All the buzz for the last little while has been on social networking technology, and how enterprises can exploit it.

My challenge is usually to look at an ambitious idea and determine where risks lie in terms of getting in trouble; and then to determine either how far one can go, or how to skirt the risk.

One of the questions I’ve been looking into is how a standard legal risk manifests itself in this new domain of Facebook, blogs, YouTube, etc.:  Vicarious or Third-Party Liability.  (Speaking of liability, don’t forget to read the disclaimer at the end of this article – I am not a lawyer.)  Just how closely do you have to monitor those who, through your adoption of Web 2.0 technologies and paradigms, may appear to act in your name?

Let’s look at an ideal, though potentially very risky, example.  Ideal yet very risky?  Follow me…

This blog entry.  I’m a member of Tazzu, along with hundreds of others.  I’m not a part of the Tazzu corporate structure, however.  Usually, in my own blog, when I talk about content platforms, I put the owners/developers on one side.  These are the people to whom you would pay subscription fees if there are any, and who “own” the site, servers, code, etc.  On the other side, I stick the users.  These are the people who pay subscription fees, use the service, play the game, view the content, etc.

Within the Tazzu big picture – Tazzuland as we sometimes call it – I am a user.  When I post in the forum, even if I am obnoxious, offensive, or just a boring bandwidth waster (I am never any of these, of course ;-} ), other users see it as coming from me, and not from Tazzu.  Whether that behaviour is good or bad for business, or whether it is congruent with the owners’ vision for the forum is opinion and policy.  This is because anyone can post there.  There is no exclusivity, or so little as to be insignificant.

This blog is different.  Only a very small group of people have access to write here.  The combination of that exclusivity and the nature of an organization’s blog leads to the perception that what appears here is more closely aligned with the voice of Tazzu as a business.

Such is not the case, of course.  What I write here is my own; I don’t write on behalf of Tazzu, but rather I provide content for them.  How is that different from a magazine or other organization employing content creators?  I am not employed or contracted by Tazzu.

To bring us back to my original statement, this is both ideal and risky.

It is risky in that there is a more substantial connection, in the perception of readers, between Tazzu and me here on the blog than there is in the forum.

That risk is mitigated, however, by the very thing that makes it a risk.  The risk is created by the perception that if only a few people are given the keys to the blog, then they must be chosen because the directors want them to help hoist the Tazzu banner.  While it increases the legal risk of liability, if done correctly, it mitigates the actual risk.  The Tazzu directors personally know the writers, and chose them based on an already existing trust relationship.

We are looking at two sides of one coin.  The token that ostensibly makes us trustworthy is the same one that creates a risk.

But that coin is nothing new.  You bring someone in close because you trust them.  If they mess things up, you could be in more trouble than if the mess were created by someone more distant.  The lesson is to grant access to the right to use your brand – to associate oneself with you – in a social network carefully.

You don’t let just anyone write or speak on behalf of your company.  And those who do so with little or no permission are generally unlikely to be misinterpreted to be speaking on your behalf.

Social networking platforms, including those that enable user-created content, are no different.

But because of the casual facility with which social networks grow, and the simplistic social models used, social networking platforms encourage you to share without caution, leading to risks of misinterpretation and potential vicarious liability.  Are all four-hundred of your Facebook friends really friends of yours, with all the trust rights one assumes friends to have?

Without tiers or strata of trust and access, misinterpretation looms.  Facebook uses a reversed model, employing access tiers for readers.  If someone is on your limited list, they can’t see the picture from that party that you don’t want your business associates to see.  However, most people don’t even use the limited list.  Even so, aren’t most of your Facebook friends on your regular list?  Meaning most of them can write to your wall.  Your only option is to turn off the right to write on the wall completely.  The potential for problems with this shows up regularly with the Wall for corporate fan pages, leading them to be politically or otherwise hijacked and smeared.  There are already countless examples that demonstrate how companies using social network platforms must exercise caution.

The caution I am writing here is a general one, and I am not differentiating between the risks to goodwill and reputation on one hand, and legal liability for misinformation or torts that could follow allowing your good name to be misused by others.  For more on that difference, see my piece on weblawg.net.

The disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. I hold degrees in English and in Law, but have not been called to the bar (yet). What I write is academic legal opinion, but not professional legal advice.  Always seek the advice of a licensed lawyer before making a decision with legal ramifications.

I should have made this post on Monday, but we were still recovering from the event and catching up with the lost work hours for our client’s projects.

For those of you who missed this event, it was held on June 14th in the Vancouver Public Library. To learn more you can read this blog post.

I guess the pictures from the Vancouver Joomla Day speak for themselves, we did have a great time all together. There were concerns in the past that Joomla! wasn’t nearly as recognized as WordPress or Drupal in the Vancouver area, and this event busted the Myth! Based on the multiple counts, we had about 120 people show up. The ratio of ladies to gentlemen were about 1 to 3; we certainly hope to have more ladies involved in these type of events in the future.

