Web-based Work Platforms Support Community Collaboration | By Kevin Bomhoff

I remember when community members gathered together to collaborate--flipcharts flowing in the ventilated air, the sweet scent of permanent markers in the air. Those were the days. We distributed handouts and meeting notes on paper or by email. Everyone was then free to lose the documents or, even better, claim they were never received in the first place. Participants could miss important sessions and announce that they were not notified of the meeting location or date. We could leave people out because they were not on our distribution list.      

Wait a minute, that’s no way to collaborate! Especially as community challenges become more technical (requiring expertise and shared data) and adaptive (requiring stakeholder input and learning). We need a real place to meet and a virtual space to organize our work.

More and more often, this virtual space is a web based platform with ready access by community partners. These platforms come in many formats but most have the following components in common:

• A place to store historical and updated documents
• A calendar of past and upcoming meetings
• Planning timelines
• Announcements
• Discussion groups
• Meeting minutes and agendas
• Contacts
• Important links

This is a virtual shared drive for those participating in your community project. Participants are responsible for setting their own “alerts” so they can be notified of changes or participate in discussions as they wish.   

Christina Holt, Associate Director for Community Tool Box Services with the KU Work Group for Community Health and Development, develops tailored online WorkStation websites for local and national initiatives. These WorkStations are based upon out-of-the-box SharePoint capabilities plus custom-developed tools to help groups meet their needs for online community collaboration.

Christina points out that “WorkStations enable users to easily share materials, make announcements, access tools, learn from others' success stories, access guidance from peer discussions, and solve needs for online collaboration. Ultimately, customized WorkStations help communities work together to meet their shared goals.”

Don’t throw your flip charts and markers away just yet. WSU Center for Community Support and Research encourages community partners to establish both real place and virtual space opportunities for organizing. We need to carefully build relationships in order to make progress on issues we care deeply about. More often than not, those relationships will be nurtured by effectively facilitated discussions and efficient ways to store and share critical information.