Gaia Community: Gaia Team's Blog

Gaia Team Adventures!

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 08:39:52 -0000

It's Jessica :)

Whew. It's been over a month since our last Team Blog entry! I can hardly believe it. The weeks have flown by so quickly, full of excitement, travels and connections with beautiful Gaia members. Ah, the wonders I have seen and the incredible people I have met...

Isn't life miraculous?

About a week and a half ago I was out in Boulder, CO – the Gaia & Gaiam headquarters. It was amazing and I just wanted to pop over here to the Team Blog and give you the skinny.

I journeyed to Boulder to help with our Gaia Community event: An Evening with Peter Russell at the Gaia Film Festival. That in itself was inspiring. Peter Russell is such a lovely person, and what’s more, he’s a visionary. It was wonderful to sit in a theatre full of people who are searching for a deeper understanding of the spirit of now, who we are as a society and where our global and growing consciousness is taking us. If you haven't heard of Peter Russell or the Global Brain, check it out here. It's inspiring stuff.

Many of the attendees we part of the Gaia Community. And, I can tell you this, the entire Gaia Community is part of this global consciousness. I'm thrilled to be a part of this place. This event was really a Gaia Gathering. And, I had the great pleasure of connecting with FenixRising, Don John, Jen, Obi, Casey, Terri, Matthew, Ayako, Kelly, Manny, Dave and more fabulous members of Gaia and the Team.

In the days preceding the evening with Peter Russell, I attended a few workshops and represented the Gaia Community at the annual LOHAS conference. Wow. What an experience. In case you haven’t heard of it, LOHAS – Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability – offers a conference each year where the leaders in socially responsible business can come together, connect, learn, and teach each other. It’s a place to brainstorm and foster possibility, creativity and growth.

I met so many incredible people, all of whom are working to create something better and make a difference in the world. As you might suspect, some of your favorite green companies were there, Gaiam, Pangea Organics, Zhena’s Gypsy Tea, Organic Bouquet, and more. But there were also representative from corporations like Coca-Cola and Wal-Mart, corporations born out of traditional top-down, single bottom line based business structures who are now stretching themselves and working to become more sustainable.

Times they are a-changing.

The Gaia Film festival was a beautiful event. You can read a bit more about it and the films here. What's crazy is that I blogged about the same event a couple of years back when it was called the Inspiration Film Festival and we had no affiliation with it, not knowing that I would be a part of it in the future.

After such an incredible weekend, I visited our office in Boulder, which happens to be purple. I usually work from home in LA, but it was wonderful to be at the office because of the Team.

The Team :)

What extraordinary people. It was like visiting family. It was like no time had passed at all. I feel a connection and awe for my coworkers even when I’m not in Boulder or at the office. It spans continents ;) But, let me tell you Gaia, with a Team like this, we are in good hands. I also had the opportunity to meet some of the other Gaiam employees. I was impressed with them as well and so glad to be in partnership with those I met, knowing they are also in partnership with this beautiful community.

What makes life worthwhile? For me it’s the connections. The connections that lead us somewhere new, that help us grow, that help us evolve. I don’t know where the connections I made in Boulder will take me, but I am excited to find out.

Gaia is such a journey, such an adventure. And, you all are part of it. We are all connected, in this to grow together, that's what my trip taught me, or rather, reminded me :)

Thanks so much to you all.

Gaia Ambassadors & Your Call to Action

Thu, 22 May 2008 19:37:58 -0000

Hello Beautiful People!

Jessica here ☺

I am so excited. As many of you know, we’ve been working on the relaunch of our Gaia Ambassadors program. Well it’s here! And, it’s my pleasure to invite you all to become Gaia Ambassadors.

What is a Gaia Ambassador you ask?

Our Ambassadors are community leaders and catalysts who help Gaia Community, and its members to grow and flourish and connect and dream. They help others feel at home here, and encourage them to be the change they wish to see. They invite friends (and strangers) who they think might appreciate and contribute to the energy here. They're committed to being beacons of love and service and enthusiasm, both online and out in their own communities.

Your projects as an Ambassador can be as simple as welcoming new members, spreading the word and sharing the vision of Gaia, organizing Gaia Gatherings or providing guidance to others on the site. Many of you might find that you’re already doing these things. Becoming an Ambassador makes it a bit more “official” and more importantly, connects you with other Ambassadors and community leaders.

So, ask yourself, does the Gaia community inspire you? Do you want to help empower the extraordinary people you have met here and those to come? Does the chance to help others be the change fill you with joy? Do you want to help our community flourish and grow into a world-changing force for goodness?

If your answer is yes, then we’d love you to become a Gaia Ambassador! Just come on by and fill out this application, telling us a bit more about you and your dreams for what we can do together. I’ve been lucky enough to read some responses already and let me say, you’ll be in great company.

We have some wonderful projects in store and we would love you to be part of them. It’s amazing to see what we can do when we work together, building community and making a difference for each other and the world.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at Jessica at gaia dot com. I’m here for you.

Our First Live Community-wide Event!

Wed, 14 May 2008 22:17:52 -0000

It's Siona.