Based on the community feedback, about 11 people showed up (correct me if I’m wrong) at the last Joomla Day held in Toronto, so I think it is safe to announce the Vancouver Joomla Day as being the largest one ever in Canada so far.

Thank you for the music!

I would like to thank all the following people who were involved in organizing, funding, and promoting this community driven event.

Wendy Robinson for initiating the idea, organizing the event, food, location, keeping the communication going and more.

Arash Sanieyan from Peer Globe Technology for photography picking up the projector, promoting , twittering, and blogging the event. His company offers Web Development and Integrated Mobile solutions.

Photo by Raul P-V

Jeannette (JenTekk Web Solutions) who was pretty much involved in everything from promoting and organizing the event. JenTekk has developed several web projects using the Joomla CMS.

Photo by Raul P-V – On the left Bruce Byfield, Ash Sanieyan on the right

Bruce Byfield for conducting interviews and publishing the wonderful article on Linux.com about the Vancouver Joomla Day: Vancouver Joomla!Day provides case study in community-building techniques

Raul, my hero, for Live blogging, Live Twittering, and Photographing the event:

• Starting Session
• SEO and Joomla 1.5
• Project Spotlight with Jim DeLaHunt
• Project Spotlight – Diabetic Diet Secrets
• Joomla Security, Performance, and Hosting
• Vancouver Joomla Day Recap

Chris Adam CEO of Rochen Web Hosting

Our good friends Chris Adam and Brad Baker from the Rochen Web Hosting for sponsoring the Vancouver Joomla Day tshirts.

A number of Joomla! development team who managed to fly in to Vancouver

Rebecca Bollwitt aka. MIss604 couldn’t attend our event, we really missed her. Thank you so much for promoting the Vancouver Joomla Day!

• Vancouver Social Media Scene: Vancouver Joomla Day
• Vancouver Events

And this is myself ( Rastin Mehr from rmd Studio a Custom CMS & Social Media Development company in Vancouver) in case you were wondering who’s writing this blog post

Feedbacks, Suggestions? Bring them on

If you have any feedback or suggestions, please feel free to post them here. Joomla Day events are annual, but Tazzu has organized 3 Joomla Camp events ( Bug Camp, Doc Camp, Demo Camp ) in the past, and there will be more of it happening in the future.

Technorati Tags: vanjoomladay, vancouver, joomla, cms, content management, social media, open source, community, vanocuver public library

There have been some changes made to Vancouver Joomla! Day. We’ve figured the previous schedule was a bit too developer focused and had little room for Community members to be in the spotlight and socialize too. The new schedule here provides:

• 6 Project Spotlight time slots for those community members who’d like to display a project developed in Joomla. More details regarding the Project Spotlights will be posted immediately.
• There is a 1 hour lunch break which allows us to socialize a bit
• We also have a 50 min break at the end of the day from 4:20 to 5:30 which will give us a chance to socialize and cross pollinate ideas.

To view the new schedule please visit: http://vancouver.joomla.ca

To RSVP on facebook

Made by PageBadge

and please do not forget to register

Technorati Tags: joomladay, joomla, social media, content management, community, open source, vancouver public library

John Chow provides tips on how to make money online using your blog.

Part One

Part Two

Did you make a video of this event? Please let us know so we could post it here

Technorati Tags: tazzu, wordcamp, vancouver, johnchow, networkhub

Tazzu WordPress Camp was originally inspired by a group of Tazzu community members (here and here) after a series of Joomla Demo Camps we’d organized (here and here).

For the WordPress Camp, we were expecting at most 35 to 40 people to show up. But now we’ve found out that about 68 people have RSVP’d on our facebook event announcement. We have estimated that more than 70 people will be showing up at The Network Hub. There won’t be enough seats for everyone, therefore to get a seat you will need to arrive early. This event might seem a little crowded, but it is very likely that you may meet many of your friends there too. For future WordCamp events, we’ll make sure to consider a larger venue for our attendees.

I am also posting the Tazzu WordPress Camp schedule. I would like to thank the following 8 people who have stepped forward to share their knowledge with us in this event. If any of the presenters are not happy with their time slot, please let us know and we could perhaps arrange to make changes.

WordPress Camp Schedule

Event is from 5:30 to 8:30 PM on Wed. April 30th at The Network Hub

5:30 to 5:50pm – Jeff Kee
WordPress for total website development

5:50 to 6:10pm- Monica Hamburg
Blogging & Social Media

6:10 to 6:30pm – Rebecca Bollwitt
Adding photos [flickr, permission, links, gallery plugins, badges] to your WordPress

6:30 to 6:50pm – Duane Storey
WordPress and mobile blogging – i.e. how to read and write from an iPhone.

