Social Web & Online Info - proposal for next phase of edits re: proprietary software & information flow

Working Draft.

NOTE: this is not a full 'social web & online info strategic plan', but rather a proposal around the presence of proprietary software buttons on the ussf2010.org site and some navigational changes for this phase of the website (early march).

1. No direct links to anything corporate owned on our front page.

2. No corporate logos throughout the site whatsoever, with exception of paypal. We include language about our dependency on Paypal on the payment page. Perhaps we can remove the logo itself? -> tickets 1 and 2

3. Our footer include a link to "World Social Forum Principles", which should also be listed clearly on our "About" page. It is currently absent from any clear viewing of the website from what I can see. Amidst any arguing of principles- the point of stating all WSF principles is ironically missing. --> ticket 3

4. Along those lines, we remove "The US Social Forum supports the use of free and open source software", which links ambiguously to the 'About' page. We instead have a link to "USSF Organizing Principles", which links to a list of the principles of each committee and "We, the organizers of the US Social Forum Believe..." section. So maybe that footer "USSF Organizing Principles" link goes directly to an improved and flushed out "About" page. Note: We frame ALL our organizing principles poignantly but broadly- tech in particular: "we support and encourage the use of free & open source software". This part of the proposal is a clear call to not allow technology principles to take precedence over many other struggles & organizing connected to the USSF, despite this being a website. -->tickets 4 and 5

5. The "Contact Us" Menu button on the front page becomes "Connect". "Connect" framing implies a many-way conversation rather than us as the bigwigs and other people as coming to us for info. "Contact Us" in the footer also be changed to "Connect with the USSF Community", which would imply USSF organizers and/or more generally anyone connected to the USSF through their social networks, projects, or news stories. --> ticket 6

4. The "Connect" page that both of these links refers to includes first and foremost a "Join our Email List" sign up form (a communications priority). It then includes what's there now:

1. general USSF phone #
2. detroit local info email
3. national info email
4. registration related issues email
5. tech-related registration issues email
6. accessibility contact link
7. press inquiries contact & phone
   1. working group leads contact #s

• I move that we actually turn these into a general contact section that first states the info phone number, and then an email contact link to a contact form that directs someone's message to the appropriate responder depending on their selection/need. --> tickets 7, 8

5. We add clear link to Organize.ussf2010.org site & social network. It's still unclear how to get to this. Maybe from the 'Connect', 'Register' and 'Get Involved' pages in some way also- many avenues for entry being the point of all this social media stuff. "Forum Network" button on 'Get involved' page isn't saying much- we flush that section out. --> ticket 9

6. Next on "Connect" page we flush out the "USSF Social Media Newsroom" to instead be "Other Social Media platforms with USSF presence" and include in text only:

  1. twitter page link
  2. facebook page link
  3. identi.ca link
  4. myspace link
  5. soundcloud link
  6. vimeo or youtube link
  7. znet link and other self-organized pieces, platforms, online forums
        1. others strategic platforms we move on --> ticket 10 

7. We add clear link to and flush out USSF Press Room (currently pretty empty). --> ticket 11

8. We add clear link to ussf2010.org multimedia site (where official video, audio, etc will be stored... assuming that's in the mix) -->later stage ticket, from what I understand

9. Last recommendation is that we ask Mark to do a monthly mass-wiki online training to combat userability issues. I believe he's already planning.

10. We move forward with plans to report monthly to NPC/OC on how social media platforms, including organize.ussf2010.org site, are aiding all of our committees and continue to reflect on what's working and not working by measuring how folks are connecting to us. At some point in the next 2 months we do a survey to gauge what's working for people and how they're getting info from the different working groups.