Category Archives: Community

CollabSphere 2018 – Still time to submit abstracts

Posted on by Posted in #Domino2025, #IBMChampion, CollabSphere, Community, IBM/Lotus, MWLUG, Notes/Domino Leave a comment

The deadline for submissions of session abstracts for CollabSphere 2018 has been extended to Sunday, June 3. This is your opportunity to share your knowledge with the community. Register on the brand new CollabSphere website. The link is http://collabsphere.org/ug/collabsphere2018.nsf/sessionabstract.xsp.

This year we can expect a number of session on technologies more or less new to the Domino community, for example Node.js and React.js, as well as what’s new in the upcoming Notes and Domino 10. So if you haven’t registered for Collabsphere yet, take this opportunity to register and experience the learning atmosphere, networking and a lot of fun.

Hope to see you in Ann Arbor in July for the 10th MWLUG/CollabSphere conference!

 

 

CollabSphere 2018 – Registration is Open

Posted on by Posted in #Domino2025, #IBMChampion, CollabSphere, Community, IBM/Lotus, MWLUG, Notes/Domino Leave a comment

The conference formally known as MWLUG (Mid-West Lotus User Group) is now renamed CollabSphere. This year the conference will be held in Ann Arbor, MI on July 23-25.

Visit the brand new website at www.collabsphere.org to learn more, to register for this very cost-efficient conference, or why not submit an abstract for a session?

I have been attending MWLUG for several years myself, and it is an excellent conference. High quality speakers presenting over 50 sessions and workshops, networking with representatives from IBM as well as with presenters and other attendees and an exhibit floor where sponsors and vendors are showing their products and services.

With IBM expanding its portfolio of products and services, and with the new innovations in the rejuvenated  Notes and Domino product line, this will be the conference to attend this summer. Expect some exciting news to be presented at CollabSphere, and to see more of the latest version of Domino, due to be released in the second half of 2018.

I hope to see you at CollabSphere, and perhaps even see you present!

Discount codes for IBM Think 2018 still available!

Posted on by Posted in #IBMChampion, Community, IBM Think, IBM/Lotus Leave a comment

If you haven’t registered for IBM Think next month yet, it is about time you do it. And I have discount codes to give out, all you have to do it to mail me, either at texasswede@gmail.com or karl-henry@demandbettersolutions.com. Then go to https://www.ibm.com/events/think/register/ and register.

I am very excited about IBM Think, but I am also worried. How will I be able to go to all the sessions I want to attend? That is a good problem to have, though.

See you in Las Vegas in a month!

 

Will I see you at IBM Think?

Posted on by Posted in #Domino2025, #IBMChampion, App Modernization, Community, Connect, IBM/Lotus, Lotusphere, Notes/Domino, Watson Leave a comment

It is just over a month until IBM kicks off Think 2018 in Las Vegas. This conference takes place March 19-21 and merges several conferences, including IBM Connect (formerly known as Lotusphere).

After attending 19 Lotusphere/Connect conferences in Orlando (as well as one in Nice and one in San Francisco), I am ready for something new and exciting. IBM Think brings in many different parts of the IBM portfolio into one big conference, where we can learn about new and exciting technologies that we may not been exposed to before. I am looking forward to learning more about AI, security, blockchain, IoT and much more.

But I am of course also excited to learn about the upcoming Notes and Domino 10. IBM and HCL has promised too show actual working code at Think, and will present a timeline not only for what features we will see in the end of the year in Domino 10, but also in upcoming versions.

I have a feeling we will finally see functions and features people have been requesting for many years. A large part of the IBM:ers who worked on Notes and Domino moved over to HCL late last year, and I suspect they have been very busy. Here is an excerpt of a session description:

For those of you who want to integrate Domino applications into modern web applications and cloud platforms like Salesforce, etc., we will show you how. Domino is embracing JavaScript, Node.js and open source to become a full-stack web development platform anyone you hire off the street today can be productive in.

If anyone is interested in attending IBM Think I have a special promo code that will give you a $100 discount. Contact me at texasswede@gmail.com (use the subject “IBM Think Promo Code”) and I will mail you a code. You can also contact any other IBM Champion for a code.

See you in Las Vegas in a month!

 

10th Anniversary of My Blog!

Posted on by Posted in #IBMChampion, Blogging, Community, Personal, WordPress 3 Comments

Yesterday marked the 10 year anniversary of this blog, even though it had two different homes over that time.

I had tried blogging a couple of times earlier. In 1995 I went scuba diving in Egypt for a week, and I documented that on the personal web site I had created. This was done in a diary/blog format using an IBM Thinkpad 701 and pictures taken with a Kodak DC-40 digital camera. All HTML was coded by hand. Some years later I installed the blog templates for Lotus Domino to try it out, but I was never motivated to start blogging for real.

But in 2008 it was the right time. The IBM business partner Lotus911 (later GBS) had registered the domain BleedYellow.com and offered free blog hosting, using IBM Connections. I also felt more confident and wanted to share some code and knowledge as a way to pay back for all the help I had been getting.