Oh, gosh. We've got big news. If you're subscribed to our newsletters you've likely already heard, but if not, go check this out:

Our First Gaia TeleGathering!

Next Tuesday, Kathlyn and Gay Hendricks are going to be joining us on a live teleseminar for anyone and everyone in the community. I'm a little embarrassingly excited about this: not only are Gay and Katlhyn amazing people in their own right, with plenty of wisdom and heart to share, but this is going to mark a big date in the history of Gaia. It's the first live, site-wide event we've done.

Wow, right? Imagine all of us gathered around one table, sharing the same experience. I think—or wait...I know—it'll be wonderful.

I do hope everyone can make it. We've scheduled the event in the evening (6 pm PST and 9 pm ET, if you're in North America), and if you go register on the page above, we'll send you instructions on how to call in. We plan on archiving the call so you can listen later, too, but I'm sure it'll be more fun to be there in person.

Anyway. Please go have a look at the page linked above, and let us know you'll be there. (Even if you can't make it, you can still check out the page. There's a little recording of my voice—eep—with a few more words of invitation. You might get a kick out of that. ;)

In other news, you might have noticed a few rich media ads sneaking in up top. We're trying to keep things subtle and appropriate, and we're being careful both about the tone of the advertisements (they should fit with the inspirational nature of the site) and the products themselves.

I'd also like to put in a little word for a great resource that you might not yet have discovered. There's a beautiful community-grown Group that I've been completely blown away by over these past few months. When you're done reading this (and signing up for the phone call next week :) go swing by the Gaia Networking Group. It's an amazing place with plenty of tips and ideas and warm thoughts about how to get the most out of your time here... and, as importantly, how to help others get the most of their time here.

Finally, you'll might have noticed a few changes to your profile. Now, when you're logged in, you should see little icons on the page. Clicking them allows you to edit your profile on the page, rather than visiting your settings page. It'll make it simpler to keep updating your description and introduction of your always-changing self. :)

Mothers + Wisdom + a few bits of news

Mon, 05 May 2008 17:49:21 -0000

It's Siona. :)

Last week, I was talking with the rest of the team about Mother's Day, brainstorming about what we might do on the site in honor of the upcoming weekend. Something to honor Gaia? A QaR about mothers? Perhaps a call for stories or pictures?

It was Jessica who reminded us of something we've all been aware of for a while. Our quotations library is embarrassingly out-of-balance: the majority of the quotations in it are by men. (And not only are there only two woman in the 'Popular Authors' section of the quotes page, one of them happens to be listed under a male pseudonym!)

So we thought that, this week, in honor of our mothers, we might all work to contribute some women's wisdom to the quotations library. If you'd like to help (and you would, wouldn't you?) just grab a few books by your favorite female authors and pop over to the 'Add a Quote' section. (If you need help, there are more detailed instructions here.)

Let's see whether we can get a little more equal represenetation by next week. :)

And while I'm here, a few bits of behind-the-scenes news...

First off, I wanted to apologize, tremendously, for the site slowness over the past weekend. We're working on figuring out what caused the evening dips, and what we can do to make sure it doesn't happen again. Those occasional drags are really, really not good for my heart; I don't like thinking of anyone struggling to get on the site or wondering what the lags are about. So again, I apologize, and we are working on it.

Secondly, I've been speaking with Dave about our advertising on the site. We're losing a painful number of potential sponsors because we don't take rich media, and while there's no way we're going to re-implement those flashy little gifs on the right hand side, w'ere going to try a few top banners that move (for no longer than three seconds—then they go still). We're also planning on re-working the interior navigation (remember how Jackson did such a great job with the tabs up top? We think the interior could be simplified as well...) and there'll be some potential then to change the many square ads on the site to something less jarring. Also, for those of you who are truly bothered by the ads, we still do offer Plus, which allows you to turn them on and off at will.

And last but not least, we've got a site-wide event coming up in May! I posted a bit of news about this on my own blog, but for the rest of you, we'll be hosting a TeleGathering with Gay Hendricks and his wife, Dr. Kathlyn Hendricks, on the topic of Authentic Relationships. We've got it scheduled for the evening of May 20th, and we'll let you know soon when and how to sign up. (Yes, it'll be free for all members of the site.) Obviously I'm giddy about this; imagine us all being on one line together. Ee.

Again, though, if you have a minute to spare this week, please do consider adding some women to our quotes database. There's so much wisdom out there, and so must to listen to... and, on that note, if you'd like to let us know what else you're doing for mother's day, by all means share!

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.

Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.
—Margaret Mead

Happy Earth Day!

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 19:12:28 -0000

I think this is my favorite holiday. :)

Alhough the inspiration for Earth Day is at the very core of why we're here, we're not going to offer a list of recommendations for how you should spend your week, or what you should do (if you are interested in finding an event in your area, the Earth Day Network has literally thousands of options, as well as recommendations for taking action). Instead, we'd love to ask a smaller favor—a favor in the spirit of Gaia.

This is a holiday! It's a time of celebration and observance and reverence and wonder.

It's a time to go outside and wriggle your bare feet in the grass and to stand beneath the open sky and throw your arms wide and to lean against the wind.

