Transition Web Project Survey: qualitative responses.
Tidied up and loosely categorised by Ed Mitchell, web project manager, 30/04/09.
For more information, please contact transition@edmitchell.co.uk
Some of the more personally delicate responses have been removed.
A few clear themes have emerged from analysis, which have been categorised as per below. This
is only intended to be a rough guide, from a personal point of view.
Categories and their colouring from Ed to indicate general themes identified in responses.
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
Starting with a graph indicating how many times respondents referred to different web tools:
(number of mentions of named popular web tools in comments for web survey)
Survey responses categorized (by highlighting in colour as outlined below):
Green: General comments
Blue: Not everyone uses computers; class and age; the importance of face to face
Yellow: Support/training and the importance of regional-ness
Purple: Roles and processes; local and network wide
Grey: Technical: tools, ideas, suggestions
Comms:
"YES" list
yahoo groups
sorry but this is a bit hard to do. basically not much. where I've put that it's moderately important even though we
don't use it - this is my way of trying to convey a missing option- we don't but would possibly like to.... There are
some google groups developing, and we'd like to know more about other options but finding out and learning how
to do it, takes time! sorry this isn't the sort of answer you asked for...
emailing lists: yahoo contacts; newsletter: ? (Local Food Network produces it); online fora: website (not well
maintained currently);
GMail email lists for general newsletter dissemination, event notifications, and interest group contacts/
announcements We have a community noticeboard (chalk board) at the single exit point for our community
wordpress, blogs, mailing list
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
mailing list/online fora: yahoo groups
gmail collective website set up for blogs, emailing, etc. Personal connections with specialist skills eg. media workers
Ning, Socialgo, Basecamp, skype etc
Email list basic, kept on my computer, will need to be managed more effectively when becomes larger; e-newsletter
distributed to list via same computer
mailing lists, google groups
I think receiving E-newsletters is the best way of keeping people informed and inspired online. You can really branch
out from there adding links to Youtube content, blogs, times from online chats etc. It's especially vital if your group
isn't yet fully established- like mine. I'm basically trying to raise awareness through Facebook at the moment because
it seems like the easiest way to reach a mass audience in a close proximity to where you live. This could also be done
on Myspace or other networking sites.
Only had one meeting so far but imagine using other tools as we get more into it
Mailing list.
email list
blogs: reading them; mailing list: microsoft outlook, google groups, yahoo group; facebook, wiserearth; phone:
invaluable when needed; enewsletters: read them to stay informed; local media: radio (notices and i have been
interviewed), local TV, local daily newspaper, twice weekly local paper for meeting notices; online chat: participated
in transition chats
2:Facebook, Hotmail, Zeitgeist forums/chat, skype, 2;Save Our Rivers B.C., Sustainable Industries, 3; Neale Donald
Walsch newsletter, Humanitys Team, 4; Held small Zday event, Envisions enviromental and Off the Grid (early stage)
NING, FACEBOOK, TRLLIAN, MSN, SKYPE, JING, SOURCEFORGE, GOOGLE GROUPS, GOOGLE DOCUMENTS, iGOOGLE,
ACEPROJECTS, BASECAMP, SALESFORCE, etc.
Teleconferencing: Skype, Online chat: Skype, Emailing lists: google groups, Newsletters: Open Office, E-newsletters:
Firefox, Online fora with email notification: Firefox, Blogs for groups and members: blogger/wordpress, Youtube or
similar: Firefox
these are things i use personally, but thru them i am trying to spread the word, am a real newbie at all this!!! but use
msn , facebook, email and face to face a lot!!
This list looks a little one-sided as I am literally starting out, and have got as far as emailing one other person with the
Transition methodology. As we progress, I am sure that web tools will become more important. We would be
interested in learning from others what has worked and how.
Google Group, mailing list, newsletters form other groups, e news from us, blogs, talk to lots of people, phone,
posters for events - Ms word, press, radio, Youtube for my own work (not Transition)
Blog (blogspot), Yahoo email group for core group, regular email for newsletters, comments section of blog for online
fora
Google mail, drupal (TTTwebisite).
Mailing lists and a google group that we haven't yet got a proper handle on.
JISCMAIL for email lists
mailing list - simple group emails from my own address. Blog - blogspot; local press: community news,
roundandabout, whats on in oxfordshire (local paper but events listings go on their website too)
outlook express
Google groups, yahoo groups, local paper and publications
Blog and online forum with email notification: Blogger; Emailing lists: google groups,
Emailing lists: transitionlewisham at yahoo list Newsletter: Local conservation area newsletter Blogs: Brockley blog DK type Word of mouth: meetings, events Local noticeboards: Churches, station, cafes
Mailing List, W of M, Paper
E mail: Personal Sky.com. site Newsletters: Buxton branch website E-newsletters: National website. Blogs: Local
branch website Word of mouth: Local meetings and phone calls. Phone: As above. Local shop windows: Burbage
news corner shop and local village 'pub. Local press: Derbyshire Life and Countryside mag. I am currently
composing feature.
Buxton Advertiser: Needs more copy.
Google Group, Blogspot, Facebook
primitive: i use excel to list emails and copy straight into BCC of email
mailing lists, newsletters - websites - my space - e- mail groups Emailing lists: one group I link to uses riseup, others manage their own lists. Word of mouth: I raise the subject of
Transition Towns whenever I have an appropriate opportunity, as I find that many people have not heard of the
concept.
yahoo groups
Yahoo group, Transition Wiki,
Email lists - yahoo group, plus manual mailing list (names in a spreadsheet) online fora - our website has got forums
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
and i think you can get RSS on them. Drupal Phone - I'm with the phone Co-op! Blogs - our website has got kind-ofblog on it and it's Drupal Local press - we do reasonably well with local newspaper and occasionally radio - they know
us and we know them now We have also got a Facebook page but no one uses it much and I don't know what it
counts as
own mailing lists; read published newsletter from others, preparing own; google groups; phone etc obvious
Newsletters - email, local library & post
Mailing list, databases, grey cells
mailing list facebook
All done by our group web-guru! (Steve Atkins) I don't know what he uses. We have a website www.transitiontowndorchester.org
don't know - some generally available software see www.eggesford.net
Mailing list, newsletter and e-newsletter, google group for core group, facebook and twitter
email list: yahoo groups, fora: dunno - ask Rob Follett (see below)
Emailing list, E-newsletters, Phone and Local press - all aspirational. Might just email people from Thunderbird.
I hope one of the Sus Frome Geeks will answer these questions as I don't know many of the details.
e-mailing list - google list e-newsletter -pdf
Just mainly talking down the pub at the moment
Blog, Mailing list, google group / documents
This is where I freak out ,,,,other than mailing lists, ...thinking I haven't time to try and sort all this out, too much
other stuff to do, and I'm poor at remembering /understanding techie terminology. it's others who set things up; I
use as and when. So I shlla complete - mstly with 'nos / dunnos'' - though I do wish it were otherwise! In theory we
want to be able to use all these tools
yahoo email account, www.transitionhull.blogspot.com, posters and flyers, community radio, local radio and local
newspaper
Excel for adddresses: Word mail merge for printed mail - 250 email addresses transferred as bcc to Outlook Express.
We have a wordpress website: http://www.southsomersetclimateaction.org.uk/ but I have never got on top of using
it - so much else. Occasional emailed press release. Shop windows: We photocopy in black and white for list of about
70 locations in three local towns
blogs, distribution list (outlook), "ning" social network site.
Transition Links Transition and other links Links and contacts Contact and new contacts from Transition
Links,Meetings As Above RSVP Local Press (Read Study Visulise Preform)
Although not using blogs this is because I don't have internet access for my lap top at home, only on my phone, so
not easy - i do think it's useful too. Email lists - e.g. transition tavistock are copying me in all their correspondence so
i can learn from their experiences. E-news - e.g. green care farming, local school farm, comm'y supported agric', you
guys! Micro blogs - Facebook (if that is a micro blog, I have no idea, but it sounds similar to twitter) Word of mouth local health food shop and just people generally. Phone - mobile and land line - esp good now that i can get my email
and some internet on my mobile LOcal shop - village shop, town health fod shop local press - don't look at this that
much must confess, but do a bit - occasionally local radio, rarely any tv Youtube - don't get on their v often but find
the clips of useful eco films useful when i have time
Online chat: Facebook, Emailing lists: Freecycle, Emotrance2, EFT; Enewsletters, friends mostrly: Word of mouth:
people; Phone: again people; Local Shop: Post office in the village and butcher also in the village; Local press: local
paper but also The Villager and the Langford Diary.
riseup mail list and yahoo group
Blogs, youtube, facebook, mailing list, e-mail communities
Teleconferencing: powwownow; email lists: yahoogroups; e-newsletters: by email; blogs: wiki???;
blogs, web pages, online forum, mailing list
Outlook mail list, Google Groups, web site which can be edited with Modex,
I am on several email and group lists but I am not involved in thbeir administration. I have edited and created Wiki
Pages and I have creaqted my own Internet Site using Drea\mweaqver
eMailing Lists: Mail folder; Noticeboards: A5/44 printouts; Word of Mouth:...one's mouth :-)
use my own e-mail list not a group one
Emailing lists - Google Groups, Blogs - Project Dirt and more recently, Wordpress
mailing list to all our members - main way of contact newsletters on our website - not really newsletter - more
newflashes mentioning HiCAN to everyone we meet, and handing leaflets out as above posters up in appropriate
places in the village, and leaflets available have been interviewed by the local paper
Email newsletter : Entourage; notices: Word
Outlook Express, Mozilla Firefox
Google groups, teleconferencing via my work system
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
e-mail: just note people's e-mail addresses and send out e-mails to advertise an event or arrange a meeting or
discuss an issue. Word of mouth: if bump into fellow "greenies" on the street or the school run, might chat about
situation in town. Have had some good tips this way - of people who might have land or skills of use. I spend many,
many hours walking on the school run and meet a lot of elderly people with local knowledge. Phone - as busy mum,
with very busy husband, use of pc is irregular sometimes, so easier to fall back on using cordless 'phone which can be
used while chasing the kids around the house! Shop windows: there are a couple of shops in town where likely
audience members for events would shop - bakers, butchers, needlework supppliers. Local press - "local" papers are
not bought by many people as they are not really local, but you never know - adverts for events might be seen.
Local reporters do their best for us and have had some great prints, but distant editors often cut the space that is
given to local stories.
Hotmail, blog on the NeForest TRansition website
not sure what is meant here?
FAcebook, googlemail, googlemail, Facebook, contact with burton mail, not as yet published anything
Email list: google groups; e-newsletters: news round-ups via google group; online fora: google groups; word of
mouth: talking!; phone: only occasionally;
Ordinary e-mail list One sub-group has tried setting up a Windows Messenger group but only a couple of us joined
Yahoo group for steering, blogs for main site, email list for newletters,
Mailing list is the main one for contacts. WIll be incorporating colloboarative writing on the website soon though.
we're still in the dark ages and its early stages so only email at the moment - will have a website and would love a
blog / twitter / facebook type group too when the time is right!
