Hi Jennifer,

It is a profile thing. You can enable/diable the possibility to allow other neighbours to send you private messages. Go to your My Nabuur page, click edit and there you see a checkbox Allow private messages. The default for new users is to Allow private messages, this new user has chosen explicit to not want any private messages.

Hope this helps, Frans

Hi Siegfried

I would support what Manuel says about keeping things simple. Many of us just want a site that is simple to use, where it is easy to find things and get involved. A site that can be used by people who have little experience of computers, and that works well over slow connections. Where there is activity not inactivity as there is in so many villages at the moment...

Without that, people will drift away out of sheer frustration. I think that, given the number of inactive villages, this had already started to happen before this launch and that the new site has not done anything to bring people back. It almost seems as though the local communities who should be at the heart of Nabuur have been forgotten, with all the focus going into getting a pretty new site, rather than sorting out the underlying process so that villages can actually achieve the results that they need so badly.

You say "Moreover, a Canadian firm is working on a better design and that will also deal with issues such as the ones listed by you.". Does this mean that in a month or two we are going to have to learn to use yet another new website that works in a completely different way?

Sorry if I am sounding negative - I do recognise that everyone at Nabuur has put a lot of hard work into the site and is continuing to do so. Its just that this is the second difficult launch in the last 18 months...

Mary

This sounds similar to the problems I and others were having with chat a few weeks ago - http://www.nabuur.com/en/group/nabuurcom-website-development/project/tas...

By the way, I couldn't seem to find that particular post via the Search function. I tried all sorts of combinations including mary chat which are words that are included in the post. This initially gave me over 700 results and when I used the other options on the right hand side to narrow it down to the Web group, it only found one post, and that was not the right one. Am I doing something wrong on the search screen?

Mary

Hi Frans-

That seems really counterproductive to me-maybe a solution would be to add a short explanation next to those boxes when new users are creating a profile so that they know village facilitators will not be able to contact them with more information on tasks if they don't have it checked. I'm all for privacy, but when you sign up for online volunteering, I think that comes with a certain understanding that people you volunteer with need to know how to reach you-that seems obvious and logical to me as a user of the site, but I guess maybe not??

Jennifer

Hi Frans,

I agree with Jennifer - I don't understand why such an option? That we can't contact a neighbour neither to their email address nor to their private account... How can we invite a neighbour with the skills we need if he/she checked that box (maybe even only by accident)?
I think it's impossible to volunteer here without being in contact by emails or so...
Can you please explain the purpose of that option?
Thanks,
Sonja

Seigfried,

An older generation expression and I am indebted to Air Marshal Bennett for its use.
'Do not confuse Change with Progress.'
We have had much change on the Nabuur websites, three in about a year and from your quote 'Moreover, a Canadian firm is working on a better design and that will also deal with issues such as the ones listed by you' we can expect another change, albeit perhaps only to the interface, (MMI/CHI if you prefer), in the coming months.

Frankly I am frustrated by the interface. As I try to enter this information I have to scroll past Attach file entry box, Picture entry box, Video entry box,Video entry box,Video entry box,Video entry box,Video entry box, External link entry box, and More links button before I get to SUBMIT. Please...... This sort of design does not help us communicate it frustrates us! 90% of our entries are straightforward and simple words/messages and do not require uploading of additional files so why is so much space dedicated to it? All of these additional functions need to go to one Button marked 'ADD' Options which opes up a menu box with the options listed which we can Slide down to and select. Job Done.

My concern is that 14 pages of chatter has been going on about website functionality and design which, in my opinion turns even a dedicated techie off after a while. In the meantime the humble user amongst us will have gone home in frustration. In our own village we are already seeing less postings on this site and an increase in private e-mail traffic because people are not finding it easier to communicate via Nabuur but harder. I sincerely hope this is not symptomatic of all sites. A Traffic check before and after the change, excluding this section, might be revealing.

