The disadvantage of panels with lots of panelists is, that there is only time for a very small slice of the different perspectives. This blog is filling the gap for my part and has the additional advantage of supporting links.
Above the panelists perspective to part of the packed room.
Metrics of influence was the theme. The higher my opinion of someone, the higher is her or his level of influence on me. How can I form my opinion within SDN?
One can check the list of Webloggers all of them have a small bio and all Weblog posts of that SDN member are listed in reverse chronological order. piers.harding/blog for example has written 5 Weblogs.
If the person has written a Weblog recently, I can check where in the list of the Top Weblogs it is, how often it has been viewed compared to all the other Weblogs. Remember, that it is cumulative, therefore the older the Weblog is the higher it usually gets, until it drops off after 30 days.
That klaus.meffert/blog's Weblog Design Patterns: Boondoggle or State-of-the-Art? from the 3rd of July is already on top of the list having left behind all of the June Weblogs is a sign of interest, as well as the 14 comments that have been posted.
You can also find the experts in certain areas by visiting the SDN forums. We list the Top Posters, but what I like even more is, that you can go to the area of your interest like /community [original link is broken] and get the top posters of that forum: Heike Gooder, Marc Bernhard, Stephen Heverin.
What is missing is a place where per SDN user all this information runs together, a business card, where not only all the Weblog and forum posts are listed, but also articles or code samples that have been submitted. Such a business card as we call it will come within the next months.
Even without that, you already can get known even beyond the SDN. Example is alistair.rooney2/blog who wrote his first Weblog on June the 23rd:
Three days later if you searched his name on Google the first two items are links to his SDN bio page and his Weblog.
Not everyone wants to be in the limelight, some SAP developers send their SDN forum answers to a moderator that posts if for them under the moderator's name. We are taking these wishes into account in the further development of SDN and will provide ways to select what SDN Member information will be exposed and what will stay hidden.
We will also introduce a point system soon, to give the best contributors even more recognition.
There is proof, that SDN is already working in recognizing people with good work and therefore expanding their influence. When I suggested in a Notes from the First SDN Weblogger/Contributor Meet in Palo Alto that the best SDN contributors could be rewarded through a lunch with Shai. Juergen Mayer replied:
Instead of "... a dinner with Shai ..." I'd prefer "... a dinner with Brian (McKellar)..." 😉
brian.mckellar/blog has an amazing body of work on SDN in his Weblogs as well as in his forum posts. In a comment to one of his Blogs even Shai is acknowledging this:
How does it feel...
2004-07-10 23:08:29 Shai Agassi [Reply]...to be the first guy in such a growing community? You definitely showed the way for many to follow, and in such a vibrant community it must feel quite good to be the first and lead blogger.
BTW, great sample!
shai
Keep it up Brian.
At the BlogOn conference one person predicted, that the trend is going away from the company as brand to the person as brand. Something that Tom Peters is saying and living for a while. I agree with the trend, but I don't think the corporate brand will blend into the background, it will be a healthy mix of both.