Email list, phoning round, fliers on lampposts, talking to other people - going to their meetings such as WI and church
council
Blogs, Facebook, Environmental Conference - membership group lists Please note I'm a friend of a number of
local/national initiatives, TT not yet started in my area
Word, Drupple, Yahoo groups,
Wordpress, Google groups
E-mailing list: our own, send e-newsletter to it. Fora: Facebook three groups for Sevenoaks, plus S'oaks Forum for the
community. Word of mouth: take every opportunity in conversations e.g. with Freecyclers, shop people to tell about
Transition; and of course talks. Phone: to set up events - venues etc. Shop windows etc: posters about events. Local
press: free magazine supportive, local paper not very interested - "when something happens, we'll report it".
We have our own Shepton Google Group, but only a few members have joined and I was the only one posting, so I
stopped and went back to e-mail, telephone and face-to-face meetings. However, the Google Group is still there and
may become important in the future.
mailing list, website online newsletter download as well as emailed out newsletter
Email lists - outlook and google group Online email notification - google group - not all members comfortable with
yet Blog - transitionstalbans.org - wordpress - one of the group doing word of mouth - mine and others - not fussy!
Local press / radio / tv - did a radio interview - member's wife journalist Importance ratings reflect we're very early
stage - first meeting was Jan this year following film screening in Nov 08
I'm just saying that I use these tools when I come across thamand they appears functionally effective
don't use any tools, so its painstakingly slow
E-mail lists (we try to send a bulk e-mail newsletter monthly0 = E-mail Commander software Blog - NING
facebook, google
Sending out newsletter via Outlook Express. Plan to incorporate automatic subscriptions and mailout into new
website when it's built.
e:mailing - yahoo
yahoo groups, Kent Green Party Newsletter, google groups
MS Excel - email lists MS Word / .pdf - newsletters
KMEG mailing list
google & yahoo group invision online forum, just about to replace with ecomotion possibly
No fancy blogs etc ... using maiing lists within email. I am from an IT background but in private life try to keep far
away from it ... for me its a tool - an important tool. Many folk in Minchinhampton aren't necessarily up and running
on the i/n in a sophisticated fashion, as its probably 60 - 70% folk over 65 / 70!
we are in process of setting up transitionmatlock.org.uk using joomla content management system, forum is kunena
We're mainly using an email list, google group and trying to set up a wiki
email lists, e-newsletters via email
Online chat, facebook; E-newsletters, Mail; Blogs, MT; Worldofmouth: mouth; Phone, Neuf; Local press,
regional media groups
emailing list : self-made ; blog : on a hostsite
mailing list: private and yahoogroups online forum: soon on own site (drupal) blogs: wordpress word of mouth: lips,
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
teeth and tongue ;) phone: voip, mobile google video
We use one main thing - our Ning site. It's working fantastically. The whole idea is to encourage people to meet faceto-face - we don't want to be reliant on the internet because we don't believe it will necessarily be working well in a
few years, we are building a new 'real' community out of a cyber community. Our 'ning' is both our method of
communication (before in-person) and our online presence... please check to see how it's working:
corkfoodweb.ning.com
Keep updated list in our gmail account and circulate notice of next events etc. Just setting up Wordpress blog site
which may include a forum. Word of mouth with local individuals/groups. Posters in sympathetic shops. Local free
newspaper quite supportive of articles.
Blogs: Wordpress
Emailiing lists: Yahoo groups
E-Mailing list: google group E-newsletter: through google group online forum: through our website word of mouth:
through the mouth, and the receiving ear phone: rather no mobile since they tend to cook the ear the rest speaks
for itself, I reckon
mailing list: google groups (participate, not organise) newsletter: currently nwsletter by mail
Mainly mailing lists.
Personal blog addressing issues, designing a comprehensive website, introducing/discussing TT with people I
encounter (includes phone), putting up/designing effective fliers to draw in participants unaware of the initiative,
doing so by public announcements/radio/public access tv, effective youtube videos on current issues with initiative to
share information with others
Mailing lists; school newsletters; own e-newsletters and those of at least 4 other agencies; own website forum;
blogging web panui; yakking; more yakking;Mainstreet and village shop windows; community papers and radio
Excel spreadsheet for email list, word for E-newsletters, word media releases, posters. Will soon add forums to our
website
we are a new group just recently formed. We are still at the forming stage but are using public meetings, public
notices at shop windows/notice boards etc. It would not be my own initiative but a collaboration of interested
parties. A list of names and contact details has been compiled from the first formation meeting. A twitters presence
has been established as a notice board. People are only getting to grips with that, on the main people are
concentrating on getting allotments started and so are busy right now.
Emailing lists: Outlook Online fora: MediaWiki
Emailing lists via microsoft outlook and wiki, Word of mouth - doing talks/networking with other community groups
and just talking to contacts in the town. Phone - because incredibly - not everyone yet has email! Shop window sucessful advertising. Local press - because we have PR experience and contacts
yahoo groups
google groups, good write ups in local paper
Website, Mailing list, yahoo group, posters, knock on doors,
Online chat - we use a Ning website which has an online chat facility - not been used as far as I know Emailing Lists we have a list which someone set up using a piece of software that they have - simple stuff I think Online fora - we
use Ning - http://ttglasgow.ning.com Blogs for groups members - we use Ning - http://ttglasgow.ning.com Word of
mouth - encourage all people who are signed up to Ning or email list to get more people signed up and spread the
word Local noticeboards - have circulated a tag tear poster for people to put up in local shops Other - have tried to
get other sites/initiatives to link to us
word of mouth needs to be started somewhere by someone
Virtually all the yeses are facilitated by a computer specialist who made and manages our web site
www.linlithgowclimatechallenge.org.uk without which we wouldn't have made much progress. he is the perosn who
can answer your queries more adequaltely as really I'm not more than average user.
online chat, emailing lists, e-newsletters, online fora, blogs : ning based social networking site; have excellent
relationship with local press (write 'Green Scene column' for the local paper, so Lets Live Local was easy to sell to
them; not used, but would like to use, TV.
I think there is a yahoo group set up.
blogs/google groups/Twitter ( just starting)Facebook oither social sites
Skype for chat, telecom-companies for teleconferencing. Ning for the rest.
blogs: blogspot; bulletin board: google group;
Google Groups used by US Trainers. We also use a web site for documents, Ning social networking, and Meet Up.
ONLY USING THE OBVIOUS
member of OTHER email lists, blogs, online fora, to which I add Transition Town links and suggestions; I bring up TT
movement idea at meetings of other clubs which I attend; I sometimes speak in public on food gardening topics,
these are advertised in the local paper and gardening newsletters and I mention TT in my talks; always bringing it up
in conversations in person and on phone. [No takers yet!]
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
We are at the word of mouth and e-mail stage.
simple email, Asheville is small enough that word of mouth works
We manage email lists of current and past participants, this is critical to our ongoing success. We started a blog to
keep people up-to-date with the results of our events and to give a forum for feedback. We think word of mouth is a
great communication tool and want everyone to talk about what we are trying to do. Phones are critical to our
success. We use it for communication and coordination along with email. We work closely with our local press to get
the word out.
Yahoo group starting soon
listserv: Thunderbird (supported by Univ), newsletter: published, blog (rarely used), media announcements-Word,
send by email, public forums, meetings, word of mouth
Hotmail, facebook, local school, local parent magazine
EMAIL LISTS ARE CRITICAL--IT IS OUR MAIN MEANS OF COMMUNICATRON. OUR COMMUNMITY GROUP
"SUSTAINABLE CLAREMONT" HAS JUST BEEN OFFICIALLY CREATED, SO WE ARE STILL FEELING OUR WAY. WE HAVE A
NEW WEBSITE WITH CALENDAR AND BLOG POTENTIAL, BUT IT ISN'T BEING USED MUCH YET (STILL TOO MANY
BUGS). THE CITY HAS A NEWSLETTER WHICH WE USE, BUT OUR OWN HAS NOT BEEN DEVELOPED YET. THERE IS
SOME WORD OF MOUTH AND PHONE, WHEN NECESSARY. WE DO USE THE NOTICE BOARD AT THE LIBRARY (AND
HAVE HAD BIG DISPLAYS THERE -- A 14 FOOT LONG CASE, VIEWABLE FROM BOTH SIDES, WITH A PLACE FOR
HANDOUTS AND A MEETING ROOM WHERE WE HAD A tt PRESENTATION). tHE LOCAL PRESS COVERED THE TT
MEETING WITH A NICE 350 WORD ARTICLE ANNOUNCING IT (WE ARE A TOWN OF ABOUT 40,000 IN THE GREATER
LOS ANGELES AREA -- WITH A LOCAL NEWSPAPER WHICH IS THRIVING).ALLTHOUGH WE ARE NOT A TT,M WE HAVE
DEVELOPED A GOOD "SUSTAINABLE CITY PLAN" WORKING WITH THE CITY GOVERNMENT, AND THE CITY NOW HAS A
HALF-TIME EMPLOYEE TO WORK WITH US,BUT WEE ARE INDEPENDENT OF THE CITY SO WE DO NOT HAVE THE
LIMITATION A CITY COMMITTEE OR COMMISSION (CONTROL BY CITY COUNCIL, LEGAL LIMITATIONS ON PRIVATE
MEETINGS, AND SUCH)
I get feeds from selected groups like Portland Peak Oil.
Email lists: announcement list via our website and conversation list at Yahoo Online fora: just barely started with
Ning; Listings in local papers and e-bulletin boards
Email=Yahoo groups & personal, E-Newsletters=local food coop perhaps iContact, Forums=Yahoo groups,
Blogs=Starting one for local region.
blog: dunno, video:youtube link, email group: outlook-based, web-based survey: survey monkey, local press releases,
local TV spots - biweekly story on issues.
e-mailing list: Outlook, Entourage, Mail, etc. Also real group events (e.g., Movie Showings, Low Carbon Diet Program,
Earth Fair), some of which use the web for carbon footprint and offset tools and information.
email list: MS Outlook, online fora: Ning; blogs: Ning, word of mouth: mine
Word of mouth and telephone.
We have a techie that is doing the start ups.
The company which I work for is addresssing Peak Oil and Climate change through a series of seminars which are
eligible for Certificate Management Credits through the American Planning Association. As part of the lecture
Planning for Energy Uncertainty we present the concept of Transition Towns, hopefully inspiring urban and regional
planners to start an initiative.
Chat - Yahoo, Skype; Emailing Lists - Transition Colorado web site message distribution (aka send to group for mass
mailings), What's an Online Fora? Forum? ; Transition Colorado member blogs; Transition Colorado also has
capability of uploading photo's, video and music; Use email to promote events; web access to submitting events on
Community Calendars (newspapers, radio, tv, etc.).
