“Community Projects”

“A WEB TOOL FOR PROJECT SELF-MANAGEMENT”

October 2005

Greg Bryant

The Eugene Community Trust

The Tango Center

Grant Administration

Omidyar Network, Inc.                        

Version 1.0 will be a general-purpose web-based tool allowing on-site, multi-user creation and ongoing development of multi-administrator-based web sites that are quality-oriented, directly- democratic and transparent. Initial use and testing of the Web Tool will be performed by the Eugene Community Trust for the purpose of running the Tango Center website, and related projects and collaborations.

                                        

SPECIFICATION:

Community Project Self-Management Tool

A general-purpose web service, created on-site at The Tango Center in Eugene, Oregon.        

This web service tool is a general-purpose, push-button, turn-key version of useful, expensive, specialized tools that are common in industry. Numerous commercial management tools and form-based data applications are configured with schemas and frameworks, made operational through programmed dependencies & actions, and linked to users through specialized form- makers, data viewers & report generators. Developer will re-create, simplify and re-package these functions in a novel user-centric manner and call the result a "tool for democratic project self- management".

                                        

The Web Tool allows a group of people to create a web operation for themselves, without programming and without web-authoring applications. It allows them to manage their own projects, invite a handful, or thousands, of colleagues from local & global communities, define and self-manage sub-projects quickly, and manage projects jointly with other groups. The targets of this self-management are extremely broad, to include democratic goal-setting & decision- making, project quality focus, data repository upkeep, operations, financing, construction, maintenance, event organizing, development, membership participation, volunteer organizing, community education, outreach & media relations, partnerships etc.

                                        

The main goal is to allow communities to easily create & run projects, so individuals can collectively work to improve their own lives.

                                        

Currently the tool allows the following:

                                        

                                                                         

                        

                                                                  

                

                        

                                

                                        

Developer will finish the Web Tool on site in the Tango Center, where it must work for the benefit of a large community of project members -- several thousand, with the goal of determining whether the web can be used to democratically manage a high-quality, transparent community project.

                                                                        

Milestone One: On or before April 30, 2005 Tango Center staff, local teachers, organizers, hosts and musicians will be able to use the Web Tool for organizing their joint activity -- from scheduling to administration of current loans.                                         

Milestone One Deliverables:                                         

                                                                                 

• State tables: For a large group to work effectively, group criteria need to be determined. Everyone's contribution needs to be heard, and collectively ranked. Then these can be used as an initial working base for addressing, rating and prioritizing issues, problems, solutions, initiatives etc. None of this is possible without variable state tables, which allow items to move through various stages (such as 'proposed', 'read', 'ranked', 'promoted', 'tabled', etc.)