Warren Crosbie: wcrosbie@yahoo.com.au

DEFINITIONS

Community Portal: A place (on line) where individuals and organisations can use a browser to maintain their own content.

Demand Aggregation: When demand for common solutions emerges from a common need, sometimes facilitated by a community minded solutions provider (e.g. Tom and Glen).

HISTORY & CONTEXT

History - Queensland, Australia

• Community Enabler and related projects: Tom Cameron, Glen Donoghoe, Stephen Alexander: "MENA received $450,000 under Networking the Nation (NtN) to fund a collaboration and innovation model focused on regional community development and has transferred knowledge and skills to other Australian communities."
• Wide Bay 2020 – www.wb2020.gov.au/ – also funded under NtN. Wide Bay is a GIS (spatial data) system, involving stakeholders in multiple local government areas, cities: Bundaberg, Hervey Bay and Maryborough; shires: Burnett, Cooloola, Isis, Kolan, Miriam Vale, Tiaro and Woocoo. Initiated by project manager Bernard Cleary. For a description see www.wbbhsn.org/resourses/gis and also: Cleary and Saunders (2001): http://itira.cqu.edu.au/2001/comm_informatics_abstracts.html

History - Victoria Australia

• Skills.net, Vicnet.net.au, and other projects funded by State and Federal Government: MMV.vic.gov.au and Networking the Nation (NtN)
• Victorian Landcare Gateway , powered by NETC – www.landcare.net.au/credits

Current - Victoria Australia

• NETC’s work in Wangaratta – www.netc.net.au
• TAFE VC in Melbourne
• DoI and local government?

Spaces to Watch

• Rural communities
• Professional communities who are feed up with poor Web content.
• Conferences?

Principles of Demand Aggregation for Community Portals

• Develop champions: technical, content, training, community involvement …
• Provide training: sys admin, user management, writing for Web portals.
• Manage stakeholders – all those who fund, or who benefit from your portal, or who could interfere with it’s progress.
• Listen to the community (i.e. users). Your goal is for them to own the portal.

Challenges

• Documentation
• Training
• Sustainable business models (for clients and developers)

Opportunities?

• Education sector?
• Skillsnet, see Skillsnet Association – www.snac.asn.au (zero $, but lots of savvy people)
• Community education sector? Funded by DHS (Dept Human Services), local shires & councils, and ACFE (community and further education)

Other (more difficult) Opportunities?

• Aggregate demand in large organisations with multiple locations and poor information management, e.g. large hospitals. (Too political?)
• Regional tourism. (Dispersed stakeholders?)
• Political parties and influential MPs. (Depends who you know.)
• Small business with a need for international marketing e.g. wineries. ($?)

Technical Drivers

• Interoperability – sharing content between systems and across organisations.
• RSS and others?

Regional Networking Club - National Agenda

RNC was initiated by Mena, the developers of portal-in-a-box. RNC aims to make portal-in-a-box widely available, and to generate sustainable community portal models:

• www.regionalnetworking.com/index_html
• www.regionalnetworking.com/regional_html (regional tourism)
• www.portalinabox.org

REFERENCES:

Articles:

• www.ozzope.org/articles/communitye/document_view (Jan Smith's interview with Glen Donoghoe)
• http://www.ozzope.org/files/building_wealth, ("Building Wealth In Small Communities," Stephen Alexander & Glen Donoghoe, January 2003)

Community Enabler Documentation:

• http://docs.communitye.net/index_html (table of contents for the Community Enabler documentation)
• http://docs.communitye.net/engage_adopt_sustain/guidelines_html (guidelines for portal planning)

Pictures:

Senator Richard Alston with Glen Donoghoe (Community Enabler), and Bernard Cleary (Wide Bay 2020):

• http://www.dcita.gov.au/Article/0,,0_4-2_4008-4_114725,00.html
• http://www.communitye.net/Members/drew/News_Item.2003-05-07.0431

Community portals and others using Community Enabler software:

www.artsynconline.com - Nambour ArtSync Business Incubator

www.brbta.com - Local Hinterland Tourism

www.capricornia.org - Rockhampton community groups

www.entrypoint.to - Sunshine Coast Community Portal

www.hinterland.biz - Sunshine Coast Hinterland Business Entry Point

www.landcare.net.au - Landcare Victoria

www.malenybusinessdirectory.com - Maleny Apex Business Directory

www.malenyweather.com - Maleny Weather Station

www.regionlink.com.au - Mackay Regional Portal

www.rimvalleys.com.au - RIM Valleys Qld

www.sarinabusiness.net.au - Sarina Business Directory

www.visitmtbeauty.com.au - Mt Beauty Victoria

www.wbbhsn.org - Wide Bay Human Services Network

www.wbbhsn.org/resources/gis - about the Wide Bay interactive map system

Thanks

A big thank you to everyone who contributed to this meeting, both online via IRC #zope-au, and in person. We are really fortunate to have access to Trinity College's fantastic facilities.