Group forming and Activity preparation for ESF2008  - sept 2008 in Malmo (sweden)

Elements  about use of process website for activity preparation and registration in ESF2008

if you are interested to participate in the esf2008 onlineprocesssupport team, using the site a tool for volunteer work  -register in this site and  visit and contact us in the organisation called webteam2008

Using a common process site between ESF and WSF

After assessing the past experience on esfworkspace  in ESF2006, Webteam2008  group suggests to have the activity preparation and registration module for ESF2008  integrated in current improved wfprocess site, after wsf2007 and 2008 global mobilization
This should be available by end of september , and the improvement of the site ( see above) will be ongoing for a while after

Which are the  advantages ?

• it brings European users in a site that is already active with the perspective of 2008 general mobilization
• it will diminish the data entry load for all organisaiton that will participate in 2008 organisaiton
• it spares  users of over to duplicate their data and information in two sites should they want also to participate in wsf events, or reuse their existing information for those who participated in Nairobi (400 european organisation are already registered)
• it reduces efforts and energies needed  for maintaining one site instead of two

Which are the  political implications ?

• the wsfprocess site is only a networking place , that sticks to general principles of social forum charter,  and carry no specific editorial line
• it will offer new opportunities of international links  and solidarity to European organization, and answer the request of many south organisation that express there feeling that Europe be more connected to the global south ( this has been expressed in Lisbon EPA)
  

In fact the need for a process site is quite similar and not dependent on the process  : wsfprocess site has been developed from esfworkspace site which in turned was developed with intakes from wsf2006.org – there is no real justification to have two such tool if the aim is to facilitate contacts

Concretely how will it work ?

0- Three events will be visible in the banner of the site  WSF2008  2008 Global Day  ESF2008

1- european process organisaitons -A specific field will be added in the organization form to confirm that  the organisation will be visible as participating in European process – this would be a required field , filled by defaut if a  participation in a former European forum is mentioned , and changeable at editing 

2- european process keywords – in order to give visiblity to some european specific issues   A set of 10 keywords will be given to esf to complete the existing 80 social forum keyword list used to qualify organization  groups or activities ,  where most keywords are already in keyword list  in esfworkspace. An EPA working group can be in charge to define those 10 complementary european keywords

3- groups active in european process -To define if a group should appear in the European groups list- two  criteria are proposed . A wide one based on participants -  a group is ticked as involved European if at least one of its participants is from a european country , (this could be useful when searching for possible participation in existing groups ) – a clearcut  one based on activities : whenever the group  registers an ESF2008 activity it is marked as participating in ESF process

4—ESF2008 activities  - Registration of ESF2008 activities will be made in a specific portlet on the  site, next to registration of 2008 mobilization, and  as explained in 1 2 3 filters will be put in place in the actiivity – group – orgaisation menus search so that user can focus on organisations active in european process , on groups active in european process,  or on esf2008  activities..

5-The detailed logistic of the ESF2008 activity will be defined by ESF2008 organizing committee

Which are the improvements brought to the process site since Athens 2006?

Compared to esf workspace site that was hastily put in operation one month before athens EPA, two sets improvements have been brought
One set was brought on occasion of adaptation of the site for WSF2007, and the second one for ESF2008 and 2008 Global day

Improvements brought by wsf2007

• Action list

Some main actions are permanently accessible in the site with an action list located in the right part of the screen

• Only one type of activity

There is only one type of activity in the site ( in ESF2006 there were two)
A group can create an activity in general (on line) even before the event exist or before the logistic for the event is defined. For example if a group is willing to start preparing activities about migrant rights as of now  it can do it – even though details for 2008 event are not known
 

• Creation of a logistic form of an activity, conveying the character of an event

then when the details are known the group can link this activity to an event  by filling the logistic form
it is that logistical form that create the link between the activity and the event