It's a time to watch the sun set and to think of the comforting steadyness of this incredible planet as it cycles quietly through space, and the beauty of how we can trust those perfect circles.

It's a time to pause on the sidewalk and watch as those little pieces of grass and spring come pushing through the cracks in the cement, and to be spellbound by the force of new life.

It's a time to appreciate your own animalness and the way the cycles of your own body (from the dailiness of waking and sleeping to the minutes of breathing and heartbeats to the seasonal changes of aging) are so deeply in tune with the planet that holds us.

It's a time to celebrate all these crazy earthly miracles that we so easily take for granted.

So wherever you are, whether it's bright and springlike or raining and grey, whether morning or evening or late in the day, please please please remember to celebrate the sheer wondrousness of the world. Take a lesson from the city pigeons and the prickly pears and the golden dandelions and the ants and anteaters and antelopes, and just BE for a while. Be in life, and in celebration, and in love, and allow, for a time, the whole world love you back. :)

Happy Earth Day, again and again and again.

Hugs and love and so much appreciation,
Siona
& the rest of the Gaia Team

PS. If you've posted a blog entry about the day, or want to recommend a Group or discussion or photo or book, please just leave a note in the comments...

This week's release.

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 19:58:29 -0000

Hello Gaia!

So there's a new little button up at the top for those of you with Gaia+ accounts. Your usual 'internal' messages can still be found by clicking on the little icon (the speech bubbles) next to your name (which links to your profile) in the upper right, but for those subscribers with @gaia.com email addresses, we've made it easier to check your mail. (Chris has also added a few updates to the Resonance Engine, so make sure—if you've got that box on your profile—to check it out. :)

Jessica's been working on a plan to revitalize the Ambassadors program; this month we'll be launching a new Group for Gaia Ambassadors, with a new invitation to join and a snazzy new packet of guidelines and ideas for those of you who're passionate about the general energy and mission of connection and positivity and contribution and heart behind this space, and who want to do more to enhance it here and in the world 'outside.' Hopefully it'll be a fun cause to rally around, and we're excited about doing more to empower those of you who love the idea of this community and what it means. But more on this next week!

There've been some lovely reports from the Gaia Gatherings that happened for Conversation Week 2008... but if you missed the opportunity to host one of those get-togethers, all is not lost. It's still perfectly possible to pop a note to a member or two in your area and invite them for conversation—and to explore a bit the hearts and concerns of those others around you. (Exploring, I think, is a good word for this... it's a little like going out into the world in hopes of discovering something new, but instead you're exploring a shared inner landscape. And it would be one thing if this sort of activity remained contained between the two of you, but I've found very real projects can arise as a result—and if nothing else, that practice of understanding can make such a difference in the world.)

Also, though many of you are likely familiar with James Lovelock's Gaia Hypothesis (that is, the scientific theory that posits the Earth as a living thing), you might not have seen Peter Russell's articulation of Gaia and the role of human beings in the ongoing evolution of the planet. There's a short video of his thoughts here. I already posted a personal blog entry about it, but the movie touched me deeply and it feels wonderfully relevant to the community as a whole. If you have a minute, do go have a look. To my mind it makes the critical importance of the connections found here so, so clear.

Hugs until the next time,
Siona

A few little updates....

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:04:32 -0000

Gaia!!

You've probably noticed a few minor changes on the site since yesterday. We just deployed a new release (as we do most Wednesdays), and while it included mostly bug fixes, there were a few other litlte tweaks made as well.

If you'll look up to the right, you'll see that a portion of the navigation bar has been made into a little drop-down menu. Your messages and profile can still be reached in one click, but the rest of the links now neatly tucked away. It's a little cleaner, no?

We've also removed the 'glow' button from your profiles. We'd initially hoped those little beacons would serve to help get a sense of someone's familiarity and participation and level of involvement with the community—similar to the way in which many online forums show the number of post someone's made—but came to the conclusion that the beacons weren't the best way to do this. (Ideas are welcome! :)

The next bit of news has to do with Gaia⁺. We'll be contacting those of you who've already signed up to let you know how to set up and access your new @gaia.com email account... and next week, any new subscribers will automatically get one. I'm ridiculously excited about this—who wouldn't prefer @gaia.com to @gmail.com? ;)

Our Gaia Gatherings around Conversation Week 2008 are flowing nicely. (I'm going to the one Mark's hosting tonight.) There's still time to put together your own, too; searching for someone from your city or state and inviting them for a discussion on one of the 10 questions of Conversation Week takes mere minutes, and it would be wonderful if you could add your story to the myriad other strange and wonderful connections that others have already discovered.

And what else? One of our members did an interview with me about Gaia Community, so if you'd like to hear what I sound like, pop over to Todd Goldfarb's wonderful "We The Change" site. (I know. I love the name too!) His blog and podcasts are both excellent and very, very much in alignment with the energy and spirit of our site here. It's beautiful. :)

Big hugs, all, as always, and more soon!
Siona

It's Conversation Week: Get talking

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 18:32:22 -0000

Hello Gaia!

I'm sure you all know that this week is Conversation Week. Extraordinary people (like you) all over the globe will be coming together to talk about the Top Ten Questions facing the world today, as voted on by participants.

