[Webcom] Community web site and tools

[Arnulf Christl]

Frank Warmerdam wrote:
> Tyler Mitchell (OSGeo) wrote:
>> Hi all,
>> One thing I've dreamed of for awhile has been a community-focused web 
>> site, not just for some idealistic purpose but also for some very 
>> real, practical tools that I think we could use.  Rather than our 
>> primary osgeo.org site which is more outward facing, I think there 
>> could be a good role for an inward one that helps out in a few ways.
>>
>> Here are a few areas I'm thinking:
>>
>> 1 - Membership sign-up - it's a FAQ and annual outstanding item.  
>> Personally needed so I have membership metrics that I can share during 
>> presentations.
>> 2 - Voting and polling - formal elections and informal questions from 
>> the community.  Formally to help alleviate the strain of managing 
>> annual election, nomination, verification, etc. processes
>> 3 - Project/Committee sign-up tools
>> 4 - Community blogging system
>> 5 - Small donation collections and project funding drives
>> 6 - way more... ?
>>
>> Ideas 3-6 are just off the top of my head, whereas 1&2 are real things 
>> I've tried to make some progress on but can't seem to wrap up well.  
>> In my feeble attempts I've got CivicRM (civicrm.org) running (osgeo2) 
>> and I use it to track our charter membership lists, board member list, 
>> donor list and financial donations.
>>
>> I put this past the WebCom to see if there is general interest.  If 
>> so, I'd like to try to find a couple people interested in helping 
>> develop the tools and site further - first focusing on #1 and #2.
> 
> Tyler,
> 
> I'm concerned about splitting public facing stuff (including member
> signup) from the public Drupal instance.  I think it makes too many
> distinct portals and it makes it hard to keep things straight.
> I don't mind the CivicRM site as a place for more internal record
> keeping.
> 
> I would suggest you post your thoughts on discuss as well.  I think
> webcom needs some new blood so posting only hear is less likely to
> be helpful than a broader troll for volunteers.
> 
> Best regards,

Tyler,
while you are at it: Someone has worked undercover creating an inward out facing OSGeo Membership registry process. First results can be found here:
http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Category:OSGeo_Member

As she is a shy person she would never herself suggest to make this the official way to become an OSGeo member - but you know, I rather like it. It could even be pimped to finally make a member map in good ole Web 0.5 manner as suggested here:
http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Category_talk:OSGeo_Member

I think if the ED inadvertently dropped this information in the OSGeo Discuss Mailing List it could grow all by itself. 

Best regards, 
Arven Sevnulf.