First of all, you’ll notice that this week’s quick poll looks different. No, I’m not just test driving new polling software (although test drives can be fun). Starting this week, the quick poll is being shared with Marc Spagnuolo at the Wood Talk Online community.
The idea is that we’ll be able to reach out to more woodworkers and get a better idea of what you are thinking.
Which leads to this week’s question – what do you think about collaboration between online woodworkers? Do you think the online woodworking community would be stronger with more collaboration among woodworking bloggers, or do you think it would lead toward more similar – and boring – posts?
Remember, all votes cast here at Tom’s Workbench and the Wood Talk Online community will be show on the vote total.
(polls)
Tom….very big fan of this. Along with the critique it’s a very important part of furniture design (or woodworking, whatever). I’m not sure the direction you are thinking, but without being arrogant, in group discussions I’ve had, the collaboration would be a Call for Entries category that ends with a finished object to show. One person designs, the other builds. The collaboration would be something like: “I don’t have that tooling but if we do it this way…..ya da ya da”. The communication would be substantial throughout the design process.
Also we actually worked this approach bi-coastal in regards to a marquetry or an inlay technique (not sure what you would call it) I made a killer mistake and we ran out of time.
The form of collaboration I’d like to see is where building to a final object to show, is the blog content. This is also a lost aspect in working with the Interior Design community (both sides are to blame).
Hey man. If it involves me keep the dust off you while you carve a bench, I’m all for it! 🙂 Ahh good times!
I think collaboration between online woodworkers only adds to the potential of new ideas. One of the biggest things that draws me to the online woodworking community is the fact that bloggers and woodworks come together to help one another out.
I prefer individual blogs. There is more variety that way. One blogger could be showcasing veneering, another steam bending and another tips on routers. A collaboration would mean at any one time the only topic being discussed might be marquetry, for example, and half the woodworkers will tune out.
Haven’t you watched the news and each channel has the same clips and interpretation of events as the other. I would not like to see that happen with woodworking internet content.
Regards,
Paul
I like Neil’s comments – but also like the idea of varied perspectives to the same content. Different people give varied opinions based on experience – and it helps round out a discussion on a topic.
Tom….this collaboartion got me thinking along the lines of how the gen X and Y’s work more in a group fashion.
The idea of collaborating towards an end product like the “Aids Quilt” came to mind.
Individually the internet woodworking community could make a piece of a final object that came together at WIA or some other place a gathering could occur. Much like the “Aids Quilt” spread over Washington.
I am all for a combination of individuality and collaboration. As woodworkers, each with our own styles, personalities, talents and projects, we are each islands. I would like to see us maintain the uniqueness of our own islands, so to speak, and publish relevant content to what we are doing individually, but I would love to also see a network of bridges and ferries connecting them all. These guys are all into project X right now and I’m not, but I could still post a brief note with links to them. This other guy has put up an outstanding post about topic Y this week and I am calling attention to it and looking for your responses. AND, I’m working on custom commission Z and it’s consuming my entire life, so I’ll post about it myself. I think it’s kind of like using the Twitter retweet button, but in blogging and more frequent and intentional. One of the problems of blogging is the isolation. We never get to actually meet in real life. My role with The Woodworking Shows is inspiring me to think about more possibilities for real-life meet ups and what that could mean for the online woodworking community. Thinking…thinking…