Tuesday, September 15, 2009

"God wants sin out of your life because it's the only thing that keeps you from experiencing the torrential downpour" James MacDonald
"Concerning God, Make No Small Plans" Downpour by James MacDonald
Telling the truth? Let your yes be yes. (http://ping.fm/VA5X3)
Rebuke Distractions-Stay Focussed! (http://ping.fm/BN8yX)
How Do You Change the Culture? Part 1 (http://ping.fm/7CF8Q)
Book Review - "If God Is Good" by Randy Alcorn (http://ping.fm/k7VyR)

Monday, September 14, 2009

238 F.3d 518

238 F.3d 518: "Coach Crute was charged with responsibility over the girls' track team at Wilson High School in Portsmouth, Virginia. Crute videotaped a female student after hours in a remote and isolated part of the campus, instructed the student to remove her underpants for the camera, and zoomed in on her crotch, moaning and groaning during the encounter. In response to Crute's actions, the Superintendent, Principal, and Director of Secondary Education took no disciplinary action whatsoever, characterizing Crute's behavior as 'not objectionable.' Unsurprisingly, in the events that give rise to this lawsuit, Crute was thereafter found videotaping, with a hidden camera, female students as they undressed and dressed in the girls' locker room --conduct for which the plaintiffs now seek to hold the School Board liable under 42 U.S.C. � 1983."

Portsmouth Olympian asked to return medal she won with Jones | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com

Portsmouth Olympian asked to return medal she won with Jones | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com: "The most painful came in 1995, when her former high school coach, John Crute, was indicted on 24 counts of videotaping female athletes as they dressed in the Wilson locker room. Colander-Clark was stunned by the betrayal, and her mother, Hortense, said it was 'like a rape to LaTasha.'

Although criminal charges were ultimately dropped, the athletes filed civil suits. During her trial, Colander-Clark wept while the jury was shown the tapes.

Magistrate Judge James E. Bradberry ruled that Crute caused 'permanent harm' to each of the young women. In 1998, a Portsmouth jury awarded Colander-Clark $543,000, though it's unclear how much money she ever got from Crute."
Richard MacManus: @Mentions Are Now Live on Facebook (http://ping.fm/96FoU)
The Race to Insolvency (http://ping.fm/dVZPD)
5 Things Small Business Owners Should Do Today Online (http://ping.fm/5l7qE)
Values and Culture (http://ping.fm/lCcYN)
The NAMB Task Force (http://ping.fm/3wIO6)
I've Never Been Mistaken for Brad Pitt (http://ping.fm/ZmzKZ)

A New Way of Thinking About Site Organization for End Users

A New Way of Thinking About Site Organization for End Users: "
Body:
One of the big shifts that people have to make when creating a SharePoint site is the fact they're used to a digital asset having a digital location, much the way an actual object would live in an actual location, such as a file drawer.


Just this last week, I had a client who kept asking me how she would mark a project as "complete" in the new system I'm designing for her. I started to ask her what "complete" meant to her, and she stated that when a project is "complete" in her old system, it no longer shows up in her "active projects" view. I explained to her that she has a meta data field called "Project End Date", so she can simply create a view of her projects based on whether "today" is before or after the end date; that way the view moves with her, so to speak, and she doesn't have to manually make the change to the project file to mark it "complete". She kept coming back to me with, "But how do you move the project to its archive location if you don't know it's complete?" I tried to explain it to her using the file cabinet scenario; instead of having 2 file cabinets (one for "active" and one for "archive"), there's just one really long file cabinet, and you just determine which five hanging folders you're going to look at within that cabinet.


To look at a different commonly asked question by end users, I saw this question on the Microsoft message board:


"I have products that are sold under two or more different business units, and I need to be able to replicate the product page to each business unit's location in the site, yet remain able to edit it from any of its locations.

What if any, is the best way to accomplish this?
Thanks"


Here was my response:


-----------------------------------------------------------------


A key concept for SharePoint is the concept of taxonomy, or site organization. One of the big benefits of SharePoint is that it's possible to organize information in more than one way. I like to give people this example:

Say you have a folder in your "My Documents" folder on your hard drive, and it's called "Projects". Inside your "Projects" folder, you have a bunch of folders, each named for a name of a project. Inside each of those folders you have all the documents relating to a project, such as a project plan, status reports, etc. One day, your co-worker says, "Hey, I need the project plan for Project XYZ." You're in a hurry so you give her access to view your "My Documents" folder over the network. Pretty soon you have her calling, "Hey! Where's your 'Project Plans' folder?" She's asking that because on her computer, she doesn't have a folder for each project; instead, she has a folder for each type of document.

This example is just to show that there are multiple ways of sorting or grouping the same information. What if it were possible to view the same information, but grouped in different ways? What if you could see all your project documents at once, but your coworker could view all the project plans at once? The key is that where a document sits logically describes it in some way, but that's not the only way to describe it. It could also be "tagged" so that all the items tagged with the same tag can be grouped together.

