CommunityCentral blog

When CommunityCentral is up and running hundreds of people will visit the website each week. But with only two or three people sitting in downtown Wellington making decisions on how the website works, it’s pretty hard for us to know what will actually work for everyone else. 

This time next month we’re expecting some people to need help signing up to CommunityCentral. There’ll be FAQs to write and content on the homepage to update. 

It’s going to be an exciting time as we interact with our audiences. Behind the scenes we’ll be ironing out bugs, responding to suggestions for enhancements, and setting up systems to track all of this. A key aim for the new platform is responding to suggestions we receive.

We’re looking for a dynamic person who enjoys setting up systems and giving people really good support.

Our ideal scenario is finding an intern or volunteer who will take on the role of webmaster and support person – for something like four or six months. At the moment there are no funds available for this role, but this will change if various funding applications are successful. 

As we say in a request being sent out to networks: If you want to be part of establishing a major national initiative being run by and for Aotearoa New Zealand community groups, get in touch today.

Here’s a sneak preview of the design for the CommunityCentral website.  As we’re still waiting for feedback on the early design there may be changes, but it is close to what will be publicly available next month. 

With the design we’re wanting to make it very easy to use, and help people focus on getting things done. Despite the social element, the website is about work, not so much play. We also want to convey an impression of a village or town square: lots of activity and exchange, with the goal of creating a good life for all. 

Let us know what you think. 

By the way, in the beginning on CommunityCentral you will be able to:

1. Browse to find out what is happening in the community sector
2. Join to receive a range of e-newsletters, including information from us.

Later we’ll be offering workspaces that will help people on projects or committees share files, images and to work on stuff together. And….. well, that’s up to you.

When the team behind CommunityCentral was selecting software to run the new website with we started with open minds. We wanted the best for what we’re trying to achieve.

We were presented with lots of options. Some were free, open source systems and others proprietary.

In the end we chose the Drupal content management system. It’s used by hundreds of thousands of organisations around the world. Some are personal, and some are large like Lonely Planet and Amnesty International. In Aotearoa, under the skin of Sorted run the Retirement Commission and the Ministry of Culture and Heritage’s New Zealand History online you’ll find Drupal.

Now that we’re tightening the nuts and bolts of the website together it’s possible to see what a powerful system it is.

We’ll be providing facilities for people to form small workgroups and interact with each other, as well as join wider networks. The Drupal system also allows people to publish databases, catalogues and use e-commerce, host discussion, and more.

The other good thing is that there are a growing number of NZ groups using the same system. Drupal users include:

• WEA Auckland run their own website, plus are offering to host up to 25 other sites.
• the CTU have a couple of websites, as are some other unions
• the very small Wellington e-rider IT service is publishing details of rates and services on a basic website
• Cycle Action Network are due to soon have an upgraded to website available.

I know other groups are thinking about using the same software.

It’s not an easy choice to select which system to use. A good place to start looking for advice is on the ICT Hub knowledgebase. This website is designed to help UK community and voluntary sector organisations access the benefits of information technology. One article specifically addresses “Choosing A CMS That’s Right For You”.

With a growing number of groups using free, open source software we’ll soon be able to start sharing what we learning. One of the underpinning goals of CommunityCentral is to enable organisations to use ICT powerfully. Use the comment form to make a comment.

I won’t attempt to write a full-blown history of CommunityCentral* up until this point – something probably best written with the benefit of hindsight. But I wanted to start this blog by sharing where the concept of an online space for the tangata whenua, community and voluntary sector came from.

In the beginning, the founding partner organisations talked about establishing a new ICT platform to ease some of the quandaries faced when sending out email newsletters.

As it stated in the main funding application from November 2006 some practical and strategic issues that arise from the way things are currently done, including:

• inefficient means of communicating across different disciplines
• poor infrastructure of the sector’s overall ICT network
• a lack of connectedness within the sector
• very short reach of existing ICT networks
• lost opportunity to share the immense knowledge, skill and experience within the sector
• waste of resources in developing and implementing separate solutions that perform the same task.

The project was seen as much about creating a new environment as “fixing things that are broke”. A new system would enable people reach of organisational networks beyond their immediate communities of interest.

Individuals would benefit too. Having a say on burning issues is part of this. As is providing a way for people to manage the way online information flows their way.

The vision recorded in November 2006 was “creat[ing] a digital community to advance an effective community and voluntary sector through the use of ICT.”

After many workshops and discussions over the past 18 months, the ideas from the original application still form the core of what CommunityCentral will offer.

In March 2008 the partners entered into a contract with a Christchurch based web development company egressive to planning and building the new website. Based on egressive’s recommendation an open source content management system called Drupal is being adapted to meet the unique needs of CommunityCentral.

Since then we’ve prepared detailed user stories which spell out how different people are likely to interact with the website. The developers have converted these stories into technical documentation (including a detailed set of use cases definition and non-functional requirements).

In the next two months we’ll be reviewing and tweaking an operational prototype of the new website. A reference group with a representative sample of flaxroots users will be in the frontline of testing.

We’ll keep you posted on how it goes. And from time to time, ask for your input. That’s the main reason for this blog, aside from contributing to the historical record.

* CommunityCentral is the new name for the CIMS Project.