aka interesting stuff
Some resources I like or use to stay informed. It’s a work in progress. Some old links are at the bottom that need to be cleaned up.
Elaine Gambiani of Three Hive Design
Causes
Social justice, environment, biodiversity, organizational leadership and development, etc.
- Homegrown National Park: catalyzing a collective effort of individual homeowners, property owners, land managers, farmers, and anyone with some soil to plant in…to start a new habitat by planting native plants and removing most invasive plants.
- xChange Approach: “a scientifically based approach for unlocking potential in groups through the art of facilitation.”
- Stand With Ukraine: “Nova Ukraine is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine and raising awareness about Ukraine in the United States and throughout the world.”
- ALUUC.org
- Springfield YMCA: programs that build healthy spirit, mind and body for all.
- EnosParkGardens.org: where fresh produce and community spirit interact to produce abundance. We want to increase access to fresh produce, teach others valuable skills, and create a context where people can become neighbors.
- Illinois Native Plant Society: Dedicated to the study, appreciation, and conservation of the native flora and natural communities of Illinois
- Phoenix Center: Central Illinois’ LGBTQ Center offering various groups, public health services, training, social & educational events and transitional housing
- Springfield PrideFest: street fair embracing diversity and celebrating the Central IL LGBTQ community.
- Springfield Civic Garden Club of Illinois: helping to make Springfield a more beautiful city; they offer knowledge about gardening, floral design, landscaping, and horticulture — and fund grants for beautification.
- Capital Canine Training Center: promotes cooperation and good sportsmanship among its members in the training and exhibition of dogs.
YouTube
Some of my fav YT channels
- Bernadette Banner: “Costume analysis & fashion history. Sometimes educational.” Creative, quirky and highly entertaining and yet so soothing. Ahh… craftsmanship and hand stitching.
- Suburban Homestead: delightful forays into cottage garden design, plant comparisons, practical and frugal plant advice, and just beautifully done.
- Not Useless Yet: another soothing pandemic find turned favorite fixer-upper. Specifically, fixing up a villa. In Italy. By a Brit living in Austria.
- Beau of the Fifth Column: this one started with a query to my son, “should I buy a gun?” Beau to the rescue. Again and again.
- Rusty Judgement: a look inside DIY-focused rural entrepreneurship – by the husband of Dawn, YouTube’s “Minimal Mom”. I haven’t seen them have to call an ambulance… yet.
- Warwick Schiller: gentle patient Aussie horse trainer goes “woo-woo” – because it works. (I started down this path with a bird-trainer YT channel during the pandemic, but this one just makes so much sense.) And: horses. Useful insights for anyone with pets or livestock.
“Truthfulness”
- The Factual: unbiased – or, rather, bias-rated – news.
- Wait Buy Why: “A popular long-form, stick-figure-illustrated blog about almost everything.” Tim Urban’s unique and sometimes mind-blowing take on the world.
- Tim’s new (2023) book: What’s Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies:
- A footnote about social media amplifying and shaping political junk food, ‘ “The spread of true and false news online,” a 2018 study that analyzed 126,000 stories tweeted by three million people, found that “falsehood diffused significantly farther, faster, deeper, and more broadly than the truth in all categories of information, and the effects were more pronounced for false political news than for false news about terrorism, natural disasters, science, urban legends, or financial information.” ‘
DOI: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aap9559 - ‘ “When you go to a [Wikipedia] page, you’re seeing the same thing as other people. So it’s one of the few things online that we at least hold in common. Now, just imagine for a second that Wikipedia said, “We’re gonna give each person a different customized definition, and we’re gonna be paid by people for that.” So, Wikipedia would be spying on you. Wikipedia would calculate, “What’s the thing I can do to get this person to change a little bit on behalf of some commercial interest?” Right? And that it would change the entry. Can you imagine that? Well, you should be able to, ’cause that’s exactly what’s happening on Facebook. It’s exactly what’s happening in your YouTube feed. ‘
from the 2020 documentary The Social Dilemma, as quoted in What’s Our Problem.
- A footnote about social media amplifying and shaping political junk food, ‘ “The spread of true and false news online,” a 2018 study that analyzed 126,000 stories tweeted by three million people, found that “falsehood diffused significantly farther, faster, deeper, and more broadly than the truth in all categories of information, and the effects were more pronounced for false political news than for false news about terrorism, natural disasters, science, urban legends, or financial information.” ‘
- Ryan Holiday’s The Daily Stoic: “For those of us who live our lives in the real world, there is one branch of philosophy created just for us: Stoicism. It’s a philosophy designed to make us more resilient, happier, more virtuous and more wise–and as a result, better people, better parents and better professionals.”
Tech
Usability, responsible use of tech
- Donald Norman, books, Nielson Norman Group, etc.
- Jacob Neilson
- Usability books and resources
- Mo Gawdot: happiness & AI
- Take a look at my FB posts for the occasional excerpt or commentary.
Websites and such – updated June 2023
Accessibility
- W3C – Web Accessibility Initiative WAI
- WAI – Resources for Content Writers
- Wai – Resources for Designers
- WAI – Web Accessibility Evaluation Tools List
- WCAG – Web Content Accessibility Standards and Guidelines
- WAVE: Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool – free testing from the browser
- aXe – browser plugin for Web Developer Tools
- NVDA – free non-visual desktop access
- Cynthia Says, in a 2021 announcement, recommends accessibility testing tools:
Attribution and Licensing: THOU SHALT NOT STEAL
- Be Careful When You Duplicate Content – even a little! 11/06/2019
- Plagiarism – learn about plagiarism in this Common Craft video
- Public Domain – learn about public domain in this Common Craft video
Content and Writing
- Why Content Goes Viral: What Analyzing 100 Million Articles Taught Us 4/21/2014 updated 12/6/2017
Personal Safety and Disaster Recovery
- Zombies in Plain English video 10/23/2007 – learn about zombies in this Common Craft video
SEO: search engine optimization: FIRST OFF, TELL THE TRUTH
- Local ranking factors that help your small business’ SEO 11/08/2022
- 13 Google My Business Optimizations to Rank Higher in Local Search updated 2/9/2023
- Improve local SEO with Google My Business a.k.a. Google Business Profile updated 3/23/2022
- Find and fix keyword cannibalization in 4 steps 01/06/2020
- Beginner’s Guide to Image SEO – Optimize Images for Search Engines updated 6/8/2023
- Image SEO – Optimizing Images for Search Engines updated 11/23/2020
- Infographic: How Do Google AdWords Work? updated 11/14/2020
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) video – learn about search engine optimization in this Common Craft video
- Use Old Words for Search Engine Findability 8/28/2006 – a classic: speak the user’s language; don’t use made-up words
- YouTube SEO: How to Optimize Videos for YouTube Search 6/8/2023
Web Tech Stuff
WordPress and Content Management Systems (CMS)
- 15 Best and Most Popular CMS Platforms in 2023 (Compared) updated 1/1/2023
- How to Use the New WordPress Block Editor (Gutenberg Tutorial) updated 3/3/2023
The WordPress Block Editor allows site editors to drag and drop content areas (images, links, galleries, tables, video, quotes, buttons, multi-column content) into website pages and posts, similar to other “what you see is what you get” or WYSIWYG Content Management Systems. The link above is to a comprehensive tutorial for the Block Editor. - Counteracting WordPress Misconceptions updated June 2023
- Gravity Forms – Resend Email Notifications 2/1/2015