In SharePoint, this is done with something called Site Columns. A site column is a piece of metadata that can be used to describe your page. The thing to wrap your mind around is the fact that on a file system, where a file sits is what gives it meaning, (i.e. "It's in my Projects folder so it's a project.") In SharePoint, you can have a single "Product" page, but you could simply tag it as being carried by one or more locations. The location of the product becomes metadata describing the product.

So, instead of having a web site for each location, and having a product page inside that unit's site, think of this scenario: you've got a site for each unit, but you've also got a common site for all your product pages. You tag each product page with the unit or units that carry that product. On your unit site's homepage, you use a web part called the Content Query Web Part to retrieve all the pages in your "Products" site that have been tagged with that unit's name.

This can be a big change from how traditional web sites are built, but if you can start thinking in this way, your sites become very flexible, and you can start showing different kinds of views of the same information - views which might be pertinent to different kinds of people (such as employees vs. consumers vs. business partners, etc.)


-------------------------------------------------------------


As someone who lives and breathes Site Columns and Content Types, it's always good to remember that people are going to compare the system with a real world scenario they are familiar with, and I need to find a new point of reference for my end users.

Category: General

Published: 9/12/2009 7:34 AM
"

Friday, September 11, 2009

How Customer Support Organizations Must Evolve (http://ping.fm/jjJFT)
Pete Cashmore: Facebook @Mentions: Five Ways They Could Impact Twitter (http://ping.fm/HsKzU)
How to make pictures with rounded corners in ASP.NET (http://ping.fm/v3TOK)
Tag Friends in Your Status and Posts http://ping.fm/ucCdX
"What's in decline? Where are we manufacturing energy?" Andy Stanley
Evaluate your underlying assumptions. Acknowledge what’s not working & own up to why you’re not doing anything about it. Andy Stanley
The local church rarely gets serious about change until the money stops coming in. Andy Stanley
If somebody walked into your organization with fresh eyes, and no emotional attachment, what would they do differently? Andy Stanley
Do you want to be great or do you want to be famous? Erwin McManus Leadership Forum http://ping.fm/ilepB #forum

Thursday, September 10, 2009

How Jerry Falwell's ambitious sons have led the Lynchburg univ to financial success & a burgeoning student body. http://ping.fm/oIvGh
Quiet on the Set: 160+ SharePoint Videos (http://ping.fm/zhre7)

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

"You have to allow people to belong before they will believe." Jim Burgen #thenines
Larry Osborne @larryosborne was so encouraging. What maturity! #TheNines
Stop judging on tangible outcomes, but on something deeper, to do the will of his Father - Sky Jethani Where does your legitimacy come from?
Solve SharePoint Performance Problems in SQL Server (http://ping.fm/4kPrf)
Richard MacManus: TweetDeck: The 5 Best and 3 Worst Things About The New Version That Will Launch Today (http://ping.fm/U7Knk)
Federal Safety Agency Bans Workers From Using Cell Phones While Driving (http://ping.fm/Nw26i)
Your Kids Won't Remember Your Speeches, But They Will Remember This! (http://ping.fm/Kks1a)
Schedule for The Nines Conference today! (http://ping.fm/0t8Ij)
Video Ur: Perry Noble on Multi-Site Churches, stop competing and start completing (http://ping.fm/wcTVB)
Jerry Bridges on Power in Prayer (http://ping.fm/xVZvm)
The Gospel-Centered Life: Small Group Curriculum (http://ping.fm/dcLRq)

Saturday, September 05, 2009

Aren't VT special teams great!
"But what has occurred -- irreversibly -- is this: He's become ordinary. The spell is broken." http://ping.fm/YIbMJ
Great CJ Mahaney Videos http://ping.fm/Jeg2W

Seven Steps to Stagnation � Small Group Pastors

Seven Steps to Stagnation � Small Group Pastors: "Sometime in the 1980’s Rev. Erwin M. Soukup (Archdeacon of Chicago) compiled “The Seven Steps (sayings) to Stagnation”:

1. We’ve never done it that way before.
2. We’re not ready for that.
3. We are doing all right without trying that.
4. We tried it once before.
5. We don’t have money for that.
6. That’s not our job.
7. Something like that can’t work."
Andy Stanley: Thoughts on Leadership (http://ping.fm/oGF5R)
Should the top few really make the decisions?"Organizational structure is not necessarily the best decision making structure" Andy Stanley
Do you make the decisions, or do you really listen? "Leaders are attracted to environments where ideas and opinions are heard." Andy Stanley
37signals: A-Teams = 12 people (http://ping.fm/5yGiB)
Order Secret Menu Items at Fast Food Chains [Fast Food Hacks] (http://ping.fm/rJjvX)
Gauge Your Fitness Level Using the Marine Corps Test [Exercise] (http://ping.fm/n4MQc)
Hanover, Henrico counties shift plans on showing Obama speech (http://ping.fm/r84mR)