You may have already read about it on our previous Team blog entry. So you know that we're working with Conversation Cafe to inspire meaningful face-to-face discussions about everything from sustainability to economics to the violence in our world. These kinds of conversations build community, expand our horizons, and open the way for new cultural and societal possibilities. These conversations make change possible.

If your are interested in participating check out the listing of events on the Conversation Cafe site and in our Gaia Gathering pod. If you don't find one in your area, don't worry...

It's not too late to participate! You can still talk about these key issues with Gaia members. You can still reach out to a member in your area and go for coffee. Even a small conversation can change the world. You never know what might happen :)

You can also join in with Gaia online! We're featuring the Top Ten Questions in our Questions & Reflections all week. Stop on by, post your response and share your thoughts with others.

Here's a sneak peak of conversations already being planned by Gaia members:

Boulder, CO: Weds. 3/26, Contact Mark
Los Angeles, CA : Friday 3/28, Contact (me) Jessica
Montreal, Canada: Contact Nicole
Pune, India: Contact Raj
Seattle, WA: in April (they're doing their way ;), Contact Michele
Toronto, Canada: Contact Nicole
Whidbey Island, WA (near Greenbank): Sat. 3/29, Contact Juli
On the Radio: Christine has dedicated her radio show to Conversation week!

Oregon had theirs early, but you can read about their amazing experience here. Feel free to contact Amber if you interested in connecting in the future.

Don't forget to let us know how it goes! Blog about your Conversations and tag them with "Conversation Week" and "Gaia Gathering." Please contact me at jessica [at] gaia [dot] com if you need coaching or help.

Posted by: Jessica

In the wee hours of the dawn...

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 16:45:47 -0000

We'll be doing a little behind-the-scenes work on the site super-early tomorrow, so if you tend to spend time here at odd hours or if you're traipsing in from another time zone, be aware that you'll get a 'Gaia is dreaming' message from 2 am to 4 am MST.

For those of you interested in what's going on, well, we're breaking down a giant table of meta-data into a number of constituent tables so as to increase performance.

Gaia Community, as you might imagine, is far, far more complex than your standard web page; instead of just consisting of a few different elements and images, this site has connections and profiles and posts and photos are all woven together in a vast tapestry of information.

When you log in to your profile, Gaia needs to know to bring up the friends you're connected to and the posts you've made to your blog. She needs to get your library shelved and your quotes compiled and your photos in order and the Groups you've created organized, and to do this not just for a few people, but tens of thousands, all of whom are posting and connecting and reconnecting and sending messages and notes and stories, and not just that, but who are all interconnected as well. It's an exponential and vastly complicated process, and a bit of work for the servers (not to mention the code!), and due to the nature of the interdependence of all our connections and conversations, a tiny glitch in any one of those threads can ripple all throughout the pages. In breaking these tables down, we're making it so that Gaia doesn't need to search through millions and millions of fields to grab one piece of information, but instead can go to a sub-set and thus work a bit more quickly.

I get a bit amazed at the almost neurological intricacy of this community, and amazed, too, at the developers: this site, when it comes down to it, started as just a few typed-out lines of code. Talk about writing a whole world into being...

(And I get all the more amazed to think of all of you who've participated in this writing. It's crazy, hm? All this, flowing from our fingertips onto the keyboard. It's a crazy universe we live in.)

Anyway. We'll be down for a bit whilst working on that, but hopefully it's at an hour that won't interrupt too many postings.

I'll post again soon (we've got news about Plus... gaia.com email addresses, anyone!?) and more about Conversation Week, a few updates about a new goals / values section we're working on, and some polishing of the interior navigation, but for now, just think good thoughts for our hardworking, late-night dev team. They can always use a little extra love. :)

Posted by: Siona

Gaia Gatherings & Conversations

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 23:38:05 -0000

Hello Gaia!

How are we going to change the world?

Together.

Aren’t you always amazed by the quality of members here on Gaia? I’m always so impressed. I’m even more impressed when I meet a fellow member face to face and have the opportunity to share a bit of tea and conversation.

And, I find conversations with Gaia members are always meaningful. Those conversations change me. They broaden my perspective, and sometimes they catalyze action that changes my life.

That’s why Gaia is promoting Conversation Week from March 24th - 30th. This is effort was created by Conversation Café and designed to inspire people to come together and discuss 10 of the most important questions facing the world, voted on and chosen by the public. (Don’t you love democracy?)

Here’s their description:

Conversation Week 2008 is a celebration of the power of conversation to change the world. Hosts will convene face-to-face, small-group conversations with friends, neighbors, and strangers. The goal is to empower people worldwide to convene a meaningful, respectful discussion in their community.

And, it’s going to happen all around the world during the last week of March.

Wow. Powerful.

I can’t think of anyone better to share world changing conversations than Gaia members.. That's why we're hoping to inspire a Gaia Gathering Week during these dates, so that we can combine our efforts and ensure that this community, too, can join together around these key questions.

It doesn’t matter what kind of event you host. It can be 2 people or 200 people. It can be as simple as reaching out to another member in your area and chatting over coffee. The goal is to reach out in the community and have as many face to face conversations as possible. It can be simple. It can be whatever you want it to be.

