| 
View
 

WebsiteDesign

Page history last edited by PBworks 19 years, 1 month ago

Questions and Answers about our objectives for this Wiki Website

 

1. Is this WIKI software capable of alerting 'subscribers' to changes made to the site -- or do we have to rely on ourselves remembering to go to the site to check changes periodically ie is it like a newsgroup, or passive?

 

This wiki site will tell people about changes from time to time if they gave a valid email address when they logged in - this requires the password which is used for editing. People who do not log in, including the public will not be informed.

 

2. Would it be possible to expand the number of PUBLIC pages to include, for example:

 

Although the present arrangements are primarily intended for internal circulation, they are fully visible to the public. If people have large amounts of unchanging material they should put that on a conventional website, or create a new free wiki on this domain, and put their material on that, with suitable links from this site. If you look at Source Documents you can see how this is done.

 

2.1 A map of the area we intend to cover (yet to be defined in greater detail) but roughly defined yesterday as the heathlands of the borders of the 3 counties ie (say) from Chobham Common in the east to Hazeley Heath in the West to Caesars Camp (?) in the north and the Hogs Back in the south

 

Yes we can do that though the image must be small if placed on this site as we only have 1Mb of space for such items. Better to host it elsewhere and make an image link.

 

2.2 A list of speakers and talks on local subjects. This should go onto a public page so that WIs, U3A etc can see the list, and Google can find them.

 

Yes - this can be done as a mirror of this site.

 

2.3 A list of current projects being undertaken by 'members' of the Research Forum. This also eventually needs to be on public pages so that search engines can pick them up.

 

ditto.

 

2.4 Links to members' websites. I agree with Phil that we have to give Groups an INITIAL incentive to become more than hangers-on who have the password to the private Forum, maybe read other's comments, but don't ever really take part. If a rule is made that only members can have a link to their own websites, list their current projects, and speakers available then the list of members on the public page defines those groups or individuals who can access the private pages. If a member group ie SHLHC does yet have a website then their name would not form a link.

 

Again yes, but this will have to be done by someone who knows what the websites are. There is one already for Yateley Society.

 

3. I think we have to get more up before Phil goes public to the whole list of potential participants -- otherwise they will take a quick look, find nothing much there and go away for ever.

 

Agreed - see this site http://www.possibility.com/epowiki/Wiki.jsp?page=GettingYourWikiAdopted

 

The main point of this wiki site is to allow internal communication - it is for putting up info as much as it is for taking it down. As such it is fundamentally different concept from a conventional website.

 

4. I therefore think we need much more up on the public pages before we try to spread the membership wider. I agree with Phil that we have to give potential members an incentive to join, though I agree that we don't necessarily need a monetary commitment (but see below). Carrot rather than stick. I told Phil on the phone that I think we need something like the YatSoc website: www.hants.gov.uk/yateley. It really works well with enough on the public pages to wet appetites and the promise of more goodies in the inner sanctum private pages.

 

Yes, but the concept itself is more reciprocal.

 

5. Is it possible for HeathHist? to have its own website say www.heathhist.org.uk ?

 

Yes, but domain names of that sort cost money (though not much) to register. Not convinced of the _necessity_ of that at the moment. I use a redirection service which could give a domain name of the form heathhist.no-ip.org which might be good enough - you will note its similarity to the ones used for my "domestic" server.. Hosting the site is a separate consideration. The domain name can point at any host, including the one it is using already. The present address for thius wiki is actually pretty good.

 

5.1 It could then have a suite of public pages as suggested above (to entice active membership and inform the general public) keeping the wiki forum as its 'members pages' - after we have enough stuff up on our public pages. Until we get enough on our public pages we can use the forum for such emails as this. However I am sending this by conventional email since I cannot guarantee Phil would read it if I loaded onto the wiki forum (see question 1).

 

Yes - urgent or important stuff will have to be emailed to the people it is primarily aimed at, but the more public record helps people to understand what we are doing.

 

6. If you say we could have our own website but it would cost money then we do have a reason to charge a nominal fee. But whether we charge membership fees or whether YatSoc and (say) SHLHC subsidise it by sharing the website fees is also open to debate. SHLHC need a website so presumably they could share the site for their own use. Another possibility is that my company has a couple of website allocations neither of which I have ever used. I could look into changing the website name to www.heathhist.org.uk

 

There is a difference between having webspace and having a domain name. The webspace is useful whatever the domain name might be.

 

7. In summary I do think before we go to a broader number of potential members we shall have to put more enticing stuff on the website. Perhaps the best solution would be for Phil to hold off sending his round-robin to all and sundry until we have added more substance.

 

I agree it is desirable to start to show its actual potential.

 

8. I should like to ask Mary to write a small piece on why the heathland has so influenced our history in this corner of the world. We have Carol Whites article on our own website. We could ask her to write a pithy up-date for the new website. I am sure Phil could give us a bit from one of his books (might even lead to some orders) and there must be something suitable from Chris Howkins (in return for a suitable reference). That list is all heathland. I am sure Mary has also got something suitable re the military, then there are the big houses and celebrities. I don't think it would take long to get some really interesting stuff together for the public pages.

 

ok

Comments (0)

You don't have permission to comment on this page.