Passing, and sharing, the torch

john.kuehl — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 21:05:00 GMT

In October 2006, David Lincecum established a personal blog, called "What am I thinking? What are you thinking?", in what was then ETC's fledgling online community with a post that began with a simple statement:

"This is not really my brain, just things I think about and things I want to talk about."

For the next year, he posted regularly about the things going on in his brain that related to lighting, the lighting industry, culture, and the art of stacking firewood. Thousands of readers found his blog, and made a more tangible connection with ETC because of it.

Because of something David is - very busy - and something he's not - the only person at ETC with tremendous insights on topics of interest to members of this online community - we're transitioning into a new format.

Beginning today, you'll find many voices contributing to our new "Light Minds" blog. Some will focus on experiences making and using our products, some will focus on topics impacting the greater theatre lighting and design world, and some will simply share stories of their experiences working at ETC.

David saw his blog an important effort toward connecting with people both within our company and outside it. That remains a goal of ours, so when it comes to the ground rules for Light Minds, it seems appropriate to again reference David's inaugural post:

"You can read for free - you'll have to join our community to add your own comments. PLEASE DO.

Full Disclosure - I work for ETC and as such will abide by certain rules that we as a company have set for me and my blog.
In general I subscribe to the WOMMA code of ethics. That said, as an employee of ETC I will balance WOMMA's code of ethics with my personal and professional responsibilities to ETC.
My goal is to be open but there may be occasion to keep secrets - for example, I will talk about my work but don't expect me to publish all our product plans.
This one goes for all of us (since you can comment on my blog) - In short, don't be a jerk... In long, do not post any material or links to material that is obscene, defamatory, profane, libelous, threatening, harassing, abusive, hateful or embarrassing to another person or any other person or entity. This includes, but is not limited to, comments regarding ETC, ETC employees, ETC partners and ETC's competitors (it's just not cool). I will treat others as I would want to be treated, please do the same.
I have to respect copyright and so do you. Please do not post any material or content that would violate any copyright law or other intellectual property law.
I'll do my best to cite others and provide links to them.
This blog is not intended to provide technical support for any ETC products. In the event you need technical support or service, please contact ETC Technical Support at 1-800-688-4116 (24/7 I might add!).
Finally, I hope to accomplish a couple of things with this blog;
I hope to start a valuable conversation about our industry. About technology, about culture, about the arts in general and about lighting specifically.
I hope to learn a bit from you - to get feedback, to have an honest dialogue where your thoughts can be heard.
I hope to have fun."

Here we go!

Light Minds Think Alike : groundrules

Passing, and sharing, the torch