If you’ve never hosted an event before, no worries! We’re here to help and coach you through it. And, Conversation Café is here to help too. They are training hosts and empowering people to create conversation. You can always contact the team for help and I can be reached at Jessica@gaia.com.

On a personal note, I don’t think there’s anything more powerful that creating community and bringing people together for a positive purpose. We can’t change the world alone. We need each other. Miraculous things happen when good people connect.

Once you’ve started planning your conversations, events, & tea times let us know! Send me a note and post about in the comments of this blog. You can also post and connect in our Gaia Gathering pod. Please don't forget to pop over to the Conversation Café site and post your event with them and take advantage of one of their many scheduled facilitator trainings.

Don’t forget to take photos, videos, and blog about what you shared during the conversation. It helps inspire the whole community. You can find more tips for planning here.

We’ll be hosting an online Gathering featuring the Top Ten Questions in our Questions &Reflections for the whole week. So, you can participate on the site too!

Posted by: Jessica

Introducing... myGaia!

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 21:02:08 -0000

Hello Everyone.

As you've probably noticed by now we have a new feature on Gaia Community called myGaia. It's our version of Netvibes (or iGoogle for those Googlephiles). You can now add widgets to customize your Gaia home page.

You could use widgets to keep track of everything that's happening within the Gaia Community. It gets better, though. As some of you already know, the real power of myGaia involves feeds! This means that members can "pull in" any content from the Web and put it in their myGaia pages.

(For those who are new to feeds, check out this Feed 101 crash course by FeedBurner.)

Allow me to show you an example. Below is a snapshot of my customized myGaia page.

(click to zoom in)

As you can see, I've customized my page to include Gaia Questions and Reflections, Gaia Quotes, Meditation Room, Weather, New York Times headlines, and of course, my favorite RSS feeds I've created via Google Reader (i.e. technology, fluffy-blogs, green-blogs). Neat.

Here's how to add features (or widgets) on your myGaia page.

HOW TO: Add Features (or widgets) to myGaia

Want to change theme of your myGaia page? Easy.

HOW TO: Change the theme of myGaia

We're still in the early phase of our implementation of myGaia, so please report any bugs or glitches on the Gaia support board. In the meantime, go ahead. Give it a try. Plug in your favorite feeds. Feel free to play around. More Gaialicious things to come!

(posted by: ~C4Chaos)

Gaia Scholarship Winners!

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 08:18:40 -0000

Hello beautiful Gaia people.

Jessica here.

You may know that Gaia offers four scholarships a year to four (two at a time) inspiring individuals striving to change the world and live audaciously and authentically. A huge part of our mission is to help you change the world and these scholarships are one small way we try to support good people doing good things.

So, without further ado, I’d like to introduce you to the winners of our Change the World Scholarship 2007. (drum roll)

Meet Eryka. She’s a mother of four (!) going back to school and preparing for law school, hoping to specialize in adoption. We asked two essay questions of our applicants, What would you do if you weren’t afraid? and How are you going to change the world? I’d like to share some quotes from Eryka’s essay because they speak for themselves:

Fear has kept me from realizing my full potential. It once convinced me that It was more powerful than I am. As a result, my expectations became limited and my world shrank until all that remained was the daily struggle to make it from sunrise to sunset. But, the universe is perfect in its balance, and one day, it came to me that the one thing greater than Fear is Hope. In that instant I began to grow. My hope for a better life has empowered me to dream and take the steps necessary to manifest the destiny I have chosen for myself.

Um. Wow.

And how is she going to change the world?

For me, practicing law is more than a dream; it is a conviction. The idea that I could spend my life uniting parents and children is exciting and gratifying because I know that when a child is provided with a warm and nurturing environment, their potential to grow is unlimited. This project is immense and I am only one person with a vision, but I have faith that my path will certainly change the world for the individuals I help. When I think of rescuing children I have yet to meet, I also think of the adults they may become. Perhaps one of them will grow to do great things for the world in their own right…then my work would be complete.

Please feel free to say hi to her and check out the ridiculously cute baby photos on her profile.

Next, it’s my pleasure to introduce you to Brittany. She’s a photographer and documentary maker. When we confront our fears, I think we open up the way to triumph over them. It’s the honesty about our fears that allows us to overcome. Here is a quote from Brittany:

I am afraid others may not be impacted by the depth that my documentaries show. I fear they may not be good enough to be published. Despite winning best documentary at my college and having the Chief Editor of the Sacramento Bee love my documentary, I still fear there is more work that needs to be done. In today's world, people are quick to judge without taking the time to understand. My work needs to send the right message quickly to others.

We all have fears and it take courage to share them with sincerity and to continue on the path despite them, which is clearly what Brittany is doing…

Photography leaves an imprint on your mind whether you like it or not. It is remembered. It plants little seeds in your head sprouting growth and in most cases, compassion. It can and has changed the world... I would love to continue that.

Stop by her profile and check out her beautiful photography.

I just want to note, that we had thousands of submissions for this scholarship. There were so many wonderful entries and it was hard to choose. We wish the very very best for all of those who applied and are out there fulfilling their dreams, making this world better and brighter.

