Observer Article: "Defunct WonderCafe site is reborn"

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Funny. I was at the church with the mural this past summer and TOTALLY missed it. In my defence it is at the back of the church.
 
It's actually quite spectacular when seen from the aisle though I can understand @Pinga's remark about it being kind of scary, too. But if you're just in the pews for a service, it certainly doesn't stand out the way, say, the organ at the front does. I think I kind of stopped noticing it after it had been up for a few months.
 
Church of my childhood too ... many long years before this mural! Art is so interesting in how it suggests/evokes differing feelings in people. This mural would not be my first choice - so I'd be glad it's at the back of the sanctuary & out of my view most of the time. With art as large as that, I wonder how congregations embrace/reject/adapt to it over time ...
 
Yes, the article is 1/4 of the page...bottom right.... but good to see it acknowledged the WC2, and now more will know we are alive!

The Observer is a good magazine.. has won a myriad of awards.. and is not bad for $20 a year.
 
My local congregation have a sign on the outside of their building advertising the original WC. I wonder what their point is?
 
Spirit Wind 7 said:
Yes, the article is 1/4 of the page...bottom right.... but good to see it acknowledged the WC2, and now more will know we are alive!

The Observer is a good magazine.. has won a myriad of awards.. and is not bad for $20 a year.
Click to expand...

Actually - I find it sad that the UCCanada chooses to charge its members anything for its denominational magazine. Our Fellowship magazine is delivered to us free.
 
@chansen
@Pinga

I haven't had a chance to read all the posts above - but I've recorded the article in The Observer as follows:


Article in THE OBSERVER - Social Media - Defunct WonderCafe site is reborn - Cory Ruf

"WonderCafe, The United Church of Canada's online discussion forum that shut down last spring, is experiencing a second life as an independently run message board.

United Church social media manager Aaron McCaroll Gallegos had to close the WonderCafe site last June after seven years in operation because church officials deemed overdue software upgrades too pricey, he said.

Disappointed that WonderCafe - which had become a venue for lively debates about religion and spiritualy - was closing, a core group of participants discussed ways to keep their online community intact.

"I was saying, "Look, let's start a new one," said Craig Hansen, a structural engineer in Nobleton, Ont. "Let's get away from the moderation of The United Church of Canada. I thought, "This is an opportunity."

He said the group's de facto project manager, Jayne Little of Cambridge, Ont., approached McCarroll Gallegos with the idea and asked if they could use the WonderCafe name, which the United Church had trademarked. They received permission; WonderCafe2 opened in June.

As of September, the site averaged aroudn 50 unique users and 150 to 200 new posts per day, said Hansen.

Asked why WonderCafe2's founders opted not to migrate their discussions to a forum like Facebook, Hanse said most social networkign sites aren't conducive to rich debate. On a message board, "you have more screen real estate" and a breadth of formatting options to more clearly dissect other user's arguments.

Though he isn't involved in operating the new forum, McCarroll Gallegos, has promoted it onUnited Church social media accounts. "Everybody's comfortable with it, I think, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it grows."
 
Pr. Jae said:
Actually - I find it sad that the UCCanada chooses to charge its members anything for its denominational magazine. Our Fellowship magazine is delivered to us free.
Click to expand...

So are UU World and Canadian Unitarian but they aren't primarily delivered on paper anymore, which cuts down on some of the costs.
 
Pinga said:
It is too bad that a key person was not mentioned
Click to expand...
I discussed David and his contribution, and that it was a core group of three. Multiple times. It was a 15 minute phone call. A lot ended up on the cutting room floor.

Other than the omission of David's name, I'm happy with it. It conveyed what I wanted to convey, that we should approach the closing of WC1 as an opportunity, and that a site like this is too restrictive when it falls under the domain of a church, and that getting out from under the moderation of the UCCan was a positive move.
 
I feel so left out :(.

But I'm glad that the word is getting out. I'm humble enough to let the other two take the credit. :cool:
 
I'm a little disappointed by the article, simply because this forum has much more of a community than many others IMO. We aren't just a space for debate. We aren't even that plus a place to share the fun or silly. It's the relationships here that made the original closing announcement so disappointing - and why it wasn't just a case of move on to another forum.

It was a short article though. I just think the parts that were chosen will encourage a much smaller crowd than if it could have covered all of what we're about - which is hard to do.
 
ChemGal, the reporter and I discussed at length the opportunities for discussion in a myriad of topics.

To be fair, he said it was all fascinating and that he was going to ask permission to write a much larger piece on WC2 at a later date. He kept asking questions and then apologizing that very little of it would fit in the space allotted.
 
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