Creating online communities

Creating online communities

• 1.
  Creating online communities Victor Teo Social Publisher HiSocial.com.au
• 2.
  So what isan online community It is a virtual community that exists online and is a social network of individuals who interact through specific media, potentially crossing geographical and political boundaries in order to pursue mutual interests or goals. One of the most pervasive types of virtual community include social networking services, which consist of various online communities. Source: Wikipedia
• 3.
  So who participatein an online community? Browsers Free members Users Contributors Paid members Community Manager Community Architect
• 4.
  How is anonline community created? The common use of Content Management System (CMS) plays a major role in supporting the rise of the online communities. CMS is used to manage work flow needed to collaboratively create, edit, review, index, search, publish and archive various kinds of digital media and electronic text In short CMS  helps to manage complexity.  provides a easy to use user interface (UI) for adding, editing and publishing content.  enables collaboration among many to perform the above tasks.
• 5.
  Content Management System(CMS) • Allows website to be easily updated • Various parts of the website can only be updated by authorised user. • Multiple users can update it simultaneously. • User interface is easily understood. • Web page layout and design control is easy to modify. • Text, audio, video and other content are easily inserted. • Content can be ranked or weighted to enable fresh content to appear in front. • Most important of all it allows for interaction with community members.
• 6.
  Do you knowthis was built using Drupal This is how the Prime Minister of Australia keep in touch with her community (the citizens)
• 7.
  What is DrupalCMS? • Open Source • Content Management System • Community Collaboration Tools • Installed on Organization’s Computer • Accessed through Internet Interface • Community Supported • International Translations • Powering 75,000+ sites in 2006
• 8.
  Drupal is opensource What does it mean? • There is no software licensing fee • Staff Time Commitment - Self-support and training of managers and users - Using community-based technical support vs. dedicated vendor-based/paid support - Self-evaluation of “modules” that extend the tools capabilities See www.opensource.org
• 9.
  Drupal CMS ispowerful but … Drupal is powerful because it • Has rules, constraints and processes • Can be modified in a variety of ways • Contains “core” functions: Drupal Core Functionality expanded through Modules That means it requires more corporate commitment for • Time to understand, test and configure • Customization requires PHP programmer • Community helps you configure and support
• 10.
  What can youdo with Drupal? • Blog to connect with your members • Forum to give voice to your members • Online Newspaper, Portal / Directory • Portfolio to showcase your work • Social community site to keep in touch with your members • Video showcase of your product • Project management site • Wiki page of various specialised topics • Shopping Cart complete with Payment gateway • E-learning site for training your employee • Dating site • The list is limited by your imagination …
• 11.
  Drupal web designstarts with this … • Pieces of content = nodes Can be a picture, a block of text, a blog, audio, video, etc. Navigation Top Story: • Content is placed & Search 75th Anniversary onto page sections, Nodes are placed into Blocks Latest Youth Program Publication Outreach Information Calendar of Events Current News Headlines Source: www.johnkenyon.org
• 12.
  Drupal website oncecontent(nodes) are loaded into their respective blocks Navigation & Search Top Story: 75th Anniversary Latest Publication Youth Outreach Program Information Calendar of Events Current News Source: www.johnkenyon.org
• 13.
  Effective Web Presenceusing Drupal Consider what content to use to reach out to your members  Stories  News  Featured Video  eNews  Events  Fundraising  Seasonal  Documents Appeals
• 14.
  Civicrm is anexample of an open source community application build on top of Drupal.
• 15.
  What’s next • Identifya particular area of community you want to grow • Work with a Drupal vendor • Be clear in what you expect out of the website – Open to public or close only to registered members – How do you want to interact with your members • Blog • Forum • Wiki etc • Create a taxonomy of key terms to manage the content • Create and test user profile for access control • Verify workflow is working according to plan • Start small and go live
• 16.
  THANK YOU Victor Teo Email:Victor.teo@hisocial.com.au Web: www.hisocial.com.au FB: www.facebook.com/hisocialaus