== Outcome from March 13, 2013 Meeting == === LOWDOWN PROPOSAL === ==== PROJECT: ==== We have identified that the Lowdown newsletter has untapped potential to assist organizational growth, political and media outreach, and membership development. ==== PROBLEM/ISSUE: ==== In it’s current incarnation, the Lowdown is falling short of it’s potential. It is difficult to navigate online, does not have a user friendly web interface, email distribution is not optimum, there’s no clear visual identity, etc. It doesn’t look like a newsletter. There’s not an easy process for generating content. The name does not currently translate internationally. It’s unclear who reads it, what people think about it. Great content is being generated but not necessarily well utilized for outreach or promotion. ==== GOAL: ==== To revamp and revitalize the Lowdown ==== PLAN: ==== Create a dedicated area for the Lowdown articles that resembles more of a blog format. Stephen offered some great examples of how this could look: http://solidarity-us.org/ http://www.labornotes.org/ The blog will feature columns – Draft ideas include: tech resources – reviews of open source software with comparisons of propriety software and open source alternatives. Reports from LC or committee structure Reports on work with partners/allies/associations/collaborations– to be more transparent about our participation in these forums Member profiles/news News and Political reporting Events and announcements Webinars/tutorials of software use A job board for tech support/design resources Other ideas? Articles can possibly be opened up for comments or discussion A searchable database of past articles that can serve as a resource. Ideally users could search by date, topic area as well as customizable search terms. We could also create a team to solicit and develop content – ideally pulling on members who are journalists, artists and organizations that can collaborate on content production. This idea would require some labor/time to manage and needs to be fleshed out. Considering the need for a name change – we could do some outreach to come up with a new name as a way to build interest and help pre-promotion. W e can also organize special outreach to relaunch/announce the website with the new name – perhaps with some kind of party or special content or something. ==== OUTREACH: ==== This blog style has a number of benefits: We can use to extend a visual identity Can link to social media for outreach Can be used to outreach to media Can be used in recruitment (we could also open up subscription to non members) We still need to utilize email outreach about new issues and articles. But need to reconsider options for what this could look like. This section needs ideas and detail. ==== TECHNICAL DETAILS: ==== Civicrm might have most functionality for our purposes, esp. translation Development can be set up in stages to slowly integrate new options and to allow for expanded ideas such as revised email newsletter formatting. Process should be considered along with larger web redesign for visual and functional consistency Need tech guidance on what this job will entail in terms of time and labor to figure out how extensive the plan can be, where we can set limits, what’s feasible and in what timeframe we can accomplish the transition.