Rethinking the community calendar
Jon Udell
Ann Arbor District Library
Sept 26, 2012
http://elmcity.cloudapp.net
Intro

I went to this university

Where I won this award

Then I worked on this publication

Then went to this graduate school

Then I worked for this software
company

Then I worked for this magazine

Then I wrote this book

Then I worked for this magazine

Then I went to this company

Where I’m working to solve this
problem

Why?
Characteristics of the solution:
1. There's no central point of control
2. Everyone is responsible for their own data
3. Standards enable data contributions to form networks

How?

How not: AnnArbor.com

Or: A2Y Chamber

Or: ArborWeb.com

But: A2Chronicle

So: Washtenaw
County calendar
of events
https://secure.ewashtenaw.org/eventcal/ViewCalendar.do?view=month

http://elmcity.cloudapp.net/a2cal/html
A2Cal today

What is iCalendar?
- The standard Internet format for exchanging calendar information.
- Supported by Google Calendar, Hotmail Calendar, Outlook, Apple iCal,
Lotus Notes, others.
Why should I care?
When you use a iCalendar-aware program to manage your web calendar:
1. It creates HTML for people to read.
2. It also creates an iCalendar feed for automatic data exchange.
Unfortunately…
Most web calendars (including eWashtenaw’s) are only available as HTML
(or even PDF). So people can view them, but computers can't automatically
exchange the data.
What is iCalendar and
why would I care?

Today in Ann Arbor
A2Cal today all

Wurster Park

Wurster Park

Some Ann Arbor feeds I found
A2cal feed stats
snapshot

All the Ann Arbor feeds I found
A2cal feed stats
all

Sources feeding the Ann Arbor hub
A2cal quick stats

Applications that produced the feeds
iCal PRODIDs

Feed count by iCal
producer

Syndication from the Ann Arbor District Library
Bright lights:
AADL

Syndication from CrazyWisdom
Bright lights:
Crazy Wisdom

Syndication from the City of Ann Arbor
Bright lights: City
of Ann Arbor

calendar “dark matter”
dark matter

The HTML/PDF/RSS fallacy
How humans represent calendar events:
HTML,
PDF, “Community Information Sharing Seminar with Jon
RSS Udell, Ann Arbor District Library, Sept. 26 at 4PM“
How computers represent calendar events:
iCalendar DTSTART;TZID=EST;20120926T160000
SUMMARY:Jon Udell: Community Info Sharing
LOCATION:Ann Arbor District Library

A civic scorecard for public calendars

Syndicating from Google Calendar
Google createa calendar (once only)
Step 1: Create
new calendar

Google share calendar
Step 2: Make it public (once only)

Step 3: Capture HTML for website, iCalendar URL for syndication (once only)
<iframe
src="https://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=ajgh1q
3t9plrlcoobkovsdfm88%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=
America/New_York" style="border: 0" width="800"
height="600" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>
HTML (for people)
iCalendar (for computers)
https://www.google.com/calendar/ical/ajgh1q3t9plrlcoobkovsdfm88%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics
Capture Google HTML and iCal

Step 4: Ask webmaster to embed the HTML in your site (once only)
Embed Google HTML

Step 5: Send the iCal URL to the syndication hub (once only)
From: lucast@ewashtenaw.org 1
To: jonu@microsoft.com 2
Subject: iCal feed for Washtenaw County public meetings
Hi there,
Please syndicate our calendar at this URL:
https://www.google.com/calendar/ical/8i9vg16fbddqkct11sml
54a0m0%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics
1. Person responsible for the eWashtenaw public calendar
2. Person responsible for the syndication hub
Transmit URL to curator

Google createanevent
From now on, when you create event here…

It shows up here: https://secure.ewashtenaw.org/eventcal
It shows up here

And also here: http://elmcity.cloudapp.net/a2cal/html
And also here

And maybe here? http://annarborchronicle.com/events-listing/
And potentially A2Chron

And maybe also here? http://www.a2ychamber.org/Events.aspx
And potentially also A2YChamber

And maybe even on community access television?
And potentially even Community Television

Syndicating from Hotmail Calendar
Hotmail Step 1: Create a calendar (once only)
create new calendar

Hotmail share calendar
Step 2: Make it public (once only)

Capture Hotmail HTML
and iCal
HTML (for people)
iCalendar (for computers)

Step 4: Ask webmaster to embed the HTML in your site (once only)
Embed Hotmail HTML

Step 5: Send the iCal URL to the syndication hub (once only)
From: lucast@ewashtenaw.org
To: jonu@microsoft.com
Subject: iCal feed for Washtenaw County public meetings
Hi there,
Please syndicate our calendar at this URL:
webcals://cid-dffec23daaf5ee89.calendar.live.com/calendar/eWashtenaw/calendar.ics
Transmit URL to curator

