CCCOER/Discussions Mailing Lists/Member Communications

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link back to Membership Communications WIki Page CCCOER/Membership_Communications

CCCOER Member Communications

(for consideration by CCCOER Steering Committee - Feedback Welcome)
(Comment.gif: Accepted by Governing Board, October 4, 2010)

Challenge

Use a main communications tool to inform CCCOER members - new and current, and increase participation, growth and joint-venture opportunities for the organization.

Proposed Solution

Use a blend of three (3) tools:

  1. Google Groups for the mailing list - open to all CCCOER members. (Note, the Steering Committee mailing list remains intact) - CCCOER Main Discussion List - proposed
  2. WikiEducator - (CCCOER space on WikiEducator)
  3. CCCOER website is main corporate website / identity.
  4. Meeting calendar (future)

Rationale

Google Groups
  • reliable email communications (channel) - overall
  • Reply to all; Reply to individual (for peer-to-peer communications; also to limit short emails (i.e., OK, meeting confirmed, etc. - that the whole group does not have to see).
  • Google Message Threading, Conversation View Can be Shut Off Here's how: The option to turn off conversation view in Gmail works like this. "Just go to the main Settings page, look for the "Conversation View" section, select the option to turn it off, and save changes. If you change your mind, you can always go back."
  • build group cohesion; sense of identity and "community"
  • several admins - to manage the email list (so, not only CCCOER staff); membership by invitation or explanation.
Wiki
  • use the wiki as a production environment
  • Rich Text Editor, or knowledge of wiki syntax (mediawiki)
  • leverage the strengths of partners in the global OER movement / ecosystem

(i.e., WikiEducator - 15,000+ educators in 120 countries)

  • ensure openness and transparency
  • ensure access to documentation (i.e., where docs are not longer available, because the business model changes (i.e., Ning, Google)
  • listing of all CCCOER space subpages
  • Topic-specific discussions - are possible (i.e., setting up a companion discussion page in the wiki, and using the appropriate syntax (i.e., Feedback)
  • each page also has a discussion page associated with it (Comment.gif: Geoff, this is true, however, the notification system for the content on each discussion page (i.e., TAB) is not working consistently. Hence, the reference in the next bullet (below) regarding the Wikimedia Foundation working on a fix. For now, the "workaround" is to create a downlevel wiki page, attached to the original page, and comment directly there - then folks are notified accordingly. Randy Fisher 20:30, 25 September 2010 (UTC))
  • Wikimedia Foundation is working on a 'discussion' solution (Liquid Threads) - to be available in approximately 6 months, according to OER Foundation software developer Jim Tittsler - Randy Fisher 20:43, 26 September 2010 (UTC)
  • easily searchable through Google - keywords: wikieducator+CCCOER+keyword
  • technical support available through WikiEd community (WE) and (WikiEd / OERF has a dedicated software developer) - Jim Tittsler
  • analytics available
  • maximize opportunities for collaboration
  • wikis provide a history of every edit and every version of the page - this can be an invaluable record, especially for new organizations

Process

(Comment.gif: CCCOER website is main corporate website / identity.)

  • discussion group may be visible off this site (and others); yet invitation required to join.
  • CCCOER members support each other in developing wiki pages, and skills
  • Document creation occurs in wiki; embedded links in emails
  • Revision history (note: be sure to name files well when they are "frozen" - for version control and easy recall)
  • Community norms & etiquette
  • Emails tend to be shorter - (i.e., 1-2 screen
  • for discussions/feedback on specific topics, set up a downlevel discussion page on the wiki (i.e., Discussions, Feedback)

Note from Wayne Mackintosh, OERF

Let me know if the steering committee chooses to work with the wiki hub -- if so, I'll do a little work to replicate the look and feel of our partner portal pages.

Also -- pull an rss feed from the Gmail list used for the group. If users have a gmail account -- they can assign their google account to WikiEducator and then use the same login with our new open ID login on WE.

Issues

  • unsubscribe from the Google List, or Group Emails - Workaround: Multiple trusted admins/moderators to manage the list


  • hosting and storage costs -
  • the wiki - what about a private wiki
  • we have to move our files

very private docs - google docs

Hacking

Protection

  • Secure 0
  • Revision History - entire version history of the page is there

Evaluation

  • measure / evaluate after a given period of time

Other Possible Applications

Rejected:

  • Google group (alone) because files & pages no longer supported and info is available only to members
  • Google docs because there is no hierarchy or navigation. They are easy to destroy and difficult to recover.
  • Facebook because it can mess up browsers and some LANs do not allow it and some members may prefer not to be on this or do not want the rest of CCCOER seeing their friends, etc.
  • also, hard to follow conversations, and create group cohesion - seems discordant
  • LinkedIn groups because some members prefer not to be on LinkedIn -- it has a job-hunting stigma
  • Ning because it is expensive ($20/month), confusing, and has no listserv capabilities.
  • Facebook
  • Yahoo Groups
  • Linked In
  • Grou.ps - no advertising

etc.

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