[Winona Online Democracy] Greetings Everyone! This is the September edition of the Winona Online Democracy Newsletter. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- In this Issue: 1. Volunteers Needed for Senior Tech Fair 2. Have you taken the Survey? 3. Online Democracy Shines at "Wired for Democracy Conference" 4. Calling all Techies! 5. Don't forget the rules. 6. How to interact with the list. 1. Volunteers Needed for Senior Tech Fair------------- The Senior Friendship Center is hosting a Tech Fair for seniors this Monday November 20th from 1:30-4:00. This is a great opportunity to help get the word out about Winona Online Democracy and help expand our membership to include a broader cross-section of the community. We hope to have a table at the fair in which we can distribute brochures, collect names of interested people and answer questions about WoD. We can only do this, though, if some of you can volunteer to help us with this outreach effort. If you are available on Monday afternoon please contact Randy ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) or myself ([EMAIL PROTECTED]). 2. Have you taken the Survey?--------------- Many of you have taken the time to give us feedback on your experience with Winona Online Democracy. For those of you who haven't, please visit: http://www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?HXVJJBK3CMD7Y3JXDP0AJFJ7 and complete the brief survey we have prepared. This is a great opportunity to provide some input and help us shape WoD into a vital part of our community. Some samples of feedback so far indicate that: People are interested in expanding membership to ensure that all viewpoints in the community are heard. Many members would like to see some way to convert the ideas discussed into action. People continue to be concerned about managing the volume of mail. That's just a sample of feedback. Please take the time to make your voice heard. If you'd like to help address some of these issues, why not volunteer for the Steering Committee? 3. Online Democracy Shines at "Wired for Democracy Conference"----------- Last week, Randy and I attended the National Civic League's "Wired for Democracy" conference in Washington D.C. We were quite inspired by the many exciting things going on around the country (and around the world) to promote civic engagement using the Internet. Many people at the conference were very interested in Winona Online Democracy and excited that there were actually places were real civic dialogue was taking place using email. I had written a paper leading up to the conference about how we started online democracy in Winona. We probably don't often think of our humble little local email list as cutting-edge democracy in action, but in an introduction to the paper (which was distributed to over 1,500 people around the world via email), Steve Clift (chair of Minnesota E-Democracy) described Winona Online Democracy as "one of the world's leading online public commons". Our success is due entirely to your participation and your interest in having a community-wide dialogue about local issues. Thanks for making our community a world-leader in this area! 4. Calling all Techies!---------- Winona Online Democracy is run entirely by volunteers & donated services. If you have technical computer skills and would like to volunteer to help us develop enhanced services, please let us know. We're in need of people who are familiar with UNIX administration, CGI set up and PERL programming. We also have an idea for a project that may involve Visual Basic or C+ programming. If you can help, please email me at [EMAIL PROTECTED] 5. Don't forget the rules.------------ We've had some very interesting and dynamic discussions lately. As our dialogue becomes more spirited, please take the time now to re-read each of the basic rules we have in place for list participation: a. Discussion topics can include any items or issues that impact the Winona area. b. Anyone may initiate a new topic at any time or add their comments to the current discussion. c. Anyone may post announcements relating to meetings of local community groups. d. Postings are limited to no more than two a day per person. e. All messages must be signed with your full actual name. f. The list will not tolerate abusive language, personal attacks or profanity. 6. How to interact with the list.------------ Here's a few suggestions for interacting with the list. a. If you need technical assistance or have a question about list operation, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] b. If you'd like to unsubscribe, don't send your request to the list; simply go to http://onlinedemocracy.winona.org and click on "Sign Up". From that page you can subscribe or unsubscribe. c. When responding to a post on the list, make sure you address the response to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and not only to the person who wrote the original message. d. If you are an elected official, government administrator or in any leadership/decision making position; please feel free to put your job title on your posts so that people know their voice is being heard by people who are involved with particular issues. e. When responding to a post to the list, always respond to the list (not just the individual) even if you are just answering one person's specific question. Your response may spark interesting ideas and discussion among other list members that you may not have anticipated. ------------------------------------------------- Thanks everyone for your continued participation. Your suggestions and feedback are always welcome at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cheers, -Steve Kranz, Co-Chair Winona Online Democracy ---------------- This message was posted to the Winona Online Democracy Project. Please visit http://onlinedemocracy.winona.org to subscribe or unsubscribe. Please sign all messages posted to this list with your actual name. Posting of commercial solicitations is not allowed on this list. Report problems to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