Friday, September 04, 2009

Poll: Which story should win the session? Jobin! (http://ping.fm/4GHHg)
Scott Hanselman's 2009 Ultimate Developer and Power Users Tool List for Windows (http://ping.fm/XzReW)
Microsoft Productivity Hub Training Site installed on WSSDemo (http://ping.fm/vc9lx)
Add an Essential Toolbar to the 12 Hive on the Windows Startbar (http://ping.fm/x9pjp)
Fall Schedule for SharePoint Live Online Workshops from EndUserSharePoint.com (http://ping.fm/gwIHn)

Hack SharePoint Web Part Displays with XSLT - Eventbrite

Hack SharePoint Web Part Displays with XSLT - Eventbrite: "In this workshop, Jim Bob Howard will walk you through several scenarios that get close using the built-in tools in SPD… and then show you the XSL tweaks that take you the rest of the way to what you need."

Become Your Company's SharePoint SuperStar! - Eventbrite

Become Your Company's SharePoint SuperStar! - Eventbrite: "'Become Your Company's SharePoint Superstar!' is a special, live on-line session for SharePoint Power Users, the ones with all the responsibility and no authority to touch the servers. You know who you are."
The Case for/against SharePoint (http://ping.fm/HO3jz)

The Case for/against SharePoint | End User SharePoint

The Case for/against SharePoint | End User SharePoint: "The bottom line: all our work and knowledge base is self-doucmenting and available to customers and strategic partners. It sure beats trying to keep these same folks updated with email and teleconferences. The biggest frustration with our site was that the site search function was unreliable, but we found out that this pertained to the way our ISP host site installed sharepoint not any inherent flaw.

– Guy Warner"

When Online is Better than Face to Face

When Online is Better than Face to Face: "For an increasing number of tasks, a well-managed website is much better than a human being at helping you get the job done. Sometimes it's a mix. You go online and do a bunch of stuff on your own and then you get some online help to do some more."
"This is who and what he is" This just in...Obama is a leftist! http://ping.fm/MadjX

Make the Second Mile Second Nature - Faith

Make the Second Mile Second Nature

- Faith










@ PurposeDriven.com
: "When Christians stop counting their steps and start looking for opportunities to go the second mile, they form relationships with others built on honor, dignity, and respect. Through those encounters Christ transforms us and fulfills the promise of Proverbs 11:25: “He who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.”"

Thursday, September 03, 2009

The Living Room (http://ping.fm/JcQct)

The Living Room�|�The Official Buckhead Church Blog

The Living Room�|�The Official Buckhead Church Blog: "We believe college students can and will partner with us to reach out to the campuses that they are spending most of their days on.� Will you please join us in our mission and will you lead the way for a generation of students who are watching you? For more information on the Buckhead Church college ministry, check out www.collegegathering.org"
Do you love numbers more than souls? (http://ping.fm/0UmJO)
I'm pumped for THE NINES! Are you? (http://ping.fm/DHUHt)
Debug Your Thinking (http://ping.fm/UWU7a)

MarkHowellLive.com � Debug Your Thinking

MarkHowellLive.com � Debug Your Thinking: "When you think about your discipleship strategy or your connection strategy…how is it working?� Have you ever slowed down long enough to really examine your results?� To see if what you are trying to do is really happening?"
Such a small fire (http://ping.fm/yF77d)

Why Moralism Is Not the Gospel -- And Why So Many Christians Think It Is

Why Moralism Is Not the Gospel -- And Why So Many Christians Think It Is: "The deadly danger of moralism has been a constant temptation to the church and an ever-convenient substitute for the Gospel. Clearly, millions of our neighbors believe that moralism is our message. Nothing less than the boldest preaching of the Gospel will suffice to correct this impression and to lead sinners to salvation in Christ."
Why Moralism Is Not the Gospel And Why So Many Christians Think It Is (http://ping.fm/MMXzF)

Acts 29 >

Acts 29 >: "What does discipleship look like at Immanuel? 'No one needs to stand alone,' says Ray. 'That means, of course, a network of small groups. But something else we do is called 'Three-on-one.' At a low level of visibility, so that no one feels awkward, we quietly arrange for three adults to take on each teenager in the church, to befriend, to pray for, to go to their sports events or plays or whatever. We want everybody feeling loved.'
�"
Meet a Church Planter: Ray Ortlund, Jr. in Nashville (http://ping.fm/z13WU)
Commentary: Discipleship is Evangelism (http://ping.fm/n74bp)
"Following Jesus as a disciple means that we are bound to live according to his teachings as well as to pass on his teachings" http://ping.fm/zsbb6