How to Post a Note
You do not need to know anything about computers. You only need to send an email, or hand a piece of paper to somebody.
Write it the way you would say it out loud
A sentence or two is plenty. Tell us what you are looking for, or what you are offering.
Tell us how you would like to be reached
Most people ask us to print their telephone number. You do not have to. You may also ask people to leave a note at the front desk instead.
Send it to the board team
Email it to board@thevillageboard.org. If you would rather not use email, write it on paper and give it to any member of the team.
Watch for it on Thursday
A resident on the team reads every note and puts it up. If we have a question about your note, one of us will telephone you first.
If you would rather read the board on paper
Every week the team prints the whole board on one page and posts it on the bulletin boards in the Village Center and at Vista Place. You do not have to use a computer to keep up with your neighbors.
The Team's Page
This is the whole job. A note comes in, somebody reads it, and it goes up. Try it. Pick a waiting note, press the button, then look at the board.
Notes waiting
Nothing here happens on its own. A resident reads every word before it goes up.
Put it on the board
About the workload
On a normal week this is fifteen minutes of somebody's Wednesday evening. The team does not build pages, keep up with the computer, or fix anything when it breaks. If something does go wrong, they telephone Trillnovo and it gets fixed.
The Thursday Email
An idea worth talking about. It is not on your list, and it may be the most important part.
Many residents will never remember a web address and a password. So every Thursday the board sends one email that contains the notes themselves, rather than a link asking people to go and look. The email becomes the bulletin board, and this website becomes the place it is all kept.
Good morning. Here is everything that went up on the board this week. You can read it all right here. There is nothing you need to click.
Interests of Residents
Genealogy research. I have been tracing my family back through Ohio and Pennsylvania and I would enjoy comparing notes with anyone doing the same. From Arthur K., 937-555-0173
Terrariums. Is there anyone else here who keeps a terrarium? I have more cuttings than I know what to do with. From Arthur K., 937-555-0173
Books for Sale and Sharing
Books on the Middle East. I have a shelf of books on the Middle East, some of them quite good. I would like to sell them, or simply give them to somebody who will read them. From Arthur K., 937-555-0173
Items for Sale
Recliner, in very good condition. Blue, and far too large for my new apartment. Forty dollars, and you are welcome to have it for nothing if you can carry it out. From Dorothy M., leave a note at the front desk
Questions from Residents
Closed captions on the television. Can somebody show me how to turn on the words at the bottom of the screen? My hearing is not what it was. From Bill T., 937-555-0119
The Paper Edition
You said it yourself: a good many residents do not use a computer to get to a website. This is one page, printed each week and posted on the bulletin boards.
The Village Board
To put something on the board, give a note to any member of the board team, or telephone the number posted at the front desk. The board is run by residents and is not an official community publication.
About This Demonstration
What is real here, what is only sketched, and what we still need to decide.
Please read this first
This is a working sketch built from your requirements list, so that we have something concrete to look at. The people, the notes, and the telephone numbers are invented. Nothing is finished and none of it is precious. The point is to find out what you want changed.
What already works exactly as you would expect
- The password door, the seven sections from your list, and the notes underneath them.
- The team's page. Pick a waiting note, press the button, and it appears on the board. That is the real posting workflow, not a picture of one.
- The text size buttons at the bottom of the menu, for residents who need larger print.
- Pictures. Art asked about these, so they are working. On the Team's Page choose a picture when you post a note, and it appears on the board with it. Large photographs are made smaller automatically, so a picture taken on a telephone will not cause any trouble.
- It works on a telephone, a tablet, or a computer without changing anything.
What is drawn but not built
- The Thursday email. The layout is real, but nothing is being sent to anybody.
- The paper edition prints correctly. Who prints it and where it is posted is a question for the team.
- Notes are kept in this browser only, so the board resets on a different computer.
What we could add later
None of these are part of what we have discussed so far. I am writing them down so that nothing gets lost, and so we can decide together what belongs in the first version and what is better left until the board has been running for a while.
- More done with pictures. Several to a note rather than one, and a simple way for a resident to send a photograph in by email along with their note.
- A calendar of activities and events.
- A photograph album from things that happen around the Village.
- A list of residents who are happy to be contacted, if we can do it with real care over privacy.
- A way to search the older notes, once there are a few hundred of them.
One practical note on pictures: the printed page stays words only. It is one sheet of paper, and photographs would fill it up quickly and cost a great deal to print in colour.
Two things I would change from your notes
- The Scam Reports section. If residents send in their own reports, we end up publishing unverified stories about named businesses and sometimes named people. I would rather the team write one short alert a month from a source we trust. You will see it built that way.
- The password. One password shared among hundreds of residents will get out eventually, and that is alright, as long as we agree that nothing private goes on the board. That is why it prints a first name and an initial, and never an apartment number.
What I still need to know
- Has Dana been told about this, and what does she think?
- Who are the residents on the team, and will one of them own it rather than rotate?
- Is there already a list of resident email addresses we may use, and who controls it?
- Who pays for the site: you personally, or a residents' group with a budget?
- May a residents' group post a printed page on the physical bulletin boards?
- Who registered the old domain name, and is it still being paid for?
A note on the name
I have called it The Village Board rather than anything with Bethany in the title. A resident-run board carrying the Bethany name can put Bethany in an awkward position later. A separate name keeps the board yours, and keeps the line between the two of you clear from the first day. If you would rather it carried the Bethany name, that is a conversation to have with Dana before we build.