Hi Sonja,

A fabulous post. I could not agree more. Just want to add one thing- Nabuur's success very much depends on the level of commitment of the local representatives and some of them are not actively involved in the discussions. Not only facilitators and new neighbors, bur also local representatives need ongoing training and encouragement.

Best,
Tanja

I agree, a way of welcoming and guiding new neighbours would be great! And some ongoing encouragement for Local Reps - it must be very difficult to stay motivated when things are quiet.

We have an expression here 'quality not quantity' and I think that applied to Nabuur too - work out how to do things well, then expand.

There used to be a user guide that explained the basics of using the site. Pelle, are there plans to create a new version?

Over the last couple of days the site has been running incredibly slowly, almost to the extent that its not possible to use.

Mary

Pelle-

If you create a new task for a village and include a reference document to help with the task, the reference document seems to get lost easily among the tags for the task. Would it be possible to set up spacing differently so that maybe the tags could be at the bottom of the page or at least triple spaced from the place the document is viewable?

I just created a task in Kayole-Soweto this evening about reviewing the organizational strategic plan-if you open that task you'll see what I'm talking about. Many times I think volunteers just miss that information altogether because it's mashed up against the tags.

Jennifer

Pelle-

I was talking with Fred from the Kagulu village earlier and have been encouraging him to post to the Nabuur village. He is telling me each time they try, they are unable to due to a slow connection, but I suspect that this is also probably due to slow way in which the Nabuur website is responding in general. I know this was mentioned in an earlier post, but I wanted to point out that this is also especially difficult for our LR's who struggle with their connection speed anyway. I am sure that this is on top of the list to be corrected, but felt I should mention it.

Also-I know I mentioned this during the website development phase, but I am very frustrated with the rating system on posts and how it relates to the Resources section in the village. I much preferred the old website method of adding resources to the village. Resources were much easier to identify and locate. I really dislike the rating system and do not find it useful. I do not think it adds any value at all-others may disagree, but I would definitely vote for removing it if the option was there.

Jennifer

Hi Jennifer (and all),

The NABUUR site is experiencing performance issues again. We're aware the site is slow at times or sometimes doesn't respond at all. :-(
Frans is looking into the problems of the last days, but hasn't found the cause yet.

For the longer term Siegfried is talking to Cisco to see if this is an area where they can offer support.

Pelle

Hi Jen,

You're right, the document doesn't really stand out...
I'll add the request to our issue tracker. I think Frans could combine it with some other 'theming' issues he was planning to work on.

Will keep you posted.

Pelle

Site speed is a more fundamental issue... for some errors it's difficult to find out how they are caused. See also my reply to Jennifer Jenkins.

I'm not sure what you mean with rating related to resources?
Postings, messages or images appear in the resources tab when they're labeled 'resource'.

The rating system is just a mechanism to distinguish the most useful content... a widely used functionality that was considered useful for NABUUR as well.

Used in combination with the resources this means the best rated resources can appear on top (i.e. in a search or an overview)

Pelle

Hi Pelle

I also find the Resources section confusing. For me, its not the rating system (have never used it) but the general layout and method of adding items to it.

As far as I am aware, the only way I can add something to Resources is to mark a post as a Resource. The text of the post may be totally (or partly) irrelevant, but the doucment attached to that post may be something we want to see for future reference.

Also, I find the links section very confusing, and don't understand when/why links are added to it? I have no idea how to remove items that should not really be there.

http://www.nabuur.com/en/village/masaka/resources should demonstrate what I mean.

Mary

Completely agree with Mary. I want to remove redundant things from there, no need for the postings to be there together with documents, it only makes confusion...better not to talk about the links. Rating doesn't help me to sort the things well.
Just like the others, I'm repeating the same things over and over. I already talked here about this, and also a question about how to add some important resources to general Nabuur resource section, which has the same problems.

I also probably told several times that I don't find Results and News the same thing, nor do I think they should go together. Not all the news are results - news can be something rather negative sometimes, like problems encountered with certain tasks or so... I feel we need both in villages and on Nabuur in general a Result tab, and Nabuur's Result tab should have some nice successful stories. That is motivating both for us and new neighbours I am sure. (I also said before that Developing Stories are nice but also not always results, but sometimes just info on what a village is doing to reach its goals).

Sonja

This may seem like an "ah-hah" moment, but I actually had no idea I could move something into the resource section by just indicating in the post it was a resource. I thought that was completely related to the rating system.

Re: Rating System

You said; "The rating system is just a mechanism to distinguish the most useful content... a widely used functionality that was considered useful for NABUUR as well."

