DRAFT PAGE

Notes from an informal team meeting

Deeann Partlow, Betina Simmons, and Scott Ringgold met at Solstice Cafe, 10am

Meeting goals

• Discuss communications roles of existing online tools: website, yahoogroup, and wiki.
• Discuss what information should be available, and where.
• Decide who should administer each online tool.

• We briefly discussed the respective roles of yahoogroup, wiki, and website.
  • The wiki's role seems to need more definition — we struggled with it a bit.
    • What can it do that the other two tools can't already do?
    • Current version seems text-heavy, not very readable.
    • It doesn't alert users — they have to come to it.
    • The wiki can be the working "back-room" where parents and teachers can share information.
      • anything that lends itself to frequent updates and input from several people.
    • Here's some prior discussion about it.
    • Scott will continue to develop the wiki and consult with stakeholders.
  • The website might be like the online "front door", where most people start out.
    • It's what most interested visitors will find (prospective parents and teachers, community members)
    • It can contain timely announcements and other useful information.
    • It should provide a good general overview of the school and its programs.
    • Deeann is ready to take on the webmaster role.
  • The yahoogroup is a more informal place where people send out alerts and start conversations.
    • It's a tool that can send parents to relevant new information on the other two tools.
    • Betina will continue to moderate the yahoogroup.

• Website content
  • calendar — could be viewed from the website, edited from the wiki.
  • about the school
    • its academic programs
    • its Chinese classes
    • school hours
    • dance program
    • Audubon
    • its grounds

Scott will send html for Calendar to Deeann — DONE.

• Discussed style, consistency with other PTA materials

Betina will connect Deeann with Debbie Leonard for examples. — DONE

• Website access
  • pros/cons of having a single webmaster
    • (+) effective editing
    • (+) appropriate material
    • (-) without direct access, people rely on the webmaster to provide content
    • (-) there might be several days' lag between submitting content and making it available.
    • (-) can be difficult to pass the baton from year to year
  • If the website is organized as a blog…
    • then it should be possible for several users to post content without compromising the overall site layout.
    • maybe posts could be moderated, so the webmaster could edit and approve them before they appear on the website.
    • maybe some important posts could be "sticky", so they're not buried under newer posts. Another option would be to have certain content appear in a "header", posted permanently above the blog content.
  • Discussed how to turn website control over to DeeAnn
    • The District's role in the website is unclear. Did they pull down the content once?
    • Betina once paid a fee to www.asmallorange.com to get it up and running again. Does the PTA pay the fee now?

Betina will follow up with Elaine, Terry Prentice. — DONE

• Discussed status of Whales Tales.
  • It's unlikely that it will continue as it was last year — a multi-page newsletter issued twice/year.
  • Consider a smaller, more regular newsletter.
  • Maybe that would be a role for the wiki, allowing people to submit content.
  • Maybe it could be printed on the back of Ms. Morningstar's newsletter, which issues biweekly.
  • A few people are interested in supporting and providing content, but no-one has stepped up to do the editing.
  • We recognized the value of backpack-mail newsletters, but there was some skepticism about whether most parents read them.

• Discussed how to integrate photos into the website and wiki
  • Some people are understandably concerned about widely available photos and their children's privacy.
  • Is there some way to show images only of kids whose parents have signed releases?
  • the District has some GH images.