Tools for Online Communities What Has Worked Ann Walker Smalley, Metronet

Choosing the Tool Why do we need the community What functions does the community need Is there an all-in-one tool Ease of use for us & users Cost of tool Security & privacy concerns

Camp Year 1: How do we…. Provide the Campers with all the info they need to participate Collect the participants’ reviews Make reviews available to all Avoid a lot of paper(!) Make our work easy for checking on reviews

PBWiki Easy to build Web site Easy to build Web site Participants can edit Participants can edit Customizable Security (upgraded version) Customizable Security (upgraded version) Easy navigation via sidebar Easy navigation via sidebar Add hyperlinks to connect pages Add hyperlinks to connect pages

All the Pages Easy navigation for Campers

Information Booklists, Guidelines, How-to, FAQs each had a page

Participants Added to Wiki as Writers Edit pages Upload files Create new pages

Every Camper Had a Page Entered reviews here

Linked Their Review to Book Title

A lot of steps: For us as creators and For campers as writers

Pros & Cons of Wiki Pros Flexible within pages Easy to build Page level security Different types of members Unlimited number of participants Cons A lot of work to create Camper pages Add member s manually Not easy to monitor participation Unfamiliar to many Campers

Year 2: New Issues Addition of virtual camp Addition of virtual camp Changes to PBWiki Changes to PBWiki More Campers! Added Grades 6-12 More Campers! Added Grades 6-12

Ning

Ning Advantages Unlimited number of Campers Unlimited number of Campers Social Networking Features Social Networking Features Integrated Forums Integrated Forums Integrated Groups Integrated Groups Members join; we don’t add them via Members join; we don’t add them via Broadcast to members of Ning Broadcast to members of Ning

More Advantages No creating individual pages—automatic MyPage for every member No creating individual pages—automatic MyPage for every member Easy tracking of reviews Easy tracking of reviews More visually appealing More visually appealing Flexible features Flexible features Control over who joins (optional) Control over who joins (optional) Free Free

Front Page Customizable Easy to add and delete features Easy to add and delete features Add slideshows, recent activity, and other features to front page Add slideshows, recent activity, and other features to front page Control order of posts, what members can do, and other operations Control order of posts, what members can do, and other operations

Reviews as Blog Posts One review per post

View all Campers’ Posts

Camper Page All activity in one easy-to-check spot

Easy to Find All Members Members can post comments to others’ walls, add as friend, Members can post comments to others’ walls, add as friend, send message Encouraged to add a picture or avatar and add info to profile Encouraged to add a picture or avatar and add info to profile

Virtual Camper Groups & Forums Each book has a group Each book has a group Forum Questions for each book Forum Questions for each book

Best of All Very easy to track participation both for Day Campers and Virtual Campers

Disadvantages Possibility that Ning would be blocked by filters Possibility that Ning would be blocked by filters Some HTML required for admin & posting Some HTML required for admin & posting Unfamiliar tool to most participants Unfamiliar tool to most participants Still had work to do to create groups and forums and add discussions Still had work to do to create groups and forums and add discussions Sorting/Display of members & groups Sorting/Display of members & groups

Ning Worked much better than wiki as a learning community But still some problems with organization

Restructuring groups & forums Adding virtual counselors

MILI, the Early Years How can participants record progress How can participants record progress Where to store MILI content Where to store MILI content Can participants interact Can participants interact

Report Progress Blogger

Keep Up with Others RSS Readers

Deliver Content Wiki & Blogs

Complicated & Confusing to Novice Users How to streamline the content delivery and interaction

Wiki as “Textbook”

Month-7

An “Aha!” Moment

Ning is the “Teachers’ Lounge”

Creating a Ning Community

Smaller Communities through Groups

Ability to interact across groups

D Comments Discussions

Personalization Aggregation Interaction

Power of Ning Interaction across school district cohorts Interaction across school district cohorts Willingness of novice users to blog in secure environment Willingness of novice users to blog in secure environment Ability to add the personal touches Ability to add the personal touches Encouragement & support Encouragement & support

More Ease of use Common ground & interests Customizable with apps Focused on the project

Managing the Community Need one or more administrators to stay on top of things Set-up Permissions Approvals, if needed Spam

Moving It Forward Moderators Make things happen Post questions Comment on blogs/content Forums

Unmoderated Ning

23 Things On a Stick Ning Has 2 administrators Has 2 administrators Just watch for spam & respond to questions Just watch for spam & respond to questions No approval of members No approval of members Anyone can post/upload Anyone can post/upload

Membership

Content All user- generated

Members Create the Connections Groups Include: By library By region By interest By Activity

Join the SCLS Ning

Connect Collaborate Communicate