Re: [DDN] in search of volunteer moderators (was The future of DDN)
Hi Andy - these are great insights... And there are lessons to be learned in this discussion that go beyond DDN. Thanks! Tobias On 1/5/09, Andy Swarbrick andyswa...@tickertxt.org wrote: As an owner-mod of around 30 groups on Yahoo and Google Groups I would be happy to reapply that experience to support DDN, if that is at all helpful. One question seems to be what platform one might use for DDN. Before you get to that one must ask, what is wrong (and right) with the existing one, and if we change what could the benefits pitfalls be. What is wrong with the existing platform? Does it cost money? Is it difficult to manage? At least it has a stable user-base who know its strengths and weaknesses. As I say I use Yahoo Groups which of course is free. Added to Y!G is Grouply which is a social-networking front end, possibly giving all the benefits and pitfalls of social networking, not to mention the benefits and pros cons of Y!G. (It is worth noting that some Y!G and Google Groups seem to be reflecting each others messages into both platforms.) I also use and like Wiserearth and (like all platforms) it has its benefits it also has its issues. One disadvantage (depending on your perspective) is that Wiserearth is primarily a website interface, whereas I love the DDN email interface. I do not know Moodle so cannot comment. To my way of thinkin any virtual group (and DDN is no different) goes through its high and low points. I run a few dead groups, but I know that at the right moment any of them could go live. So quiescence is not to me a core problem. What is needed is good management. This group needs someone to drive its agenda, and that means in part to stimulate the DDN community into self-action. What technology is used is then of secondary importance. Andy If the current owner-mod structure discourages that self-promotion (which it seems is true) then the starting point for me is to support a change that corrects that core problem. Correct that and then see what else is necessary later. ___ 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. -- Sent from my mobile device Tobias Eigen Senior Steward - IT Global Action Networks-Net (GAN-Net) http://www.gan-net.net Executive Director Kabissa - Space for Change in Africa http://www.kabissa.org ___ 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.
Re: [DDN] The future of DDN
What, you mean this? http://www.lullabot.com/audiocast/the_drupal_song grin FWIW, the Kabissa site is drupal and civicrm, and through it we are able to have a group blogging platform wih email notifications permitting email replies, monthly email newsletter and periodic special mailings. This works well enough for our community, with mostly lurkers, but it has been slow going to encourage people to participate more actively. It was also not free to set up and maintain - if a budget exists to actually develop a new platform using drupal I would recommend it. If not, I would recommend we just switch the DDN list over to a free ASP service like ning.com. Cheers, Tobias On Tue, Nov 11, 2008 at 7:38 AM, Taran Rampersad` taran.a.ramper...@gmail.com wrote: /me hums Drupal's theme at Tobias as well. Tobias Eigen wrote: Thanks Adam - this is all very interesting. I think the biggest problem I am seeing is that emails get stacked up for approval - this really limits any real discussion that might take place here on this list. I'd propose either opening it up or recruiting some volunteers to help manage the approval queue on a daily if not more regular basis. The ning idea is a good one, especially since it's a free (advertising driven) platform. I believe educators can get advertising-free spaces. Another platform well suited for email-empowered online communities is golightly, used at http://groups.nten.org If you are really concerned about costs for DDN into the future, then rolling your own site might not be a great idea. Cheers, Tobias On Mon, Oct 20, 2008 at 9:07 AM, adamcl...@takingitglobal.org wrote: Thanks for the responses to our idea of what to do with DDN :) To clear somethings up: -Tobias asked if the donation for membership is voluntary or not. We have no intention of charging people to access DDN. What we do want to do is identify people who are financial supporters of DDN. We don't have a donation system set up yet because we wanted to make sure that it was a good idea first. -The wiki issue is being looked into. The system should be able to handle your existing DDN login information so you don't have to create two accounts and login to both all the time. -Taran's idea of GoogleAds is interesting and we'll have our tech team see how easy it is to implement. Which should be very easy. The hard part will be finding a space for them as we don't want GoogleAds on the front page of DDN has it may make the site look less credible. Any thoughts on that note? -Many people have suggested moving DDN to a new system. This is just as hard (or even harder) than keeping our current system running. We've though about this at TIG and were moving ahead with our system because it is the easiest for our developers to work on. Adam Clare ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@digitaldivide.net http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to digitaldivide-requ...@digitaldivide.netwith the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. -- -- Taran Rampersad c...@knowprose.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.netwith the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. -- Tobias Eigen Senior Steward - IT Global Action Networks-Net (GAN-Net) http://www.gan-net.net Executive Director Kabissa - Space for Change in Africa http://www.kabissa.org ___ 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.