I use these tools with mt peace and social justice work but we are JUST getting started with the initiative (3 meetings
so far) so it really is a little premature to fill all this out - I'll come back in a couple of weeks with more information
Wordpress, gmail, mouth
Emailing lists: Yahoo Groups Online forum w/ email notification: Ning (transitionwisconsin.ning.com)
yahoo and google groups, twitter, facebook, itunes, youtube
Transition California ning site, yahoo groups.
email lists / e newsletters / blogs / print ads / soon radio and youtube
website
Skype, Google Group, Base camp, 1Sky, earthjustice, EnergyMattersUpdates,
newsletter, google groups, email lists, checked out blogs for updates, like the more personal nature of phone and
word of mouth.
Blogs: Wordpress; groupware: googlegroups, yahoogroups;
haven't started group
Emailing: Google groups, Word of mouth: small town on the street, bookstore chatter, Shop windows: well designed
fliers/posters, Local Press: print, radio
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
Telec and chat: skype, Blogs:transitionus.ning sites, E-letters: Icontact,
Teleconferencing: freeconference.com, dataxchange.com (RollCall), Emailing lists: yahoo groups, google groups,
private list-servers, Newsletters: from ludite organizations, E-newsletters: from with-it organizations, Blogs: eblog &
others, The Rest: self-descriptive
Teleconferencing: Skype, Emailing lists: Ning, Google mail, Blogs: Ning, Word of mouth: blabber, Phone: Verizon,
Local shop windows: manual labour, Local press: WashingtonCityPaper, Craig's List
First you must know that "we" aren't a T group yet, but all these communications tools are being used by the local
permaculture group and local food network people, and local community food co-op, who all could be part of a T
group in the future. Emailing lists: yahoo groups, Newsletters: ms word, E-newsletters: ms word, Blogs: not sure, I
think wordpress.
Blogs: wordpress, blogspot. Mailing list: google groups, yahoo groups. Haven't yet tried e-newsletters.
Philosophically opposed to snail-mail newsletters. Said "yes" to the "local shop windows" field - what we use is the
local library and sometimes coffee houses. Local press: we post our events in the calendar section of local
community newspapers. We're suddenly getting A LOT of press on our activities -- articles, TV, etc. -- not something
we overtly went out seeking, rather they heard about us and came seeking us!
Beginning teleconferencing, chats through various websites, including MenAlive.com, ThirdAge.com, Menstuff.org. I
sent out my own e-newsletter. Lots of local word of mouth, phone, notices, etc. through WELL
skype, ning chat, you tube and google video embeds.
Riseup, Flickr for sharing our photos of events, our fliers, etc. have made occasional attempts at a blog and a wiki, not
taken up by anyone. Have just started googlecalendar.
Mailing List
Emailing Lists: Google groups, E-Newsletters: Googlemail
email list: Mailman blog: wordpress Intention to set up fora with email notification soon (could use Yahoo groups,
but will probably prefer to set up one with opensource software)
Mailing list: own address bok list Local media: word documents Newsletters: word documens
We use an email list for meeting minutes and announcements. These then get posted on our wikki. I don't have time
for chats and blogs etc. In a different stting I use a list serv. Folks post questions or comments and others answer or
react. It is easy to skim to see if there is an issue of interest to me and I get a lot of assistance from that group. It is
by invite only though yahoo. Frankly we are trying to build community and I just like to talk to people.
Community websites [ModX], Family Blogs, E/Newsletters from various govt/private agencies, Website based fora,
Mailinglists: hotmail
Email list: google groups E-Newsletter: for example, Post Carbon Newsletter Word of mouth: networking with
similar groups in Saskatoon Phone: quick way of getting hold of people Shop signs: easy way to advertise
Yahoo groups
google group; email list; nearbuyme
This is personal not Low Carbon Exeter. I am using email lists, email newsletters (reading), online forum, very
occasionally a blog, googlegroup, word of mouth, local post office window and parish magazine for village stuff,
letters to Creiton Courier, Express and Echo (Exeter).
Don't understand this. I just use email - which you do not seem to list above!!!
Each day, I receive useful network information on the themes of eco-living, peace, social justice etc and make
compilations of these to send out by email to our mailing lists both British & Local. Also we set up am organic wild
flora and fauna conservation woodland and gardens for the sake of restoring eco-diversity to the environment as well
as producing more food locally.
Online chat: Group site; News letter: both printed and email; chance street meetings, monthly tea, bike rides, potluck suppers before Core Group meetings, weekly working parties at our CSA site, which involve discussion as well as
digging etc.; letters to the press, press coverage of our events.
googlemail, google group, webeden, powerpoint, pdf, email
Sorry, not hooked up to a specific initiative yet. Have been trying to set one up but delayed.
Just my regular e mail/distribution list for our e newsletter. Our local press is our village newsletter and the Courier
Newspaper occasionaly.
Facebook, e-mail
Yahoo Groups, Youtube
hotmail (climsily) for email lists, yahoo for online forum with email notification, we receive electronic newlsetters eg
from Transition Bristol and forward to the yahoo group, we dont allow comments on our susred website (Wordpress)
because it would be too much work to moderate and one person's sensible post may to another person be stupid or
offensive, don't use twitter, word of mouth is the most powerful, wish I could use phoneconferenceing and skype
easily but need a bit of help, and I don't like things where I feel that the whole world can spy on local stuff we are
working on or where it would come to a point where if you googled me then comments about the farmers market
would come above my research publications etc
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
emailing lists, enewsletters, word of mouth, phone, noticeboards,local press
just use personal e-mails for communicating as a steering group and group co-ordinator hold s larger e-mail list for
communicating news to the wider network. We have someone who keeps the wicky site up dated. The newsl;etters
aren's really newsletters they are flyers of activity and the wider network gets other bits of info, reports on events.
Local press has been the local paper plus hsopital radio and I think somerset sound.
Yahoo groups, website, press releases, council notice boards
Googlegroups (hate it!) Thunderbird Local print shop Home phones
Mailing list, google group,
Email, radio, newspapers, word of mouth, local windows and noticeboards, esp Dr's Dentist - all waiting rooms,
Eyes and ears! (Oh, and brain!)
I do not use any web based tools, i repair second hand bikes and sell them back to the local community at a very
cheap price this works mainly by word of mouth over the passed two years.
Free weekly e-letter to subscribers re Global Elite and what is happening world-wide. Not only low-carbon. The
WHOLE PICTURE. More subscribers desperately needed.
E-mail:my own Newspaper: Brunswick Citizen (community newspaper)
I don't know the detail of our website etc. contact Brian Jackson brian.jackson@phonecoop.coop
skype, ning.com, face to face
All of them
Teleconference: Skype, Emailing Lists: Outlook Express, E-newsletter: word/pdf/email list, Blogs: Drupal framework,
Word of Mouth: mtgs/email lists, Phone: Home/Mobile/Skype, Local shop windows: Uni noticeboards/shops, Local
press: print/radio
Wordpress website, www.transitionfrasercoast.org.au - mailing list.
online chat: skype; email listing: google groups; online fora: our own plone website
email DL, printed community newsletter, blog, local newspaper
Skype, MSN Messenger, Yahoo Groups, Blogger, Teachubg at school,
Free software including Twitter, Facebook, You Tube
Skype, twitter, googlegroups, yahoogroups, wordpress, twitter,
There is a website in development using Joomla as it has (in my opinion as a web designer of 10 years) the most
development potential. It also has a friendly admin interface and can has templates specifically designed. As it is open
source new devlopments are happening all of the time. It's important though not to get caught up in the
functionality, it's what people will use which matters. Also it is fine to have these tools if there are people to manage
them, or it becomes the pople such as me who end up managing the content when my job is to set the system up,
only time will tell. To hel ptransition there are a numbe of web hosts who offer automatic set up of open source cms
which mught be of help to groups. Transtion Nottingham started off with a wordpress site which is still there and
which i inherited, it does not do the job very well as it is hosted at wordpress. Though i think wordpress hasa lot
odscope for groups to use. Joomla to set it up properly is more of a steep learning curve. I also looked a drupal which
I found very confusing a dropped. Also the web site is about usability something which people get very wrong and I
think the network could focus on this aspect rather than the technology to begin with. We are also using SMF forum
which i again inherited, it is not used much but is useful for the calendar at the moment. The other psert of thesite is
static for the moment, which update until the cms is live.
We've used Meetup, which allows emailing to members of the group (who actually bother to sign up, which isn't
everyone by any means, and not sure that those who do sign up ever come to meetings). Where I've left blank i mean
"no". Not sure that any of them are "important". It's useful to communicate with people, but that could be a chat
over wall with neighbour.
Yahoo groups, website (weebly) with integrated blog
Email list: Google groups
Blogger, NT mailing lists, BT Meet Me
Mailing lists: spreadsheet Newsletters: word processor E-newsletters: word processor
Yahoo email account.
E-mail: googlemail; Mailing List: GroupSpaces; Blog (no-one ever uses it but it's still there): WordPress; Discussion
Forum: Simple Machines LLC; our education group use a Yahoo Group and our Food Group use something different
again (not sure what, Phillipa may also reply to this survey).
e-newsletter : www.groupspaces.com some sub groups use google email accounts and contact lists online fora: smf
we have had projects mentioned on local radio and in the council newsletter
Twitter, Bebo, wordpress, buddypress, ning, Ellg,facebook,googlegroups, yahoo groups etc etc, flickr, slideshare etc
etc
E-Mailing list until recently automated with hosting package, but now multiple emails using Client. Forum - until
recently phpBB. But now part of main Drupal website without email facilities. Word of mouth - Mouths ;-)
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
1 & 1 Mailing List
mailing list on email and hard copy
Blogs, E groups of Members,
Mailing list: www.riseup.net
Wordpress website/blog. Googlegroup discussion amongst core team. Outlook email newsletter. Local newspaper
and word of mouth and shops. BBC contacted us themselves. (probably found website)
Googlemail (email list, enewsletter, shared calendar); forum on website; blog on hotmail; posters in word, pdf
Online chat: skype; Google IM Emailing lists: export from ning Newsletters: about to launch print E-newsletters:
ning directly and export Online fora with email notification: ning Blogs for groups and members: ning Word of
mouth: wagging tongues Phone: phone Local shop windows/noticeboards: drawing pins Local press (print): email &
phone Youtube or similar: youtube & kewego
googledocs yahoogroup wikki ecomotion
dot community platform on the e-voice provider: http://takepart.org/ibstockclimatechange/ Twitter:
http://twitter.com/ibstock_does and http://chirpcity.com/ibstock and try and get a presence or metion on as many
sites as I can.
Centra and Cisco for webcasts/webinars; email/HTML newsletters, blogs, journals, etc.; hard and soft copy
files/reports; pamphlets and flyers in print
Emailing list / E-newsletters: Yahoo Groups
Emailing lists - just via Chair's Outlook (June Emerson) Word of mouth - no tool, just our mouths! Phone - this is used
less and less Local shop windows - material distributed through the local Town Traders Group, a sub group of the
Local Economy group Local press - done through dedicated publicity officer (me!) Our website (done by my partner,
Doug) has a 'forum' button and facility on it, but not yet used - we will be developing this in the near future
Emailing List - We use web database to create an email list for mass mailout and group mail out. This list is also used
to tell people about the Web site, upcomming meetings and events. Web News page - also looking to have a proper
web based/Downloadable/mailout NewLetter for local people Currently Am developing a Web Forum - should be
online as soon as I get some info from my server administrator. Word of mouth/Phone - group meeting and one to
one meetings keep people going. Also every word of mouth very powerful tool to get message of transition town into
the community and generate interest. Noticeboards/Flyers used to publicise larger group meetings/events Need
more penetration into local press - this will come as projects start to develop. Very litttle so far We have a Facebook
presence and a way of generating interest among younger people.
