Projects Or Activities My Fellow Members And I Can Engage In
Q. Can I have some ideas for projects or activities my fellow Members and I can engage in on the Community Network?
A. The wide open nature of the Community Network can make it difficult to envision the possibilities for what we can do with it! This Help File will give a few scenarios of activities and projects that can be facilitated by using the network. The fun thing is that there are so many other kinds of projects, tasks and interactions that no one has thought up yet--the flexibility of the Community Network means that it can grow and change as new needs and ideas arise!
On the Community Network, Members can do things like...
A Conference Team can create a Group (see Groups) for their team.
They can use the Wiki (see What is a Wiki?) to create pages for each Committee to use to work on their parts of the conference, their sections of the Registration Book, etc., yet everyone could look at the ideas and give suggestions.
Spreadsheets for the conference income and expenses could be uploaded to the Group Library (see Shared Library) and revised whenever they are updated. Everyone could easily keep track of money issues.
Drafts of the Registration and Program Books could be added to the Group Library for easy review.
A database of donors and advertisers could be uploaded to the Library.
Links to the public conference website and registration link could be posted in the Links section.
The email list would work just like a Yahoogroup or other list to discuss issues of interest to the conference team. It will be easy for those in charge to invite others to join the list, or for interested Members to sign up on their own. AND if any committee or subset wanted their own list, they could just start their own Group--there's no limit!
Items in the Conference’s Library could be shared with the Library for the entire community, the Conference Department (or whatever it is called) can share items in its Library with this community. No need to reinvent the wheel here!
The planners could find useful potential speakers from the conference planning department's database of speakers, which lists phone numbers, email addresses and other useful information.
Three Members in three different parts of the world come up with a fundraising idea they want to try out.
They could start a Group and advertise it to others to find more Members interested in the experiment, or administrators interested in supporting them.
A manager with experience in this area could read about the project and share links to similar projects from the past, and documents that will help the Members keep track of funds raised and make sure they are following good legal procedures.
A Member who tried a similar project in another country could chime in with the pitfalls and challenges she ran into.
A Member with artistic talent could volunteer to design a brochure, in exchange for help with a project she is working on in another realm.
Members who have a strong fondness for the vegetable asparagus form a Group.
They could upload photos of dishes they have cooked featuring asparagus.
They could create a recipe file, either using the Wiki or a database on the Group Library.
They could connect with Dutch Members and learn that in the Netherlands, asparagus is "asperge" and with Guatemalan Members to learn that asparagus is "espárrago" in Spanish.
They could share patterns for asparagus costumes for masquerade parties.
The Finance Department decides to hold online training for treasurers in the field.
The department could advertise the training on a Conferences and Events Group.
They could keep a database of registrants in their Group Library.
They could work on the course outline using the Group Wiki.
They could upload handouts and other useful materials to the Group Library for participants to download.
They could use the Group Email list to discuss the course content, answer questions and clarify content.
They could use Forums to facilitate question and answer sessions among participants.
A group of Members decide they would like to learn more about teaching high school-age students about a topic they are experts on.
They could start a Group and advertise on the New Groups so that experienced Members could share their knowledge.
Members from different parts of the world could talk about the differences in schools and access to students where they live.
Outlines of successful presentations, handouts, and PowerPoint presentations could be shared among participants.
A Member without much time to use the Internet needs to find a fellow Member elsewhere to refer to a friend who is moving to another city.
The Member can use the People link from the Welcome page to search All People by typing in the name of the city he or she is looking for.
If he or she finds out there is more than one city with that name, he or she could narrow it down by state, province or country.
The Member would find the names of all Members in that place, and either email them and tell them about her friend, or give the friend a Member phone number to connect with.
A Member has given birth to a baby with a cleft palate. She wants to talk to someone who has had a similar experience.
She can search All People for the word "cleft" to see if that word appears in anyone's biographical information. She might find another Member in the next town to talk to, or at least some likely prospects to email a question to.
She can search All Groups to see if there is a Group for mothers in her situation. She could have an instant support network.
She can search the Shared Library to see if anyone has uploaded information on cleft palate or written a Member Story about coping with this issue. Armed with this information and inspiration, she will feel less alone and much more prepared to move forward and enjoy her baby.
We hope these scenarios give you some ideas! There is so much more you can do--we hope to see you on the Community Network!
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