6:50 to 7:10pm – Networking Break

7:10 to 7:30pm – Kulpreet Singh
Using WordPress to create a custom library, catalog, or other mashup-type site

7:30 to 7:50pm – Bruce Byfield
The joys of Amateur Blogging

7:50 to 8:10pm – Greg Andrews
Good Typography in WordPress

8:10 to 8:30pm – John Chow
How to make money using a WordPress Blog

In our next post I would like to talk about the people and organizations who have made all kinds of contributions in order to make this event happen.

Technorati Tags: wordpress, camp, wordcamp, vancouver, tazzu, networkhub, community, open source, presentation, Social Media

Preparations for the upcoming Tazzu WordPress Camp is well under way. We have 8 wonderful presenters, therefore we won’t be able to have more on the spotlight this time, so if you would like to show us the blogger genius in you, there will me many more similar events organized and hosted by the Tazzu community in the future so please stay tuned.

The presentation schedule will be posted within the next 24 hours.

Tazzu WordPress Camp Presenters

Rebecca Bollwitt

TOPIC: Adding photos [flickr, permissions, links, gallery plugins, badges] to your WordPress blog.She is a blogging and social media star. A Podcaster, hyper-local blogger, new media outreach wiz, mainstream media pundit ~ Vancouver’s new ‘blogebrity’ – Rebecca Bollwitt has been blogging about Vancouver since 2004 on Miss604.com, podcasting RadioZoom since 2005 and is a co-host of The Crazy Canucks Podcast. You can find Rebecca live blogging at many of the social media conferences around BC – watch for her!
www.miss604.com

Bruce Byfield

TOPIC: The Joys of Amateur Blogging.
Bruce is a contributing editor for the SourceForge sites Linux.com and the IT Manager’s Journal. Among other topics, he reports on the Debian Project, the Free Software Foundation, licensing issues, and office applications. He also writes a monthly blog for the Linux Journal website, which tends to center on varying aspects of OpenOffice.org, the free software office suite. In addition to his online publications, he has published in such magazines as Linux Journal, Maximum Linux, and The New Internationalist.
www.brucebyfield.wordpress.com

John Chow

TOPIC: How to make money using a WordPress Blog.
Residing in Richmond BC, and hailed as a Dot Com Mogule – John has received much publicity (The Province, Vancouver Sun, Entreprenuer Magazine, BC Business, Globe and Mail, and T.V.) for his ability to make money – LOTS of it – by blogging. His free eBook “Make Money Online with John Chow dot Com” is a huge success, and documents everything he did to take his blog from $0 to over $10,000 per month in just eight months.
www.johnchow.com

Monica Hamburg

TOPIC: Blogging & Social Media.
Monica is a Freelance Writer and Social Media Evangelist/Consultant who calls Vancouver BC home. Me Like The Interweb: Thoughts & Articles @bout Social Media (Crowdsourcing and more) is Monica’s blog where she writes engaging and insightful articles about her investigations and observations on this new phenomenon.
www.monicahamburg.wordpress.com

Jeff Kee

TOPIC: WordPress for total website development.
Jeff is a young, ambitious business man who owns Jeff Kee Companies and its subsidiaries, one of which is Synchronous Design & Marketing. His Synchronous website is ENTIRELY developed with WordPress – some people don’t want to believe it, he’s going to explain how he did this.
www.synchronous.ca

Greg Andrews

TOPIC: Good Typography in WordPress.
Greg Andrews is a Writer and Web Developer and for Techvibes. Born and raised in Edmonton, Greg was blogging about his high school drama long before it was fashionable. In the Spring of 2007, half a year out of school, Greg moved to Vancouver in search of interesting technology and the Canadian dream.
www.miscellani.ca

Kulpreet Singh

TOPIC: Using WordPress to create a custom library, catalog, or other mashup-type site.
Kulpreet is the Communications Manager at Creative Gift Solutions, and has extensive experience in web design, web progamming, graphic design, desktop publishing, copywriting, fundraising, public relations, advertising, search engine optimization, search engine marketing, social media optimization, blogging, content management systems, ebusiness, marketing management, and other types of integrated marketing communications.
www.creativegiftsolutions.com

Duane Storey

TOPIC: WordPress and mobile blogging – i.e. how to read and write from an iPhone
Duane is a Principal Engineer at CounterPath Corporation as well as freelance Photographer and Software Developer. Currently he offeres services in the fields of software development/testing/documentation, web development, Facebook application development, document layout and typesetting, writing, or general geekery.
www.duanestorey.com

This event is sponsored by

We would also like to thank our sponsors who have made this event possible. This event is organized mainly by the Tazzu community members.