Rise-up for email list/e-newsletter; wordpress for blog; youtube and traydio for youtube or similar.
Facebook + facebook chat, online collaboration on presentations and docs through googledocs. Local rags and radio
mailing list google groups,
Skyppe, google chat, facebook, Joomla!, Ning, google groups, Twitter
we're using yahoogroups listserver, the wiki website, Facebook. We circulate our Enewsletter through the server. we
currently have over 200 members on our list server and we get new members from word-of-mouth local press.
yahoo groups, googlemail, wordpress
e-mail, Facebook,, Yahoogroup, our own website
Google Groups for mailing list and online forum.
Facebook Group/Chat. Printed Leaflet of events. PDF of leaflet. Drupal site with 'blogs' and discussion area.
Leaflets/Poster in sympathetic shops. Events listings in 'Newsgroup' papers and on their websites
Emailing List: manual email account (not using an automated system). Newsletters: We print hard copies on home
printers and distribute by hand or via Royal mail. E-newsletters: Available to download in pdf from our website (A4
front and back to save on resources). Word of Mouth: Voice boxes. Local shop windows/noticeboards: Paper, bluetack, drawing pins. Local Press: Digital photos sometimes included in our press releases. Not had any radio yet.
Youtube or similar: We embed youtube videos in our website. Also use facebook.
Teleconferencing + online chat: msn, yahoo messenger. Email: usual tools: outlook express and thunderbird.
Newsletters and online fora: prefer google groups, also yahoo groups.
E-mail distrbution lists for groups (now getting overcrowded, tough). Just started blogs (will see what happens),
Word of mouth works well, Notice boards for events, Local press seem to pick us up (whether we like it or not!), Just
started to use NING (low use so far but only a couple of weeks in)
using google groups for online fora, email lists and e-newsletters
Mailing List: GoogleGroups (but planning to build something bespoke). Blogs ditto - I count the GoogleGroup web
page as a blog and the group page for each theme group is linked to our website (www.transitionnorwich.org).
Teleconferencing I use in my day job rather than Transition Norwich - usually PowWowNow because it's cheap and
flexible. We used YouTube once, to host a short video of our unleashing.
email lists and e news letters, online forums:rise-up, hotmail, blogs: facebook, Local shop:The treehouse Phone:
Orange mobile, Local press: Cambrian Newspaper.
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
WIKI Google group for internal discussion, NNG social network includes email list and blogs etc for public discussion,
http://www.transitiontunbridgewells.org/ for clear simple information for the general public.
Email list: Thunderbird contact list; Newsletters: PDF attachment; Blog: Blogger.
Skype, Twitter, Facebook,
yahoo! group and just BCCing
Ning
skype, google/drupal-bsaed enewsletter and email mgt, our drupal web system
Google Group
email list - Yahoo mail e-newsletters via Yahoo mail
MSN
Yahoo groups
Enewsletters: 'homemade' emails to mailing list; Online fora: Project Dirt which uses ning.com; blogs: blogger; word
of mouth: people; phone: mobiles etc!; local press: the local rag.
email list: our own word of mouth: some members are luddite phone: ditto shop windows: for events press: print
only
Community network forum, e-mail group contacts, word of mouth, village website
Wordpress for Blog and main site, Yahoo Groups for group emails (not used much), Google Mail for core group email
contact (works better than Yahoo group), Meebo - chat, forum - PHP (not yet up and running as havn't had time to
configure settings, etc, but software is installed), Microblog - Twitter, videos - Youtube, Newsletters - Googledocs
Emailing Lists - google groups for steering group E-newsletters- made in google docs, I've got a template and just fill
it in as events and news pop up, I send them in emails, didn't get to html templates yet Newsletters - printing them
and leaving in public places, plan to use the html template as a ready made printed newsletter with a few tweaks
blogs - wordpress hosted for free at wordpress micro-blogs- twitter for the small things happening to us day to day
word of mouth - we support other groups and projects in our town by having their posters and leaflets at our events,
this helps make a positive relationship phone - some people at our events left a mobile number only so they get a
very short newsletter summary texted, others are being rang about upcoming events Local shop windows - we have
a poster strategy with places, regular events listed and map them out among our group members according to where
people live, this way we know which places need more posters and leaflets and we add new ones when we find
them, I'm using google spreadsheets for that local press- the newspapers have Add an event option on their
websites and there are local websites where one can put up events too. I've got a list of them in google docs with
links and usernames and passwords which makes it easier to publish events on a regular basis, we email our
newsletter to local journalists and they pick up on events in it and write about them. youtube - Graham has made a
film about Transition Westcliff
Blog: wordpress, mailing list, email newsletters: ordinary hotmail account, newsletters, print plus snailmail, local
press: self-evident,
Transition towns e-newsletters, networking with local people, contacting interested parties, Transition movies for
inspiration.
Mailing lists, googlegroups
Blog (Wordpress) Facebook Google Groups General Email
using a blog on blogger; have also set up a ning site but not yet in general use; otherwise email list
Emailing via bcc box (less than 500 via gmail), events advertised in local press listings.
Google groups, paper newsletters, Royal Mail, Pdf. versions of newsletter,
Teleconferencing: VoIP, Online chat: Skype and Google Talk, Emailing lists: Yahoo Groups, E-newsletters: Compiled email list in GMail, Online fora with email notification: Too many to list, Micro-blogs: Twitter, Word of mouth:
Facebook, Phone.
Forum: phpbb, blogs: wordpress (not yet active), Mailing list: google groups.
google channel, wdro.tv, zeitgeistmovement.nl forum, youtube channel, mail apps , CS2 studio, FCP Studio2 Video
editing, 3D software, Music production software/studio, www.avstudiowest.com
Electronic media: google groups Paper media: flyers printed at neighbourhood center and various weekly and
monthly newspapers
Emailing lists: G-mail; E-newsletters: Word > PDF > Gmaillist; Online fora with email notification: G-groups;Local press
(print/radio/tv): WordPress
Emailing lists: Google Groups / Enewsletters: sent by email / Forum: SMF / Blog: Hyves (is more than a blog) / Word
of mouth: lots of people meet being part of one or more social groups / phone (only for "emergencies")
TTNZ Wiki, google groups, email, Column in local paper, column blogged on TTNZ wiki.
skype, googlemail, publisher,blogspot, wikispace
Mailman listserv, Survey Monkey & Meet-o-matic websites.
Have used educational forums & blogs such as OU; member of LinkedIn & on Facebook (but don't use much); don't
like the phone much
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
Address Book.app & Mail.app; verbal communication in English & Scots; meeting & event notices in supportive local
shops; Hawick News
email. Use reap website www.reapscotland.org.uk
Wiki and google groups
email lists - manual, thorugh apple mail, not good enough; newsletters - print off elec ones; E-newsletters, through
Mail, needs improving; fora - Invisionfree, not enough use, calendar not prominent; Microblogs - facebook, WOM vital, phone, when email too slow; cafe noticeboard - need more; press - trying for fortnightly mention.
google groups I should note that our group feel apart (it was premature) and has not revived.
Mailing List - MS Outlook; Online forums - Joomla site (http://localeconomynetwork.org)
Teleconference: phone. Online chat: Skype and Facebook. Email lists: Yahoo Groups, Mailman. Online fora:
Facebook, Ning, various topic-specific boards. Blogs: Wordpress, Blogger. Micro-blogs: Twitter.
Ning (doesn't work well) Facebook (best) Blogspot (very good) mailing list (so so)
Vonage/T-Mobile VoIP, Frontpage, (IE & Chrome for web fora),
Transitioning is more than I can tell people about so I send them to my websites so they can find what items would
work for them - as each lives a different circumstance.
transition vermont ning; email; posting flyers around town
Blogger, pbwiki, twitter, facebook, gmail chat, professional networking groups, LinkedIn, Doodle, event brite, google
docs,
Email lists -- Outlook Distribution Lists; Blogs -- blogspot; word of mouth -- we're all chatting it up whereever we go;
local shop windows - we're distributing our brochures at coffee shops in our inner city area; local press -- we've
already got one magazine who wants to do a story and we're planning a press kit with roll out
Email lists and e-newsletter through Constant Contact, also starting to use yahoo groups for communication within
working groups Phone among steering group and for outreach and organizing to specific people We try to get press
in the local weeklies and daily paper from time to time, use the print and online event calendars, and send PSAs to
public radio stations.
ning, google tools/widgets/gadgets/docs/reader/spreadsheet/maps, etc. mixxt.com grou.ps also excellent, similar to
ning. combined RSS feeds are useful to create maps and custom feeds.
Email list: CollectiveX, E-Newsletter: CollectiveX, Online fora: CollectiveX, Word of mouth: our mouths and ears,
phone: the thing attached to the wall, local press: South Whidbey Record, Whidbey Marketplace
yahoo groups, evolver.net, google pages
Blog/group - wiki group;
Email List - google groups Fora - google groups Newsletter - Local Greenhouse newsletter (community centre) E Newsletter - attached to google group Web - should be using Wiki soon! Blog - looking at Wordpress About to
create a Facebook site Some members only have phone - thinking about an email buddy but not large enough
network to be necessary at moment. would like a mapped communication tool that local groups/individuals could
link to - interactive surveys etc
Emailing list - done via Outlook Express Newsletter - likewise Blogs - various
vBulletin forum
Can't get broadband so don't use a lot of web communication
Simple emailed newsletter. Flyers in shops. Occasional phone-rounds.
mailing list, website
H323 video conferencing (various packages) skype (chat & voice and video) mailman raw HTML (personal blog);
unsure of others strong voice (word of mouth :-)
Wordpress, Mailchimp
Email list - managed through Yahoogroups, E-newsletter - managed through Yahoogroups, Personal blog WordPress, Phone - Skype, Youtube or similar - Youtube + Traydio
Skype, blogger, googlechat
We're currently using Joomla with various extensions for all our web functionality and PowWowNow for
teleconferencing.
Emailing lists: yahoo groups and automated web-based signup for new members; enewsletters: sent out monthly to
email signups;
Google groups, also using googledocs
The group is very young and only starting to get things happening. The answers represent a point-in-time guess
based on feedback from people in the steering group. Most of these will get a much higher importance as we move
forward. For most we have technology/skills available. I have set up a CMS site using e107 which is pretty
comprehansive and easy to use.
Email list: used Yahoogroups in the past, thinking of setting up a new one, not decided on tool E-newsletter: done by
hand by email, new newsletter person joined that may use Publisher Newsletter: Printout of the above Online
forum: Powered by PHPBB Blog: Blogger Local shops: The ones members know Local press: The Argus, Radio
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
Reverb, Radio 4A
people are aware of skype. If implemented, a real solution should use an open protocol. Many issues with skype use.
