next message in archive
next message in thread
previous message in archive
previous message in thread
Index of Subjects
Index of Subjects Hi Chris, Thanks for your note on this matter re. sorting out IP accounts. This email is rather lengthy, but I wanted to work through your comments with everybody in tow as cced above :) . Maybe we should all meet soon (within the next two weeks max) to hammer our a strategy to pull all of these concerns together into an action plan that will see some concrete results by the end of February (?). Chris wrote: >There have been no IP accounts per se (in the sense of having something to >renew on an annual basis). The only (possible) exceptions to this have >been the people with VDNs who paid (a variety of) fees and (perhaps: I >don't know what administrative structures the office had/has in place) >were to have paid (in some cases) annual fees (in other cases VDNs were >set up on the basis of a one-time fee. The intention of my earlier request to yourself and the IP Editors is to begin a process of trying to untangle the issue of how IP accounts were set-up with Chebucto in the past (ie, what they paid initially and for what services); also what their current status is now and how they should be maintained. This is all in an effort to truly reflect the mutual relationship and responsibilities between Chebucto and the IP member (be it financial or somekind of exchange in services - ie; 'powered by Chebucto Community Net' on their own website, some volunteer support in our office, or a regular membership fee, etc.). Until just recently, there has been no administrative structure set-up in the office to monitor IP accounts - other than what they paid initially. Further, there doesn't seem to be any kind of written contracts with the various IPs that indicates what our contractual understanding was when they first signed-up. I can't imagine that Chebucto intended to provide IP support services in perpetuity based only on a one time fee - whether it was for a VDN or other services (?). In a prelminiary review of some accounts, it's clear that there are some IPs that haven't paid Chebucto a cent for our services since they joined us. At the moment, that's not their fault because they haven't received any notice or encouragement to make some form of contribution back to Chebucto for our on-going support. But even if some of our IP support is provided gratis, I believe Chebucto still has to indicate on our account books the specific 'value' that has been exchanged and what we're getting in return. Further, I believe it's important for the IPs to understand that specific value that they receive from Chebucto, whether they've paid for it yet or not :) There are also some legal implications re. our VDN support and how both parties expect that to be maintained. If we accept the premise that Chebucto has essentially two levels of membership - individuals and organizations, then once someone joins Chebucto in either of these categories, they can choose a whole range of services - all with specific 'values' attached. We now have a good idea of how this looks for our various levels in our member accounts, but for some reason (not knowing all the history myself) our IP accounts were not as well organized - there's no definitive paper trail. But as our Chebucto brochure now clearly outlines, our IP membership fees are renewable at a 'suggested' basic membership fee of $50.per annum. This still depends though on what excatly is being 'renewed' - just basic service, PPP or VDN, etc. ? But we can't ask for a renewal fee if we don't know what the IP status is or what they paid for initially. That is why I was hoping that the various Editors could assist me in tracking down the current status of all our IP accounts. Parallel to all of this, I think the sign-up process for IPs in itself needs to be refined and simplified (ie, one for organizations that want to be listed as an IP with Chebucto, and those that may just want to be hosted at Chebucto, ie; commerical sites, etc.). We're now undergoing a major change in growth of PPP - largely being driven at the moment by our own members and this in-turn will soon put more pressure on how future IPs and other groups will join us. If we can't simplify the sign-up process, we will lose potential revenues and jeopardize our longterm sustainability. For example, soon we will have a whole flood of volunteer groups wanting to be hosted at Chebucto because of the VolNet initiative. Some may want IP status while others may just want to have a simple place to ftp their site for hosting support from Chebucto. Thus, we need to simplify the process very soon. On the tech front we're moving towards a CD installation process which we hope will simplify some of the dial-up and configuration issues for members. We can add a component to the CD which would be 'group and IP' oriented in terms of their sign-up process, ftping, etc. You wrote further; >We don't regularly monitor all of our IPs and (despite some calls to >create scripts to do this) don't have a mechanism to automatically see >when an IP goes dormant. As we keep hearing, 'content is now becoming king' on the Internet. With this evolution of the Internet, Chebucto will have to develop a process to monitor our IPs and organizations more effectively and provide more consistent web-based training opportunities for our members. Internally there has been some very preliminary discussions on the IP committee to design a tool to assist users and Editors with accessing and managing content on the Chebucto site. This will also parallel efforts at designing a larger HRM portal in due course in collaboration with other partners. So important elements are now in motion to address IP management issues. I believe Chebucto should have the best community-based information site in the HRM. This will take time, money and skilled resources, all of which we can provide through growing our membership and attracting more residents (and talented volunteers) to our site. When Chebucto began this service five-plus years ago it was a highly touted community website, but some groups and many individuals have subsequently moved on for a variety of reasons - either because we lacked a model to coordinate and address specific community information needs, or our technologies didn't keep up with all our member needs. Further, there was no core staff to maintain a consistent administrative focus on the details. I believe Chebucto can renew it's core mission while providing a very competent and professional service in the HRM. But as they say, it still all happens in the details :) Ironically enough, I think Chebucto has distilled itself down to a very committed core group of members and IPs. The challenge now is to mobilize this core (once we're clear who they all are !) in promoting and engaging the larger community to consider joining us as members. Thus, one administrative element in this effort is to get a handle on who our IPs are, their status, what they paid initially and what kind of 'renewal fee' or 'excha