Barcamp Sheffield BashMash-1 archer project meeting notes

My notes from the #mashbash meeting 1 with the sheffield archer project.

Cathederal Archer Project Ltd

Meeting between Archer Project and Barcamp Sheffield #bashmash organisers, 21st Jan 2009

Present:
Jag Gill
Ian Ibbotson
Chris Murray
Tim Renshaw
Tracey Viner

The Archer Project (CAP, or more formally the “Cathederal Archer Project Ltd”, see http://www.sheffield-cathedral.co.uk/links.asp?articleID=50) is a not for profit project based out of sheffield cathederal who offer food and a base for the homless in sheffield as we attempt to break the cycle of deprivation.

Barcamp sheffield is an annual event hosted by the sheffield geek community -headed up jag- looking to apply local talent and technical knowledge to short focussed projects that will benefit the city and it's people. These projects are being run under the #bashmash tag.

On Wed 21st jan CAP and #bashmash had an initial get-together to discuss what form a #bashmash project based around a new online CAP presence might take. The following are notes.

An initial concern was described that although the archer project is fundamentally supported by the cathederal, some people may be put off by the closeness of the CAP branding to the cathederal branding. The team brainstormed some initial requirements
Website design, inkeeping with the cathederal branding, yet noticably different
Hosting
Some form of Viral Marketing to promote the site
SEO to get the CAP site up rankings
Interactivity
We discussed the options for embedded twitter feeds to add a dynamic quality, EG, # of meals served today, daily weather reports, interim statistics such as # of homless at last count.
Discussed the need for walled garden interactivity, so user contributed materials do not negatively impact on the “Brochure site” aspect.
Use of photo-blogging

Some of the primary requirements of the web-site we came up with
Support CAP in funding applications, essentially have a component which is a stylish and professional brochure site describing the work of CAP
Provide a place for the CAP team to show evidence of their work (Again supporting funding applications)
Provide information to help link up with other support agencies / support other agencies / demostrate how CAP can help.
Provide a place for the homless in sheffield to meet the world essentially putting a human face on the issues facing the city.
Provide a place to electronically publish the CAP news letter. Resources for the paper based news-letter are sparse, the site based news may not be bound by these constraints, although the need for content is primary.
Provide a place to announce and promote CAP campaigns. Specifically
Big Sleep Out
Harvest Festival
Christmas Appeal
Sheffield Sharks appeal
Provide a link to “Just Giving” / have space for e-commerce / e-giving applications

Some random thoughts which came up
What happened to the old SIF sheffield information forum. Is there any way to start to tie together #bashmash projects into a wider information network
Contact with the crisis marketing manager
We need early access to logs for key supporters
It would be great to have a Facebook app
Could we link up with Weatherwatch to have a dynamic alert
Could we get kids to build arduino based thermometers in #geekupsheff-kids to raise awareness?
How can we contribute to the wider sheffield community
Links to sheffield First Step Trust? Sheffield Advice Link? Other projects?
Links with silentsheffield.org
Links with homeless assessment service
Homeless Link Network
Links with Drug Action Teams
Links with Tunring Point
Links with Sheffield Theatres
An information resource for homelessness – articles?
We could mash up thinks like the #meals statistics using google forms, RSS and yahoo pipes to form a feed to the webapp.
Could we use some microformats for opening times etc to share data with other sheffield orgs? Semantic geeky project thoughts here.
GPS tracking units to see where people go/how often they get moved along?

The project has volunteers who could be recruited in to update stats / tweet information / write articles and postings.

We discussed technology choices, and unless requirements change, are happy that we could implement the following infrastructure
Wordpress as a primary hosting environment
Hosting provided for a minimum of n years provided by #bashmash
Google Analytics and statpress for stats
The #bashmash project will focus around usability and graphical design
There will be space for other contributed projects such as twitter feeds and facebook applications, this should provide opportinities for all who are interested to get involved, around the core design and implementation team.

Initial thoughts about the day
It would be nice to see mock-ups (HTML, Graphics) as early as possible in the day.
Tracy will act as on-site customer to give feedback on designs and usability
Should we use a design methodology / process on the day?
Handover and sign/off / go live

Closing thoughts
The #bashmash day needs to have a sustainability plan as an output
We need to give some thoughts to Critical Success Factors
Publishing Measurements is both good and bad as it supports funding, provided the stats look good and are maintained.

(My) Overall feelings, the primary customers (The CAP team) need to a site to support their funding applications, and their service users. These two groups have different, but equally important requirements. There is a desire to stay within the broad theme of the cathederal, yet be distinct.


Outstanding
Sort a venue
Get volunteers – Jag is handling this
Sort out the process


Extra information

Possible sections
Home
Who We Are / What We Do
Donation (Link to just giving)
Volunteering
New/Newsletter – upload press cuttings, newsletter PDF's
Events
Supporters
CAP Health
CAP Catering
CAP Gardening
CAP Education
CAP Activities
Contact Us
Links to useful sites – HomlessLink, Crisis, Shelter, etc
CAP Staff/Board
Examples of clients / work in progress
Questions – show church support without it taking over

Themes for the site (We would like the design to reflect these feelings)
Trust
Warm
Open
Friendly
Respected
Opportunity
City Centre
Community
Caring

Other – Mailshot, newsletters, social networking... Other? Got some sample pages
Will scan the sample pages and my notes pages / diagrams and attach asap.

Calendar of Geeky events in and around sheffield

Here's a calendar I'm maintaining with various geeky events. Please feel free to send stuff to me on any of the usual channels, or get in touch to get permission to add events yourself.