@microsoft.com 2 Subject: iCal feed for Washtenaw County public meetings Hi there, Please syndicate our calendar at this URL: https://www.google.com/calendar/ical/8i9vg16fbddqkct11sml 54a0m0%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics 1. Person responsible for the eWashtenaw public calendar 2. Person responsible for the syndication hub

36. Google create event From now on, when you create an event here…

37. It shows up here It shows up here: https://secure.ewashtenaw.org/eventcal

38. And also here And also here: http://elmcity.cloudapp.net/a2cal/html

39. And potentially A2Chron And maybe here? http://annarborchronicle.com/events-listing/

40. And potentially also A2YChamber And maybe also here? http://www.a2ychamber.org/Events.aspx

41. And potentially even Community Television Network And maybe even on community access television?

42. Hotmail create new calendar Step 1: Create a calendar (once only) Syndicating from Hotmail Calendar

43. Hotmail share calendar Step 2: Make it public (once only)

44. HTML (for people) iCalendar (for computers) Capture Hotmail HTML and iCal

45. Embed Hotmail HTML Step 4: Ask webmaster to embed the HTML in your site (once only)

46. Transmit URL to curator Step 5: Send the iCal URL to the syndication hub (once only) From: lucast@ewashtenaw.org To: jonu@microsoft.com Subject: iCal feed for Washtenaw County public meetings Hi there, Please syndicate our calendar at this URL: webcals://cid-dffec23daaf5ee89.calendar.live.com/calendar/eWashtenaw/calendar.ics

47. Hotmail create event From now on, when you create an event here…

48. It shows up here It shows up here…

49. And also here And also here: http://elmcity.cloudapp.net/a2cal/html

50. And potentially A2Chron And maybe here? http://annarborchronicle.com/events-listing/

51. And potentially also A2YChamber And maybe also here? http://www.a2ychamber.org/Events.aspx

52. Blind Pig home calendar http://www.blindpigmusic.com/calendar.html

53. Blind Pig in a2cal via upcoming http://elmcity.cloudapp.net/a2cal/html?view=music The Hood Internet shows up here via Upcoming

54. Blind Pig in facebook https://www.facebook.com/BlindPigAnnArbor/events The Blind Pig didn’t include The Hood Internet (Sep 26) in its Facebook calendar. But it was a source for these events.

55. Blind Pig Sept 30 in a2cal Two Gallants shows up here (at the right time, because The Blind Pig entered the data into Facebook) Two Gallants also shows up here (at the wrong time, because somebody else entered the data into Upcoming) Duplication isn’t necessarily bad. When times and titles match, multiples coalesce. Syndicating from Facebook

56. How?Put the whole schedule on Facebook. ProsPopular, convenient, great way to socialize events. Cons1.Doesn’t automatically feed the Blind Pig home site 2.Event details only available to logged-in Facebook users. Workarounds1.Syndicate from Facebook to standard calendar, embed that on home site. 2.Now details visible to Blind Pig home site visitors (as well as Facebook site).

57. How?Put the whole schedule into an iCalendar- aware program. ProsWrite it once, show it automatically on website and elsewhere. Cons1.Not in Facebook. 2.Widgets don’t match site design. Workarounds1.Use one-click Add to Facebook 2.Extract data from Facebook, flow through site template.

58. One-click Add To Facebook Any syndicated event can also be added to personal calendars in the cloud (Google, Hotmail) or on the desktop (Outlook, Apple iCal)

59. Music in Ann Arbor Feeds in the Ann Arbor hub’s music category

60. Exploratorium Creating a “Music Around Town” widget

61. Blind Pig with widget “Music Around Town” widget embedded in the Blind Pig site

62. Crazy Wisdom with widget “Music Around Town” widget embedded in the Crazy Wisdom site

63. Crazy Wisdom: all vs music only http://elmcity.cloudapp.net/a2cal/html?view=crazywisdom http://elmcity.cloudapp.net/a2cal/html?view=crazywisdom,music Organizing feeds into categories

64. Crazy Wisdom feeds and tags Organizing feeds into categories

65. Crazy Wisdom: making the music feed BEGIN:VEVENT CATEGORIES:crazywisdom CATEGORIES:music DESCRIPTION: Live Music Weekends at Crazy Wisdom Tea Room \n 8:30 to 10 :30 p.m. &ndash\; No Cover Charge \n Every Friday and Saturday night C razy Wisdom invites you to Tea and Tunes. Not a tea drinker? No problem! C razy Wisdom offer a wide selection of coffee drinks. (while you&rsquo\;re here\, don&rsquo\;t forget to try some of our tasty treats as well!) \n Click here to see who is playing DTEND;TZID=Eastern Standard Time:20120928T223000 DTSTAMP:20120924T135335 DTSTART;TZID=Eastern Standard Time:20120928T203000 LOCATION: SEQUENCE:0 SUMMARY:Live Music in th Tea Room UID:eab1368d-f802-45ab-b63f-842bf09fa1c6 URL:http://www.crazywisdom.net/events.html END:VEVENT Organizing feeds into categories

66. Slauson: all vs music only http://elmcity.cloudapp.net/a2cal/html?view=slauson http://elmcity.cloudapp.net/a2cal/html?view=slauson,music Organizing feeds into categories

67. Slauson: multiple gcals Organizing feeds into categories

68. Arts Alive site

69. Arts alive hub

70. music health sports environment tech Community Arts and Culture Hub art business music art Community Tech and Business Hub tech business State Hub A: Arts and Culture Ann Arbor music Ann Arbor art Detroit music Grand Rapids art … State Hub B: Tech and Business Ann Arbor tech Ann Arbor business Detroit tech Lansing business … … … B i g p ic t u r e

71. For more information: http://elmcity.cloudapp.net jonu@microsoft.com