I am finding a great many things that are interesting and fun in the DK4 environment. Groups were the main new feature that I was looking forward to and I haven't been disappointed. One thing that I have found particularly pleasant and productive is networking with other groups. I'd like to share some of my experiences along those lines and find out what other people have been doing along those lines.
I was involved with the liveblogs about the popular revolution in Egypt before the conversion to DK4. We had decided that running it as part of a group would be the best approach on the new platform. So, as soon as the new site came online I created the group Eyes on Egypt and the Region. We continued to operate the liveblog and I was writing background diaries on the various countries that were boiling over.
I began looking for other diaries that had relevant information on the topic and republishing them to our group. I got in the habit of posting a comment in those diaries that it was being republished. Then the same thing began happening in my diaries. They were in part about foreign relations and papicek from that group came along and began republishing them. They were also about history and Land of Enchantment from History for Kossacks came along. Pretty soon they decided to make me an editor in their groups to save them the trouble of republishing them. As I look for diaries to republish to Eyes on Egypt I think about whether they are appropriate for those other two groups and if so also republish there.
I've gotten interested in both of those groups and if the revolutions ever quiet down have thoughts about other diaries I'd like to write on history and foreign relations which are both topics of long interest to me.
Adalah is a group focused on justice in the middle east. Several of the people active in that group have lived in the region. I have found them very helpful as people to consult about background information. We have done a good bit of republishing back and forth.
Those are experiences that have come my way. I'm sure that other people have had experiences of crossover and cooperation and I thought that it would be interesting to share them and explore ways that we can support each others groups.
Here are the groups that I referred to:
Foreign Relations:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
History for Kossaks:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Adalah:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Eyes on Egypt and the Region:
http://www.dailykos.com/...