snapshot of members only siteSeveral years ago, I attempted to create a members-only site for our congregation using phpBB. This limped along and was ignored by everyone except porn and viagra spammers. Stinker #1.

My second attempt was using MediaWiki software (Wikipedia is the online encyclopedia, MediaWiki is the software). I very proudly installed the software on wiki.chaliceuu.org and named it ChaliceWiki. I announced it and showed it to people.

I assumed that everyone knew about Wikipedia and that everyone knew that you could edit it. False on both counts. I spent all my time explaining Wikipedia. “You know, WIKIPEDIA!” Apparently, the “explaining it louder principle” doesn’t work for translating techno-babble any better than English. Stinker #2. Trashed it.

I recreated the site as members.chaliceuu.org - the members-only site that you can edit. No talk of Wikis or Wikipedia. I worked with colleagues on the Technology Committee, hashed out a basic organization for the information and populated a skeleton of content. I rolled it out to a few people and two recruits began adding material on their own. I can’t tell you how happy I was when someone else started creating content!

We have had the members-only section up since the beginning of April 2007 and it has been growing steadily. Currently, at three months we have 83 users and 369 pages.

What goes into a members-only section?

Roughly in the order that it went in, here is our current content:

  • Directory of Members (our #1 draw)
  • Official documents (eg. MUP)
  • Maps, drawing & diagrams of the facility
  • Congregational History while it is under development
  • ByLaws
  • ByLaw drafts
  • Conflict resolution process
  • Long Range Planning docs & drafts
  • Committee pages (title, purpose, members, minutes)
  • Policies
  • Forms
  • Newsletters (PDF)
  • News clippings
  • Support documents such as instructions for Greeters, Worship Associates, etc.
  • Event photos
  • Board Minutes
  • Committee meeting minutes

Ask around for stuff. Troll for documents that you can easily convert like the By-laws and policy manuals. You’ll be amazed how much information is scattered among your congregation members. When I finally tracked down the ex-chair of Buildings and Grounds, he coughed up a ton of documents like major use permits, plans, diagrams, electrical layout, plumbing and sewer plans that he had at home. He scanned them in and uploaded them himself!

My Advice

Wikipedians may be comfortable with vast open empty spaces but congregation members are not. You’ll need to accumulate a certain amount of content and put a skeleton structure in place, like committee pages, before you roll out the site. People are more willing to edit than they are to create!

Take the rollout slowly and only involve people who have a reason to use the material you have loaded. For example, target key people like the Board Secretary to put the Board Minutes into the site. Then the entire board has a reason to go to the site and get accounts. Once you start accumulating material, people will want to get on board. Listen to their complaints and see what you can do to improve things. Work one on one or in small groups.

The software is far from perfect. The documentation leaves a lot to be desired. But, with some tweaking, it can become simple to use and will have content that attracts people. In another article, I’ll talk about some of the specific tweaks that are needed to make it easier to use. One of the tweaks is to make the main page as attractive, informative and easy to navigate as possible. This means making it very non-standard from a wiki standpoint but its crucial to helping people get oriented.

Save the Day!

All in all, our members-only site is successful and actively used. Most people browse and a small group create and edit content. But even if you are on your own, it takes less time than you think. Just make a habit of dumping anything appropriate that you find into the site. And scrounge! Eventually someone will ask “Does anyone know where the approved version of the watzit policy is?” Instead of “Hmm, I think Carol or Bob has a copy of that,” you’ll be able to pull it down from the members-only site and save the day. It’s happened. Once people see the sense of collecting all this information into one location, things will really take off.

Update, July 4: Be sure to see Dean’s more techie follow-up on this topic over on his blog: Members-Only: A Wiki in Sheep’s Clothing - Part 2. Anna Belle