Thanks Pelle, its good to hear that LRs get the notifications too.

Maybe at some point it would be a good idea to remind LRs that they can contact Nabuur staff if they would like a new facilitator or assistance with project definition. Not to try and force them to become active, just to let them know they haven't been forgotten about.

On the old site, facilitators had a different way of saving things as resources. I wasn't a facilitator then, so don't know how easy this was for them to use, but as a neigbour it certainly led to a more logical list.

The thing I notice about the Results part of the News screen is that it often contains things that are not really results. I think some of this may be down to confusion when selecting a Type when posting a reply to a task.

When I reply to a task I have Content Type options:
None, Resource, -document, -internet link, -lessons learned, organisation, result, story.
I don't know what some of these do to my post, and there is no Help information to explain.

Mary

Pelle-

I'm not sure that I like the idea of using the "Needs Urgent Help" simply because it's an option for labeling project tasks. I think it can get confusing. I know that I already get questions just simply about what is the appropriate drop down option to choose for a new task and when does it become "just started" versus "in progress". I think that tag line is better left to the tasks themselves.

In terms of village identification-I will soon find myself in one of those situations in Khandbari. When we last spoke about it, Tejanath does not wish to remove the village, BUT there will be no active project going on there because the project objectives have been completed. I believe that would fit with Siegfried's New Year's post about some villages may choose to be visable, but not to have an active project (maybe not though?? I'm not sure, but that's my interpretation).

So, I think we are looking at a few different stages of development:

1. Brand new village-project definition needed.
2. Active village
3. Stalled/Inactive village
4. Villages with no active project.

I think it will be confusing to new users for villages like Khandbari to be visible because it will appear to be stalled or inactive, when in reality it isn't-there's just no project work going on in terms of Nabuur. In the case of Khandbari, SESF will still be very much operational-volunteers just have no specific project work to do.

The case of stalled/inactive villages is very important obviously for a number of reasons. Here we have a couple of possible scenarios as well:

1. The village is doing things on their own and no longer wants to work with Nabuur. In this case, I would say the village needs to be closed completely if you can get verification of this.

2. The village is stalled-maybe you can connect with the facilitator, the LR or only one of them. Here is where I think a solution is needed as you mentioned-a more structured approach to get them on their feet again (personally I really enjoy trying to help with this)-but again, what do you do if you can reach the facilitator, but there's no communication from the local community? It's much easier to deal with if there's been long term lack of contact from a facilitator I think-again, you just need verification this is the case. I agree with you though that probably not all LR's realize who they should be contacting when a facilitator is needed-or if they are struggling with a facilitator that they have and maybe never hear from (or don't hear from frequently enough).

3. There is work going on outside of Nabuur and the project only appears to be inactive here, when in reality it is indeed progressing and still wants to be a part of Nabuur. Here, I think encouragement is needed to make sure updates get posted, but maybe also would be a village that could be intermixed with villages that have no active project?? Not sure on if that work out well or not, maybe not, but just a thought.

I am a big fan of the way that you formatted the groups page into different types. I'd love to see that same structure applied to the villages page (although I'm not quite sure how you'd do it??) Maybe two options, one for a "list" view and the other for a "graphic" view? My mind does not wrap around web design very well at all, so I'll leave that to people who know way more than me.

In a list view you could have columns with labels such as:

1. New Villages (with a time frame for moving them out of this area into "Active villages"
2. Established Villages (active)
3. Facilitator Needed (Established villages that have been verified active/in need of a facilitator)

Now with the other groups that's a little more tricky. I don't necessarily think it's a great idea to be showing stalled villages with the active ones. Possibly this could be made into a separate area completely. Maybe some holding tanks that look something like this:

1. Status update needed-for villages that need verifications
2. No active project
3. Stalled-project redefinition needed.

That's kind of how I envision some of this possibly being separated out.

Jennifer

Sonja I totally agree with you. I also agree with you, Raul, that the combination of slow and complicated website sometimes decreases my motivation, particularly when I am tired. Or if I just want to check things quickly, because I am short of time or my battery is getting low, it just takes too much time and I might as well do something i can do quickly as I am unlikely to complete what I want to do on Nabuur before my battery runs out.

I really love Nabuur, it's the first of its kind and I have such a connection with my villages and it worries me when neighbours say that there are newer and better volunteer websites that are more attractive motivating, and addictive to them, as they feel more like they are supported and part of a community. I think Nabuur needs to continue taking these sorts of comments as or even more seriously than you are already. Personally I am working on keeping up my motivation even when I am pressured in other areas and am still committed to Nabuur and my project. But sometimes, due to the 'clunky' website, it's harder work than should be necessary.

One more thing that I find quite annoying is the lack of dates when opening My Nabuur and looking at the new / unread posts.

I want to finish on a positive note though.. I think that Nabuur has a wonderful and committed staff and core group of volunteers and facilitators, for which it is very lucky to have. You guys all know who you are! :D

Yeah, must admit the labels don't really work out as they should. At least not the way the options are displayed right now.

I'll add this discussion to our work list. I can't say what can be done in the short term. Will see if I can add at least a help text.