Google talk, between web team members and some others infrequently. Have various distribution lists for
neighbourhoods and groups eg. food and website. lots of focus of other volunteers is on e-newsletter Intend to use
buddypress as it allows individual groups, forums and blogs etc. Am active user of twitter and thinking of starting a
transitionbristol twitter account to be managed by a group and fed rss feed summaries of news items/events from
website. A lot of usage and interest comes via events we put on and related flyering. We have featured here and
there on local press - spark magazine and even the guardian. Use youtube and other embeds. recently embedded
slideshare slides and audio clips via internet archive.
ok strange answers you're thinking, and well you'd be right... ok the thing is our web site and strategy is still evolving,
I'm training first technophobe enthusiasts (yep) tonight 25th March (3months after first asking for volunteers). The
tools I've said 'yes' too and are a work in progress, essentially we have a website built in a modular open-source cms,
and the above modules eg newsletter, blog, forum, etc are to be plugged in shortly.
online chat: facility in social network platforms like facebook. Emailing lists Emailing lists: google Newsletters: email,
google Blogs for groups and members :those supplied by ning and so on Micro-blogs:Twitter Word of mouth:
eerrr?! Phone: eerrr?! Local shop windows/noticeboards: Bribery and coercion Local press (print/radio/tv): email,
phone, web for details. Youtube or similar: humyo,
We were using Wordpress but ran out of power so we have switched to Drupal to cover everything web based.
Drupal being perfectly geared for community websites.
(In order): 1. Skype, 2. (potentially, Skype), 3. Mailing List (YahooGroups x 2 - info and discuss), 4. (), 5. E-newsletters
are effectively via Mailing List, 6. phpbb2 integrated with main CMS running Postnuke/Zikula, 7. integrated in CMS
running Postnuke/Zikula, 8,9,10. (), 11. DTP'd posters, biz cards, 12. press releases, 13. potentially as 7.
Mailing lists (inc. online fora with email): yahoo and google groups used primarily as email groups, with some files
etc.;newsletters in print but mostly as PDFs; a couple of blogs at blogspot;ning.com is growing on us but we're at an
early stage;we use lots of flyers on the local town noticeboards.
Mail lists: Gnu mailman
Emailing lists: google groups
There's a forum on the website and an announcement list http://transitionmalvernhills.org.uk
skype, google groups
I use 3 different Transition email lists. One uses online www.riseup.net services and the other two are our own. I get
the main Transition Network newsletter. Word of mouth = Meetings etc. Phone used occasionally for last minute
stuff. Noticeboards used to promote film nights. Radio: one interview on a community radio station. Youtube stuff
useful for info on permaculture, peak oil, transition stuff. Also used for trailers of films we are going to show.
The above list omits wikis :-( We are using: Lists, Mailman http://lists.transitionsheffield.org.uk/ Forum, phpBB
http://forum.transitionsheffield.org.uk/ Blog, Drupal http://www.transitionsheffield.org.uk/ Wiki, mediawiki
http://wiki.transitionsheffield.org.uk/
We have a Drupal powered website at http://mastt.org.uk, and there is also a Facebook group.
Email: Included with Web hosting service E-newsletters: Acajoom (extension for Joomla CMS) Online forum:
Wetpaint (for internal communication and collaboration) Blogs: Joomla CMS
Got a good active blog & a bit of a stale website. Regular newsletter by email. Google email & calendars.
WordPress + Simple Machines Forum + plug-ins
Using only email groups (not mailing lists) for electronic comms. Hoping for local wiki to put the initiative in the
hands of the community.
The main transitionbh.org site is run with WordPress, and we are using Google Groups as an online forum with email
mailing list features for discussion, and also to run an eNewsletter. I'd like to see some cheap video put on youtube
but we have not done this yet, and our letters to the local press have been printed but the bit about transition edited
out! we are also just preparing a flyer to put on local notice boards and in shops.
Wikispaces.com, Google Group, Riseup mailing list
No specific tool except for the blog, and I don't know the details, sorry
Teleconferencing: Skype, Online Chat: Skype, Emailing list: FileMaker + Mail, Blogs: WordPress, Word of mouth:
viral/ambient marketing, Video: YouTube
I am hosting the Dutch transitiontowns.nl network and all its town-sites such as http://deventer.transitiontowns.nl/
Most of these sites run on wordpress. The hosting platform is ubuntu/linux with openpanel. I wrote an openpanel /
bash script that can copy a skeleton town site in a flash. It copies wordpress files, database default contents and
theme images. ALso, it creates all sorts of passwords you need and it mails them to the new town. We don't host
email but simply formward to eg gmail. All of these services run at http://www.xlshosting.nl/ in a linux VPS system
for E 20 a month. These websites are only used for external communications. Each town is probably setting up its
own infrastructure for internals. Hence, I'll just leave all the other questions open / NA.
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
Online stuff: Drupal & Mailman (mailing list manager)
manual email list
Email list: google / yahoo groups, E-newsletters: (can't remember now sorry, Blogs: Wordpress, Online chat: Jabber
manual email out from gmail, tried to convince people to use othere systems too (mind miester, google docs) but
met resistance and lack of uptake. mentioned the work wiki once and a hush fell accross the room...
google groups, ning
Drupal Website Static Website/Contribute Yahoo Groups Wet Paint
Although our group has been meeting for more than 12 months, we only recently decided to follow the Transition
Initiative steps. The 'Yes' items above are 'what we want to do'. We are using gnu mailman for mailing lists, we are
evaluating Liferay for wiki, blog, forums and website. For 'importance', these are my own opinions, maybe not
representative of the group as a whole
Facebook, Yahoo & Google Groups, Yahoo mail, Freeconference.com, WiserEarth.org
wordpress; drupal; mailman; twitter; google groups; yahoo groups; youtube; sympa
list hosted by local resource centre
Ermm - MS Office and a telephone and broadband connection. Royal Mail. Online forum: phpBB
lots - which keeps me busy
Emailing lists: Excel Newsletters: Three local village newsletters Word of mouth: bumping into people Phone:
Contacting those not usig email Noticeboards: Local booards where people expect information Local Press:
Somerset County Gazette (in conjunction with other local groups) Youtube: Googlesites
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
Web presence:
"Yes" list
again, not sure how to answer this. but there is a lot we'd like to be able to try, and see if it works for us!
web page: wiki
web pages : dunno because we have a geek that set it up and maintains it (sometimes)
Not using any but would like to be able to.
web page: wordpress
as above, a gmail collective website set up for all of the above
Ning, Socialgo, Basecamp (file and resource storage)
Using basic website (but planning an upgraded site)
web page (assoc with local Lane Cove ALIVE website)
Online files and resources are invaluable as you can easily refer people to programs, tutorials and statistics no
matter where they are in the world. Again I've used Facebook and have provided a resources link to a
Microsoft SkyDrive storage page. The downside to Facebook is you can't actually post files for download (with
the exception of photos). SkyDrive isn't ideal but it has enabled me to get around the fact that I don't have a
dedicated website to upload too.
too soon to comment
an eco-store in town is hosting a intro page for transition attached to their website. It has lots of links to other
initiatives and reference info
have to ask Mr. Tech - he will fill out a survey.
Facebook,
Online file and resource storage: Google Docs, Online calendar/diary: Google Calendar/iCal
Ditto
web pages, photos
Blog on blogger.com; file storage on Yahoo group (not very organised, need to find something better); use
calendar on project dirt and have a dates for your diary page on the blog
drupal website
webpages: dunno
Web page on local CAG site - not under our control
word and the transition site
Not sure- someone else manages our webpage
All part of our blog in Blogger.
Not yet started using these tools
Web Pages
Web page: www.transitionbuxton.co.uk File storage: Windows XP "My documents" Photos: Photoimpact
software, then as above
Blogspot, Wikipedia, Google Calendar
Web site: Joomla
I have different websites for the different initiatives - so difficult to be generic using typepad for chagfordhub
- switiching to iot for my community composting - ning site for DCAN - I also have joined my sapce but thats
more old friends and fun
NB I haven't any 'Yes's as I'm a muller hoping to get an initiative off the ground before too long, therefore
there is no presence for my initiative, inasmuch as it exists at all, but having experience of other initiatives has
guided my Importance categorisations.
wiki
Transition wiki, yahoo groups
web pages - we've got a Drupal website. We don't have theme groups yet, but when we do, I hope they will
have their own pages or areas of the site photo library - the Drupal site has got an image gallery within it. We
haven't yet managed to set it up so anyone can post pics up - it's just a few of us who are moderators so far
file storage - on our Drupal website - not really using this yet, but we do post up notes from meetings, posters
from events etc. Again, it's only moderators who can do this so far Events calendar - on our Drupal website is just a list of events, not a clever calendar. Again, only moderators can put events up so far Profiles - I
suppose you can get these on the facebook group. We would like to get to a point where people have profiles
(including skills and resources to share) on our website, but we haven't done that yet web hosting - is with
GreenISP. They are very good and helpful, and even gave us a discount
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
Don't know
Just setting up website with WyeLocal
don`t know
See above.
see www.eggesford.net
Can't anwer
ask Rob
Our website is using Drupal - not that expert, my husband set it up. I've only just started putting things on it
(http://transitionfinsburypark.org.uk/). File and resource storage and calendar - aspirational. It looks like
Drupal has modules that do this stuff.
Web pages for your initiative & Online calendar/diary: Sustainable Frome website - see above for details
All - Transition wili
Web pages, online calendar
as above
we don't do any of this yet as people offering to learn the package may take time
"ning"?
Everything is on our www.transition-south-lakes.org.uk and then we have a googlemail email list, as well as
sub groups holding group email lists. Main problem is not many people get round to looking at the website
and wait to hear word of maouth or via e- newsletter
Web space agreed - content to be created. Piggy back on existing Town website to ensure traffic
There is no official TRansition Saltash yet. but the SEA.PL12.ORG (.uk?) Saltash Environmental Action are
connected to CAradon TRansition and hoping to set up their own
wiki site for Transition City Leeds includes links to local groups within Leeds
Web pages:don't know;
web pages: ? provided by host, webeden, http://www.ttletchworth.org/ online calender: webforum bbPress,
http://ttletchworth.myfreeforum.org/index.php
Outlook, Google Groups, web site which can be edited with Modex, flickr
Wiki Pages, Dreamweaver with ftp (Terrapin)
File storage: computer's hard drive
Google Docs, Google Calendar (access but people are not using), and personal profiles are on both Google
Groups and Project Dirt (where most communication occurs)
we have a website which is constantly updated. each group has a page for its information back info is on
the website - eg bulletins we are part of a much bigger sustainable calendar - Sustainable Haringey
File storage via Google group at present, will add photos, am about to launch an online calender and link to
website (probably Google calender)
We have a page on our town's website with info on TTs and an e-mail address that links to our home one for
us to answer any enquiries. I don't think that local people use this website (yet, anyway), but we have this
web presence at least to advertise. On this web page (and on any info we distribute), we often show links to
TT websites and other relevant info, esp. Youtube videos, e.g. of Rob Hopkins at Findhorn, Prof. Albert A.
