Cerado Haystack - Recently Updated Pages

On Open-ness

ccarfi — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 09:32:09 CDT

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We are entering an age where the users and customers (that's us) are increasingly in control of our own information, at least when interacting with vendors who respect us. That means we're moving away from the silo'd model of the industrial age (where the vendors have all the power, and we have none), and moving into a time where we are afforded increasing power and commensurate responsibility. The emergence of disciplines like VRM and CRM2.0 are the bellwethers that are pointing the way. Esoteric points, perhaps, but important nonetheless.

Cerado's Haystack networking supports this philosophy in a number of ways. These ways include:

Export/Import capabilities
An open API
Support for OpenID

More on each of these items below.

Export: You, at any time, can export your profile data. That means no lock-in. You're free to take your information with you anywhere, anytime. Your profile information is exportable in both CSV (Excel comma separated value) and XML formats.

Import: Additionally, Haystack administrators can import CSV and Excel files to easily set up new Haystacks with a minimum of hassle.

The Haystack open API: Cerado partners like SwapThing are using the Haystack networking API to integrate Haystack capabilities into their own offerings. Much, much more on the API here.

OpenID support: The OpenID project is making rapid, fantastic progress in creating a distributed infrastructure that allows users and customers (yes, that's us again) to control our online authentication in an extensible, straightforward manner. Other supporters of OpenID include Microsoft, Versign, AOL, and a host of others.

Cerado Haystack FAQ

ccarfi — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 06:51:01 CDT

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Q: What is an organization's Haystack?
A Haystack is a place to learn about the individuals within an organization.

Q: How do I navigate within a Haystack?
Haystacks are navigated using the tags (what's a tag?) that individuals have used to describe themselves. Click on the tags near the top of the screen to see the people within a particular Haystack who have described themselves using a particular tag.

Q: How do I enter tags?
Separate tags with a space: paris istanbul chicago. Or, to join words together in a tag, use double quotes: fletch heathers "the princess bride". More: How do I enter tags?.

Q: What's a tag group?
A tag group can be thought of as a collection of related tags, or as a category. Click on a tag group name to navigate a Haystack based on that category.

Q: What is a profile?
A profile is a description of an individual in a Haystack. It contains a brief biography, as well as a view into "who" a person is by way of understanding their background, interests and the like. Additionally, profiles in Haystack are "live" in the sense that they also contain the most recent thoughts from a person's blog via their RSS feed (what's an RSS feed?).

Q: How do I view a person's profile?
Click on a person's picture, or on the "profile" link next to his or her name.

Q: What's is that button that is next to some of the profile pictures?
Haystack profiles are integrated with Skype (what's Skype?), and show the online presence (e.g. online, offline, currently unavailable) of a person in the Haystack network if they are using Skype. If you are also using Skype, you can contact that person directly by simply clicking their Skype presence button, assuming they are online, of course.

Q: What does "View my network" do?
"View my network" lets you see the people you have chosen to add to your Haystack network. (You need to be signed in to access "View my network"; if you don't have a account on Haystack, you can get a free one here.) It's a simple place to keep track of the people who are helping you from across the Haystack network.

Q: What's does "Add to my network" do?
If you are signed in, profiles of individuals within Haystack will display a link that says "Add to my network." Clicking on this link will add this individual to your network, as described above. Note: Your network is NOT visible to others. It's your private space.

Q: What is "My Profile Page?"
You can update your profile via your profile page. (You need to be signed in to access "My Profile Page"; if you don't have a account on Haystack, you can get a free one here .) Additionally, it contains a private area where you can keep notes, if you need to jot something down related to an organization within Haystack.

Three more notes on My Profile Page:

* As a user of Haystack, your profile is not visible to others, unless you are representing an organization in Haystack
* If you are representing an organization in Haystack, your profile is visible to others
* If you are the administrator of an organization's Haystack, you can access the organizational administration functions through your private page

Q: How do I edit my profile?
You can edit your profile by clicking the "edit my profile" link from your private page.

Q: What is the "RSS feed" area in my profile?
If you want to connect your profile to an RSS feed you may have (for example, from your blog), put the address of your the RSS feed in this field. (NOTE: This seems to work best with feeds that are compliant with RSS 2.0.)

