[Sagamore Online] Near Term Plans

[Jonathan Baldwin]

Hey Dave,
I love the idea and the intent. It would be a tremendous resource for
parents to have a site to go to not only to get valuable information, but
also to contribute  and send feedback. And, volunteers wouldn't have to
recreate the wheel as much because there'd be that historical content
within the site. I think so much of what we learn about the programs and
events comes from just talking to other parents at the school. That's
great, but I do feel like that communication method leaves out a decent
percentage of parents. So, if we could digitize that word-of-mouth type of
content and build an interactive site around it, I think it'd be great. The
challenge is going to be promoting it and getting parents to adopt it as a
go-to resource. We don't want to create all of this structure for a site
that only a handful of parents will visit. So, I'm not sure what the next
step would be. Do we build it, hoping people will come or do we build a
case for it and present it to the school administration, PTA? I do not know
how to navigate all of the different parties involved. Is it a foundation?
I'm not sure what we call it.
But, I'm in. Maybe we form a mini committee around it and just take some
initial steps. You'd obviously be the technology expert - we could have
other committee members that have specific roles.

Thanks,
Jonathan


On Sun, Mar 10, 2013 at 1:07 PM, Dave Allen Barker Jr <dave at 1.0ne.org>wrote:

>  Kim Speece (PTA co-president) and I got a chance to talk on Friday about
> online and general communication efforts in service of the Sagamore Hills
> ES community.  So, I'll describe my ideas, and I hope to hear feedback, or
> ideas of your own, from y'all.  Participating in this discussion so far
> are: myself, Kim, Monica, Heather, Vera, John, Jonathan, and Sally—and
> anyone is welcome to join<http://list.9.0ne.org/list/listinfo/sagamore.online>or follow
> along <http://list.9.0ne.org/archive/sagamore.online/>.
>
> Short version of what I'd like to do:
>
>    - Buy the domain name "sagamoreparents.org" ($10/y) through the PTA's
>    existing Dreamhost account
>     - Establish email discussion lists @groups.sagamoreparents.org for
>    things like general Sagamore and per-grade discussion amongst parents
>    - Promote the mailing through the PTA (newsletter)
>    - New website (first at dev.sagamoreparents.org) where we work on a
>    new reference website for all Sagamore parent static information needs
>
> *Should I/we do it?*
>
> And now… a lot of words.
>  Archived Mailing Lists
>
> Short version: synergies of information distribution, parent involvement,
> volunteer knowledge transfer, and school promotion, can be ours by simply
> *routing all email exchange through archived mailing **(discussion) **
> lists*.
>  Scenarios
>
>    - A parent wonders about the state of the pond beside the school
>     *Without* archived mailing lists The parent chats with their nearest
>    neighbor or emails the PTA.  Information sources are limited and the answer
>    finds a limited audience and is lost to the future.  *With* archived
>    mailing list A message to the school-wide, general-interest mailing
>    list allows the PTA to respond, as well as any other random parent who can
>    add some information.  Other parents on the list learn something they would
>    not have otherwise, and the discussion can be pointed to (in the archive)
>    when the question inevitably comes up again.
>    - Organizers put on Science Night *Without* archived mailing lists A
>    handful of organizers begin work via email.  They solicit volunteers
>    through the weekly PTA newsletter.  Volunteers are addressed individually
>    by the organizers, often with repetition of information.  Many ideas are
>    passed around, and the best are utilized for that year's event.  The
>    experience of the effort are lost to personal email boxes.  *With*archived mailing lists A
>    handful of organizers begin work via a mailing list.  They solicit
>    volunteers through the weekly PTA newsletter, and those with extra interest
>    can get up to speed with the organizers' work by reviewing the mailing list
>    archive.  Volunteers are addressed on the mailing list as well, where
>    answers to individual volunteer questions can benefit others.  More
>    enthusiasm and resources come to the project as volunteers get each other
>    excited.  When next year rolls around, the experiences of the prior year
>    can be reviewed through the mailing list archive.
>    - PTA records a meeting's minutes
>     *Without* archived mailing lists A single meeting minutes document is
>    generated, and nothing more comes of it.
>      *With* archived mailing lists A single meeting minutes document is
>    generated and posted to the mailing list.  Parents on the list can stay
>    informed, and the list can host related discussion.  The PTA can
>    participate as much or little as they'd like in resulting discussion—even