• Visibility of presence of organisations in groups

The profile of any group displays the list of organisations who are “present” in the group through one of their members – this does not mean always that they support or coorganize the activity , but most of the time it is relevant
This can help in making the program , which activities is co-organized by which organizations

• Messaging to two entities (group or organisation) at a time

From the site a message can be sent to two entities mailing list – one where you might not belong - and one where you belong – so it is a convenient way to put in communication two entities in an horizontal way ( all participants to those two entities are informed) – a concrete help for networking

• Giving codes for payment in the event site

Depending the rules defined by the organisation committee of the event – the interface provides codes of payment for organisation or activity registration
ESF2008 payment rules are not defined yet

Improvement by October 2008

• More public space to inform about the site

The number of publicly accessible pages is increased so the first contact with the site is more friendly for people who are not registered( non users)

A first level of search in organisation , groups, activities, proposals, will be made accessible to non users

A Ressource center where to find little freeware helping to
Resize images to smaller one ( good for editing)
Optimize images to lighter one ( better for response time)
Trim MP3 files to make short audio announcement on site

A News page focusing on how to make the best of the site , and not promoting specific contents

• Public menu - Possibility to publicize documents in internet

Each group or organisation can make its documents available for public access – publish a text, a report ,  etc… that will be searchable and accessible by anyone on the net – through a “public” menu

• Participation in groups in personal capacity

It is possible that a person comes in a group in personal capacity – this allows participation of “non affiliated “ person in a group if the group is ok for this -  the reality is a mixture of “organized participants “, being more numerous  and “ individuals”

• Easy way to  invite non registered people to participate in the site

An action “ invite participants”   allow to send a user name and a password to people you would like to invite on the site – so they have only to them to log in
There will be a check that these people are not already on the site, in order to avoid duplication and confusion , there will be a proposed link to personal capacity
It might  be possible to invite them directly to a group in personal capacity ( disconnect the mailing list in this specific organisation ?)  or as affilaited to ones organisation

• More networking actions accessible directly in action list

These actions are available as of today but this will make them easier to use
Contact a group/organisation- post a comment in their documents
Create a  new document inside my organisation /group/activity space
Invite to a group / organisation
Ask to Join a group or organisaiton

• Reminding of user name

When people do not use the site often , they normally forget their username, which then further stop them from using the site
so Username will be repeated in the invitation message, or personal message they receive from the site

• Networking communication clarity

Messages received in the mailing list of ones organisation and groups will bear mention “external message” when they are sent through the contact participant tab

• Visibility of proposal issued in an event

The fourth day in wsf2007 has allowed to give visibility to hundreds of proposals
These proposals can be considered linked to wsf2007

• Multi event networking  through filters

It is possible to restrict the search according to an event/process
Organisation / Groups hosting a proposal linked to an event
Organisation/ Groups hosting activities linked to an event
Groups having participants? from a certain continent
Organisations participating in a specific continental process
Activities registered in a certain event
Proposals issued as outcome of a certain event

After 2008 What  will happen ?

• wsfprocess  has been   a first real  practical step in the development of  networking site for social forum and of  global visibility site for media/ event logistics
•  At end of 2008 wsfprocess site will have thus hosted activity registration for  three major events : wsf2007 in Nairobi, 2008 mobilization , and esf2008. 
• There is no equivalent in the short social forum history  and the among of information contained in the side will be quite valuable. , which will raise the issue of memory and maintenance of the contents and data loaded in the site , for further cataloguing by a hub site ( see below)
  
• The durability of the current wsfprocess site is limited  and it will needs to be completely redesigned on a more recent technical platform , taking into accoung experience of those who used it for networking , those who used it for organising events
• other networking sites connected to social forum process will have emerged
  

The current intention is that during  2008   a new generation site would be developed in a project form with inputs from social forum experience and technical activists , with funds coming from esf 2008 OC also some complementary  funding could be  available 

• ESF2008 OC having benefited from the asset of wsfprocess existence , sparing the work of developing something from scratch , would dedicate part of IT budget on funding a new site,