Hotmail create event here…
From now on, when you create an event

It shows up here…
It shows up here

And also here: http://elmcity.cloudapp.net/a2cal/html
And also here

And maybe here? http://annarborchronicle.com/events-listing/
And potentially A2Chron

And maybe also here? http://www.a2ychamber.org/Events.aspx
And potentially also A2YChamber

http://www.blindpigmusic.com/calendar.html
Blind Pig home calendar

http://elmcity.cloudapp.net/a2cal/html?view=music
The Hood
Internet shows
up here via
Upcoming
Blind Pig in a2cal via upcoming

https://www.facebook.com/BlindPigAnnArbor/events
The Blind Pig
didn’t include
The Hood
Internet (Sep
26) in its
Facebook
calendar.
But it was a
source for
these events.
Blind Pig in facebook

Syndicating from Facebook
Duplication isn’t
necessarily bad.
When times and
titles match,
multiples
coalesce.
Two Gallants also
shows up here (at the
wrong time, because
Two Gallants shows somebody else
up here (at the right entered the data into
time, because The Upcoming)
Blind Pig entered
the data into
Blind Pig Sept 30 in a2cal
Facebook)

What could the Blind Pig do?
(Strategy 1: Use Facebook)
How? Put the whole schedule on Facebook.
Pros Popular, convenient, great way to socialize
events.
Cons 1. Doesn’t automatically feed the Blind Pig
home site
2. Event details only available to logged-in
Facebook users.
Workarounds 1. Syndicate from Facebook to standard
calendar, embed that on home site.
2. Now details visible to Blind Pig home site
visitors (as well as Facebook site).

What could the Blind Pig do?
(Strategy 2: Use a standard calendar)
How? Put the whole schedule into an iCalendar-
aware program.
Pros Write it once, show it automatically on website
and elsewhere.
Cons 1. Not in Facebook.
2. Widgets don’t match site design.
Workarounds 1. Use one-click Add to Facebook
2. Extract data from Facebook, flow through
site template.

One-click Add To Facebook
Any syndicated event can
also be added to
personal calendars in the
cloud (Google, Hotmail)
or on the desktop
(Outlook, Apple iCal)

Feeds in the Ann Arbor hub’s music category
Music in Ann Arbor

Creating a “Music Around Town” widget
Exploratorium

“Music Around Town” widget embedded in the Blind Pig site
Blind Pig with widget

“Music Around Town” widget embedded in the Crazy Wisdom site
Crazy Wisdom with widget

Organizing feeds into categories
http://elmcity.cloudapp.net/a2cal/html?view=crazywisdom
http://elmcity.cloudapp.net/a2cal/html?view=crazywisdom,music
Crazy Wisdom:

Organizing feeds into categories
Crazy Wisdom

Organizing feeds into categories
BEGIN:VEVENT
CATEGORIES:crazywisdom
CATEGORIES:music
DESCRIPTION: Live Music Weekends at Crazy Wisdom Tea Room n 8:30 to 10
:30 p.m. &ndash; No Cover Charge n Every Friday and Saturday night C
razy Wisdom invites you to Tea and Tunes. Not a tea drinker? No problem! C
razy Wisdom offer a wide selection of coffee drinks. (while you&rsquo;re
here, don&rsquo;t forget to try some of our tasty treats as well!) n
Click here to see who is playing
DTEND;TZID=Eastern Standard Time:20120928T223000
DTSTAMP:20120924T135335
DTSTART;TZID=Eastern Standard Time:20120928T203000
LOCATION:
SEQUENCE:0
SUMMARY:Live Music in th Tea Room
UID:eab1368d-f802-45ab-b63f-842bf09fa1c6
URL:http://www.crazywisdom.net/events.html
END:VEVENT
Crazy Wisdom:
making the

Organizing feeds into categories
http://elmcity.cloudapp.net/a2cal/html?view=slauson
http://elmcity.cloudapp.net/a2cal/html?view=slauson,music
Slauson: all vs

Organizing feeds into categories
Slauson:

Arts Alive site

Arts alive hub

State Hub A: Arts and Culture State Hub B: Tech and Business
Ann Arbor music
Ann Arbor art
Detroit music
Grand Rapids art
… Ann Arbor tech
Ann Arbor business
Detroit tech
Lansing business
… …
Community Arts
…
and Culture Hub
Community Tech e
and Business Hub
music art tech business r
health environment art u
music sports
ct
business tech
pi
g
Bi

For more information:
http://elmcity.cloudapp.net
jonu@microsoft.com