Creating Online
Communities
An International Guide to
Community Networking
This outline proposal is for comment
by co-editors and potential contributors. If you would like to join
in development, you may subscribe to the mailing list for potential
contributors.
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David Wilcox, Partnerships Online
david@partnerships.org.uk
Purpose of the Guide
The Guide will be an online resource
to provide inspiration and guidance on how to use the Internet for
community benefit, personal development or organisational change -
and help others do the same. Content will cover both the start up and
management of projects.
The Guide will build on a previous
online publication on this site: How
you can use IT in the community
, and much other excellent material on other sites. It will stand in
its own right, and also act as a back-up resource to some other
projects under development in the UK:
Course participants and those
developing local projects will be invited to contribute content to
the Guide to ensure that it is updated and developed in ways which
are relevant to user needs. Hopefully other editors and contributors
will integrate development of the guide with other projects, so
content is refresh. We will, of course, need to agree appropriate
terms for use of the material.
Development of the Guide
My initial vision of Guide
development - offered here for comment - is as follows.
First, a core framework is developed
by collaborating editors in a number of countries where there are
community neworking projects - for example, I have contacts in USA
and Canada, Australia, UK and some other European countries. Content
will then be developed by:
- Desktop research in each country
into what's online already - a first set of commented URLs to fill
out the framework.
- Articles, case studies etc
solicited by editors in their own countries using lists,
conferencing, and f2f workshops. Practitioners will be recruited
from existing lists like communet and conet.
- Transnational peer-to-peer lists
will also be established.
- From this material we should be
able to analyse second order content of key topics, areas of
competence, do's and don'ts, glossaries etc. Some will be generic,
some country specific. (see http://www.partnerships.org.uk/part
for some existing guide material on 'real world' processes of
participation and partnership building)
While this may seem a little
daunting, I hope that the need to develop course material will assist
with structuring, and on-the-ground training and consultancy work
will rapidly sift what's useful and what is not.
There is some excellent material
around already, and some good sites. I believe the first round of
trans-national structuring and signposting will in itself add a lot
of value and inspire people to contribute.
Approach
The aim of the guide - as I see it -
is to show what 'real world' benefits new media can offer.
Consequently the starting point should be the problems and
aspirations of communities, organisation and individuals - rather
than the technology or any one model of community networking. This is
reflected in the contents below. (I am indebted to Terry Grunwald's
excellent Making the Net Work http://www.ncexchange.org/guideorder.html
and other sources which will be acknowledged!) Terry visited the UK
in summer 1998 - see
her presentations here.
Draft contents
1 Introduction to the
Guide
This will explain the approach taken
by the guide, and help users reflect on what they are looking for and
find a route through the material e.g:
- Understanding current community
concerns and frameworks for thinking about sustainable
development
- Gaining an insight in the basics
of the technology
- Looking for structured learning
material
- Finding project case
studies
- Understanding key policy issues
on technology impact
- Planning a community networking
project
2 An overview: why bother, what's
involved,what's coming
- The benefits of community
networking: personally, for organisations,
communities.
- Examples of information, advice,
trade, collaboration etc
- Communities of interest and
locality
- Plus a realistic acknowledgement
of the barriers to access and use.
- What Government and local
government is planning
- What industry is
planning
- Forecasts on costs and
convenience
- Major national
initiatives
- Internet issues of security,
pornography, privacy etc
- Have's and have nots
- Impact of new trading patterns on
communities
3 Technology basics
- How to get connected: typical
costs, equipment, ISPs etc
- Finding information: gateways,
searching
- Communicating and collaborating:
email, lists, chat, groupware
- Achieving visibility: Web
publishing.
4 Understanding
communities
- The current context for
communities
- Community profiling
- Community development,
empowerment, sustainable development
- Countering exclusion from
information & communications technology
- Creating community
organisations
- Thinking about the future of your
community in relation to the threats and opportunities posed by
information and communications technologies
- Techniques e.g. stakeholder
analysis, SWOT analysis, force field analysis, community
profiling
5 Understanding
organisations
Issues which are relevant for
organisations introducing online working, and for online projects as
the develop e.g.
- Governance and
management
- Strategic planning
- Business planning
- Financial planning and
control
- Human resources
- Managing change
- Team building
- Volunteer management
6 Understanding 'real world'
processes
The process which online projects may
support - and which will be involved in creating those projects,
since most will involve colaborations and partnerships. For
example:
- Community participation,
community empowerment, partnership working, structures for
collaboration and partnership
- Contrasting process models of
working with communities
- Planning and monitoring work with
communities
7 Online processes
- Participating in and managing
online discussion
- Collaborative working
- Achieving an online
presence
- Managing multi-authored
content
8 Appropriate technology for
community networking
- Public access
- Servers and software
- Essential and desirable
applications
9 Researching good
practice
Before starting a project, how do you
systematically review experience elsewhere and establish how to
monitor your own performance (important for course work):
- Measures of
performance
- Procedures for monitoring and
reviewing performance
- Identifying good
practice
- Writing a review report with
action points
- Identifying barriers
10 Designing a project
- This section will
include:
- Making a needs assessment on
information, communication, collaboration, visibiliy.
- Checklists for project
planning
- Creating a strategic
plan
- Briefing on use of the community
networking game and other simulation devices.
11 Communities Online
- Examples of local community
networking projects and main community networking functions in
more detail, e.g.
- Creating awareness
- Providing access
- Training and support
- Learning and resource
centres
- Electronic democracy
- Provising and managing
conent
- Providing hardware and
software
- Connecting communities of
interest
12 Organisations Online
Terry Grunwald offers an eleven point
plan which could be a good starting point:
- Determine the basics
- Assess organisational
resources
- Select host/access
provider
- Establish a networking
plan
- Assign roles and
responsibilities
- Establish organisational
guidelines
- Log on and st up networking
systems
- Think email
- Think online
information
- Post information
- Train, train, train and
brainsorm.
13 Personal and Family Learning
Online
To be developed
14 Resource listings
- UK and international
initiatives
- Local initiatives
- Organisations that can
help
- Main sites
- Bibliography
15 How you can
contribute
- As a contibutor of articles or
links
- As a section editor
- Through a workshop
-
- david@partnerships.org.uk
- Partnerships
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