| |
The Vision
The internet is a wonderful paradigm of the Gamaliel Network. Once you get
connected, you are free to meet your own needs and influence the world
around you in ways you never imagined.
The re-design of gamaliel.org created a place in cyberspace where all
sorts of things can happen:
You learn about the Gamaliel Foundation
You conduct network business
You find support for your work in the network
You can find important base building documents
You can learn about every network affiliate
You can collaborate with other leaders
Making the vision real
This vision came to life in a community of clergy. It will take a network
wide community to sustain it. Growing organizations need to be intentional
about their communication.
Besides being available at gamaliel.org, each local, regional, and
national affiliate needs a leadership table strategizing how to tell our
story and how to be good stewards of our image.
At these leadership tables we will gather people who are interested in
creating and updating web sites, brochures, newsletters, ad books, annual
reports, and all manner of print media.
At these tables leaders will guide each organization’s relationship to
print and broadcast media.
These leaders will design and produce media that will move issues in our
congregations, organizations and communities.
These leaders will also be responsible for securing the funding to support
the organization’s communication efforts.
These leaders will be supported with NLA base building workshops and other
training.
Does our organization already have a website?
Every Gamaliel affiliate has had a fully designed and linked 15 page
website ready to receive organizational content since NLA 2001. These
pages represent a basic set of information that viable organizations are
willing to share with one another. They include:
|
About us |
history and mission
|
|
Members |
basic contact information |
|
Board |
roster with basic contact information |
|
Staff |
contact information,
picture biography
|
|
Calendar |
annual up-to-date list of
events
|
|
Clergy Caucus |
roster, contact roster and activities |
|
Contributors |
contributors list, web
site link, a thank you and encouragement patronization.
|
|
Contact Us |
contact person, address, phone, fax,
e-mail address. |
|
Home Page |
your most important
message is posted here.
|
|
Actions |
flyers and announcements
|
|
Issues |
papers, talking points, metro agendas
|
|
Core Teams |
directories and basic contact information |
|
Core Teams |
actions are chronicled here |
|
News |
news releases & news story summaries |
|
Victories |
showing the difference you make |
Gathering this information together should not be too difficult for a
viable organization. This is the basic information necessary for telling
any organization’s story. It is best if it is supplied to the web master
or web team in a text file.
There is also a new page template that retains the site links while
providing the organization with unlimited extra pages.
Who can give content to affiliate websites?
We are looking for people who are:
committed to congregation based organizing
interested in using the web to communicate
basic typing skills
Knowledge of html and other web programming languages in not necessary.
Experience with digital or 35 mm photography and the use of a scanner is
very useful.
Experienced programmers are welcome as long as they understand they will
be working with MS FrontPage. What is necessary?
An IBM compatible computer that will run MS FrontPage (not available for
Apple computers), with a copy of MS IE and a connection to the internet. A
low cost connection to an Internet Service Provider may be more useful
than connecting through a service such as AOL, CompuServe, or Prodigy. A
DSL line may be helpful but is not necessary. Phone connections that allow
access to the web and voice are very helpful.
FrontPage
This software is widely used in the academic and business community today.
It does not require prior knowledge of web design or programming. Using
FrontPage is very similar to using a modern word processor. FrontPage
continues to receive good reviews in software journals. It also allows
experienced programmers to enhance their own pages by writing and using
their own code. Microsoft is now making this software available to
non-profit organizations like ours at one sixth of street price.
All web master and web team members must register with Director of
Communication, Don Burton, by phone at (262) 639-5914. FrontPage must be
purchased and installed and the webmaster should have basic content to add
to the website in text form before registration. An hour should be set
aside for this conversation that will enable the web master to:
add and edit text on the web page, insert pictures and graphics, link to
gamaliel.org pages, the world wide web and e-mail. The web master will
also receive their user name and password at this time.
Your Web Site is accessed in
two ways
Your find the link to your page in the Gamaliel Affiliate Directory on
the Gamaliel Gateway page and on every Gamaliel.org page.
After your webmaster has registered with the Office of Communication, your
site may be accessed by typing
"http://www.gamaliel.org/organization".
Technical & other issues
The purpose of Gamaliel.org is to
provide a powerful internet presence that will assist the Gamaliel network
to move local, regional and national issues.
A powerful internet presence requires all affiliates and components of the
Gamaliel Network to share the same domain. This enables our users to
search all the organizations to receive the information they need.
Linking one domain to another does not contribute to a powerful internet
presence for the Gamaliel Network.
Some organizations continue to insist on their own domain name instead of
using the “domain-like” name provided with their gamaliel.org web site.
While we can provide domain name forwarding to an affiliate’s folder on
our site we continue to discourage this practice. We are trying to secure
a powerful national internet presence that contributes to building a
national image for the Gamaliel network.
The URL “http://www.organization.org” obscures the relationship of the
local or regional organization to Gamaliel Network. “http://
www.gamaliel.org/organiza-tion” makes this relationship very clear.
The current design of gamaliel.org is part of a three part process that
was outlined at NLA 2001.
This year’s theme is “Collect and Communicate.” Almost every day new
organizations and resources are being added to Gamaliel.org. For example,
Dr. David Rusk is providing us with much of his research into the
metropolitan areas where our organizations are located. By NLA the ten
year archive of the Gamaliel Clergy Caucus Training will be available
online. Before NLA important training materials will be available to
organizers in a secure site. Access to these materials are available 24
hours a day, seven days a week.
Next year’s theme is “Decide and Design.” Members of a National
Communication Table will make decisions that will shape the re-design of
gamaliel.org. They will also lay out a communication strategy for the
Gamaliel network.
The third year’s theme is “Data Driven and Diversified.” The possibilities
and the software we use in 2004 will be determined by the decisions we
make in 2003. During the course of this year the shape of the Network will
be clearer and we will be able to shape a powerful communication strategy
for the emerging Gamaliel Network.
|