I would say in return-just because it's something that's widely used does not make it useful. I agree that its less of a priority, but I find it really annoying when someone randomly rates something that may be important to the village as 1 star (poor) and I cannot move it toward the top of our list of important resources by voting. Just because someone might think a resource or a post is "poor" doesn't mean it is "poor" when you look at it within the entire context of the village as a whole.

I don't think any of us posting here have ever said the rating system was useful (at least not that I recall). Anyway I'll learn to live with it I suppose as it looks like based on your comments it isn't going away.

Now you can all picture me smacking myself in the head going "ah-hah!" about tagging the post a resource :P

Jennifer

The terrible site performance yesterday was caused by unwanted traffic to and from our server, in 'popular' terms: the server was hacked :-(

Kester found out about it and stopped the services they were using. We've also warned the hosting company, that this problem might appear on more of the servers they host.

This means site performance should be better again, although in general the speed of the site remains an issue that gets a lot of attention.

...to be continued

Pelle

Dear all,

I'll try to summarize the thoughts/ideas/questions that have been posted over the last week and separate the issues. Hope that will bring some structure to the discussion.

How NABUUR works/Guiding new Neighbours
Unfortunately when Gerdie left, this group kind of "slipped through the cracks" :-(
A lot of great ideas came in to make new neighbours feel at home:
- open a forum, hosted by volunteers, where questions can be asked and answered
- welcome message with specific help
- improve FAQ
- show who signed up recently, so that they can be invited/welcomed
- bring back User guide

I think we should define the wishes in a bit more detail, so that a developer can put everything in place - the clearer the question, the easier it is to realise. What if I open a seperate task for that, where ideas can be posted... an inventory can be made (some things are already there)... ??

Melissa already said she'd like to help out. I hope a few others will join in as well.

[Edit: I've set up the task here: http://www.nabuur.com/en/node/184384 ]

Villages overview
Sonja - I like the idea to show active and new villages in separate lists. A while ago I showed a design for a new village page, but I think it may want some rethinking. I'll repost it so that we can discuss the required changes to the page, before it goes to Frans.

I'll get back to the discussion about new Villages in a separate post.

Rating
I guess we'll always have lovers and haters

Resources / Links
The current system of adding resources seemed a pretty good solution: any content can be labeled a resource, and from the message that contained the document (in case it's a document) the context will be clear or at least the context can be found.
Next to that the effort needed to promote a resource is minimalised.

So far the theory - I'm sad to hear that you don't find it easy to work with.
Also on this subject, I'd like to gather & discuss ideas first before anything is changed or installed.

Re: Links - I agree that it tends to become messy. What do you suggest: remove them, only show resource links, replace with results....?

Results
Sonja... how and where would you like to show them? I'm not sure if adding an extra tab will make things easier to find?

Modules that could be used
Kester and Frans have put some time in documenting the setup of the NABUUR site. You can find that documententation, including a list of modules used, here: http://svn.nabuurtest.com/trac/wiki

Due to the number of things that need to be done, Frans and Kester don't have time to investigate all the modules/solutions that are suggested. The development environment has been made ready for others to participate in the development of the NABUUR site, though.

Raul - If you'd like your own test/development domain then you could probably show the use of the modules you suggested. Would that work for you? (Although you did mention you try to stay away from development)

You also mentioned "the more questions I ask the more it seems that we just get the same replies". I'm sorry to hear that it frustrates you. I am trying to explain my ideas the best I can and answer all questions that come in, but apparently that is not good enough. How can we solve that?

Finally: Jennifer - perhaps we could get Fred in touch with another local rep nearby? If I'm not mistaken Eddy Mpoya is not too far away... and he doesn't seem to have any problem being online or posting.

Ah... concerning the layout of the news page - what about this: http://www.nabuur.com/en/panel/news-2
It needs some links checked, but then could replace the current page

Hope I didn't miss too much!

Pelle

It's true that in the past a growing number of villages was demanded by/promised to donors and sponsors of NABUUR. The reason is simple: NABUUR holds the promise to 'use the powers of the web', which means large numbers, many people involved, lots of ideas and solutions.

That vision remains the same, but at the moment there is not so much pressure for a 'forced growth'.

A short history
From the end of 2005, when the process of working on projects online had been tried and tested, there was a high pressure to make it a reality for a large number of Villages. In 2006 NABUUR 'grew' from 45 Villages to 150... through a process which required a lot of staff involvement: it would usually take around 9 months for a Local Rep to go through the process, which required a lot of time online (hence resources of the LR), emailing back and forth, matching with facilitators, etc. Not even taking into account the time Local Reps had to wait for their turn. At it's peak there would be 10-15 communities 'ready' each month, which required a lot of pushing and pulling, staff was stretched to the limit... in other words: the system was 'full' and no longer scalable.

