Case: BingWiki
The Story
The idea for BingWiki came about from discussion that occured in the Southern Tier Young Professionals organization, and a class at Binghamton University through a group known as CIC 2020. The idea was that the Binghamton region could benefit from a tool that allowed content to be added and managed by the community at large - much like Wikipedia. Doug Camin from Avant was active in these discussions and realized that Avant's talents could be leveraged to make this project a reality. We felt strongly that it was a great idea - a City Wiki that allows people to contribute their information and knowledge about the city into a site that others can reference was a powerful, community-changing idea and played into our strengths to help.
Our Contribution
We realized that to be successful the project needed people on board to make sure the initial work of building the site was done correctly right from the start. This was something Avant could uniquely contribute, so we sprang into action. We used our team to set up and configure the MediaWiki engine (the same one running Wikipedia) for use by BingWiki and configure the layout, graphics and other initial startup functions necessary to help make sure the Wiki looked complete and polished when launched. We also used our talents with social networking - particular Facebook integration - to quickly spread the word about the site and build a community interested in contributing.
The Results
The BingWiki site launched on March 1, 2009 and within weeks had nearly 100 articles and dozens of new users. The site is dedicated as a non-commercial entity and bills itself as "The People's Guide to Greater Binghamton" - and over time, it should become so. We feel this is a great example of how we apply our unique community business philosophy to give back to our community in ways that are outsize to our size as a small business.
Website
http://www.bingwiki.org