Posted by: Jessica

Powered by Love. :)

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 00:11:17 -0000

What a day!

First off, Happy Valentine's Day to all of you. I'm a reformed Valentine cynic (I think there's more than a few of these on the Team); I used to cringe at the commercialism and couples-centric nature of the Hallmark holiday, but one year I decided to just commit to out-loving those aspects.

(I'd so much rather expand my definition than contract my heart. :)

So today (if you look up to the right) you'll see we're "powered by Love." And today the seeds are mini-valentines instead. And today I'm making a point of letting people know that they're loved, and that there's so much more to love than just the romantic variety. So Happy Valentine's Day, again, to those of you with your sweeties and for those of you who have a wider circle of loves to celebrate.

And.... today we launched Gaia⁺. (If you could give a little round of applause, wherever you are, for our wonderful developers and all the work they've done, please do. They might not be able to hear you but I think those little things make a difference.) As I wrote earlier, this little offering allows you to turn off the ads on your page: no more Googlishness on the bottom, no more banners up top, no more boxes to the side.

We've also made it so that no one can tell that you're a subscriber (I've been using the feature for a while, if you'd like to see what it looks like--or doesn't look like--from your side), so there'll be no division or distance from the community. You'll just get a more spacious, uncluttered, commercial-free space. (And yes, these things are a rarity online.)

With Gaia⁺ comes one more neat little feature, though. We've been dreaming and playing for a while with the notion of 'resonance' in the community. (I do think, as I've said before, there's a bit of a reason people are drawn to this site, and that this reason has very little to do with the tools and features and very much to do with the intentions and the people here. I think you know what I mean. :)

So the ad-free service comes with a little 'resonance box' that picks up possible connections between people, and recommends others who might share a bit of that same energy or passion or intention. (While we've already had more than a few soul mates find each other here, this might just as easily uncover kindred spirits or someone with the answer to a question you've had).

This is another one of those that I've been lucky enough to play with behind the scenes. Fun isn't quite the word for it; instead, there's something sweet and appealing about being able to pop over to an inbox with the message that Gaia had sent you.

If you feel like trying this out, well, you've probably already noticed the box up top. (Orjust click here. :) The ad-free service is $3 a month (around 75¢ a week, with a discount if you subscribe for a year), and we're looking into adding a few more fun little bonuses as we go... again with that reminder that this isn't meant to distinguish paying members from those who don't mind the free site.

What else? We'll also be announcing the winners of this past scholarship search soon (I'll let our judges weigh in on both how wonderful it was to read all the submissions and how difficult it was to pick), so keep an eye here for news on that.

And last but not least, the Terms of Service... new ones are up, and the discussion continues. (Thank you already to those who've weighed in)

Big warm (it snowed LOTS here this morning...) Valentine-y hugs, and big love to you and all those you love.

Posted by: Siona

Behind the scenes and what's ahead...

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 01:19:11 -0000

Some of you remember back when we first starting taking advertisements and sponsorships on the site (a quick search of the forums will dig up all sorts of lengthy discussion on everything from what conscious capitalism means to business-owners curious about their getting a spot in one of those little boxes).

Then, a number of community members said that they completely understood the business needs of the site, but wished that they'd be able to decide themselves whether they wanted to use an ad-supported service.

So we started sketching out a subscription-driven option, so that people who wanted could pay a token fee for an ad-free community experience. We wanted to make sure that anyone who did so still stayed a definite and obvious member of the community (there's no need to start separating anyone into those who pay and those who don't), but also wanted to respect the desires of those who did want the community alone, without the interruptions of ads.

We'll be introducing Gaia Plus (don't place too much weight on the name; we're more than open to other suggestions!) later this week. I'll confess that I've been using the ad-free version for the past few weeks and the difference is wonderful, if hard to put into words. There's a sort of spaciousness and calm that goes beyond just the disappearance of the banners and squares. It also made me aware of how much of the (online) world is inundated with ads, and what a gift it is to have a home that's free from this.

And, given that it's February, and Valentine's Day is on the horizon, we're adding a little bonus for subscribers—included with the cost (it'll be $3 a month, or about 75¢ a week) is a taste of our resonance match feature. This 'resonance engine' is our way to offer connections between people who might have been called to this community for the same reason.

I think everyone here (present company included) came to the community because they felt something that goes far deeper than what the site looks like; there's a reason we were drawn together and a certain understanding of what it means to join together to create or vision a positive future. As the site grows, this 'resonance engine' is one way to make those connections just a little more personal. (Of course, they need not be soul mates... there's just as many of us looking for mentors and friends and kindred spirits. :)

So we'll have a bit more on this soon (tomorrow!), but I just wanted to let you know now, as there might be a bit of site rockiness as Plus steps into the world—we'll do our best to be quick but this site does have a life of its own. :)

Finally, here's another reminder for those interested to go check out the conversation on our Terms of Service. Our new ones will be introduced this week, and while we've made sure to take care of the big concerns you brought up—it's included in the text that you retain all ownership rights to your content and we don't have the right to use your words for commercial or product purposes—so that I'd personally be comfy with the agreement, I do hope this whole conversation will continue.

