August 13, 2018 - Platform Coop - Team Update Meeting
Action Items
1. Internal team communication:
a)- there is a sense that our communication (and planning) so far has been fragmented and indirect, primarily between Trebor and Jutta without the full IDRC team
- we need a way to discuss decisions and plans directly as a full team, in the spirit of a cooperative - the full team needs to be “in on” the planning and issue resolution
- we will make use of the internal mail list for team communication and include the full team (Trebor, Michael, and the IDRC team members) and avoid the sense of top-down broken-telephone communication
b) Michael will find a time for weekly check-ins that includes the full team
c) we will also make use of the wiki to document decisions and issues that arise
2. The PCC site:
- the UX needs to be improved (e.g., navigation) - but we can keep the current site
- we need to add the community engagement and a more dynamic communication element
(this is a prime area where the discussion needs to include the full design and development team, as well as input from prospective/current larger community members)
Issues that require further discussion:
1. - Meeting the specific needs of the individual co-ops vs. meeting generalizable needs that are reusable by other platform co-ops
2. - How to engage the larger community and communicate that this is a collective effort - creating a site and structures for the collective effort
- The discussion we need to have with the community about Google is not just why we would “sleep with the enemy,” but also that this is still a co-operative or collective effort, that the grant does not pay for everything needed by the community, we are primarily creating infrastructure whereby the community can co-operate and share resources
3. Google wants a product (and impact metrics), while our sense is that what is needed is a co-opeartive process and infrastructure to support the process - how do we resolve this tension
4. How do we manage partner expectations and keep to our grant commitment?
From Dana's email to the list August 22, 2018:
While testing out the new mailing list I thought I would also forward links to the docs that were shared at the meeting last week. The first is a list of the stakeholder groups (with a link to the second doc), though it looks like Trebor and Michael you have been adding stakeholder contacts to the second doc instead? So perhaps the first is obsolete.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BqANJQndJ0BLVocKVAXb1Pg0EdhC17BXO00qSx4tSHk/edit?usp=sharing
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Jgc2-FDQy60Lb-9cqR-aVe3XbBlE4taw-qjaMZQktlo/edit?usp=sharing
One question I have is whether or not these contacts are expecting to hear from us, and/or whether/how much information we need to provide them with re: background information on the project?
To reiterate the plan - the idea is that we (IDRC) will contact the stakeholders to gather their needs and preferences for the development toolkit. Do I have that right?
Wanted also to confirm the expectation for the October 15 date that Trebor and Jutta agreed to. As I understood, this will include a restructuring of the site / reworking the navigation, as well as updated/more engaging look (at least for the landing page for now), and possibly also some video testimonials (from coop workers).