Bartlett (University of Colorado in Boulder) speaking on "Arithmetic, Energy and Population", "The End of Oil",
etc.
Not a clue
Parish Council web pages
FACEBOOK!!!
Sorry - don't know answer to any of these, as someone else designed the website, i just use the 'backdoor'
facility.
Web pages - using Weebley templates, from example of another local group. Concerned that it doesn't
include alt tags for images, a normal access feature I would have expected. Set up a photo library for the
training subject group of the Nottingham group, but I don't think it has been used. The Nottingham hun site
has a calendar & diary, and blog pages. The diary is useful sometimes, but still looks under-used really.
Web page is currently a blogsite - needs to move on. Online file and photo library is via yahoo group don't
think it's used much - calendar ditto
we're doing this on a local level - but is the question asking more about theme groups nationally?
Again we will have all this at some point, still under construction and its slow!
- see local initiatives
Druple, Flickr,University host site
Wordpress
Website on webmama. Still developing, next task is to add FAQs and fora, and improve the 'resources' section
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
(at present just a few links).
I have uploaded files and photos to our Google Group page mentioned above.
I'm not sure what we're using. One guy manages our website.
Web pages - wordpress blog others all thro google groups
as above
dunno
We have 2 sites - the NING (this is how we communicate and where the events are posted) and our own
"static site" (mostly for info for new people/general public) - based on Drupal and hosted on Evo-hosting
Web pages:HTML, Photos: Corelpaint
Transition Whitstable web page (visiting only - I don't input to this) TT Wikipage - now with link to website visiting Kent permaculture network - inputting and receiving WEAG whitstable environmental action group inputting and receiving Transitioning Faversham yahoo group - inputting and receiving Transition city
Canterbury mailing list - inputting and receiving Transitionculture website - visiting SE transition network
(Mike Grenville) - receiving and inputting PAB newsletter - receiving PAB office email - inputting and
receiving
TransitionTowns.org: Web pages / theme groups / files storage Google calendar, and Google Map
transition network wiki google docs
We are in our early days so yes, these are things we should be exploring ... which I could do in our group, but
it has to be at the end of April as I am up to my eyes in Bob the Builders and finishing off works at home so
my Transition input is limited until May time.
Facebook, Sherborne Area Transition (not up at the moment), Photo Library on website.
web pages created in joomla content management system, photos in joomslide plug in, calendar is joomla
component - jcalpro,
Google sites/wiki
Web: in MT; Files: FMP; Pix: flickr, linked to;
webpages : our blog on a hostsite ; online file : google groups and our blog
Web pages: cms drupal theme groups: transitiontowns.org wiki Green Energy hosting: www.biohost.de
corkfoodweb.ning.com - it does all the above for us!
Just about to set up web presence probably using Wordpress. It should contain or link to the other 'yes' items
above, but is still in development. I'm not the group techie!
Wordpress.
Webpages: ask our webmaster. I'm a luddite in that area. file, calendar: google docs and calendar.
webpages; wordpress online calendar: wordpress
TT Wiki
web page: switchon ltd; theme group: switch on ltd; photo: facebook; calender: events posted on blogspot;
personal profiles (dont use but think it's very important)
website
Using NZ national wiki website webpresence, theme group presence and calendar, soon to have our own
website
No online presence at the moment
All: MediaWiki (though unwieldy and would want to be more flexible)
Wiki for all.
don't know
web pages, email group
Web pages - all responses - we use Ning which alows us to put up info on our initiative, establish theme
groups, upload files, add photos, have an events calendar and people can create personal profiles Also use
Google Maps to locate various activities
Dunno try our website
see above
our own website, developed using Dreamweaver and ning social networking site
personally just starting on all this. Dont think anyone in the group uses any of this?
Ning and YouTube for all.
web pages: blogspot; photos: blogspot; online: blogspot
web pages to be hosted by regional planning agency
Annapolis Community Food Gardens website is how people initially find me; that website does not mention
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
transition towns specifically.
We do have a web site and we are trying to employ an executive director to enhance our presence on the
web as well as do other things.
Web page: currently Dreamweaver, may be converting to Wordpress Online calendar: google calendar
iweb and omsoft
AS MENTIONED ABOVE, TRHE WEB PRESENCE IS JUST IN ITS INFANCY SO IT IS NOT YET USED MUCH. BUT I
HOPE AND EXPECT IT WILL BE IN TIME. BUT MY EXPERIENCE IN ANOTHER ORGANIZATION IS THAT IT IS HARD
TO GET PEOPLE TO INTERACT WITH/ON A WEB SITE.
I use Wetpaint.com for all my wikiwebsites.
Web page hosting at MochaHost; Just barely starting with Ning for pages for theme groups and personal
profiles; Yahoo for files, resources, photos, calendar
web pages: dunno
We have a website and a webmaster - not sure which tools she uses.
web pages: Ning, online calendar/diary: Ning, personal profiles: Ning
wee introducing Transition Towns on our company website this month
Transition Colorado web site - Longmont group
wordpress
web pages, photos, calendar (events), profiles: Ning
ical; facebook; iphoto
Transition California ning
not the techy - dunno
?
Wikki, ning, basecamp, meetup web page; google groups
have used flickr and blogs.
We use pages through googlegroups, which also lets us store files for sharing
haven't started initiative
We post a calendar of TT events on a related website (www.adkgreencircle.org) No one on our steering
committee is web saavy. We are doing things the old fashioned way.
webpage: networksolutions, ning; files: live sync; profiles: ning
We are not fully formed yet...soon!
Web page: Ning, Groups: Ning, Online file: Google Docs, Online photos: Ning, Online calendar: Ning, Profiles:
Ning,
Web pages: not sure, Photos: flickr, Online calendar: google calendar, Personal profiles: not sure, Green
energy hosting: just changed to local Reno hosting group last month, can't recall name, sorry.
Web pages: blogspot (free), and piggyback on other entities. Online photos: flickr and coppermine. Green
ISP: one site is on ThinkHost. Where does ning fit in? One of our pods uses that.
using ning and meetup.com, ning also for theme groups, same - allows for photos, google calendar
embedded, personal profiles part of ning...
Flickr, Googlecalendar, we use riseup for holding our own updates.
We are at the very early stages of web-based communications. All help will be appreciated! Biggest issue is
how to keep non-It folk engaged in a rural community. Library, media, distributing through tens of villages all
takes far more 'manpower' than sending emails........
Online file and resource storage: Google Groups Online calendar/diary: Google Groups
web pages: wordpress photos: will use Flickr or Picasa
In the process of having a static web page developed with headweb Headweb are a vegan company, but I
haven't checked wether they have a green energy tariff, i'm presuming
We have started a wikki and I think it will be very halpful as it grows. I haven't tried any editing yet.
not yet...
Web pages: facebook
Web pages, Project Dirt
Importance is anwered for me not my est of imortance for the public which would be v different. Online file
and resource storage, does that mean my emails on yahoo? I don't do the web stuff for lce so no idea what
tool.
I think I live on a different planet from you guys!!
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
Our website: http://www.universalalliance.org.uk includes an extensive links page via which people can
access all kinds of centres and projects both nationally & globally according to their interest - those interested
to be added to it please send us their details by email.
Personal profile: Ecomotion forum and one-to-one links;
web pages, google group
Not yet
Picasso, Flickr
We have a website using wordpress not with a green ISP, I maintain it. All the other things would be great if
they were secure and easy to use. I hate the amount of time I sit at a computer, our group has people of all
ages and mainly relying on own home computers which without help from teenager can drive you insane and
eat up all your time, photos competely mystify me it is a miracle that I've managed to get any on our website
they have a mind of their own. For lots of the Importance ratings I just want to say Dunno
We had a web set up fopr us by one of the group but it got infected and I don't think we have sorted another
yet: relying on the national one. I think it is a good idea however (though I would need much more help to
know how to use it properly).
We've got a website set up by a member of another transition. That's all I know. I just use it
Transition Towns wiki
Fada have better web presence than Kildare. Lack of computer experiences was a problem with both groups.
I beieve Fada has addressed that but Kildare is lacking experience.
Intend website shortly - but I'm a novice at this!
Green energy hosting company: Quaker Meeting, Frederick, MD and Brunswick City Council
you are asking the wrong person!
wikispace
ning.com
All of the above
Web pages for your init: Drupal framework from free hosting org (e-geek), Web pages for theme groups:
pages for each them with blogging capability (food, energy, transport etc.)
Wordpress website, www.transitionfrasercoast.org.au - mailing list.
Plone for website, photo's and calenadar; website and google docs for file sharing
blog
Google sites, Fortunecity, Picasa, Flckr
Dedicated content management system and bespoke web graphics plus Flickr
Not sure, not designed by me...
Static site, wordpress, SMF forum, picasa, flickr, youtube.
All part of the Meetup site. Not absolutely brilliant, couldn't exactly tell you why. Most people just don't feel
they have enough stake in it, so they don't use it often (we can tell) and therefore the qualiity declines. In my
opinion problem is that the site has a designated "organiser" who happens to be a councillor and it may
possibly look like 'he's in charge - so don't bother doing anything.' Alas, this sometimes appears to be the case
offline too.
Weebly free site, yahoo groups for files etc
Webpages: html, javascript, php Webpages for theme groups: transition.org wiki ISP: Ehosting - probably not
green!
NT web site, Blogger
Web pages: Dreamweaver
Green Web Host.
web pages - pmwiki on our own web-space; same for theme groups; we store files in our googlemail account
and some are available on the wiki. We use a google calender.
Our website is mostly based on pmwiki but we use smf for the discussion fora The subgroups have page
groups on the wiki. We use the wiki uploads for some documents, also googlle groups we use a google
calendar.
Web pages: CMSimple
Web pages: one.com : all activities done by webmaster - time consuming and not ideal
Photo's, E newsletters are good for low carbon methods
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
Wordpress: structured website with blog, intro, and project pages
Visual studio as webpage designer; googlemail as shared document storage & calendar which is used to
populate part of the webpage.
ning is the answer to all the yess transitionforestrow.ning.com
Wikki, ecomotion,yahoogroup
I.S.P. The Phone Coop
Web page: built in TT wiki platform Online storage: Yahoo Groups
wesbite - www.kms-environmentgroup.org.uk - feel free to e-mail our 'webmaster' for more info douglaslacey@reptorproductions.co.uk
Web Page - key tool for putting information out to the community - an ongoing process Each group has its
own area - still trying to encourage them to provide content - would like to see advisory papers for each
group telling people about actions they can take - part of EDP I feel We can and do store some file for
download as PDFs and xpect this to grow - ditto photographs, though no online photo library specifically - yet
We have A Whats on Page which lists events in date order with a large icon date stamp for each event - looks
like an Event calenday though we are holding back the full calenday at the moment as it looks too empty.
Web pages - Transition PMwiki; file storage - PMwiki & rise-up.