At that moment the intake of new villages was halted (much to the dislike of everybody I know), while at the same time there were thorough discussions with staff, volunteers and even the (advisory) board about the direction NABUUR needed to go. The document 'NABUUR improvement and redesign' is a result of that discussion (October 2007)

One of the major outcomes of the discussion was that the role of the NABUUR staff should be more of a facilitating one, and should never be a bottleneck in the process. Local Representatives, Facilitators and Neighbours should have tools, making it easier to do their thing on the website, independent of the NABUUR staff.

Looking at all the needed changes it was also concluded that the existing website would not be able to support that: the rest of that story you know.

Where are we now?
After a year and a half of discussions, redesign, website development etc. the NABUUR platform is finally at a point where it can get back to doing what it was set up for in the first place: to give local communities the opportunity to connect with volunteers worldwide and thus solve the problems of that community.

Words as 'you are adding more villages' or 'throwing more villages online' in that sense hurt a bit: this may have been true in the past, it is far from the truth now. The new local representatives that registered their villages over the last couple of weeks all did so by themselves, helping and advising each other. That is also why I'm confident that most of them will do fine: the level of commitment of the local representatives is key to a successful village. These people have shown that they are committed and know how to use the platform.

No doubt not everything is right first time - the basic content needed may need to be adjusted, a bit more guidance may be needed or more facilitators need to be recruited.... etc. At least NABUUR has become an open platform again: open to both Neighbours and Villages.

villages and projects
This doesn't answer the questions about the distinction between village and project yet: let's say it gives a Local Rep the chance to learn how NABUUR works, before he gets into the trouble of defining a formal project with deadlines, tasks etc. It also allows neighbours to connect with a village in a more social way (one that was lost when the whole platform went to using tasks).
When the local rep and the neighbours/facilitator think they're ready for it they can start a project, which will then be a more focussed effort towards a clear goal.
This way it should become more clear what is needed, where the action is etc.

In order to implement this though, the NABUUR site needs to be redesigned: taking bits and pieces and moving them across places won't do the trick. This doesn't mean that we can't start making clear which villages(projects) are active and which aren't. And also show which villages have just started.
I'll get back to the villages page tomorrow.

I hope this clarifies a few things. I'm sure it's not complete...

Pelle

Hi Pelle

Until the other discussion options are ready for new villages (I assume there is going to be some way to 'connect' that is outside a project?), it seems to me that there is a relatively simple temporary solution. For each of these villages, set up a project called something like "Welcome to [village name]". Give it a description that gives some basic background, explains there is no specific active project, but the LR would like to get to know people and discuss ooptions. And set up a single discussion task within that project. That way, they can get started. Once new functionality is avaiable, this discussion could be copied across to the new location.

I think that for both new and old villages, the Local Reps should be in control. However, I think that there has to be responsibility on both sides.
There should be an automatic process for tracking activity and highlighting issues, so that they can be followed up.

A village where the LR is never online and is no longer interested in Nabuur should be clearly marked as inactive (I think it should be made invisible but I know you disagree).

A village that is currently inactive but which still has a LR who wants to continue should receive assistance in getting up and running again just as a new village would. This could be done by staff or by volunteers. It may be that the LR needs advice on using the site, the village needs a new facilitator, help with project definition, highlighting in a news item etc.

My main frustration is that I don't know whether there are plans to do any of this, or whether Nabuur staff does not see this as an important issue. I think it is one of the things that is leading to lack of motivation among more experienced neighbours, and is making it difficult for new neighbours to get involved. Please can you tell us what Nabuur thinks about the issue and what will be done?

Villages Overview - I would suggest that there should be three options: New, active and inactive (maybe not quite those descriptions), at least until projects are split out.

Links - please can you explain how a link ends up on the Resources page - some links posted in discussion do, others don't.

I saw your task about the guidance for new neighbours too - think its a good idea and will add any thoughts I have when I get a chance.

Mary

Hi Pelle,

If you set up a development domain and access to some test data I am happy to show you an example of a homepage. I am away with my family so would take a couple of weeks but I am happy to give you an example.

I can also show you the site I am developing that will be ready in a couple of months that will also be an online community.

Most of the things I am recommending specially for the homepage can be seen at www.whatnow.org.uk

I will also have a look at the list of modules you have used in the WIKI.

What I mean by my frustration is that if you see your postings, we just continue seeing your comment on the way NABUUR si suppose to be now. We all now what came from the