WordPress is a state-of-the-art publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time. This project is maintained and funded by www.Automattic.com
www.wordpress.org

Invoke is an Interactive Agency that specializes in transforming ideas into tangible results executed within a complete interactive brand strategy. As a full service agency, they ensure you receive the best of everything – from a world class website to effective marketing campaigns.
www.InvokeMedia.com

TinyMassive – shop compare share! Site to be launched any minute now!
www.tinymassive.com

Culinary Copik Multimedia is a distinctive company, offering reliable and cohesive Visual Communications for the Food and Beverage industry.
www.culinarycopikmultimedia.ca

BlueFur.com provides fast, reliable and affordable hosting for websites across the globe through advanced technology and knowledgeable support team.
www.bluefur.com

Citizens Bank is a virtual bank owned by Vancity. Hi interest savings, low/no fee chequing and operates for the triple bottom line: people.planet.profits. It embeds corporate social responsibility into all aspects of its business, and gives a portion of its profits back to the community.

Our Media Sponsors

Thank you so much for spreading the word!

Rebecca Bollwitt (Miss604): www.Miss604.com

Angela Hubbard (Hubbard Photography): www.hubbardphotography.com

Amanda Abrams (Professional Photographer): www.AmandaAbrams.com

Phillip Jeffrey (Fade to Play): www.fadetoplay.com

Lisa Bettany (Mostly Lisa): www.mostlylisa.com

Jeff Kee (Synchronous Design & Marketing): www.synchronous.ca

Ash Sanieyan (PeerGlobe Technology): www.PeerGlobe.com

Beyond Robson (Thank you Anna): www.beyondrobson.com

John Chow: www.JohnChow.com

PBase Media Ltd. (Presentation Solutions): www.PresentationSolutions.com

Raul Pacheco (hummingbird604): hummingbird604.wordpress.com
(Raul I am really really sorry I forgot your name on the schedule sheets! – Rastin )

Jeremy Costin (webLawg.net): www.weblawg.net
(Thanks Jeremy for the video webcast and archives of the event!)

Technorati Tags: wordpress, camp, vancouver, tazzu

On Wed. April the 30th from 5:30 to 8:30pm we are getting together at the Network Hub to share and exchange tips and how-tos on WordPress and blogging in general. We will also learn how to reach a larger audience by using a WordPress blog in conjunction with other web services and Social Networking websites such as Flickr, YouTube, Slideshare, Facebook, and Google Calendar.

WordPress is perhaps the most commonly used Blogging web application on the web. We blog to express ourselves, share our thoughts, or promote our businesses. WordPress is one of the simplest forms of Social Media Content Management Systems where one or few people write blog posts, and many readers are able to provide feedback through comments. The social aspect of a blog makes it a very effective Communication and Marketing tool. WordPress is an Open Source software released under the GPL and many aspects of it relies on the wisdom of the crowds. WordPress comes with a large list of plugins developed by community members. Many successful blogging techniques and methods have also been created as a result of community members who have collectively built on each other’s ideas and creativity.

Many WordPress users are coming from a non-technical background, so a group of community members on Tazzu.com suggested we have a WordPress Camp event to share tips and learn more about this great Social Media CMS.

What is the format of the event?

The Event is 3 hours long. 7 Presenters get 20 minutes each to share their ideas. There will be two 20 min. breaks, so we could socialize a bit and have a laugh.

Do you have tips and knowledge to share?

Please submit your topic as a comment on this blog post. Community members will vote and choose the 7 topics that they would like to learn more about.

NOTE: DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS IS THURSDAY APRIL 17th – MIDNIGHT

Would you like to sponsor this event?

You could contribute to the event by either providing funds or spreading the word and becoming a media sponsor. In exchange we will put your logo, name and link on all the publications and announcements in regard to this event.

We use the fund for:

1. The projector rental
   
2. Coffee and Doughnuts
3. The first round of Beer for the after party at the Steamworks
   
4. Paying my student loan (kidding … )
   
5. Sushi dinner for the organizers (kidding again …)
   

Become a Media Sponsor and we would place your name and website on all our announcements

1. Write a blog post about the event
2. Take pictures from the event and share them online
   
3. Make video clips from the event and share them online
4. Twit, Twit, Twitter the event !!!

You can either contact me or Jeannette to become a sponsor

Would you like to sponsor this event?

Tazzu Business & Technology Community Members

• PeerGlobe Technology (Web Development & Integrated Mobile Solutions )
• JenTekk Web Solutions (Website Design & Development)
• rmd Studio Inc. (Custom CMS & Social Media Solutions)
• The Network Hub (thank you for providing us your beautiful space and wi-fi access)
• Blog, Flickr, Facebook, Twitter us and join this list

Technorati Tags: wordpress, networkhub, camp, tazzu, vancouver, event, networking, workshop, rmdstudio, peerglobe, jentekk