Google docs, facebook, website
wiki but moving to a new platform soon
jooma! on siteground. Flicker. Google calendar, Ning, facebook
we using the yahoogroups listserver for online file and resource storage, photo library. We don't use the
calendar at present. We use the wiki website and have pages devoted to the themes.
wordpress
We have our own website
Wordpress for the external facing website/blog, Google Groups for online calendar and file storage.
Main Drupal site. Google Docs just put into use for collaborative working and document storage.
Drupal v6
Web pages for your initiative: Designed and updated via ftp using Adobe Golive Online calendar: Google
calendar Green energy hosting company/ ISP: Hostpapa for hosting. We would like to use a green ISP and
promote this to others.
TS website is manual ftp by an individual. Not satisfactory. Theme groups do not have time/money to do own
sites as yet. Needs some form of freeware CMS
Front Page and 1 and 1 hosting
Built own website (MS Expressionweb). Just starting to break off theme groups and using NING
Our website is bespoke, hosted by Fasthosts, database-driven so theme groups and non-technical-types can
update their own content, and includes its own bespoke calendar for events. We tried using Google Calendar
but people found it too confusing. Online file/resource storage is via Google Groups, which are linked to the
theme group pages on the website. See www.transitionnorwich.org. We're planning to develop the site
further to replace the GoogleGroups with bespoke bulletin-board-cum-email-group functionality.
as above
Web pages: own website; Green hosting: 1&1
Wiki, Googledocs
just using HTML to list calendar events
ning
Drupal website
using 1&1 as web host
Next meeting we will decide on name for web site
Yahoo groups
Web pages: Project Dirt which uses ning.com, plus Blogger. Online calendar/diary: Project Dirt; Personal
Profiles: Project Dirt
web pages, Community network forum, Web storage
Web pages - wordpress, Theme Groups (in embryonic stages) - subpages of wordpress site, Photo library flickr, Calender - Google calender
web for inititives - wordpress and we bought a domain name for theme groups - we use subpages from the
main one online file storage - posters/leaflets are uploaded to flickr and others are made in googledocs - only
problem with that is they change the formating of documents photos- flickr - we bought an annual
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
subscription which allows for multiple sets and as flickr is so popular people who are searching for transition
pictures can easily get in contact (like a dutch magazine recently) online calendar - google calendar
Web pages, wordpress and google ( needed wiki and blog and neither offerred both), Resource storage:
google, wordpress and for private access a local Council provided web hosting facility. Calendar,: haven't yet
mastered a semi automated version, so its just a web page, A green hosting company would be great if they
can offer free wiki and blogs that also look nice and can be customised.
googledocs
We don't use TT specific green energy/ISPs - we are using our own resources or freeware.
it's all on google product suite - blogger, calendar, googledocs, picassa albums
Website: Drupal. ISP: it4life
Transition East, Google Groups, TTWiki / Transition East
GMail has most of this functionality which can easily be shared amongst a group
webpages: html & css holding page, wordpress site in development. online file and storage: google groups.
Online calendar: wordpress tool, personal profiles: google groups and phpbb.
too much, if i don't use it a my partner uses it.
Web: wordpress File storage: google docs Personal profiles: google groups
Web pages for your initiative: WordPress; Online calendar/diary: G-Calendar
Web: mijndomein.nl / online storage: our website / online calendar: Google Agenda / Personal prifiles: both
on our website and on Google Groups - looking for better solution
TTNZ Wiki
wiki,flicker,google
Joomla website
http://www.onlineborders.org.uk/site/microsites/sbep/events/events/index_html
frontpage
wiki
web, PMwiki; pages, same; file store, invisionfree; photos, invision plus photobucket; calendar, invisionfree
(not great); profiles, invisionfree.
www.transitionsc.org/
Website: defunct PostCarbon Institute (usa) relocalization page
Joomla site
Everything: Ning site for Transition Massachusetts. Transition Northampton was formed as a group only a
few days ago and is barely born.
webpage, facebook
We are trying to build an all-encompassing information base so people can apply it to the situation they are in
now. Also, we are building a "fund-raising program" see: nomowgrass.com/fund.htm (Food for Life) to involve
children in planting permaculture in their community. I found trying to explain the need for permaculture to
those who are not interested is a waste of time and most people are interested in raising funds for schools,
churches and non-profit groups . . . sneeky way of getting the point across. We'll see how it goes.
transition vermont ning
pbwiki for collaboartive work groups, blogger for my own reflections, google docs for some things
Web pages - www.goinglocalokc.org -- hosted through GoDaddy and used their Website tonight software to
build
Our website is the most useful way to advertise who we are and what we do. Having just got our first working
group going, we are not yet sure how we will use dedicated pages for working groups, but I think it will be
very useful. We haven't done much with online file storage yet.
ning, mixxt, grou.ps, thinkhost.com, picasa, google,
All: CollectiveX
google pages and evolver.net
Al above - wiki site and co-opreative calendar.
Web - will be wiki, looking at Wordpress Online file storage - google group
Web pages/online calendar/diary/personal profiles/file & resource storage: These all come under the
auspices of either the Transition Bro ddyfi website or my own climate-related diary, both bog-standard nonteccy HTML sites built using the free WYSIWYG web editing tool that comes with the Sea Monkey internet
package produced by the Mozilla Foundation. The two sites are: http://www.transition-bro-ddyfi.org.uk/
and http://www.geologywales.co.uk/storms/transition.htm
CMS - own build
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
website
Typo-3 backend provides all of the above (except the green energy hosting company)
Ning. personally use flickr
Web page - TT Wiki, File storage - Yahoogroup
mindmeister
We're currently using Joomla with various extensions for all our web functionality
web: bespoke web designed and run in group; web themes: part of website; online calendar: part of yahoo
groups functionality
googledocs, ttwiki
I have answered "No" only because the demand has not arisen yet, but e107 can handle the first 6 with ease.
I donate the server space from my business. As yet none of the "green" suppliers can provide the businessstrength hosting I need to ensure security and continuity of my customers' sites.
Web pages and online calendar: Use blog from Blogger Personal profiles: Come with the online forum
The answers are: Wordpress, WPMU, files sometimes posted to forum, really rubbish old gallery wordpress
plugin that we need to update and doesn't work properly, also not very good events/calendar system, but
we're switching to buddypress. Buddypress does profiles. Switching to edinburgh (wind based) hosting on
18th april, currently with easyspace. The most important thing on the website is the events. But if we switch
to buddypress, it may gain a social aspect too, hence profiles quite important too.
ok again some of these are in a planned stage, but i didn't want to say no (that's far tooo negative) All the
webtools/modules are planned for dev in cmsms... Hosting: well we (millipedia.co.uk) host the website, and
currently rated at using 50% green energy, with plans on improving this.
Web pages for your initiative: cmsms not to full potential but looking at drupal/plone and django. Web pages
for theme groups: as above part of main site Online file and resource storage:humyo Online photo library:
only what is provided by ning and facebook Online calendar/diary: cmsms, google, doodle.
Web pages are Drupal. We will be using the organic groups module for Drupal which allows users to create
and mange their own groups. Drupal upload system for resource files such as .pdf. We will build a photo
gallery using Flickr and intergrate it with drupal. We use the date, calendar and flag modules for drupal to
post events and allow registered users to click to attend. Users have their own accounts with drupal, if we
find the need to create people pages we will do so through the views module.
All using Postnuke/Zikula CMS and modules (personal profiles would also be possible with these tools) - see
http://transitionfalmouth.org.uk - also using GoogleCalendar for collaborative calendar for Transition/Climate
Friendly and green (non PP) groups in Cornwall - see link to "CCCF Calendar" on above and other sites.
we have a wiki at transitiontowns.org;we have a yahoo group which is also used for files;we use google
groups for the 'core group' and our use of google documents is growing as we find it very useful indeed. I
have a public google calendar which isn't used much...explanation below.
Server hosted by www.ecologicalhosting.com, solar powered, currently simple html / css / php website,
moving to Drupal v soon.
Web pages: freehand html and css, Online file and resource storage: Google groups and Google Docs
see above
wordpress, picasa, google
We have a web site split using 3 bits of different software: CMS, Wiki, Forum. The wiki has different areas for
different groups. We store some files (posters, our logo etc) on the wiki. We have a calendar page on our
main site
Blog, Drupal http://www.transitionsheffield.org.uk/ Wiki, mediawiki http://wiki.transitionsheffield.org.uk/
Just because we are not doing some of these things it doesn't mean that we won't be at some point soon...
Bar the green hosting issue, our current website has the capability to support all of the above. Users can
upload files and image, but the site is not configured or designed to provide a central library as such. As for
green hosting, UK based options are currently limited.
Web: Joomla (transitionsouthampton.org) Online file resource: Wetpaint (for internal resources) Green
hosting: Nativespace
WordPress, SMF + plug-ins
Experimenting with wiki based on wikimedia.
Website runs on WordPress, and the photo management on WP 2.7 is fine for us, maybe we'll move to the
ZenPhoto WordPress plugin in the future. We use Google Groups file storage for sharing files too, and Google
Calendar for a web based calendar (we inherited this from the Dorset Agenda 21 group and we share it with
them). We use DreamHost for hosting.
Wikispaces.com for webpages, files. Not well organised at the moment. Need for photos and a calendar in
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
particular.
Web pages by my own utility that converts .RTF to .HTML files and then sends by FTP Online calendar via
Google utility
Web pages: Wordpress, Storage: DropBox, Calendar: Google Calendar
photos in a wordpress gallery or in a picasa web album.
Drupal
Web pages: Drupal (Transition Scotland), Worpress (Transition Edinburgh), File storage: Yahoo groups,
Calendar: Google Groups: Green ISP: we use virtual servers for hosting - not ideal but lower energy than
dedicated as the resources are shared.
i was involved with transition st werbs for the first 8- 10 months during wich we had no web presence of our
own. there were delays in the transition bristol site of which we had agreed to be a subdomain.
ning
Flicker
Will be using Liferay portal or Plone or whatever else I can put together for web pages. I am hosting the site
on my own PC via static cable modem connection. For 'importance', these are my own opinions, maybe not
representative of the group as a whole
apache; mysql; drupal; wordpress; mailman; anoymous FTP
Web Pages: FileZilla, phpBB, Paint Shop Pro.
All on Google sites site (not yet public)
Collaboration:
"YES" list
again, not doing these things but can possibly see much use for them, if only we had the knowhow and or the time
to get it!
Documents are put on our website
Documents: Word Projects: ?
Nin, Socialgo, Basecamp (basic PM capability)
No to all above but anticipate using shared docs etc in future
I usually create word documents or pdfs and upload them to SkyDrive.
just emailing docs to share.
exchanging Word documents via email
At a point it becomes spreading yourself to thin over to many tasks, though the will be there..
Creating documents: googledocs, Sharing documents: googledocs
Ditto
documents, emails
We can share documents on Yahoo group for the core group. We are looking at Google Sites for more public
sharing and other tools, but may be best simply to go for offician TT status and get a wiki page...
not online - just through email
JISCMAIL and email address groups
word and adobe
I think some people are using googledocs
Not yet started
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
Web page as shown in "5" Project management support: E mail (Sky.com server).
