We see this often with our clients; technology shouldn't be implemented for technology's sake. If people are comfortable with a mailing list, then that's what they'll use, even if the client just spent a hideous amount of money on their shiny new online "communications center" that the marketing / branding guys are drooling over.
1. Perhaps we should take a step back and think about what DDN actually *needs*? Speaking as a project manager, I'd like to know what this project's must-have, nice-to-have, and pie-in-the-sky wishlist features are. What is actually being used on the site, other than the mailing list? Are there online denizens of the forums or blogs who we're leaving out of this conversation? 2. I noticed the site now carries this message: "This is a static archive of the Digital Divide Network content. Due to the extraordinary amount of spam being posted and traffic to the site from robots overwhelming the site with inappropriate content, TakingITGlobal can no longer afford to maintain and manage the site content. However, you are welcome to browse the wealth of content on the site. Blogs can still be contributed to the site via RSS syndication, and member profiles are still active!" In other words, the site has been killed off, or will remain as a hub of syndicated content from other sources. How much traffic was DDN receiving, and how much content was posted daily? Was TIG able to try various captcha / moderation / spam filtering solutions? If so, what impact did they have? 3. DDN seems to be suffering from a lack of clear direction, which makes it very difficult to select a path forward. TIG has done an awesome job of supporting DDN for a long time now, but it's clear that the community will need to create a more sustainable solution. Is it time for DDN to form a board to address some of this? Once we have an idea of what needs to be done, and a group of folks willing to commit to that discussion, it'd be interesting to see if crowdsourcing a solution is indeed possible. If we had a wishlist of prioritized features, how hard would it be to rebuild this in something like Drupal and for one person to donate some time every day to prune / maintain, till a fundraising mechanism is in place? Lots of questions to answer before we can answer that one, but the project will die if we don't start answering them soon. And Taran, I definitely understand your tone, given the background. The vast majority of technology projects run out of steam and falter, even in paid for-profit consulting engagements, much like the case with DDN. But this *can* be done, if it's organized correctly. If DDN can't crowdsource a technology solution effectively, who can? Dave. -- Dave Chakrabarti Project Manager Chicago Technology Cooperative www.chicagotech.org On Dec 30, 2008, at 6:21 PM, Taran Rampersad wrote: > Let's simplify. > > Ismael Peña-López wrote: >> I'd second Andy's proposal to recruit some volunteers and let the >> list run >> (smoothly) for a while. >> >> i. >> > Forgive me. That was Andy's proposal when DDN left Benton, and there > was > a sincere attempt to do that to some degree. It didn't work then, it > hasn't worked since, and I am wondering how it will work now. > > Sure, back in 1999 we had less tech. We also had less distractive > technology. This may seem somewhat counter to the context of the list > itself, but just because we have technology doesn't mean we have to > use > it all the time. Fired are good for cooking, but people who use them > too > much are called arsonists... if you take my point. > > -- > -- > Taran Rampersad > taran.a.ramper...@gmail.com > > http://www.knowprose.com > http://www.your2ndplace.com > http://www.opendepth.com > http://www.flickr.com/photos/knowprose/ > > "Criticize by Creating" - Michelangelo > "The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is > mine." - Nikola Tesla > > _______________________________________________ > DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list > DIGITALDIVIDE@digitaldivide.net > http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide > To unsubscribe, send a message to digitaldivide-requ...@digitaldivide.net > with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@digitaldivide.net http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to digitaldivide-requ...@digitaldivide.net with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
