How does ruralnet|online help ruralnet|uk achieve its mission? Our mission card is to the left - click on it to see it full size. We are an umbrella organisation that supports others in what they want to do. We don't dictate what happens we just help people achieve the goals they have set themselves. We may also have an influence on what people do and we may be a catalyst for local action. However, we achieve the latter by exposing people to ideas that others have had or by raising awareness of what others are doing.
In short we are a networking organisation specialising in linking people up and enabling experience, knowledge and information to flow. We also deliver services ourselves but these are, as one of our users described, "always there but unobtrusive".
ruralnet|online is just one channel though which we deliver our mission. The new ruralnet|online needs to bring together people and/or ideas. It needs to aggregate resources for our users and provide a mechanism for the delivery of our online services. The highest profile online service we provide in this area is xPRESS Digest) and share internet-based resources we have found useful (Inforurale). Our users also get access to the GRANTfinder database.
ruralnet|online feed
What is Rnet for? I see it
What is Rnet for?
I see it as a 'mega-gateway'- ideally (and I apologise for jargon ahead of using...wash my mouth out!)....ideally a '1-stop-shop' for all things 'rural community'.......
Mainly I'd like to see OTHERS - CRC, defra, Carnegie etc using Rural net to 'piggy back' on - inorder to reach rural activists via a recognised/established mechanism, rather than inventing something new.
James
University of Gloucestershire UK
James - I would support your
James - I would support your enthusiasm for Ruralnet ... but I think the days of one stop shops, gateways and portals are fading. These days stuff happens all over the place, and the task is to help people join up, find their route in. That might be by mix-and-match on a site, or creating "dashboards" using tools like Pageflakes Here's how that was done for a the recent Barcampukgovweb.
More here on decentralised and distributed communities.
Thanks James and David -
Thanks James and David - I interpret what James is saying as, hang on guys before we just do something because we can, let's look around to see what others are up to. David's point is right too.
So do we have a dilemma? Well no we don't really. The scope for collaboration and sharing is now better than ever with the new generation of internet technologies and creative thinkers (aka Web 2.0).
Consider these two current case studies.
ONE:
We run the Experts Online service here: http://www.expertsonline.org.uk but we have been supported by the CRC to deliver it _through_ any local support website that want's it. Look here:
- http://www.ruralcommunities.gov.uk/events/ruralservicesupport
- http://www.essexruralpartnership.org.uk/postoffice.asp (bottom left side)
- http://www.braf.org.uk/ (bottom centre)
- http://www.ruralfocus.co.uk/ (right side-bar)
TWO:
We deliver the xPRESS Digest News service here:
http://www.xpressdigest.co.uk
But others are taking feeds from this 'central' service to improve the services they are able to deliver to their constituents. The UKFundRaising site is taking a filtered feed from xPRESS so that everything to do with funding that we publish in xPRESS pops up on their website automatically. See here:
http://www.fundraising.co.uk/aggregator/sources/36
David is correct that the
David is correct that the days of trying to dominate a particular sector as a one-stop-shop are over now, given the growing number of published sources, expanding wave of content, and people's consumption of and exposure to social networking tools.
This is complicated further by the blurring of boundaries. In my area of charity fundraising, I am amazed by the variety of organisations that now engage with fundraising in some way - social enterprises, NHS trusts, and public emergency services are just some areas that have stretched my traditional view of the charity sector considerably.
So, how to take ruralnet|online forward? I think there is certainly a role for authoritative online sites. But the successful ones will deal with the above changes by avoiding expanding their own content just because they can and focusing on gathering, assessing, and repackaging others' content.
Simon kindly mentioned my site's use of RSS aggregation to pull in good quality content. I see RSS as one tool to achieve this discriminating (in its original positive sense!) use of related material. Currently my site gathers the information in a very basic way. However, I plan soon to do much more with it, by not only categorising it but feeding it into relevant areas of the site.
My aim with RSS and any other similar tool I can use is to gather the best information/advice available, filter it, and publish it in a manageable format and volume. I aim to give UK Fundraising's readers less information overall, but more of the material that matters in their silo or fundraising discipline.
Nothing new in that really, and it's far easier said that done. But perhaps that's a way forward for ruralnet|online. An informed gatekeeper that does the behind-the-scenes hard work to make content from many sources useable.
Which of course describes one of the functions of a librarian or information scientist. (Note my bias - I took an MSc in Information Science in the early 1990s).
One other thought - the facility to generate OPML and RSS feeds means that it's very easy and cheap for someone else to emulate what you do. So, all your publicly available content could end up being aggregrated by a bigger/different/better publisher. That's both a threat and an opportunity, but unavoidable.
ruralnet|online has always
ruralnet|online has always worked with groups and organisations supporting them by providing networking facilities for individuals.
It seems to me that increasingly it is individuals or adhoc groups with no previous connection with existing organisations or networks that are taking the lead in tackling local issues in their communities. These may be very reactive e.g. fighting to keep the village school or post office open or proactive e.g. tackling environmental issues.
I find this exciting and know from experience that the individuals involved often rely on on-line resources rather than, as in the past, perhaps calling their local rural community council or local council for advice.
I think that one challenge for Ruralnet is to offer support to these activists and to connect them with other activists, groups and organisations.
Bill Perrett
I think Bill's got a really
I think Bill's got a really good point here, and technology is on our side - One of the failures of many online systems is getting people enagaged in the first place, yet nowadays there are lots of passionate people out there whose first port of call is to set up a blog or a Facebook group. These lone campaigners perhaps do not have as loud a voice than if they were networked together - eg perhaps what the Rural Community Carbon Network could demonstrate for rural energy. However the network might be much looser, through tagging and widgets possibly than a 'come here and get it' site.
(UPDATE my blog example came from about (not necessarily campaigning) groups linked up by groupsnearyou.com The good thing about these mysociety tools is that they often have APIs (techy for behind the scenes widgets) that they encourage others to use in their own websites)
(Added last - this was a
(Added last - this was a quick comment at first !)
Earlier David raised a very good point (which is running as a thread on his blog), which is - what do 'membership organisations' (RCCs, CVS' and the like) do if their hold on the gate keys is threatened by young upstarts campaigning through social networking sites (no offence as I support this way of working!). Suddenly all you worked for, all your revenue from closed memberships disappears.
I would support local campaigns run by local activists through social tools as they are making big impacts, but what is left? I can also see a role for the CVS / RCC to link together others with similar causes spread across the country, to share experiences, to review progress with peers, to share campaigning methods and ultimately to link up into a national voice.
Yes - I do see the day when Anytown CVS ceases to send out it paper newsletter (!), but not when Anytown CVS and Myshire RCC, and Yourplace Community Action join forces to keep rural services open!
Does this move the discussion on further? (Note to self - late night blogging is bad for you!)
My chip in - Aggregate relevant information for rural communities in channels (maybe pageflakes esque) and have open networking channels where communities can pull out useful ideas (cards in Davids game?) and drop them into their community (maybe building a tag cloud to show groundswell in causes). Also have VCS (slap wrist TSO!) and ICT news channels ticking (Xpress Digest Style) to keep all informed.
Meet the experts (virtual and in person) sounds good - my work with the ICT Hub Regional Champions project has seen enormous benefits when a dozen or so ICT thinkers from the same region sit down and network.
Phew ! I suspect the various mills will be churning over the next few months - to quote out of context, this time I see the answer as "42".
Love to be there on Tuesday, but I'm presenting at Social Source South West in Bristol (Open Source for Managers who are sceptical about Open Source!).
Keep me in the loop though Simon!