Draft mission/vision statement for the Community site

[Paul Orwig]

Please take a look at this draft mission/vision statement for the Community site, and respond with your feedback/thoughts/suggestions on how to make it better!

 

As a bit of background, a question came up recently about a questionable blog post which could be viewed as an attempt to promote a commercial entity. Brad suggested creating a mission statement which could (among other things) be used as a reference for deciding what does (and doesn't) belong on the Community site.
 
Note: The approach taken for this draft borrows heavily from the approach used in the Joomla! mission statement which is published at:
http://www.joomla.org/about-joomla/the-project/mission-vision-and-values.html
 
Mission
Our mission is to manage a high quality website which will be an effective communication channel that supports the Joomla! community.

(As used here, "Joomla! community" refers to the people who support and work on Joomla! in various ways. As it relates to the "commercial entity blog post" issue mentioned above, it can be derived from this mission statement that if a blog post (or other content) is seen as supporting someone/something other than the Joomla! community, then it falls outside the scope of our mission and would therefore be likely to get removed.)

 

Vision
In our vision, we see:
 - A platform which allows the Joomla! community to effectively communicate with people in a variety of different ways.

  (This covers everything from managing a well formatted site with working links and effectively presented content, to being responsive to users and doing a good job managing the back end of the site.)

 - A destination for people to learn how they can volunteer to help with the Joomla! project.

  (This is an area of the site that Airton and I feel is important and can also be developed and improved.)

 

- A resource which helps people to connect with each other, both online as well as at organized Joomla! events.

  (This is intentionally broad and covers everything from blog entries and comments, to Joomla! Event and JUG information, Twitter links, etc.)

[elin]

I think that's really a great start.It's good to have something you
can look at in order to make decisions in difficult situations.

One confusion about the community site has always been whether it is
primarily designed for people who are already active in the community
or if it is a way to bring people into the community--that is engage,
debate and inform a much bigger circle of people the way the forums do
but in a more modern style. For example if it's just for team people
then you wouldn't add a section for beginners or on webmaster advice
or for designers, but if it's the latter you would. I think you can
make alternate ways for people to post things that are not team
blogs, not reprints from other sites (that's connect) but that are
partly serving a PR function for people in the commercial Joomla
space. The commercial space is important to the Joomla ecosystem and
if anything I'd encourage more engagement on the site, just not in the
team blogs. The problem is managing the sheer volume which is part of
the reason connect was put into place.

I think it would be very helpful to write and publish specifc blogging
guidelines for the team blogs.

Elin

On Aug 7, 2:40 pm, Paul Orwig <paul.or...@community.joomla.org> wrote:
>  Please take a look at this draft mission/vision statement for the Community
> site, and respond with your feedback/thoughts/suggestions on how to make it
> better!
>
> As a bit of background, a question came up recently about a questionable
> blog post which could be viewed as an attempt to promote a commercial
> entity. Brad suggested creating a mission statement which could (among other
> things) be used as a reference for deciding what does (and doesn't)
> belong on the Community site.
>
> Note: The approach taken for this draft borrows heavily from the approach

> used in the Joomla! mission statement which is published at:http://www.joomla.org/about-joomla/the-project/mission-vision-and-val...
>
> *Mission
> *Our mission is to manage a high quality website which will be an effective

> communication channel that supports the Joomla! community.

> *(As used here, "Joomla! community" refers to the people who support and

> work on Joomla! in various ways. As it relates to the "commercial entity
> blog post" issue mentioned above, it can be derived from this mission
> statement that if a blog post (or other content) is seen as supporting
> someone/something other than the Joomla! community, then it falls outside

> the scope of our mission and would therefore be likely to get removed.)*
> **
> *Vision
> *In our vision, we see:

>  - A platform which allows the Joomla! community to effectively communicate
> with people in a variety of different ways.

>  * (This covers everything from managing a well formatted site with working

> links and effectively presented content, to being responsive to users and

> doing a good job managing the back end of the site.)*

>
>  - A destination for people to learn how they can volunteer to help with the
> Joomla! project.

>  * (This is an area of the site that Airton and I feel is important and can
> also be developed and improved.)*

>
> - A resource which helps people to connect with each other, both online as
> well as at organized Joomla! events.

>   *(This is intentionally broad and covers everything from blog entries and
> comments, to Joomla! Event and JUG information, Twitter links, etc.)*

[Paul Orwig]

Thanks Elin for sharing your thoughts on this aspect of the community site's purpose.

 

My current view is that the community site has multiple audiences (each with different areas of interest), but that ultimately the site's purpose is to support those who are active in the Joomla! project. One of the ways the site can accomplish that purpose is by bringing in and engaging new people to the community, with the hope that they will be motivated to either become more involved with the project or at a minimum spread the news to others about the benefits of Joomla!.

 

You make some great points about the place of the commercial space in the Joomla! ecosystem. That is an audience I haven't thought too much about.

 

Any other thoughts/ideas/feedback/suggestions???