>    just having access to other parent sentiment is useful to the PTA.
>
> Implementation
>
> A couple mailing list systems come to my mind, of course there are others
> that could be considered too.
>
> One option is Mailman <https://gnu.org/software/mailman/>, software that
> can run on any hosting service (like Dreamhost we have now<http://www.9.0ne.org/mw/index.php?title=Sagamore_Hills_PTA_Dreamhost_account&oldid=548>
> ) <https://gnu.org/software/mailman/>.  It allows users and admins to
> manage subscriptions through both email and the web, and generates web
> accessible archives.  It's what powers this list<http://list.9.0ne.org/list/listinfo/sagamore.online>and
> others <http://list.9.0ne.org/list/listinfo>.
>
> Another option is Google Groups <https://groups.google.com/>, which, in
> addition to what Mailman does, allows posting to the list through the web
> (not just email).  Lists would be under Google's domain (@googlegroups.com)
> for free.  Our own domain could be used with Google Groups by using Google
> Apps <http://apps.google.com/>, which is free for non-profits<http://support.google.com/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&topic=29190&ctx=topic&answer=2858465>(is the PTA a non-profit?) and
> education<http://support.google.com/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2856827&topic=29190&ctx=topic>(would have to be associated with the school), or $50
> per year (per user<http://www.google.com/enterprise/apps/business/pricing.html>,
> but I think we'd need only one user to create groups (mailing lists)).
>
> I think I'm leaning towards Mailman, for the control and simplicity (once
> setup (which I can do)), but there's an appeal to Google doing the hosting,
> and we may decide to lean on other of their service offerings anyway.  We
> can always switch either way, without much pain, if setup right.
>  Website for Parents
>
> *Mostly, we just need to put time in curating the content of the site.*
> But I'd like to talk a bit about platform.
>
> Currently we (sagamorepta.org <http:///sagamorepta.org/>) uses Wordpress<https://wordpress.org/>with a customized
> theme <http://themezee.com/zeesynergie/>.  To refresh the look, I think
> we should use Wordpress's current default theme (twenty-twelve<http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/twentytwelve>)
> (well tested, supported, and featureful) and create a child theme<http://codex.wordpress.org/Child_Themes>with some of John's recent "Be more." design (ala Sagamore's district
> hosted site).  I've made a place where we can document other ideas<http://www.9.0ne.org/w/Sagamore_Hills_PTA_website>
> .
>
> I'm also enamored by the idea of the site being a wiki so anyone can
> "scratch their itch" to the benefit of others.  I've been experimenting.<http://www.9.0ne.org/w/Main_Page>
>
> Google Sites <http://www.google.com/sites/help/intl/en/overview.html>might be neat.  Similar to Google Groups mentioned earlier in how it can
> optionally (via Google Apps) be under our own domain name.
>  Going Google
>
> Google got my attention last year when I was helping Oak Grove Young
> Children's School <http://www.ogycs.org/> establish their own web
> presence (prior they were hanging off Oak Grove United Methodist Church<http://ogumc.org/ycs/>).
> I took notes while I tested a Google Apps account for them<http://internal.ogycs.org/projects/website-2011/google-apps-test-2012-01>,
> playing with Groups, website (Sites), Calendar(ing), document sharing (now
> Drive), and more.  It was way more solution than they needed, but that
> might not be the case for us.
>
> I'm conflicted on "going Google".  I'm excited to roll with a major
> innovator, and leveraging new ways of working.  I'm weary of relying on a
> single vendor, and we still have untapped potential in the tools we use
> now.  Plus, we can always selectively test out individual Google product
> offerings (I can imagine Google Drive<https://www.google.com/intl/en_US/drive/start/index.html>being useful).
>  Domain Name
>
> It's been suggested we should have a new domain name, leaving "
> sagamorehillspta.org" to speak more directly to the PTA.
>
> As I think about shaking things up a bit, and getting parents more
> involved and communicating, I wonder if doing that somewhat distanced from
> the school and the PTA is indeed the right answer.  I would hate to see
> discussion stifled on mailing lists because the PTA didn't feel comfortable
> hosting particular discussion through their domain.
>
> I was thinking "sagamorehillses.org" at first, but now think "
> sagamoreparents.org" is better.  That's really the audience I'd like to
> reach.
>  Conclusion
>
> There's more I could blab about, but I'll stop for now.  Thoughts?  Thanks.
>
> _______________________________________________
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> sagamore.online at list.9.0ne.org
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>
>
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