Online Community Report of Findings

In June of last year, the Atlanta Macintosh Users group board of directors voted to establish a committee to examine our current Online Community. The mission of the committee was to evaluate our current Online structure and make recommendations for the future direction of the group's Online Services. A call to the membership for volunteers was initiated and a group made up of current members was formed. Members of the group have a committed interest in the online experience and future of the group as well as expertise with online technologies. The group is headed by the current Telecom Director. Over the last several months, the committee held a series of meetings to research all of the different options available to the group. This document contains the findings and recommendations of the committee.

First and foremost, the OC committee wants to assure the group at large that the committee has provided recommendations only and any actions would only be taken as a result of User Group approval. The details will be covered in a live presentation at an upcoming general meeting in March 2005.

In addition, there will a demonstration of the proposed services available online to the membership for a period of no less than 30 days. During that time, a public forum on the present Online Community will be set up for the membership to give input on the proposed services. Also during this time, direct private communication to the committee will be made available via email. At the end of the evaluation period, the committee will advise the board of directors of any issues of consequence brought up by the membership. This will complete the duties of the OC Committee. The board will need to address how to make any binding decision regarding changes to out current online community.

Findings:
Our current online community software, FirstClass, offers many great features and has served us well for many years. There are several good reasons why FirstClass has been and still is a viable alternative for our Online Community. They include:

• Full features
• Great support from an established company
• A large user base to draw from for support and ideas for customization
• Ease of administration
• Lots of options for customization
• Flexibility
• Reliability
• Speedy client software

However, there are some valid reasons for the group to consider alternatives to the FirstClass Software. They are:

• It is more costly to maintain FirstClass support contract and to purchase hardware for hosting.
• It uses a separate Client Software Application that needs configuration by the user.
• It is not fully Internet Standards based.
• There is a slower update path for new features.
• The Options for hosting are limited.

In looking at alternatives for FirstClass, the committee determined that in evaluating any alternative software, the following criteria should be met:

• It should feature ease of use for both end user and administrators
• It should contain accepted Internet protocol/technologies
• It should contain all the features currently available with FC and offer additional options
• It contains secure software and communications
• It should be based on a Community development or low cost technical support model (GNU, SourceForge or similar)
• It should feature Expandability/Robustness and the capability of growing with the membership

Recommendations:
After much consideration, this committee is recommending that our present AMUG Online Community make a transition away from the FirstClass platform of online services over to an open source PHP-based platform. Specifically, our current online structure, including forums, calendar and messaging would move to a web browser based system. Virtually all of our current features in FirstClass along with additional new features will be implemented in the new system. Our current AMUG email accounts will move to an industry standard system allowing access with a variety of mail clients and a web mail option. Mail forwarding and multiple alias addressing will also be continued as features of the new system.

The committee is also recommending moving to an external hosting provider instead of purchasing and maintaining our own hardware. With online hosting services becoming extremely affordable, the Committee is recommending this option for our data storage, with only one local machine for offline backups of the group's data.

After evaluating all the available web-based solutions, the committee is specifically recommending the egroupware open source software for our online community platform. It is the most full-featured open source solution available.

Why are we recommending this?
Cost is one reason. Cartersville Public Schools have been graciously hosting the AMUG Online Community at no charge. However, we have had to maintain our own hardware which is a major expense at our current membership levels. Our group, like all other user groups, has experienced a decline in total membership over the years. In other words, our hardware expenses have not decreased at the same rate as our membership collections. If we continue with our current structure, it is quite possible that membership fees will need to be increased to cover the hardware and support maintenance contract expenses.

Ease of use is another reason for making a change. Many long-time members of the group who have been using the FirstClass Application for many years enjoy using it and feel very comfortable with it. However, many new members, those who started using computers after the rise of the Web Browser, have complained about the FirstClass interface and some even refuse to use it and join in the Online community. To avoid making an unnecessary change in software, a redesign of the current Online Community was implemented in June 2004. Telecom reported no significant usage increase has been noted over the last 6 months. An evaluation of the latest version of the FirstClass software by the committee has seen no major improvements to the interface in the near future. If our goal is to increase the number of members that use the Online community, then we must find a solution that all members feel comfortable with and enjoy using. Keeping in mind that the current community has served us well for many years, the committee recognizes that any change to a web-based system should include an experience with virtually all the features of the current Online Community. The number one goal in this process should be to bring us the most current and cost-effective technology available while preserving the charm of the original Online Community many of us think so highly of. For example, all users will continue to be registered with their full real names and local community will be stressed, there will be no doubt that this is a local system in the Atlanta, Georgia area.

Tighter integration with the AMUG web site would be another benefit. Even though FirstClass provides a login to the Online Community through the AMUG web site, the interface is inferior to many of the web-based open source solutions available. Additionally with the implementation of a web-based solution, the group would benefit by having to have only one web server or hosting service rather than the current 2 server situation currently in use. A web-based community setup also allows our group knowledge to become a recruitment asset as it is indexed for Internet search. This brings people and interest to our site that will hopefully attract potential members.

Migration Plan
The OC committee will formally present its findings and preview a test site with the proposed changes at an upcoming AMUG general meeting in the spring (March).

The current membership not in attendance will also be notified in writing of the committee's recommendations through all available methods.

Immediately after the meeting, a 30 day evaluation period will begin at that time to solicit comments and suggestions from the group at large. A special web site with a preview of the proposed new Online Community will be set up for the group at large to preview. Also, a special conference on the current Online Community will be setup, as well as a special email address for direct, private communication to the committee. After the 30 day period, if an obvious consensus of the group's preference to change is received, either plans will move forward to make the change in the Online Community or the Community will continue in its present form. If no consensus is reached, then a formal online voting system will be set up to make the final determination.

If a final decision is reached to change to the new system, a 60 day countdown will begin until the new system is officially launched. It will be each user's responsibility to back up all personal data during that period. Due to technical and logistics issues, it will not be possible to maintain both sites simultaneously. A volunteer task force will be set up to export all permanent support information, such as all necessary site support information and recent news and information ONLY. After the new Online Community is launched, then the original Online Community will no longer be available at the current domain address. The new Online Community will be officially launched.

The Committee spent several months' work determining to its best judgement the future course of the Online Community. We understand the issue from many perspectives, as it is comprised of both long-time and newer members that are knowledgeable in this area. Again, the committee's objective first and foremost is to give our group the most current and affordable technology available while retaining all of the great charm and current features of our current Maclanta Online community. The committee invites any and all feedback, as long as it presented in the spirit of cooperation. If you agree with our findings, then that is OK. If you don't, then let us know your ideas on how to make it even better than it is now. After all, this is a computer users group. If you want to help to make it better, then you must get involved!

Stan Allen
AMUG Telecom
stan_allen@amugonline.org