Re: [DDN] The future of DDN
Thanks Adam - this is all very interesting. I think the biggest problem I am seeing is that emails get stacked up for approval - this really limits any real discussion that might take place here on this list. I'd propose either opening it up or recruiting some volunteers to help manage the approval queue on a daily if not more regular basis. The ning idea is a good one, especially since it's a free (advertising driven) platform. I believe educators can get advertising-free spaces. Another platform well suited for email-empowered online communities is golightly, used at http://groups.nten.org If you are really concerned about costs for DDN into the future, then rolling your own site might not be a great idea. Cheers, Tobias On Mon, Oct 20, 2008 at 9:07 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Thanks for the responses to our idea of what to do with DDN :) To clear somethings up: -Tobias asked if the donation for membership is voluntary or not. We have no intention of charging people to access DDN. What we do want to do is identify people who are financial supporters of DDN. We don't have a donation system set up yet because we wanted to make sure that it was a good idea first. -The wiki issue is being looked into. The system should be able to handle your existing DDN login information so you don't have to create two accounts and login to both all the time. -Taran's idea of GoogleAds is interesting and we'll have our tech team see how easy it is to implement. Which should be very easy. The hard part will be finding a space for them as we don't want GoogleAds on the front page of DDN has it may make the site look less credible. Any thoughts on that note? -Many people have suggested moving DDN to a new system. This is just as hard (or even harder) than keeping our current system running. We've though about this at TIG and were moving ahead with our system because it is the easiest for our developers to work on. Adam Clare ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@digitaldivide.net http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. -- Tobias Eigen Senior Steward - IT Global Action Networks-Net (GAN-Net) http://www.gan-net.net Executive Director Kabissa - Space for Change in Africa http://www.kabissa.org ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@digitaldivide.net http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
Re: [DDN] Netsquared's Innovation Fund Award - voting extended to April 16
Hey folks, It's interesting to see the various proposals being pitched here - I absolutely *love* Yankana.org. Kabissa has a proposal in for the Net2 innovation award as well, and our team has fairly carefully reviewed the proposals for the ones most empowering for African civil society organizations. More details at this link: http://www.kabissa.org/blog/2007/04/11/get-out-the-virtual-vote-for-kabissa-at-netsquaredorg/ And our top 5 proposals: * Kabissa 2.0: Strengthening the Social Web in Africa Marries power of Web 2.0 with passion of 900+ African orgs in our network. Savvy Web 2.0 Ambassadors will collaborate through the Kabissa site and face to face to develop and promote homegrown strategies for employing Web 2.0 for social change. * The Hub Imagine a My Space meets You Tube for human rights - an online destination where global citizens could learn the strategies and access the tools they needed to use their visual documentation of abuses to create community action and change. * Social Web Tools for Developing Countries: Yankana.org Yankana is a project designed to help non profits located in developing countries to adopt and benefit from social web tools in their fields of work, without technical skills, financial resources for infrastructure or english language knowledge. * A Global Neighbor Network: Nabuur.com NABUUR is an internet platform where villages in developing countries get direct assistance. Online volunteers help create whatever is needed in 150 villages now, and with your help in 10,000 villages soon: join a societal revolution! * Maps 2.0 - Geospacial tools for Nonprofits and Humanitarian Relief Maps 2.0, a collaboration already under way, will launch the first online resource for nonprofit and humanitarian organizations to share best practices in geographic information systems (GIS) and digital mapping tools. Cheers, Tobias -- Tobias Eigen Co-Executive Director Kabissa - Space for Change in Africa http://www.kabissa.org On 4/13/07, Michael Maranda [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: The NetSquared voting period has been extended to April 16th, there is still time! The prize for the 20 projects receiving the most votes is an expenses-paid trip for two to the Net2 conference in Silicon Valley, where project members will mingle with representatives of major foundations, companies and tech gurus who will provide support for their work in cash and in-kind contributions. In short, a gold mine for a new project. You can vote for up to ten projects (minimum five). http://www.netsquared.org/projects/vote Here are a few I'd like to bring to your attention... * Hear Our Pain Action Network - Our Freedom to Connect is impaired by a divide and conquer market and policy regime. We're here to change that and to transform the communications/media policy sphere. * Hooze Wagn: Organically Grown Public Data on Products and Companies - Hooze.org http://hooze.org/ and its Wagn underbelly are for collaboratively gathering and broadcasting convenient, trustworthy public data about products and companies. With wiki spirit and database power, Hooze gives citizens a new economic voice. * ManorMeta - The living learning lab ManorMeta is a visionary multimedia series sharing problem solving adventures, diverse young leaders, musical stars and AI characters in an amazing mashup for web, virtual worlds, television, film, comics and print media. * Sourcetree Commons: Geeking our way to a better world - To develop better social software, we must use these very tools in the communities that are building them. We leverage social software to amplify the creative power of geeks and provide increased resources, efficiency, feedback and support. * Grassroots.org http://grassroots.org/ Toolkit - Dave Chakrabarti just pitched that one, so I'll leave it at that. On 4/10/07, Eduardo Bejar [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Thru Saturday April 14th at 12 noon PDT (GMT -7) you can cast your vote for your favorite project proposal for the 2007 NetSquared Conference. A total of 152 proposals have been submitted; however, only 20 proposals will be selected and will get the opportunity to receive support from the NetSquared Innovation Fund to become a reality. You can check all nominated projects at: http://www.netsquared.org/projects/project-proposals/all-project-proposals-b y-name Also, you can check our project proposal Social Web Tools for Developing Countries: Yankana.org at: http://www.netsquared.org/projects/proposals/social-web-tools-developing-cou ntries-yankana-org Please support our project proposal with your vote, as it will help many non-profit organizations in developing countries. Thank you and best regards, Eduardo Bejar Director Fundacion de Ayuda por Internet, Fundapi.org www.fundapi.org Guayaquil, Ecuador
