WWWebsite Potluck

Guidelines, Etc.

Basics

Guidelines

Samples: 2006 or 2007

Mail In Your Links

Past Potluck Entries

 

Basics

We are requesting that each person submit at least two URLs -- the line at the top of your browser that usually reads something like: "http://www.interestingplace.com" or something similar (and may have more after that, something like: "/gbx/widget/zotz.htm" to point to a specific page or item). With each link submitted, include a brief (one paragraph ought to be plenty) explanation of what you find interesting about it or why you think people ought to see it. Some things may be obvious, but your personal reasons are of interest, too.

Unless you have a lot of really neat sites to offer, we would generally prefer you trim the list down to no more than six or so, but that's up to you. More entries will not make you more likely to win any prizes we give away; more interesting entries may....

We would prefer that you not jump through hoops to make your submissions "active links" (i.e, click on them and go directly to the site; usually shown as underlined text). Simply copying the URL and pasting it into the body of your email should be fine.

 

Guidelines for Submissions:

1. Submit your entries via e-mail to potluckentry@omug.org with a Subject line of "WWWebsite Potluck Entry -- YourName" (where 'YourName', of course, is your name).

2. Entries should be received no later than October 10th, 2007 to allow time to organize the collected entries and verify that all are active sites and don't violate the guidelines for content.

3. What we are looking for are the "UNs" -- the unusual, the uncommon and the unlikely. Do not submit ordinary sites featuring things you can find anywhere on the Web (such as eBay, Amazon, Project Gutenberg, etc.)

4. Commercial sites are fine, but once again, if it sells the same things you can find at Dillards, J.C. Penney's or Walmart, we have no interest. A site which sells custom propeller beanies, tie-dyed kilts, or Alice in Wonderland memorabilia, now...

5. If you are going to submit a link to a site that fits a common category (such as blogs, desktop pictures, photo albums, shareware, etc.), please choose one that deals with either a very specific subgroup, or one which is organized or designed in a unique fashion

6. We trust our members' sense of propriety (we really do), but I suppose we really ought to mention that submissions should not be rated more than PG-17 as the motion picture industry would put it (if you think an R-Rated site just really oughtn't be missed, be sure to provide a warning that some of the content may be a little much, and the board will check it out and make a decision).

 

2006 Samples

 Here's a site which has something both artistic and visual -- it's not a site with potato chips that take unlikely shapes (state outlines, religious icons, celebrities, etc.), but it does have original sculptures created in an unusual fashion, and really remarkable competition winners, too.

Click on the button on the left to see the CANSTRUCTION site....

 

 Here's a site which falls into a general category (recipes and food info). However, unlike a big site such as RECIPES.COM, this has a very narrow focus, and it has a light and attractive design as well.

Click on the button on the left to see the LEMON FLOWER site....

 

 As our final example, here's a site which is commercial (i.e., you come here to buy merchandise), but a trifle out of the way. If you ever had the desire to take ship with Blackbeard or Anne Bonney and sail off (from Penzance or any other home port) for the merry life of a pirate, this is the site for you!

Click on the button on the left to see the DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES site....

 2007 Samples
 Time improves many things, and a year and a half more experience crawling around the World Wide Web has left us with an improved ability to choose examples -- as did our experience in seeing how everyone took last year's examples to heart. Below you will find commentary on four different sorts of sites which should help give you ideas for this year's WWWebsite Potluck. Read the text, then click on the button to see what we mean!
 

 One type of site that makes a great "find" to share is a site or other resource that offers a unique or interesting service, access to a resource that most might think to tap, or one which has not been available until now.

In this example, we consider Curriki.org -- a 'wiki', or collaboratively maintained and updated body of interconnected knowledge or information (the best-known example is probably the WikiPedia, an on-line and ever-growing encyclopedic reference).

Curriki is similarly structured, but is intended to gather educational curricula, course materials, and educational reference materials. Click on the 'Go See!' button at the right to take a look....

 
 

 Another sort of site we'd like to see contributed is one which show interesting new applications of human ingenuity.

Have you ever heard of 'Instant Prototyping', '3-D Printing', or 'Fabricators'? The concept is simple: we all know we can print 2-dimensional images, either drawings or photograph using the 2-D printers we all own. Wouldn't it be neat (especially for inventors, artists and custom builders of all sorts) if we could 'print' actual three-dimensional, solid objects that you could hold in your hand? It calls to mind the 'replicator' units in the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation (and others).

Well, technology has begun to approach a practical version of this device (though nowhere nearly as advanced as the ones on TV). Commercial, high end prototyping systems cost tens of thousands of dollars, though the prices are beginning to start downward. This sort of leaves the home computer enthusiast out of the running, doesn't it?

Well, don't start pouting yet, pilgrims -- enter Fab@Home.Org: a group of technophiles, Ubergeeks and wild-eyed barnyard inventors who think anyone should be able to have a system at home that can build anything their computers can design. What's more, they don't seem to think that they should limit themselves to specialized plastic materials. They want a unit which can build their creations out of plastic, epoxy, silicone, or even cheese or chocolate! What's more, that is just the sort of system they're building. The two Steves (Jobs and Wozniak) must just love these guys, even though I wouldn't expect Apple to announce 'iFab' anytime soon. Click on the 'Go See!' button at the right to take a look....

 

 

 As we agreed back in 2006, just because a site is commercial (by which I mean it exists to sell real products for real money) doesn't mean it isn't worth sharing with your fellow members. However, it should be something a little out of the way: unusual, unlikely, even off-the-wall completely. Skip ordinary sites where you can buy things you could just as likely find at the local shopping mall, but by all means include the special, the bizarre (but tasteful) and the obscure.

Case in point (as Rod Serling used to say): Anyone remember the show David Hasselhoff co-starred in before he retired to run around on the beach with Pam Anderson? His co-star wasn't human. Instead of a sexy alien or an animal, is was a car.

That's right, KITT -- the Knight Industries Two Thousand -- the Trans Am with more bells and whistles than a clock factory. How many of us would have loved to jump into that driver's seat and drive off into the sunset? Or even jump into the passenger seat and let KITT drive us into the sunset?

Well, it seems that enough people still live that fantasy that there is an actual market for the necessary replacement parts, modifications, and decorative add-ons to convert a real TransAm into a convincing replica. Where to find them? Try Knight Replicas. Click on the 'Go See!' button at the right to take a look....

 

 

 One more thing. A link doesn't have to lead somewhere 'worthwhile', fascinating, or commercially oriented to be worth sharing. Sometimes it's just enough to be funny.

Have you been following the growth of Google? Some fella in a trench coat whispered in my ear from the shadows that a documentary is in the works over at the History Channel. Working title: 'The Search Engine That Ate Cincinnati.'

With a growth curve like that, it should be no surprise that people try to create jokes and spoofs based on slightly skewed ideas to what new service Google might offer the world this week. One perhaps prescient vision is the new 'Content Blocker' service for web browsing. Click on the 'Go See!' button at the right to take a look....

 
   
 Well, that's enough examples for this year. Once you've decided what links you want to share with the rest of us, use the Mail In Your Links feature by clicking on the envelope button below. We'll be waiting by the mailbox!!!

 

Mail In Your Links

Click on the envelope below to create an e-mail message in your regular e-mail program which will correctly send us your entries....

 

 

 Links:  About the WWWebsite Potluck
Entries: WWWebsite Potluck (2006) 
 Entries: WWWebsite Potluck (2007)