Continuing the themes of Steveningen's diary yesterday on Kossack gatherings and community building, I'd like to talk a bit about the IAN (the Itzl Alert Network).
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Please come in. You're invited to make yourself at home! Join us beneath the doodle...
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There are only 15 members so far, but it's a new group and it takes a while for things to take hold and the group to gel.
I've been on DKos for just about a year and a half - a relative newbie still. During those 18 months or so, I've seen all manner of generosity and willingness to help one another permeating DKos. To me, it's what makes DKos so different and so special compared to all other social networking sites. I've hung around the keyboard and monitor far too long on the nights when there are major disasters, waiting to see if Kossacks I knew were OK - and other Kossacks, too, some of whom have become familiar to me.
Last summer, in the terrible heat wave, I went off line for more than a month because my computer quite literally melted in the heat. My house has just a small window unit that will cool only 1 room and not the whole house - Xoco gets shut into that room when I'm gone so she can stay cool in the summer. I left my laptop in one of the other rooms, and while I was at work, it got so hat some of the interior pieces melted and the computer would never work again. It took me a couple of months to save up enough to buy a cheap little netbook and get back on line. Before then, some people on DKos tracked me down to be sure I was OK since I'd just up and disappeared.
Then we had the flooding, and the wildfires, and waited anxiously to find out the fate of Nurse Kelley and her community.
Chimene worried about Kossacks living alone in this heat wave we're having, and who would check to see if they were OK if they couldn't get on line.
So chimene suggested we have a buddy system where a pair or more of Kossacks who lived geographically close could check up on one another in times when we lost contact, to make sure they were OK. Someone else suggested a place where people could go to say they were going to be away from their keyboard for a few days (a major project, a vacation, a staycation, moving...) so we would know it was a planned disappearance and we wouldn't send out search parties.
There are a lot of Kossacks who live alone or who live in remote or isolated areas and when they disappear off of DKos, it isn't always a disaster (like my melted computer - annoying, but manageable) and doesn't always need a fundraiser (Nurse Kelley, isolated by the wildfires and needing contact and emotional support more than anything). There are a lot of disasters - the extreme heat, floods, wildfires, earthquakes, tornadoes, volcanoes, blizzards, severe storms, hail, extreme cold, ice storms, and then, the massacre at the Batman movie in CO (several of my geek friends were wounded, still waiting to hear if they are all still alive).
That's how the Itzl Alert Network was born last week. It's a group where we can connect with buddies, check in to say we're all good, or to alert people to an extended, planned absence - not a TTFN, because those have an indefinite return date and the AFK notification would have a definite "I'll be back on this date". If a disaster happens, like the massacre in CO, wouldn't it be nice to have one place to check in and say you're fine, and if you don't check in, to know someone local will look in on you and report back so we can all heave a collective sigh of relief?
We have a daily "Good Morning" diary, and members are requested to check in there - a rec on the tip jar at the least, a comment if they want. They can write diaries to arrange meet-ups between 2 or more Kossacks to form local buddy groups.
It needs many more members so there are plenty of people all around so buddy groups can form up, and have meet-ups to get to know one another so they can exchange contact information that shouldn't be on the internet.
We haven't set any rules other than checking in, all the rest is still under discussion, but I do see a lot of tiny, micro-meet-ups happening in the coming months.
So, if you want to continue with the Kossack gatherings and community building and are interested in buddying up with someone so we can stay in contact even under adverse conditions, please mosey over to the Itzl Alert Network (IAN) and ask to join.
TOP PHOTOS
July 22, 2012
Enjoy jotter's wonderful PictureQuilt™ below. Just click on the picture and it will magically take you to the comment that features that photo. Have fun, Kossacks!
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