I think it will take quite some time and effort to set up a fully functioning community portal, so it must have development and support staff dedicated to maintaining and improving it into the future. Please don't just launch it and then let it stagnate.
It needs to be simple to access and use. Many of the people operating support/community groups are older and not the best with technology so making it easy will ensure they're all able to participate. Ensure that it's easy for groups to feedback with suggestions for developing the portal.
Keep it up to date and relevant. If information is outdated, make sure it is binned at the first opportunity. If a funding deadline or event is passed, it's a waste of time to look at it. Fife Council's website is big, quite hard to navigate and has a lot of different audiences. This needs to be focused on one audience only, the community.
Allow the community the opportunity to participate in its development and give the community a voice to make further comment on the portal when it is live. For example on grant funding, could there be a chance to 'review' a funder (0-5 stars) so that we can share experiences ("this is funder is very communicative", "this funder's processes are easy to follow", "this funder offers good feedback").
The Our Levenmouth facebook site is perhaps a very simplified variation of what is proposed. It's quite handy to post news of upcoming events but a) we don't how many actually use it and b) is controlled by Council officials who can be selective in what they post. So it's value seems currently limited and, given the many online channels of communication, it's difficult to see how a single Community Portal (presumably divided accoridng to area), would attain the necessary traction and critical mass so that it becomes THE go-to site for information.
At the same time, the sprawling FifeDirect site is hard to navigate. Not so long ago, any small problems in the are could be reported at the local office. Try doing that now online is not easy and there's no sense that any action will eventuate.
Finally, can you identify a similar model which has been developed and is in use elsewhere which can be copied or adapted?
Is this portal a means for communities within Fife to communicate or is it only intended as a means for Fife Council to consult on/ disseminate information? Many/most community groups would find a site that gives a single, known point for members of their community to access information - that was not based on Facebook, Instagram or a profit based social media group - very useful.
Open answers (5)
I think it will take quite some time and effort to set up a fully functioning community portal, so it must have development and support staff dedicated to maintaining and improving it into the future. Please don't just launch it and then let it stagnate.
It needs to be simple to access and use. Many of the people operating support/community groups are older and not the best with technology so making it easy will ensure they're all able to participate. Ensure that it's easy for groups to feedback with suggestions for developing the portal.
Keep it up to date and relevant. If information is outdated, make sure it is binned at the first opportunity. If a funding deadline or event is passed, it's a waste of time to look at it. Fife Council's website is big, quite hard to navigate and has a lot of different audiences. This needs to be focused on one audience only, the community.
Allow the community the opportunity to participate in its development and give the community a voice to make further comment on the portal when it is live. For example on grant funding, could there be a chance to 'review' a funder (0-5 stars) so that we can share experiences ("this is funder is very communicative", "this funder's processes are easy to follow", "this funder offers good feedback").
The Our Levenmouth facebook site is perhaps a very simplified variation of what is proposed. It's quite handy to post news of upcoming events but a) we don't how many actually use it and b) is controlled by Council officials who can be selective in what they post. So it's value seems currently limited and, given the many online channels of communication, it's difficult to see how a single Community Portal (presumably divided accoridng to area), would attain the necessary traction and critical mass so that it becomes THE go-to site for information.
At the same time, the sprawling FifeDirect site is hard to navigate. Not so long ago, any small problems in the are could be reported at the local office. Try doing that now online is not easy and there's no sense that any action will eventuate.
Finally, can you identify a similar model which has been developed and is in use elsewhere which can be copied or adapted?
Is this portal a means for communities within Fife to communicate or is it only intended as a means for Fife Council to consult on/ disseminate information? Many/most community groups would find a site that gives a single, known point for members of their community to access information - that was not based on Facebook, Instagram or a profit based social media group - very useful.