Icarus Coordinator Call

 

Will - notes

Annie - 

Eric - 

 

Madigan -- says hi and is connecting with molly about detroit and talking with trumbleplex folks in detroit about possible housing options there or in area.

 

 

Check Ins --

 

USSF -- leave it to have life of its own ---

application for workshop going in for saturday? Angel and Annie on it. 

Drawing on NASCO proposal

 

Web Redesign Project

 

Finances

 

Web Forums situation

 

Touch on Kieran planning process - see where we are with that 

 

Group Discussion of where we're at ---

 

transition -- from where to were.

focusing on web redesign is good

working with volunteer system -- long run Icarus really needs this

 

two tangible projects came out of brainstorming

also internal issues came up == important to restructure, reenvision us organizationally. not just focus on projects. Still in that process

 

some of stuff coming up on forums -- comes up regular -- seasonal transitions part of it. Every 2-3 months big conflict, issues come up. When everything working fine no one cares who mods are, how get chosen - but in crisis it becomes an issue.

 

Idea -- with redesign == do moderation differently -- move to a web community that is self moderated? voting down a post if offensive -- automatically hidden if voted as offensive -- 

 

take personal aspect out of moderation, moderation bias

 

still in working groups and organizational structure issues.

 

molly, madigan stepping back, mimi stepping back. Finances -- thinking about how to support another paid position to focus on fundraising/administrative/other work that doesn't get prioritized.

 

community survey -- within next month -- make conscious effort to say We're re-envisioning and re-invigorating now. Renewed energy and input

 

easier when tangible examples

 

getting working groups going through specific projects as way to bring people together --

 

things with forum conflicts getting a bit more resolved now -- people are apologizing and personal connecting… people. Eric not taking part in moderation decisions these days…

 

moderators are supporting each other 

 

larger structural issues are put on back burner

 

Post needed -- who moderators are, how decided, what policies are

 

excitement about meeting in person 

 

wonkavator call as video conference call? 

 

Kieran process -- important to keep up with structural piece

 

Sunday Community Call coming up -- Shift social forum call to the 28th

 

Finances -- good to have tangible things we can focus on --

 

Annie and Will working on ittelson grant + tony wood follow up

 

important for each of us to generate our own $ for transportation

 

email blast to have financial appeals part of it, with update of $ we've raised

 

open question if Icarus budget is going towards personal travel for Detroit. half and half / matching grant

 

-- different for Icarus to help transport costs for someone giving a workshop vs someone going just because they are a coordinator.

 

privilege issue -- what does it mean to be a coordinator -- we get trips funded

 

should all of us be responsible for raising half $

 

depends on USSF working group coming up with fundraising

 

does USSF have any housing offered for participants?  - not providing any housing 

 

WEB REDESIGN DISCUSSION

 

upgrade to Drupal 6/7 -- nick hasn't been available to follow through. He says it's 99% but not done yet. do we want to pay $ to get it finished?

 

Twitter/facebook integration tools -- many people don't want identities linked but some people might want ease of registration -

 

encouraging people to post commentary on news articles, promote to front page, publish page to FB profile ---

 

Other Websites people go to that they like? Design features?

 

will -- www.realitysandwich.net is a good site. annie also likes

 

main site -- one way method of communication -- stuff on forums missed

 

low tech -- web editor -- high tech

 

switchover to drupal happened halfway --

 

lots of people use forums like local group they don't have. wary of this -- sense of people in forums are it's a walled off area -- separate from public -- careful to shift too quickly if we integrate forums into rest of site

 

only people who use blogs on main site are new users --

 

teslacoiled just mailed zine she made for highschool students -- wasn't sure about hosting at Icarus -- wasn't clear that she could write post and link to pdf. Drupal side of the site feels limited, not user generated content. Part of it is functionality

 

question about private areas on site? making parts of the forums members only to view - makes it feel a bit more private. 

 

"make this post private only to members"

 

not sacrifice community that is there -- be careful about abruptness of transition

 

Web Editor? important -- finds content, puts things on main site - helpful to have someone in that role'

 

leave forums as-is? build functionality into main site, attract users over there? Web editor encourages people to post stuff from forums to main site.

 

eric - not integrate forums with drupal site -- do that later. start with public posting / public commenting etc.

 

way information is organizing on main site

 

recently published articles

 

invitation for people to create content -- if you're not already familiar with drupal you wouldn't 

 

compromise between user generated and 

 

indymedia sites -- recent topics

 

right now - content can't 

 

Workflow for Redesign --

 

reorganizing drupal site so more user friendly, ready for more user generated content

web editor / web editorial collective

start to get more content from forums coming to main site, encouraging people to post

transition from phpbb to drupal forums

 

About Us Page -- no reason to be a Dynamic category. Have it be a static page.

 

Homepage -- different content changing regularly --  opinion piece, article, other content taken from forums

 

good to make suggestions about features,