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Advisory Group meeting notes, 13th December 2004

Room 101, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington

Participants: Rakiihia Tau, Georgina Johnson, Ross Bell, Peter Sykes, Ruth Gardner, Bill Dashfield, Kaeti Rigarlsford, and Dana Reddy (Minutes).

Present for part: Morag Osborne, Director Operations for Local Government and Community Branch, Colin Feslier, Corporate Communications Manager DIA

Apologies: Sarah Hill (National Service Delivery Manager/Acting Operations Manager), Cyrus Nielsen (Policy Analyst).

1. Welcome

Rik opened the meeting with a karakia at 9:45am.  Bill welcomed all attendees.

2. Minutes and Matters Arising

Matters arising:

  • LTCCP to read Long Term Council Community Plan in minutes.
  • Contact Legal Service Agency – this has not yet been done.  This is to ask if they can write a How To Guide on legal issues for community groups.
  • Recommendation to management about need for a (part time content) editor.  This has not been formally proposed but informal discussions have taken place.
  • Georgina has spoken to Community Sector Taskforce as she belongs to the Maori Caucus.  She raised the need to have their web pages updated and minutes put onto the site, and for someone to contact CommunityNet, as Nigel is leaving.  Bill will contact the group.  If it has not been updated by early February then content will (need to) be removed.
  • Recruitment of a CommunityNet Project Manager will be discussed with Morag. (The current one is a contractor.)
  • Alternative URLs (for CommunityNet Aotearoa) have been purchased.

MOVED: That the minutes of the meeting of 10th August 2004 be accepted, with the above correction, as a true and correct record (Rik/Ruth).

ACTIONS:

  • Bill to correct minutes and publish.
  • Bill to contact Legal Service Agency and Community Sector Taskforce

3. Planning for 2005

Morag Osborne, Director Operations for Local Government and Community Branch, was introduced to the group. 

Morag has had preliminary discussions with Bill and Sarah Hill (National Service Delivery Manager/Acting Operations Manager) regarding a part time Editor being recruited.  This has been approved providing there is sufficient budget.  Bill will prepare a proposal and budget. 

The question of whether it was possible that a list of services provided by all government could be listed on CommunityNet Aotearoa was raised.  Morag responded that the Department is facilitating a greater interaction between central and local government and a team has been established to implement this. 

There is also a directory being developed listing government agencies and contact people.  She acknowledged people have been asking for a one-stop shop for information.  There are budget issues this year but there is a possibility of the group meeting with the policy people to discuss the development of budget bids and proposals.

The www.govt.nz site provides this information and there is also Community Help in hard copy, which includes listings of government departments and MPs. 

The CNA website manager position will be advertised in January.  It was agreed there could be 2 representatives from the group on the recruitment panel.  Ross will be involved in this.

There was some discussion about raising the profile of CommunityNet Aotearoa with Ministers and MPs and inviting the Minister to the next meeting was proposed.

ACTIONS:

  • Bill to prepare and put forward prepare a proposal and budget for part-time Editor.
  • Bill to investigate possibility of the group meeting with the policy people to discuss the development of budget bids and proposals.
  • Ross and another to be involved in CNA website manager recruitment.

4. Advisory Group governance structure review

Further to recommendations about the governance structure, Morag agreed to increase the number of representatives by one and have one more meeting per year, subject to budget.  Te Atamira Taiwhenua will be consulted over whether they would like to rotate their representative on the Advisory Group.  It was agreed the fees should be reviewed and a proposal should be developed.  It was endorsed that the current members should continue as representatives on the Advisory Group, provided they have attended at least two thirds of the meetings in the last year.

The issue of the strategic placing of CommunityNet and the need for ministerial support was raised.  Morag suggested inviting Hon. Rick Barker, Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector, to meet with the group.  It was suggested Hon. David Cunliffe should also be involved.

