7.1 Make them participate
also: "I built it and nobody came", "most of the time it's junk", "why the f* does it work with busy professionals but not with students?"
Levels of participants:
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Surfers: people just looking at it sometimes
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information seekers: people seeking answers
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participants (questions plus answers)
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leaders (highly visible on forums and other channels)
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moderators (keep it going)
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technical & conceptual support (not just at start phase)
We must turn 1's into 2's then 3's => (next page)
A. Basic (contextual)
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The magic occurs when individuals come to understand the potential of technology and acquired the skills to use it.
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Technology initiatives imposed on a community by outsiders are often ineffective.
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Devote time to identifying and then cultivating relationships with key local leaders and organizations.
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no more than one-third of the funding should go to technology itself
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use the rest to help people and organizations understand and apply the technology.
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Building electric communities with people from a same area and who know each other and who did work together towards a shared vision before in some physical location (goal finding event) increases chances of success a lot.
B. System
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Individuals tend to participate if some sort of pay back exists and is perceived (like pair recognition).
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E.g index contributions of people, implement ranking system where participants can judge usefulness of messages etc. Popular in informatics (e.g. site likes advogato and slashdot) or in e-commerce (e.g. Amazon).
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Simple knowledge management of participant generated knowledge show participants that their contributions are not lost.
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It's a database that will help rise quality and attract new users.
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interface must both accommodate users with various levels of expertise and types of involvement.
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It is not clear how to achieve portals that help beginners to become quickly active or even power-users (Carles).
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Portal should serve the needs and aspirations of all its stakeholders: visitors, regular users and active members.
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E.g. up-to-date news-to-use from the cutting edge of a subject or topic important to the community should be provided
-- TIE