[Sagamore Online] Near Term Plans

[Dave Allen Barker Jr]

Short version:

  * An archived mailing list is not a third site
  * Working on Sagamore's website does not necessarily require a third site

Detailed point-to-point reply below.


On 03/11/2013 12:59 PM, Monica Ellingson wrote:
> Dave,
> Thank you for sending these options. Looking at one of the initial 
> parent responses, I have a few questions: 

You're welcome.  I'm happy these idea's, however poorly thought out or 
articulated, are being discussed.

> 1) are you saying that this is a different parent site from the PTA 
> and school site? 

If it needs to be, but not necessarily.  I did mention a third website, 
for the following reasons.

The district hosted site <http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/sagamore> is 
limited in editing access and ease (from my understanding, others please 
correct me (John?)).  For example, it cannot be edited from the web, old 
revisions are not saved (to be restored upon editing error), and there's 
no trail of activity (who edited what).  Granted, those thing aren't 
important if the existing workflow continues, where one technically 
capable individual is responsible for all updates (is that how it is 
now?), but I was hoping we could move towards a more distributed 
workflow, where individuals who need to publish are able.  I also 
noticed when looking at Oak Grove's setup 
<http://www.9.0ne.org/w/User:Dave/workspace/2012_online_assessment> 
they're using something with their district hosted site called 
FirstClass, which I'm unfamiliar with—maybe it provide the capabilities 
I'm looking for?

I was told (by Kim maybe?) that there was interest in breaking out the 
wider school parent serving functions of the PTA website, and 
maintaining the PTA website more specific to the PTA?  It's not really 
clear to me how that distinction is made.  Maybe one speaks to parents 
trying to help their kids, while the other speaks to parents trying to 
help the school (through the PTA)?  I don't think the distinction is 
terribly important.  Maybe I misunderstood and all that's wanted is a 
domain name without "pta" in it?

> 2) OR are you saying that this discussion functionality would merely 
> be an added feature to the PTA site? Please clarify. 

The discussion functionality I'm suggesting would primarily be a mailing 
list (an email discussion list), so it's not a feature of a website—it 
happens through email.  There would be a web browsable archive of past 
discussion, but I wouldn't consider it its own site.

> If it's a third site - PTA, school, parents site, I'm unsure of the 
> need/business case for that especially considering the ongoing 
> maintenance. If it's merely an additional discussion feature, rather 
> than a separate site, sounds good. 

Point taken.  Again, these site distinctions are not too important to 
me, I was just trying to include input I'd heard elsewhere (but where? 
Kim, Heather… someone want to speak up to this?).

My understanding was the maintenance on the district site would become 
minimal because we wouldn't put much information there, and instead 
point them to a site more easily managed by those making updates (the 
fresher site).

I just recently, on my own, suggested the idea of a site distanced from 
the PTA because I wasn't sure if the open discussion I'm wanting to 
encourage is something the PTA would be able to support (for whatever 
reason).  Perhaps the PTA could speak to that?

I would much rather that any of the efforts I've mentioned are supported 
by the PTA.

> I do think we need a champion who will commit to seeding the 
> discussion with content and interesting topics. 

Good point that community needs to be cultivated.  I was hoping though 
that by simply re-routing some current email activity happening between 
individuals into different mailing lists, we would see benefit without 
much change/effort.  Candidates in my mind:

  * Some inter-PTA discussion
  * Event coordinating
  * Classroom parents discussion

> Our twitter and FB accounts need similar content commitment. 

Maybe that's why I'm not interested in those communication channels. :)  
(Not saying they shouldn't exist, just that I can't defend them.)

> Thanks!!

Thank you!


> On Sun, Mar 10, 2013 at 1:07 PM, Dave Allen Barker Jr <dave at 1.0ne.org 
> <mailto: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
>         <http://sagamoreparents.org>" ($10/y) through the PTA's
>         existing Dreamhost account
>       * Establish email discussion lists @groups.sagamoreparents.org
>         <http://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
>         <http://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>). 
>     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 <http://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 <http://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 <http://sagamorehillses.org>"
>     at first, but now think "sagamoreparents.org
>     <http://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.
>
>
>     _______________________________________________
>     sagamore.online mailing list
>     sagamore.online at list.9.0ne.org <mailto:sagamore.online at list.9.0ne.org>
>     http://list.9.0ne.org/list/listinfo/sagamore.online
>
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