There have been concerns from the community about the level of Departmental involvement with the editorial policies of the group, rather than these being determined by the Advisory Group. Bill has had discussions with Colin Feslier, Corporate Communications Manager, regarding unsuitable links.  This will be discussed later today.

Morag thanked the group for their work and endorsed the need for a robust long-term strategy for CommunityNet Aotearoa.

5. Briefing from the Web Maestro

Miraz Jordan was welcomed to the meeting.  She briefly outlined her role, which includes filtering, forwarding and responding to communications from the website; preparing and distributing the Panui; adding items to the website; filtering and updating Links; removing expired items; and approving content for the Community Centre.  Miraz works 6-8 hours per week (on CommunityNet Aotearoa). 

The process for tidying the links process is under review, as this is unnecessarily lengthy and time consuming.

The number of bookmarks taken has grown since September.  This may be due to the tips Miraz posts in the Panui.  It was suggested there be another tip in the Panui about RSS Newsreaders.

Miraz has suggested that there be an increase in the number of hours she works, especially if the site becomes more successful.

Miraz suggested that a list of groups providing free assistance in developing websites for community groups be added to the IT section of the website.

Kaeti congratulated Miraz on the accuracy and usefulness of what she does.

6. Website developments

Website Statistics

Bill tabled a paper outlining trends since the last meeting.  Key points to note are:

  • Page views have increased dramatically but this may be due to link checking and increased search engine activity.
  • Visits have grown by 85% over the last 12 months.
  • Bookmarks taken have quadrupled over the last 12 months.
  • Bad requests, for broken links, have been greatly reduced.

Website Management

Bill outlined what he has been working on since he has started back with CommunityNet.  This includes time spent with the Intergen developer working through issues and “wish list” items.  A paper outlining desirable improvements was tabled. 

“How to Guides” progress reports

The How to Guides were discussed.  The latest Advocacy and Campaigning guide was discussed.  There is still some more that need to be added to this.  Georgina is discussing some issues with the Editor.

The Research How to Guide has not progressed lately.  This was due by the end of June, however there are valid reasons why this has not been completed.  Bill suggested he upload the content that has been written.  It was suggested the pressure could be taken off the editor by offering to take the guide back, with payment given for the work that has been done.

Relationships and promotion

Bill has met with FIS (Funding Information Services) and the JR Mackenzie Trust to discuss CommunityNet Aotearoa.  He also gave a presentation to the Office for the Community and Voluntary Sector team.  He tabled an overview of the presentation and proposed to post this on the website.  Bill also attended the ANGOA research forum and briefly spoke about CommunityNet.

He also suggested a list be compiled of newsletters produced by like minded organizations and deadlines for including content in these.  The information regarding the survey could be included in this.  The ANGOA updates were suggested as a valuable vehicle for this, as was including some of their content on the website.  Advisory Group members will email suggestions to Bill with contact details.

Access to funding and gambling profits was felt to be valued, and it was queried whether there is sufficient information on the site regarding this.

It was suggested that the term “subscribe” to the Panui might deter some people, as this may indicate that there is a cost involved. It is suggested “add me to your mailing list for the free Panui” be added to the front page.  The term “submit” was also raised as an issue.

Bill has also reviewed links to CommunityNet from other sites.  He outlined the importance of having links from the key site.  Currently we are not listed on the www.govt.nz site, but we are linked from the Companies office.  Miraz emails out a suggestion to add a link to the site when people submit an item, but it was suggested that the logo also be included in this with a message to forward to their web maestro.

Bill met with the Community Employment Group, which is disbanding.  Many of their projects are moving to the Ministry of Social Development.  Connecting Communities has not yet been picked up.  Cyrus Nielsen is now our Policy Analyst working on the Digital Strategy. 

Plans for upcoming months

  • Improving ease of (editing) access for Miraz.
  • Improve the speed of the site.
  • Set up a digital strategy hot topic.
  • Survey to go out mid to late February once questions are agreed.
  • Update profiles for Advisory Group members.