Pelle

Hi Jennifer, great thinking :-)

Concerning Khandbari: I think we'll have to try to give it a 'project' (that's the only discussion forum we have available right now) that shows this Village is still active, but doesn't have a project on NABUUR they're working on. It should invite neighbours to connect though, thus creating an audience for what SESF is working on... and a potential for the future. I'd be happy to help with that - maybe we can make it into a best practice for villages without a project.

You may have read I'm not in favour of advertising inactive Villages either... it's a bit like Amazon promoting books they can't deliver :S
Frans is working on a page where the active villages are shown, they will rotate based on activity. There will also be a list of newest villages. There's no easy way to pull up the ones needing a facilitator yet.

A full list view of Villages won't work that well, I fear: imagine a list of 60 villages, it will be hard to find one you're interested in (especially for new neighbours). The geographical browsing will be brought back though, listing the villages per country.

This should be the first step towards more clarity. The next step is showing the status of the village/project. I think we can mark all projects that haven't seen any postings for a certain amount of time (3 months?) as 'stalled' , then the next issue is clearly showing the status of the project. This is on my personal wish list, I hope Frans can make time for that in February.

As a follow up we could send out an email to those LRs whose project has been set to 'stalled', indicating so and with the offer to get in touch if they would want to get going again.

Just a few thoughts... what do you think of this for a start?

Pelle

Hi Lynley, yeah it's not an easy ride. And I'm happy all of you stick around to make NABUUR work!

Looking at site performance: that remains an issue on Frans' and Kester's lap.. I don't envy them. They're also trying to get outside experience in on this matter. Engagement and design is another high priority issue. Romina and Rolf are trying to get an expert on board to help with defining an engagement strategy, starting with quick wins... of course this thread also contains a lot of ideas that will be taken into account. We're looking for a professional designer right now, to help shape the site.

Concerning the dates - have a look now. I'm not sure how that was missed. :-S

Pelle

Hi Raul, I haven't forgotten... just delayed.

Pelle

Thanks Pelle, sounds like a good start to me!

As I understand it, all villages that don't have a facilitator should show facilatator as 'Vacancy' as on http://www.nabuur.com/en/village/masaka/project
This is not currently the case for them all though.

Once this is set on all villages needing a facilitator, it should be fairly easy to pull up a list by searching on that User ID?

During the conversion to the new site, all of the pictures on Masaka village disappeared. I remember you saying that you have found them - please can you tell me when they are likely to be added back onto the site?

Mary

Hi Pelle,

I have not forgotten either ;-)

Raul

P.S. In the meantime I can show you an example of what I mean (just a general idea of using views and blocks in the homepage to get it to be always dynamic without having to design new boxes all the time) with the design of the homepage of the site I am working on.

Hi Mary, yeah that's the way it used to work on the previous site. I guess we could get that mechanism back in place.

Thanks for the reminder about the pictures.

Pelle

Pelle - could you explain exactly WHY this site works so slowly as compared to every other site I visit? I know you get asked this all the time, but all I have ever heard is "oh, it's because we're part of Google." A number of us have really cut back from daily visits to weekly because it is unbelievably time consuming, not to mention frustrating! - and all we get from Nabuur is "we're working on it." I know nothing about how to make a website, but surely you're not supposed to put one up before it is ready? This went up how many months ago? I know we are posting lots more people this year - but I bet they've only been on the site once or twice and gone elsewhere. I'd be curious how many we lost - but we all have much more important work to do. This is very sad to me as I really loved going to Nabuur every day - and I would be helping in other villages, but I just don't have the time.
Ginger :)

Hi Pelle

As well as it being VERY slow, I am finding at the moment that I get a lot of 'page not found' IE screens when I click on a link on a Nabuur page, then when I hit Refresh the correct page is displayed. I assume this is related and is due to the pages being so slow to load sometimes?

When you go to Uganda, will you be talking to the LRs about whether the site works at an acceptable speed for them to use over a slow connection?

Mary

Hello everyone,

After giving it some consideration, I have decided I am going to take some time off from Nabuur. Nabuur has always been a very important time of my life since the first day I joined but given some personal commitments and the way things are working in Nabuur at the moment I just want to stay away from it. I just need to find the same motivation I used to feel in the past to the point that I just wanted to come home and the first things I used to do was turn my computer on and check Nabuur to see how I could help to continue helping with some projects I was already working on. I hope the times to come are better and I am most likely going to be back after some time. AS I have heard before, Nabuur gets under you skin. I will most likely continue replying to emails if I cna help in any way but I just cannot see myself coming to the site all the time at least for now. I do hope I find a way to feel motivated again soon.

All the best everyone and I am sure we will all stay in touch.

My personal email for anyone wanting to contact me is totocol at yahoo

Ciao,

Raul

Hey Raul,

You will be sorely missed around here. :(

I understand where you are coming from, and each of us can only do what is right for us at that point in time. I myself have come and gone from this place a couple of times. Sometimes out of frustration with the site, and sometimes because of personal issues offline.

Sometimes you just need to take a step back and "recharge your batteries" so you can live to fight another day! :)

I will note your email and hope to keep in touch with you and your future projects.

Take care

Best wishes,
Melissa

Hi Raul,

I'm not sure what to say: I hope you find your motivation back and we'll see you around here in the future.

Pelle