I registered an account and started blogging right before Lotusphere 2008. I kept blogging at BleedYellow.com for a number of years, but in October 2012 I moved my blog to WordPress and my own domain. I was able to import all my existing blog entries to WordPress, so you can still view them even though GBS did shut down their US operations in 2015.

I started by blogging mostly about Notes and Domino, with some more personal articles. Eventually I expanded my blogging to cover other technologies, like web development using Javascript and jQuery, but still with an eye towards Domino developers.

Lately I have also started to share code related to NetSuite, a platform I have now been working with for a little over a year. I have been wanting to blog more about NetSuite, but been lacking the time. But don’t expect the content about Notes and Domino to go away. Version 10 is coming later this year, and I expect there will be plenty of new features to write about!

At times I have not been blogging as much as I wanted, due to work as well as some health issues I had in 2016. I apologize about that. I hope to be able to blog more frequently in the future. I have several subjects lined up, I just need the time to write.

Thank you for reading my blog and commenting on my articles. To know that I was able to help someone makes it worth to keep blogging.

2018 IBM Champion for ICS

Posted on by Posted in #IBMChampion, Community, IBM/Lotus 3 Comments

Together with a number of other people, I today received a mail from IBM telling me that I had been selected as one of the IBM Champion for ICS. This is the fifth year I have received this honor, and every year I am grateful to everyone who nominated me.

I also want to thank Libby Ingrassia, World Wide Manager of the Champion Program, and Alan Hamilton, Manager of the ICS Champion program. They are doing a great job supporting us Champions!

For those not familiar with the IBM Champion program, this is a program where IBM recognizes people who are NOT IBM employees for demonstrating both expertise in and extraordinary support and advocacy for IBM technology, communities, and solutions.

IBM Champions are enthusiasts and advocates: IT professionals, business leaders, developers, executives, educators, and influencers who support and mentor others to help them get the most out of IBM software, solutions, and services.

The IBM Champion program recognizes these innovative thought leaders in the technical community and rewards these contributions by amplifying their voice and increasing their sphere of influence.

Being an IBM Champion is a huge honor for me. I have been working with Notes and Domino since 1995, and when I was first selected as a Champion in 2014, it spurred me to contribute even more to the community. I have been presenting at several conferences over the last few years, and I think the confidence I gained from being selected made me submit presentations to those conferences.

So thank you IBM, not only for honoring me as a Champion but also for giving me the confidence to do new things in the community!

ICON UK – Webinar about IBM’s Domino 10 and HCL partnership

Posted on by Posted in #IBMChampion, Community, IBM/Lotus, Notes/Domino, Sametime, Verse 1 Comment

On November 9 at 15.00 BST (16.00 CET, 10am EST), ICON UK will host a special edition of their “Around The Table” webinar series focusing on the recently announced strategic partnership between IBM and HCL. The partnership, which covers the Notes, Domino, Verse and Sametime product families, will deliver a multi-year roadmap for the products, and Notes/Domino 10 has already been announced for a 2018 release.

The webinar is free. You can read more about it at https://iconuk.org/iconuk.nsf/events.html, where you also can register.

Nominate your Champion(s)!

Posted on by Posted in #IBMChampion, Community, IBM/Lotus Leave a comment

It this time of the year again: nominations for IBM Champions!

Do you know someone in the community that deserves the title of IBM Champion? Someone who demonstrates both expertise and extraordinary support and advocacy for IBM products, solutions and communities. Perhaps someone who arranges user conferences, create videos to show different concepts, blog and share code. Or someone who speaks at conferences and thus promotes IBM products.

Nominate that  person. Or if you are that person, nominate yourself! You are the one that knows the best what you have done. Nominations are open for another week, until November 13, and the URL is https://developer.ibm.com/champions/nominate/.

Finally, here is a video where Libby Ingrassia, IBM Champion Program Manager, explains what the IBM Champion program is, who the Champions are and how to nominate.

My MWLUG presentation: Elementary!

Posted on by Posted in #IBMChampion, Community, IBM/Lotus, jQuery, Lotusscript, MWLUG, Notes/Domino, Programming, Web Development 1 Comment

Yesterday I presented at MWLUG, and I want to share my presentation with both the ones attending and anyone who was not able to be there. I am posting two version, one with just the slides, and one with speaker notes, where I tried to capture the content, if not the exact verbiage of the session.

I hope to be able to post the demo database with the code later this week or early next week.

 

My presentation at MWLUG

Posted on by Posted in #IBMChampion, Community, IBM/Lotus, Javascript, jQuery, Lotusscript, MWLUG, Notes/Domino, Programming, Uncategorized, Web Development Leave a comment

Tomorrow, August 8, you are welcome to attend my presentation “Elementary!” at MWLUG 2017. In about 45 minutes I will show how to easily incorporate Watson functionality in your own applications, both on the web and in your Notes client applications.

I will be using Node-RED and IBM BlueMix to do this, and I think many will be surprised how easy it is, and how little code is needed. For example I will implement translation from English to Spanish with two (2) lines of server side code. To call this from the web you just need another handful of lines.

I hope to see you tomorrow at 5pm!