Q: Why can't I edit my email address?
Your email address is your user name in the system. If you need to change it at any point, please send a note to haystacksupport@cerado.com and we'll get it taken care of right away for you.

Q: What is the "link to photo" area of my profile?
The "link to photo" is a link to the picture that will display in your profile. Photos are sized at 100 by 100 pixels. If you do not have a place to host your photo, you can always use an online service such as Flickr.

Q: Who can edit an organization's Haystack?
Each organization has an administrator who can edit the Haystack information for that organization.

Q: I'm the administrator for my organization. How do I get to the admin functions?
Log in to the system. Once logged into the system, you should now have an "org admin" link on your My Profile Page. Go to your My Profile Page, and click the "org admin" link to enter the organizational admin area.

Q: How do I change my organization's banner?
You can do this from your org admin page. Near the top of the org admin page is a link that says "edit organization info." Click that link, and you will be taken the Organization Edit page.

On the Organization Edit page, enter the URL of your organizational banner in the "Logo URL" field, and press Submit.

Q: Where is my organization?s banner stored?
This file needs to be stored online, and be accessible from a web browser (for example on your organization's web site). It can be at any online location you choose, as long as the location is reachable from a browser.

Q: What size and formats should the banners be in?
The banners should be 60 pixels high by 625 pixels wide, and be in either .JPG or .GIF format.

Q: Who decides what tag categories will be used for my organization?
You should decide what categories you want the individuals who will be members of your Haystack to be able to use to describe themselves, their experience, their credentials, and - perhaps most importantly - their unique interests as people. (After all, the reason for setting up a Haystack is to enable individuals in your organization to connect more easily with others with whom they share interests or experience.)

Q: How do I set up my organization's tag categories?
To set up your categories for your organization, go to the "org admin" page, and click on "edit tag categories."

You should now be on the "edit tag categories" page. To add a category (such as "Cites Worked"), type "Cities Worked" into the "Add a tag category" box, and press the "Add" button. Repeat this for each category you would like to add.

Q: How do I delete tag categories?
If you make a mistake or want to remove a tag category, simply click the "x" next to the category you wish to remove.

Q: What are some good tag categories to use?

- Cities Worked
- Education
- Employers
- Hometown
- Favorite Books
- Favorite Cities
- Favorite Movies
- Favorite Music
- Industries Worked
- Interests
- Past Clients

The categories above are merely suggestions. You may use any categories.

Q: How do I add more representatives to my organization's Haystack?
Go to the "org admin" page and do this using the "add new user" link next to the "User Admin" section of the org admin page.

Start a profile for each person you want to have included in your organization's Haystack. At minimum, you'll need to put in their email address and password to start their profile.

Once you set them up, let each person know what their Haystack username and password is, so they can sign into the system to set up the details of their profile.

Q: Haystack crashes under Safari on an Intel-based Mac
This is a known issue due to a Safari bug. More here: Browser/Platform Combos

Q: I put my location in the location field, but it's not displaying on the map.
The Google Maps API currently blocks geocoding for the UK and China due to contractual reasons. More here: Why doesn't my map location show up?

Q: I'm not in the UK or China, and I still don't show up.
The minimap (by design) only shows 50 pushpins at a time, based on the profiles that are shown on the current page. To get to other pages or profiles, select the group of names in which you are interested from the guide words under the minimap.

Haystack Feedback Forum

ccarfi — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 18:25:25 CST

Tell us what you think! Your feedback is crucial to helping us improve our products. On these pages you can:

Tell us about bugs. We'll get them fixed.
Give us suggestions for improvements in the forum comments below.

For more information about using features on Haystack networking, see the Cerado Haystack FAQ

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Report a Bug

ccarfi — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 18:25:05 CST

Please use the comments area below to report bugs you've found.

If you do experience a bug please include the following in your comment:

the name of your Haystack network;
the URL you are having difficulty with,
your browser version & OS,
and as much detail as feasible.

This information makes it possible for us to review the problem - without it is really hard to help!

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What is Haystack?

ccarfi — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 18:20:17 CST

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Haystack networking provides the means to do business the way that works best for you, the customer. When organizations do business, what's really happening is that individuals representing each of those organizations are interacting. Two people are connecting. They are having conversations. And when the process works, a business relationship develops between the individuals.

