One of the objectives of our strategic goal for effective communications says that we will:
Upgrade the Parish website to make it more user friendly, dynamic and interactive; with the capability to be more attentive to use by Spanish speakers; and assuring it is adequately resourced and maintained.
Preliminary to developing an action plan to accomplish this objective, I met with Jeanne Murray of our Communication Team.
I came away from our conversation with the following conclusions:
1. The present web site is a decent reference source for basic information about IC and the its services and programs.
2. The dynamics of the site are limited to the very timely updating of reference material. Kudos to Patricia Erickson who handles all this.
3. The site lacks interactivity. It’s not yet a resource for people to participate in the work of forming one another for living the love of God. That is, only the blog currently offers people a chance to comment and share ideas. And the blog is poorly advertised and not up-to-date.
4. The site currently lacks the means to address parishioners need to connect with one another. We are a large parish and some folks feel isolated. The web site has the potential of addressing the need for connectivity.
5. Moving forward will require exploration of web resources used by Latino parishioners.
6. Moving forward will require exploration of “age specific” web sources: do ‘teens’ connect the same way as ‘young adults,’ ‘boomers,’ or ‘seniors?’
Some key guidelines to observe:
1. Stating the explicit purposes/goals for maintaining a web site
2. Being intentional about the value are we looking for in the specific resources (e.g., references, social networking) that can be hosted by the site
3. Bridging the various communication tools (e.g., bulletin, web site) we employ to achieve effectiveness on our communication
Some of the resources discussed that need further consideration:
1. The blog: this can be a resource for sharing ideas at length. Various parish committees can use the blog to engage parishioners re: style and quality of worship; reaction to and commentary on homilies and bulletin letters; discussion of social justice initiatives.
2. Wiki: would allow on-line sign-ups e.g., monthly Meal for the Hungry, Monday transport of food to Catholic Charities; service opportunities.
3. Twitter and Facebook: follow activities of the parish and of one another in the interest of connecting parishioners. Cultivate “ambient awareness” ( a new term and concept for me); establish communities of habitual volunteers (e.g., Habitat for Humanity; monthly Meal for the Hungry; CGS parents; Youth Ministry)
4. Use of “feeds” to aggregate what people share
Some of these possibilities carry a yellow flag re: issues of propriety and privacy. But these cautions should not, in and of themselves, discourage consideration.
Likewise, these possibilities pose challenges to the capacity of current technology. Has the web page got what it takes to handle some of these resources?
What are your reactions? Comments? Suggestions for “next steps?”
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Fr Dan, this is a great summary of opportunities to stimulate more interaction among people in the parish. Another item we discussed was looking for some "best practices" on other church websites. Here are some examples that may generate ideas:
ReplyDelete1. Diocese of San Jose (http://www.dsj.org/) has examples of aggregating blog entries from various ministries: on the home page, the "Recently Updated" section aggregates feeds from blogs, eg: Vocations, Liturgy Work of the People, Youth Ministry, Catechetical Ministry. Also, examples of twitter and facebook presence: http://www.dsj.org/about-us/contact-us/twitter-facebook
2. In the Diocese of Austin, St John Neumann (http://www.sjnaustin.org/), does a good job of starting to blend interactive elements with their more traditional reference info. Examples:
a) The Ministries program uses a blog and also offers a Gift and Talents survey (http://www.sjnaustin.org/index.php?pid=247)
b) throughout the site they use a program for volunteer signups (mysingup.com)
c) facebook and twitter presence
d) use of a "share" button so people can post info to their social networks of choice (http://www.sjnaustin.org/index.php?pid=320)
3. Closer to home, St Raphael (http://www.saintraphael.org/) is using a blog and online pledge form for fundraising, and an online reservation form for parish meeting space. St Francis of Assisi has active presence on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#!/group.php?gid=10390511002&ref=ts) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/SFA_Raleigh).
My analysis here is truly unscientific - I reviewed about 50 websites in Dioceses of Raleigh, Boston, Austin, San Jose, Chicago. Many sites are using blogs, podcasts, video, and RSS feeds, and a growing number of parishes seem to have presence on Facebook and Twitter as well. Overall observation: the "state of the art" for adding interactivity to a church's web presence is the early stages. The US Conf of Catholic Bishops has an Office of Digital Media (http://www.usccb.org/dm/), which may be a source of additional information and best practices.
The people who are already 'generating content" for a blog or website need to be brought into the conversation.
ReplyDeleteWhat electronic media are groups at IC already using? Start there, instead of trying to find new ideas. It might be worthwhile to get all this info accessible in one place.
Maryann sends out emails to a hugh list of people announcing meetings or need for a dishwasher, etc. Lloyd has a list serve for announcements about Bread for the World. Meal for the Homeless sign up. People write announcements for the bulletin. All of this "content' could be put on a blog or website or facebook, but then does that make the mission or administration easier? I imagine the meal for the homeless already has enough people signing up, but with online and paper sign up the person organizing it has to look in two places instead of one. Is that in improvement?
It will take some experimenting so see what is really worthwhile.