Let's get to SIMPLE (as soon as we possibly can, I don't mean back - I mean forward) and remember the purpose of communication is to help villages, LR's, Facs and neighbours plan and implement Projects which will improve an aspect of that village's daily life for the better.

Finally my heart goes out to Romina, Pelle and the others of the team that I know less well, I know they are overworked and trying their best, and I SINCERELY THANK them for all their hard work. But we must get to SIMPLE very soon, or membership will dwindle rather than increase, and projects waiting to go may never start.

Regards,

Ron.

Ron,

I agree with you 110%. I am a very inquisitive person and I always want to know the why,when,when,what,who,how ( and I know - this is a personal preference). So even I enjoy working in a highly unstructured environment - both on Nabuur and at work, I prefer to know the reasons for people's decisions and what makes my "audience" tick. I appreciate Siegfried taking the time to joint our discussion, but I would like to learn more about the change process. I have not been with Nabuur for too long, but reading your and Mary's comments it looks like there is no clear sense of "where/what next?". Can anybody tell me more about what is next for Nabuur- in the next 3-6-9 months to a year?

-Tanja

Hi Ron,

Reading this message I assumed you couldnt find your last posting. It should be visible for you now.

Pelle

Dear all,

Frans is back from the Drupal conference, so our team sat together to estimate and prioritize the needed improvements and bug fixes.

The input that was provided here, was used as a starting point for an improvement plan, which is attached. From all the messages it was clear that the system may be working technically, but the right user experience is missing. In other words: the floor is there, the music is playing...now who will open the dance?

The NABUUR experience will be improved by working on so-called user scenarios that describe the kind of user and what he wants to do. Based on the feedback the following priorities were chosen for September:

1. I want to see what happened since the last time I was here and where my attention is needed
a. Restructure the My NABUUR page – make it easy to oversee
b. Postings marked as NEW

2. I want to express my approval, ideas, share my enthusiasm and/or showcase results
a. Simplify posting a message
b. Explain rating system, tagging, categories (including results)

To attract more people to your Villages (visitors/new neighbours)
3. I am new here, what is this site about?
4. What is expected of me, what can I do here?

• A number of quick improvements have been defined that will be implemented as soon as possible, i.e. short explanatory texts on different pages.
• Next to that a ‘How NABUUR works’ group has been started that will be daily updated with do’s and don’ts on NABUUR, short explanations, etc.

5. I’m in a village – what has been done, what is needed?
• As most villages don’t fully use the options that are available (i.e. don’t show up properly in the Village search), Romina will start working with a few villages to get them going, and also gather more concrete feedback on what works well and what needs to be improved

The most pressing bugs will be fixed:
• Starting with missing content: shared documents, pictures and old discussions
• An overview of bugs is made and will be updated regularly, so that you can track what happened with your feedback

Of course the overview of scenarios is not exhaustive. If you feel there are important ones missing: please post them here and they’ll be integrated in the overview.
Any questions or comments on the plan are welcome too.

I’ll keep you updated on the progress on a weekly basis.

Let’s take the first steps!

Pelle

Improvement plan.doc

Hi Jennifer and Sonja,

I am afraid its a personal preference for everyone. I don't feel its about privacy, I mean when I sign up for NABUUR, I need to give my email address.

I feel it is about freedom, freedom to choose how someone want to volunteer on this website. Maybe I am shy, maybe I can't say easily no when someone is asking me something, or I have already too much email...

I feel people can help very well on Nabuur without private messages or recieving email from the site. They can search for tasks they find interesting, can sign up for a village, follow everything whats going on in their villages on their My Nabuur page. Later when the notification system is in place he/she can be notified (private messages or email) of the things they think its important. And last, but not least, there is an RSS feed where I see everyday every message what is posted on this site. (yes, we have to explain how to use it, and refine the different feeds)

I even feel (and I have the feeling i am the only one until now) that people can help without signing up for NABUUR at all. Someone stumbles on this site because he/she is searching for some terms, and reads a question in a task he/she knows the answer instantly, because it in their interest field. If I have to join first, wait for an email, fill in more or less of a profile, find the question back.... its taking me to long.... we are busy bees in the west. But if I can just press Reply, type in my very precise answer with the links where you can find more information, and go my way... probably never come back to nabuur again.

