Trusted publishers
Real local organizations can receive accounts to post and manage their events.
AN UPDATE FROM ILOVESEATTLE.ORG
Dozens of local groups and organizations have requested to post their events on iLoveSeattle.org in the past 3 months.
YOU are not forgotten!
I had to shut down open event posting after AI-powered spam bots made the old system increasingly difficult to manage. Instead of simply turning it back on, we developed a more secure and credible process.
I am now working through those stacked up requests and beginning to invite legitimate local organizations back in to post their events directly.
THE VISION
The idea is simple. A museum, nonprofit, venue or community organization shouldn’t have to keep entering the same information into different calendars and websites.
Real local organizations can receive accounts to post and manage their events.
Maintain the event in one place instead of creating separate copies for every calendar.
The same event can appear on iLoveSeattle.org, SeattleWaterfront.org or another appropriate calendar.
NEW FOUNDATION
The GW Framework connects events and other structured local information to the websites, directories and calendars that need it. It’s already running across several websites, including iLoveSeattle.org and SeattleWaterfront.org.
LOCAL EVENT ORGANIZERS
I’m currently working through the requests backlog. If you haven’t contacted iLoveSeattle.org yet and your organization regularly produces legitimate Seattle-area events, you’re welcome to get in touch again.
GW Framework is our system to turn structured local information into websites, directories, calendars, maps and submission workflows. It is running in production across several Seattle websites, including iLoveSeattle.org and SeattleWaterfront.org.
A business name lives on one page, an address on another, events in a calendar, parking information in a PDF and members in a spreadsheet.
The same facts get copied from system to system. Eventually the copies disagree, updates become expensive and nobody is quite sure which version is authoritative.
GW Framework takes a different approach: maintain each kind of information in its authoritative source, then use that information wherever it is needed.
Maintain information once. Publish it wherever it is useful.
GW Framework does not try to become the master database for everything. Each kind of information can remain in the system that owns it. The framework connects those sources to the websites and tools that need them.
Information is maintained where it belongs.
Adapters connect the sources. Shared components turn the information into useful experiences.
Each site can use the same information in its own design, for its own audience.
For example, one event maintained in events.iloveseattle.org can appear on a general Seattle calendar, a waterfront calendar and a specialty calendar. Each site can apply its own filters, layout and branding without creating another copy of the event.
The longer-term model gives each organization a stable identity and connects it to its locations, calendars, events and websites as explicit data instead of text buried inside individual pages.
Identities across systems are mapped deliberately. A GW Data organization ID is never assumed to equal an EventON organizer or location ID.
Organization
├── profile
├── locations
├── calendars
├── events
├── relationships
└── publishing destinationsThe people closest to the information can propose updates. Nothing becomes authoritative until an editor approves it.
I build custom information systems for organizations whose useful data is scattered across websites, spreadsheets, calendars, forms and other tools.
Places, businesses, events, parking and transportation can become one connected visitor information network.
Members, services, resources and events can be maintained as structured information instead of separate lists across several systems.
Multiple organizations can contribute events and information to shared calendars, directories and partner websites.
Buildings, businesses, parking, transportation and access information can be connected through one underlying information model.
If the same information is copied across pages and systems, nobody knows which version is right, or partners keep asking for data you already maintain, the real problem may be the information system underneath your websites.