Build a Community Environment

Forums and Bulletin Boards

One of the most useful additions to a web site that has drawn a crowd is the installation of a bulletin board (often referred to as a web forum). From the Users' point of view they get interaction amongst their peers (big plus for youth sites, very useful to technical sites). From an individual's point of view; they get to see their own words immortalised on the web forever (sort-of) - this self satisfaction aspect is never to be ignored.

The advantage of a forum from your business point of view is more about the nature of the communication. People post their messages to the forum and replies subsequently come in - over a space of time - there is no expectation of immediacy. This means if it is a technical forum centred around a piece of equipment, a message requesting help arrives from, say, Sydney, it sits there, maybe a suggestion or two from other users appears, then you reply, after reading the others, 3 hours later from Perth or even the next day, incorporating not just your own teams expertise but any other details that came with the preceding discussion, you have provided support in appropriate manner and no extra 'overtime' costs - everybody wins

In an educational sense these are invaluable as a tool for bringing the student class together at a similar time. It inherently copes with time displacements but can still cohesively deliver threaded (topic based) discussions. Plus it leaves a text based record which can be archived for assessment purposes. It should also be pointed out that typing speed is not an issue, again the messages sit and wait - this means everyone can get involved.

Blogs or Web Logs

These are an almost free form writing experience where a long document is created by one or more authors each adding a contribution one after the other. If there is one author, it can look like a diary journal. But it leaves all the information in one document so searching for items of interest is simplified.

Wiki Wiki

A Wiki Wiki (or wiki for short) is the inductrial version of a blog. A Wiki is like a blog in that people can append to or edit topics, but it goes much further. a wiki has a range of tools which both structure and manage the additions. It can construct a doucment which parts (chapters), as well as providing controal over who can edit what. They have been very successful when used to develop equipment manuals - people who work on the equipment add to the manual documentation and the integrity of the doucment is maintained by a 'moderator'.

One of the most well known examples of Wiki Wiki software in use is the Wikipedia - you can now see where it derives it's name.

Really Simple Syndication - RSS

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