Lets give everyone the freedom how to volunteer :-)

Frans

Dear Nitin,

Thank you so much for reporting this problem. I solved the problem... not only for these 2 pages, but for everyone who is uploading photo's in the village background in the future.

Warm regards, Frans

Frans,

I feel like you totally missed the point of my message. I am in no way implying that I want to, or would even attempt to tell someone how to volunteer. That has absolutely nothing to do with my comments about the inability to send a private message via the Nabuur website to a person who has joined a village that I facilitate. As I said before, a simple way to fix this would be to add an explanation to that particular spot in the user profile a new person would create to make certain they are aware of the implications of NOT choosing to receive private messages here via the Nabuur site. They may still choose not to mark it, but at least then I would feel better knowing that it was an informed choice rather than an oversight.

Jennifer

Hi Frans,

In response to some of your comments regarding volunteering on Nabuur and private messages and signing up: While I agree with this for the most part, yes individuals can contribute quite a bit without ever signing up to Nabuur or a village and they can stay informed through various means, I am confused then on the role of the facilitator. As I now see it, it is not clear to me what the role of the facilitator is. Is it merely to take care of the administrative and technical functions of the village such as adding tasks and resources? Previously, the role of facilitator included recruiting volunteers and working with them to figure out where they may best fit in. Granted not all facilitators do this in the same way, but by removing some of the tools that facilitators use to recruit and/or bring back volunteers the ability of the facilitator to complete this function is greatly diminished.

Has there been any discussion into how the changing of the platform changes the role of the facilitator?

As a side note, I too would like to echo comments made by others: my thanks goes out to all the hard work of Romina and Pelle and Frans and others that have been working through this difficult time. I'm sure it's not easy dealing with and addressing all the questions, comments and needs of the many people working through Nabuur.

Barb

Thanks Frans,

You are right, maybe I have overseen that there might not be a need for a personal contact for some contributions, and that's fine. I don't want to bother anyone with my message and information if they don't like it. But as Jennifer said, there should be a clear explanation what thicking that box means and how their contributions are limited, so that they know what exactly they are choosing.

It seems to me that search for the tasks on the old website was much easier than it is now. Also, there is no „contact facilitator“ link like in the previous websites so they could contact us instead if wanted (they can hardly figure out who the facilitator is). And for the recruitment, why would they fill their expertize and interests in their profiles, if we can't reach them when we find them. I think they should know about that too.

Furthermore, the volunteers here always needed to join the village to be able to contribute - now you allow them to post without joining, but their posts are not visible while we are logged out :-S.

And not only for private messages but for a lot of other things there are buttons without clear explanation what they are for and many buttons need to be added to enable us to easier find what we need. I found even on the old website that I needed to help out a bit some neighbours to navigate, which I of course did by exchangig PMs.
Finally, there are so many things going on in the villages behind the sceen (i.e. the online discussion), so if a neighbour wants to participate actively, pesonal contact is very important.

Just some thoughts about how to make it easier for the neighbours to choose how to contribute without receiving messages ;o)

Have a nice day,
Sonja

Hi All,

I have cleaned up the input form for the postings in the tasks. It is not in this site yet, because I would like you to give it some testing with different browsers.

If you have some time this weekend, please login on the development site http://dev1.nabuurtest.com/en/user/login and then click on this link http://dev1.nabuurtest.com/en/node/add/task_discussion/14334.

What have I done:

• Bring Title and Body together.
• Some extra help text for Keywords (tagging)
• Added some simple buttons to make text bold, italic or to
  Quote:

  quote

  some text.
• The advanced possibilities are now hidden, but still available. Make them visible by clicking on the link.
• Added extra Preview and Submit buttons so you don have to scroll down to much

Please give it a try and give me your feedback. Do we need more help texts?

Enjoy your weekend, Frans