Big warm hugs, and if you missed the Valentine email that went out yesterday, please go have a look here. I did mean every word of that.

Posted by: Siona

Happy New Year!!

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 16:48:54 -0000

Yesterday, as you likely all know, was the first day of the Chinese New Year. Instead of setting off some outside fireworks, I think we should all try to spark some inner ones.

Let's see.

Mark Borax (one of those astrologers, like Rob Brezsny, who somehow seems to transcend the entire field) wrote a beautiful column about the significance of the beginning of this new cycle and what kind of questions might be worth asking.

"At the end of the first week in February the Year of the Rat begins, starting a new year and a whole new cycle of twelve. The Rat is the most instinctual of oriental animals, and the most connected to mass consciousness. Our personal instincts must rise in the next twelve months, to claim a much stronger say in how we deal with issues of mass consciousness, issues of everyday life, issues of normalcy. The theme of the coming year is How We Fit Into The World or Which World Will You Fit Into?

The rat is a grappling animal that follows instincts to assure both personal survival and the well-being of the pack. It's time to challenge mass consciousness that gets in the way of inner truth. Where have you dimmed yourself down to fit in? What magic have you sacrificed to become normal? Where's your tribe or pack? Who do you belong to and what gift will you give them?"

Who do you belong to, and what gift will you give them? Beautiful. :)

There was another paragraph from that same piece that reminded me of this place, and of you.

"When who you are at core lines up with what you're doing, the world changes. The False World, the phony existence which has wrapped itself around the living green Earth, releases one notch of its stranglehold on the human soul. Each time another person chooses to follow the crazy dream of their heart instead of punching the clock in this End Time of a False Civilization, the collective soul of our species stirs from slumber, and the Living Future draws one step closer to the dead-and-dying past."

Though sometimes I feel the past is a wee bit more alive than I'd expect, I thought that final sentence was sheer brilliance. Follow your heart, dreamers! The whole world depends on it! Fizz! Bang! Boom!

Here's to new beginnings and sparkling dreams and bright explosions of clarity...

Posted by: Siona

Puppy Puppy.

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 21:24:54 -0000

Because I couldn't possibly NOT share this... Everett, our SEO guru, is about to welcome a new puppy home. Her name is Agnes.

Here's a photo:

And here she is in action.

I can't help it. That face, hm?

Posted by: Siona

Rabbit Rabbit.

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 23:19:37 -0000

Happy 1st of February!

Do any of you say "rabbit rabbit" on the first day of each month? I've been doing that for as long as I can remember (I think it's supposed to bring good luck) but I've no idea where the ritual came from.

Rabbit rabbit.

Ahem.

But now for an update. :) Most of you have probably already been to check out your myGaia page. We launched it with only one theme just a few days after the big transition, but if you check back now, you'll see we have a dandelion-infused yellow-and-white option (look familiar?) and an Artist theme up as well. (Just visit myGaia and click the little boxes above the 'Add Features' on the right side of the page.) We've definitely got more in the works, from a Zen theme to a starry night sky, and if you have any suggestions for others you'd like to see, just leave them in the comments and we'll see what we can do.

For now, though, there's still plenty to play with. The widgets in the main area of the screen can be dragged-and-dropped, and clicking the 'Add Features' button will bring up even more options. (Don't miss Brian's thinkArete feed!)

We'll be adding more in future releases (from a widget that'll allow you to check your personal webmail from the page to a calendar option), so if you have any wishes there, please please weigh in!

Also, I wanted to add a quick word about our Terms of Service. (No worries; they're still just as they were before!) I've been speaking with our lovely legal lady about an eventual update, though, and wanted to make sure anyone who wished could follow the process; to that end, I've started a conversation here.

Finally, we're thisclose to getting our ad-free (subscription supported!) option out—as well as a new matching feature. I wasn't going to mention either of these just yet, but I've been testing the no-ads version for about a week and... well. What can I say? It's lovely, and I'm excited, and I think that some of you will really enjoy the spaciousness that option allows.

For now, though, have a look at that post above, and keep playing with MyGaia, and let us know what you think about both.

Big hugs, as always...

Posted by: Siona.

Leadership + a note from Beau

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 19:32:23 -0000

Siona again.

So it sounds as though a few things could be clarified around management structure and leadership and decision-making when it comes to our community and our site. Someone responded to a post I'd made with the comment "Well, Siona's heart is in the right place, but she just works here!" and there've been other mentions of how my role is merely one of translation or communication.

It's a bit more than that. :)

I'm the Director of the Gaia Community. (Director... but feel free to replace that with Mommy Bear or Guardian of Gaia or Resident Flame-keeper or what have you.) It's on my profile, and has been since the acquisition, but I realize no official announcement was made.

As Director, I have the job of clarifying and sustaining the vision of this place. It's my job to balance the social and communal needs of the free community with the health of the business, to nurture and protect and grow the site, and to do so in a way that benefits the members, and the Team, and Gaiam, and our shareholders.

(And yes, I love my job... and I love my job because of all of you. I don't think I need to explain that one.)

