Can we add a “Needs” or “Support” page to the Community Forum space?

And could we do this in a way that outlines tech needs first (before everything else)?

This would be something people can find right next to the current FAQ and that can be updated asynchronously.

Let’s maybe just have one central place that lists out everything that we need right now? It doesn’t need to be extremely detailed, but can link out to more detailed breakdowns and perhaps helpful posts and/or comments from within this forum that clarify any questions someone who wants to help might ask.

We have endless needs at Resonate and it’s both messy and overwhelming to have people in different areas raising them at different times and in different contexts without allowing other co-op members or potential volunteers to make connections for a more holistic view of where things are at, and where we’re stuck.

Tons of awesome suggestions always get made by people, but it feels like (to me) that they get lost in the ephemerality (sauce) of video calls, or the sea of information housed on the extremely linear and ever-changing Community Forum page.

Is this feasible? To clarify, this “Needs” page would best be broken down into general categories with brief/succinct bullet points underneath them that hyperlink out to more detailed write-ups (in my assessment). It could also double as a “Jobs Posting” page that’s easily accessible, and drop contact info for any point people taking initiative or volunteering in different areas.

Let me know your thoughts.

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Good observations here. I’ll reflect on how this could be organized.

Broadly, the two ways to organize things on the forum are:

  • Categories: folders and subfolders which separate posts from each other
  • Tags: connections which bring posts together across categories

So that’s why I’m starting – is whether these make sense as categories or as tags. Brainstorming.

The forum has felt due for some reorganization.

I really think we need to find a way to add it next to “About” and “FAQ.”

Would this be difficult to do, @auggod?

You mean on the Player under the Learn menu, right? I think that’s easy to update.

I’m referring to this area within the Community Forum:

That said, I’m sure what you’ve suggested could work in addition to this.

I’m looking into Kanban components that would span the whole forum, giving a zoomed out view of what’s going on based upon tags

I think that’s great medium-to-long term. Short term, I really think we need to have a consolidated “needs” page somewhere that is easily accessible and shareable. Like, ASAP. Whether it’s here in the forum, on the Resonate site as a blog post, a new Resonate web page, or both. So we can all be on the same page and not be overwhelmed by the constant flux of information.

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What about a Blog category for focused distillations of what’s going on? That would be a quick fix

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And to be clear, from my standpoint, I won’t have the bandwidth to collect and organize that kind of information anytime soon. But I’m still actively trying to send people Resonate’s way, and it has become a tremendous burden even just trying to help them understand or establish what we need in different areas.

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This seems like a great idea.

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Just know, however, that if someone is trying to seek out that information in a single place, they’re going to have to move through an extremely linear and ever-changing line/flow of information first. That is another burden and obstacle we’re introducing.

I recommend someone with the time and energy writing up an organized blog post at least, so we have a centralized link to share. And maybe we can pin that at the top of the forum.

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I’m taking time today to brainstorm this and rework stuff in the forum. After some recent changes, we’ve ended up with redundant categories and workspaces. Aiming to get that stuff sorted, which will bring more clarity as well.

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Perhaps a global pinned header in the Forum.

Put in a full day yesterday reorganizing the forum and feeling thrilled about the outcome.

The categories have much clearer individual purpose and the subcategories have been reorganized as well. The gardening symbols for each category imply a narrative of how the categories interrelate, with posts moving through them as ideas are discussed, clarified, resourced, delegated/claimed and implemented.

By Friday I should have a draft blog post summarizing our recent work and needs, leading to dedicated topics in the Needs category where folks can plug in.

With this done we’ll have the internal narrative straight for folks to do more self-organizing. I’ll be updating our welcome post and making clear links to it as a “start here” point. From there, sky’s the limit.

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First blog post is up – introducing folks to the forum, explaining the layout and where to sync up. It’s pinned universally across the forum so anyone showing up can get oriented quickly.

Needs category is growing bit by bit. Everyone direct volunteers there from now on. They can introduce themselves and be welcomed to teams’ projects in the Workshop or find their way to Ecosystem to set up independent initiatives on our codebase.

As the Needs page grows, I’ll tag the posts: volunteer, bounty, job, design, dev, etc and create buttons at the top for easy sorting.

Extremely happy with this forum redesign – it’s what I’ve been dreaming of.

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