Suggestions for future additions

  • Weekly polling questions with room for comments and a place to see results.
  • Suggestions section and feedback on whether people found what they are looking for.
  • Review front-page design with a test group.
  • Site of the month award and dated email badge when reviewing Community websites (and for past sites) and a “nominate a site of the month” form or for top referrer for the month.


Webguide Partnership

The (Webguide) site has been created but is not being promoted at this stage while further improvements are considered.  This will be worked on in the New Year and Bill will raise at the WebGuide group at their next meeting, probably in February.

7. Communications

Colin Feslier, Corporate Communications Manager, joined the meeting after lunch.  He gave a brief outline of his role.  He also gave an overview of the current level of political scrutiny.

Bill and Colin have met and discussed problematic links.  Some of these have been taken down pending this meeting.  Bill tabled a draft paper on editorial policies. 

A key concern about CommunityNet is that as long as the Department is responsible for the site and it is funded through the Community and Voluntary Sector Vote, there are clear guidelines on what can and cannot go on the site.  Political advocacy, either in favour of or against the current government, is not appropriate and nor are links to sites with, for example, advertisements of 'adult' content.  Colin gave some examples.  There was some discussion around this issue. 

Regularly checking links is also necessary to ensure sites linked are still active and have not changed their content policies. There have been examples of sites not using that address anymore,  when a more questionable organisation may be.  There was some debate as to how restrictive our link policies should be.

There was a suggestion that the disclaimer on the website should be from the Advisory Group and not from the Department, as the Advisory Group makes initial decisions.  It was also suggested the disclaimer note that sites do change.  It was suggested that there should be a clear Memorandum of Understanding between the Department and the Advisory Group that the editorial policies belong to the Advisory Group, rather than the Department.  There was some debate around this. 

The draft proposal Bill tabled (for clearer content selection criteria) was discussed, with the reasoning behind this.  It was suggested that Colin work with Bill on the editorial policies, and circulate the proposal to the Advisory Group once it is rewritten.  The wider communications group could also work on possible improvements to the site. 

There was an endorsement of the need for clearly stated guidelines.  Suggested changes to the recommendations were:

  • Editorial policies be reviewed to include guidelines and selection criteria
  • List of culled links and reasoning for removal to go to Advisory Groups
  • Content of the website be reviewed quarterly

There is also a need to look at the sustainability of the website.  In terms of encouraging ongoing support there could be a section on the site as to how the site fits in with the key government goals.  A draft of this will be prepared and circulated to the Advisory Group.

The draft communications plan was reviewed.  Some of the planned tasks have been completed but many will only happen once a full time employee is managing the site. 

8. Customer Survey

A draft was tabled.  Suggested changes and additions were:

  • Say how many pages there are if going over one page.
  • Options for why last visited CommunityNet could have checklists with an area to expand for other.
  • Offer a print version and freepost.
  • Ask if meeting needs or how useful the Panui is rather than satisfied.
  • Check with Research department for best options on Likert scale.
  • 'Not interesting or useful' as the second option for reasons not to subscribe to Panui.
  • Suggestion of gender question (and include transgender?)
  • Question 11 should allow multiple answers and reword to “where do you usually access CommunityNet from”?
  • 5 categories – NZ European, NZ Maori, Pacific Peoples, Asian and Others.

9. Digital Strategy Update

Cyrus Nielsen, the Policy Analyst working on this, sent his apologies.  This will be transferred to the next agenda.

10. General Business

There were no items.

11. Next meeting date

The next meeting will be held on Friday 4th February.  Accommodation and meals are to be at the Copthorne Plimmer Towers next time.  It was suggested that Ross chairs the next meeting.

Agenda items to include:

  • CommunityNet Advisory Group business cards.
  • Process for adding Advisory Group Members.
  • Suggestion PICAG be asked to nominate a Pacific Island representative with particular skills in IT onto the Advisory Group.  Request a CV.
  • Digital strategy update.
  • Investigate inviting the Minister.

Meeting closed at 4pm.