I just want to make that clear, and to take responsibility for my role (which means taking responsibility for the embarrassing misstep with the Terms), and, more importantly, to take responsibility for the future of this community. I've written before that this site is going to lose its spirit over my dead body: as long as I'm here, I'm committed (insanely) to sustaining—and growing—the vision that sparked this site to begin with.

Because we're still here. The Team is still here, and you're still here, and we're here for a reason.

We're here to change the world by being the change. We're here to inspire and empower each other, to commit to seeing the best in ourselves and those around us, and to transform business itself through awareness and audacity and love and passion and service... and a wholehearted desire to give. We're here to practice what it means to be in community together. We're here to support each other in listening to our own hearts and being brave enough to follow that calling. We're here to transform ourselves... and in doing so, to transform the world.

Ahem.

I don't work alone! Dave Pearson is my co-lead, and is currently heading our Gaia Pro project (a tremendously important piece of the conscious capitalism / transformation of business puzzle). Jason Riley (my hero) is the genius and coordinator behind all the technological development. And then there's the rest of the crew, some of whom have been with the site since it was a single discussion board and a list of quotes. (Thank goodness for change, hm?)

What can I say? I think you're in good hands. I think you're in good hands because I know I'm in good hands... not only do I have the Team, I have each of you to keep me accountable, and each of you to make sure everyone on the Team is supported and encouraged to be their most authentic selves, so that they might continue to give their gifts to this community. And for all of this, I'm deeply, and forever, grateful.

(Thank you. Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you.)

Rommel is working on an updated About page as we speak, so you'll be able to come meet, or re-meet, everyone soon. For now, Dave T. posted some photos on his blog... so do come by and say hello.

I also promised a picture of Beau, Andrea's little black poodle. So please... say hi to Beau.

Posted by: Siona.

Welcome to Gaia!

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 20:30:02 -0000

Or should that read, "Please welcome Gaia"? :)

Really, though. Welcome. Welcome welcome welcome, and thank you so, so much.

It's Siona. (Surprise. ;) Oh my goodness. I hardly know where to start. Thank you so much. Thank you for not just witnessing this whole transformation, but for participating and supporting and encouraging and being the change.

I'd be lying if I said I hadn't been anxious about this whole leap (you can read the earlier post here about what led to the change and our decisions about the Zaadz-to-Gaia shift). But this anxiety was outweighed so, so strongly by a deep sense of love and trust and faith in our intentions, and in our vision, and in the sweet and wonderful uniqueness of this whole community.

Because if there's any group in the world capable of making this transition, it's this one. What are we here for, if not to transform, and not to practice transformation? What are we here for, if not to practice what it means to meet changes with love instead of fear? What are we here for, if not to support each other in coming from a place of respect and compassion and care?

Anyway. You're all AMAZING. I'm humbled and grateful and so happy to see what our new site looks like. It's a little like the beginning of Zaadz, except with a team of 150,000 instead of 10.

(Next time it'll be 7 billion, right? The creation of this virtual Gaia Community is just practice for all of us becoming conscious of Gaia in the 'real world.' ;)

Really, though. Welcome. We'll send out a note soon—I'd love to invite everyone to share their blessings and wishes and intentions for what it means to be Gaia, and to offer this as an opportunity to look within and listen, again, to what your own heart and your own spirit feels about sharing this space and this dream—but for now, on behalf of a happy (and a little bit exhausted) team, welcome.

I'm so glad you're here.

Posted by: Siona

PS. Oh. And myGaia just launched. We'll make a big announcement about this, too, but if you're reading this right now, feel free go check it out. :) (And the themes will be up next week.)

Gaia's Terms of Service.

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 20:54:17 -0000

Oh my goodness. What a day.

As many of you know, there's been some huge concerns about the new Gaia Community Terms of Service. You can read some of the discussion here, as well as more than a few wise blogs around the site. In short, there was some very understandable worry about ownership and rights and republication.

We're putting the old Terms of Service back; they're just as they were, with Gaia Community / Gaiam, Inc. replacing Zaadz and Zaadz, Inc. I am SO SO SO sorry about that. I'd try to explain, but that doesn't really seem adequate. It was a stupid mistake, and I apologize. We apologize.

I'm sorry.

(Josh is working on posting the old ones right now; they'll be up when the site redeploys.)

Also, I just want to make it clear that we have no desire or interest in selling anyone's content. If this is your first time looking at the terms, you might be troubled by (3.7), which reads

“By submitting, displaying or publishing (“posting”) any Content on or through the Website, you hereby grant to Zaadz (now Gaia Community) a non-exclusive, fully-paid and royalty-free, worldwide license (with the right to sub-license through unlimited levels of sub-licensees) to use, copy, reproduce, publish, display, store, transmit and distribute such Content on and through the Website.”

It's a standard agreement; we need to say this in order to provide the service. WIthout it we couldn't use the code on the site to show any visitors to the site your work, which would defeat the purpose of the space. It's never meant we'll sell your creative work, though. I don't even like thinking about what this would mean.

Apologizing doesn't feel like enough. Thanking you doesn't feel like quite enough either. I mostly just feel chagrinned at the misunderstanding and my / our own assumption that these new terms would be similar enough to the old not to bear much consideration.

Live and learn.

Posted by: Siona