When interacting with an organization, Haystack networking enables you, the customer, to choose with whom you want to do business. Maybe it's someone inside the organization you already know and respect, from work or school. Or maybe it’s a representative from your area who has the expertise to understand your company’s unique situation and who does business in the same way that you do.

On the other hand, maybe you know exactly what you want to do, and you just want to do it, without all this relationship stuff. Haystack networking enables you to do that as well.

Haystack networking is a service from Cerado.

How Do I Enter Tags?

ccarfi — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 18:17:21 CST

Q: How do I enter tags?
Separate tags with a space: paris istanbul chicago. Or, to join words together in a tag, use double quotes: fletch heathers "the princess bride".

Here's how the new tag entry screen looks (click on the image to enlarge):

Home

ccarfi — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 18:14:48 CST

This is Cerado Haystack networking community home page. Navigation can be done via the page titles in the "Navigation" area to the left.

Need to report a bug or make a suggestion? Head over to the Haystack Feedback Forum.
Looking for answers to Frequently Asked Questions? Here they are!
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Browser/Platform Combos

ccarfi — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 23:13:44 CST

	Firefox	IE	Opera	Safari
Windows	No known issues	No known issues	No known issues	N/A
Mac (PowerPC)	No known issues	N/A	No known issues	No known issues
Mac (Intel)	No known issues	N/A	No known issues	See Note 1

Note 1: Some Intel-based Macs running Safari crash when displaying the maps due to what appears to be a bug in the way Safari handles AJAX. Here's a test to see if this applies to your machine: One Click To Crash Safari On Intel Mac.

Why doesn't my map location show up?

ccarfi — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 00:16:33 CST

According to the Google Mapki FAQs:

Geocoding UK or China
All attempts to use the Google Maps API geocoder on addresses in the UK or China currently fail with code 603 (G_GEO_UNAVAILABLE_ADDRESS) indicating that legal or contractual reasons prevent Google from returning the information. The Maps API geocoder provides detailed geocoding for Andorra, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan (but only in Japanese), Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, and United States of America (e.g. "4144 Avenue Pierre-De-Coubertin, Montréal, Canada"). For countries other than the UK and China it provides geocoding for country names and city names (e.g. "Nairobi, Kenya").

More details here.

Cerado Haystack and SwapThing Integration

ccarfi — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 00:16:16 CST

Hi, Haystack Admins-

We have added SwapThing functionality to our Haystacks and with the simple click of a button, you can make your Haystack a SwapCircle and enable trusted swapping between members. This new function can be accessed from the Organization Admin screen.

What is SwapThing? SwapThing is a new and exciting way to get the things you want and get rid of the things you don’t want. Browse the items and services offered by other Swappers just like you. You simply list the items/services you are offering, as well as the items/services you are seeking. SwapThing maintains satisfaction information on all transactions to help maintain a safe and secure swapping environment where you can develop trusting relationships with other swappers.

What's a SwapCircle?
A SwapCircle is a group of individuals who identify with a particular activity, locality or other commonality, just like your Haystack. They provide a new way to swap goods and services amongst trusted swappers with similar interests. You can add swap functionality by adding a SwapCircle to your Haystack to make it available to your existing community.
The types of existing communities using SwapCircles include business networks, parenting groups, collecting clubs, sports teams, and more. SwapCircles are customizable to show your group’s logo and mission, as well as displaying the items listed by SwapCircle members and providing a private forum.

Will the members of my Haystack be notified when a SwapCircle is created?
Yes. They'll receive a note similar to this one, to let them know:

Hi <UserName>!

You are one step away from having the best swapping experience on the net. You are receiving this email, because you are a member of a Haystack that has added a SwapThing. You are now a member of your private Haystack SwapCircle and can easily swap, buy and sell things with other members in a trusted environment.
What is SwapThing?SwapThing is a new and exciting way to get the things you want and get rid of the things you don’t want. Browse the items and services offered by other Swappers just like you. You simply list the items/services you are offering, as well as the items/services you are seeking. SwapThing maintains satisfaction information on all transactions to help maintain a safe and secure swapping environment where you can develop trusting relationships with other swappers. You have already build trust by investing social capital in your Haystack, so why not swap with people you are connected to?
Please click here to access SwapThing and activate your account or click here to remove all your records from our system.

Happy Swapping! The Cerado and SwapThing Teams