Content Fairy – Guy Redwood's Blog

A few weeks ago, Tom launched his new wiki for collecting best practice info surrounding ecommerce.

http://tomsmith.textdriven.com/Wikka/HomePage

It’s a good project with huge potential. Tom’s stuff is generally pretty good – so it’s no suprise that the resource is already worthy of a read by anybody that runs a transactional website.

What I found interesting about this new venture, was my reaction to it. (I do spend much time analysing my own behaviour). My scary thought process went someting like this:

1. Cool, this will help alot of people.
2. oh, no, Tom’s really bright, he’s going to tell everybody how to make ecommerce work and do us all out of a living.
3. Get a grip, there’s always too much for people to take in and it’s how you implement knowledge from experience that matters, not just the fact that you know something, so maybe our jobs are safe for now.
4. This is cool, I’ve got plenty to add, lets get started.
5. Oh… where should I place my first nugget of knowledge for all to share? None of the categories really suit my first gem.

And there it was, in a nut shell, something I’ve never considered. Whilst I’m a huge advocate of wikis I was stumped at the thought of adding content into a wiki I didn’t own/rule/dictate.

I’ve always used my own wikis. I’ve always had to evangelise about wiki use, teach people to post, grow the structure, etc. This was the first time I’ve had to take something from my head and then think about where it would go in somebody else’s wiki. Wiki content is more than a comment against a blog, this is new content in somebody elses property. Will the owner agree with where I’ve placed it?

This is something very important for all wiki owners to consider.

At some point in the not too distant future I’ll contribute. It’s my duty as a citizen in Tomland. I just need to work out the bits I’m allowed to share, without upsetting the customers, and then roll my sleeves up and contribute.

We received our bottle of Stormhoek Sauvignon Blanc 2005 a few weeks ago – and whilst it only lasted a few hours in the home office before being opened, I’ve been too busy setting up our nice new offices in the York Innovation Centre to report on this fascinating experience.

The quality of the wine was overshaddowed by it’s remarkable delivery. I received an email from DHL, which I initially thought was spam – why would dhl email me? Must be some virus thing.

But no, it was the local DHL depot stating that they had a parcel for me and needed some further details before they delivered it. I couldn’t believe it – here was an industry that last year wouldn’t even let their drivers have mobile phones for various crazy reasons – now using email as a way of contacting recipients for delivery info. Not sure how they got the email address – but I was totally impressed with the service. I emailed the requested info and the wine turned up the next day.

So what about the wine?

This Sauvignon Blanc 2005 has a tough personal benchmark to be compared against. It’s a variety of wine we drink lots of, ever since discovering the legendary SB from Montana many years ago. The Montana is dependable – it’s my wooly jumper of summer drinking – never disappointing.

The Stormhoek was not as bold, definitely more delicate – definitely a great wine – and I’ve got no idea of price. We didn’t really do the tasting justice – it didn’t last long – we were thristy and it went well with the food – what more can you ask of a wine? I’m keen to try another bottle and spend a little more time considering it – but a quick search on Sainsburys reveals it’s not available on online. Maybe it’s available in store?

I will hunt you out, Stormhoek, for another, more intimate sitting.

The personalised bottle sits on my desk at work – a story waiting to be told to all that enquire.

I do wonder if they do anything good with my other vice…. big bold Shiraz?

Just a shame I can’t find a product catalogue/listing on their website :-(