Wikipedia
create docs: word, share: make pdf version and put on the website
Huddle - doodle - Mindjet - google calender - word docs - excel etc
Online groups membership list: I know I'm not using one of these, but don't know how one would work interested to learn more. Project management support: e-mail. Creating documents: PowerPoint, Word. Sharing
documents: e-mail.
we aren't doing anything clever like this. We just send each other emails.
We're mulling and so not needing this level of sohistication yet...
ask Rob
Group membership list - not sure, my husband set it up but it's definitely some kind of online email thing Sharing
docs - googledocs
As above for details
dunno
Googledocs
as above
minutes into word, then posted onto blog to avoid angry subscribers recieving huge file attachments. original
documents can be emailed to people on request.
circulate word docs for comment; use ning groups for contacts and outlook for distriubtion lists.
basic word docs in an events toolkit to help the diff groups orgsanise events. This can be downloaded from our
website
Online groups: yahoo groups
docs:word
Outlook, Word, MS Project, Excel, PDF writer
South Liverpool uses Wiki Pages, my own website is created in Dreamweaver, communication with Brixton and
West Kirby is via email, which supplements their web sites.
Creating documents: Word/Pages templates; Sharing documents: Mail software
I set up a Google Groups area but people are divided on using this. Some prefer to work in Project Dirt and use
their facilities. I don't think you can share docs here, though. I set up a membership mailing list for Google Groups,
but another person decided to administer Project Dirt, and I've no idea whether she uses a mailing list. She hasn't
shared any docs that I've posted on Google Groups. Some others have.
email and hard copies
Word
Just using Google group facility
Word
fraid I am not clear what you are getting at
It's early days.
We are mainly sending documents round by e-mail for creating and sharing.
Steering group uses yahoo group to communicate and share documents
sharing docs is just by email or paper
- see local initiatives
Wordpress
We don't have any Groups yet. Documents we simply e-mail as attachments.
email
One person creates a document and emails it around for comments...no-one even uses MS tools, track changes,
never mind and online tool!
Google group space for all - still v early stage. Suspect online collaboration will be limited by comfort with the
process
dunno
We have a google-group where the Core group communicate with each other
Docs: standard tools
this is all getting a bit too techy for me!
TransitionTowns wiki - Docs creation, development, and sharing
Excel and Word/learning googledocs
google group and google docs
As before ... things we should develop but not had a chance yet. We have our weekly meeting on Sunday so I will
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
put these ideas forward.
a lot of our members said they do not want their names and contact details online, we will have one person's
details for each working group hopefully,
Googledocs
creating documents on my personal computer, sharing them through emails.
Creating and sharing documents: transitiontowns.org wiki
Just use MS Word, Publisher for creating docs, share by email at the moment.
Sharing Videos
Sounds very useful-would like to know more.
pdf for sharing documents
googledocs.
Google documents
googledocs
Online groups: outlook Project Management: MS PRoject Creating Docs: MS Word Sharing Docs: Outlook
Wiki for both
am investigating googledocs and mediafire
development plan created professionally, documents shared and agreed via email
email exchanges of documents
Again all through Ning currently although I do have experience of using Google Applications
dunno
have project management experience, so use MS project where necessary, MS Office based systems (though
others don't) use publisher for newsletters and LETS publications, which many don't have, so that is a challenge try to read into Illustrator and convert to PDF to share electronically
Nothing yet.
Word or Pages for creating documents, Ning for lists.
googledocs for US TRainers, basecamp for US trainers
Use a webmaster who handles it all
We use basic Microsoft tools like Word and Excel to create needed documents. From there they are uploaded as
deemed necessary to our website or blog.
SHARING DOCUMENTS HAS BEEN VERY IMPORTANT IN GETTING ORGANIZED. THESE ARE USUALLY DISTRIBUTED
TO MEMBERS VIA EMAIL.
I use Google Docs for archives. I use Wetpaint for active websites and for collaboration.
We've been considering project management support (e.g. Backpack) and document co-creation (e.g Google Docs)
We share documents via Yahoo and also Ning
Creating and Sharing=MS Word, Open Office. Open Office allows creation of pdf files also and is more than a bit
less expensive.
Mostly googledocs
Sharing documents is done both via our website and via e-mail.
online groups list: Ning
we will be putting topical webpages on our website
Transition Colorado web site; Having project management support, creating and sharing docs would be great.
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
Yousendit; Macbook
Transition ning site
not the techy - dunno
?
membership list: Meetup, google groups, basecamp; project support: basecamp, Creating & sharing documents:
googledocs, googlegroups, basecamp
All through googlegroups, with creation in whatever mode that people already have
haven't started initiative
We are in the early stages of our initiative. We are doing all of the above mostly through regular meetings (and
assigning tasks to committee members) and email.
online groups: ning, basecamphq; project mgmt:basecamphq ; sharing: live sync
We are not fully formed yet...soon!
OGML: Excel/Ning, Creating documents: Word, Corel, Acrobat, Sharing documents: Google Docs, Ning
Online groups: yahoo groups, Creating doc: yahoo groups, Sharing doc: yahoo groups
See question #4. some of our yahoogroups are postable by members, others not. We use Googlegroups as an
"announcements only" list in lieu of using mailing list software. Haven't yet gotten to sharing documents ...
I have tried to share with googledocs, but the person did not want to start a google account. I use basecamp at
work but not with TT.
Online groups membership list: Google mail
not yeat but want to
just starting on our wikki
we are just knowing each other and clarifying the initiative
Online membership groups: gmail Documents: word
Word 97
We composite and receive word-document discussions for networking via our email lists to all whomsoever may be
interested in particpating in the sharing of ideas, experiences, views, skills and new projects
This survey is very useful in that it's telling me all the things I should be doing. If only I was doing them...
If anyone finds a document or article or program, they pass it along to each other via e mail
documents
Open Office
Robin has a paper list, we pop round to each others houses
Documents are perused and circulated through email
Documets: Sierra Club Cool Cities
MS word, pdf
ning.com
Online groups membership list: Outlook Express, Proj Mgmt support: Word mtg minutes via email, Creating
Documents: Office 2007 (and issues with Office 2003 eg. docx not importing to Office2003) and web pages with
multiple editors, Sharing documents: email and web pages
online groups: google docs and google groups; documents: our website, google docs
Word documents - tracks changes for sharing info prior to public release.
Yahoo groups
primarily collaborate via email and phone
Googlegroups
None, but would probably look at google docs
Yahoo groups and email
online groups: yahoo groups Documents: Word
Yahoo email account.
We keep documents that all the committee need to access in our google documents; we could also put these in a
private space on our wiki but I don't think we've used that yet.
Some groups are using google groups for creating and sharing documents.
googledocs, ning wordpress facebook,text messaging
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
We tend to just email documents around and revise them, or work together on a document which gets word
processed as we talk.
Yahoo groups, Facebook groups The Co-operative Gorup are organising a networking site called The Hive for more
information please contact yvonne.batten@co-operative.coopo
The core team uses googlegroups to post and discuss topics between meetings. We also post shared files there,
but create them separately, so no shared-creation of docs online.
Googledocs & googlemail.
Online groups membership list: ning
googledocs ecomotion
Just use file sharing area on our web site to upload and share docs, mostly MS Word, pictures, .pdf
Online groups membership list: Yahoo Groups Creating and sharing documents: Yahoo Groups and Google
Documents
Web Based members database that shows interests No specific project management tools Creating Documents Word, PDF, Dreamweaver, Googledocs Shared pdf's on web site - should have more direct facility when forum up
and running
googledocs
googledocs, googlegroups
google docts, wiki, joomla docudrop or somekind of component in joomla
we use an online document sharing system for gathering information for the newsletter. It's hosted by Google. The
online groups membership list is just the Yahoo groups list server. We don't find that works very well.
Our website and YahooGroup, documents just e-mailed about
Google Groups
Voluntary list on main site. Google Docs.
Despite Nos, minimal and very recent use of Googledocs
google docs (also email attachments)
We use GoogleDocs sometimes, but in practice even when these are shared we tend to find one person does most
of the editing. We've just set up a "year planner" as a GoogleDoc. In the past we've used them to track who's telling
who about the Unleashing, who's coming, who's got what books of tickets to sell and so on. I've just started writing
part of our EDAP as a GoogleDoc but I'm using the "Publish" facility to give people read-only access. I don't want
someone mucking up all my good work!
for all: rise up
We draft documents in Word and share for editing by filing in Google group. The email list is used by the
moderator of the site.
Sharing: simply e-mailing around
Email, googledocs
riseup.net
ning
Just email them around
Sharing documents - via email and Wicki
I use officelive so like that. Have used google apps
Yahoo groups
Docs: I write up notes on meetings and pass them round -- OpenOffice
Community network forum, e-mailing docs, events notification
Google docs for all
membership lists - google groups creating documents - google docs sharing - google docs, file flyer
documents: google groups, but most of our members are of the generation that finds signing up to google a
challenge. as we get younger members on board then we will use more.
Googledocs Not listed as important due to members lack of technical ability
Google Sharing Docs Google groups
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
as above - google products
Google Docs
creating docs: Adobe cs4. Sharing docs: google groups. Online groups membership list: googlegroups and phpbb.
Member list: google groups Creating documents: many Sharing documents: google docs
Online groups membership list: G-Docs; Sharing documents: G-Docs
creating & sharing documents: by email - is sufficient for the time being
Email, google-groups, ttwiki.
Googledocs
googlegroups and googledocs
sharing; embedded in invisionfree, linked from wiki for key docs
we use MS Word and email to exchange documents. Will need a better system as things get more document
intensive.
We are too young a group (only a few days old) to have much of this in place yet. We are just getting some folks on
the Ning site and starting to think about having meetings.
I am getting lost. Need techy
See my 2 web projects: MyBackAchers.com - meant to make people realize the importance of self-reliance;
NoMowGrass.com/fund.htm getting set up for fund raising by permacuturing communities.
InDesign.
Wiki
online membership list -- using Transition Town US but members fiind it confusing; creating docs -- right now we
are collaborating via email but may move to a google group; sharing docs -- via email now -- may move to a google
group
These all sound like good ideas. Haven't had time to look into them yet.
ning, wikispaces.com, wiserearth.org, idealist.org. wiserearth has great tools, especially a mapping tool that can do
great regional searches. i think transitions should use a campaign within wiserearth
CollectiveX
same
Under development
Documents - google group
Documents and posters done in Word & in Quark Xpress and/or Photoshop respectively; normally circulated in PDF
format.
Online groups membership list - TT Wiki
mindmeister
Google docs & the website
sharing docs: bespoke web site funtionality designed in group
googledocs
e107 has a membership listing and hierarchical privileges. A PM support tool is available as a plug-in and we can
use the file uploads and downloads facilities to share files. I don't think anyone has really collectively thought about
how we will create and edit docs yet!
Sharing documents: We upload documents to the website
Planning on installing opengoo, which is meant to be an open source, modular collab system. Once new hosting
kicks in! Meanwhile our forum has been frankensteined to do all this... I do translation for Transizione.ning.com
and they use google docs for that. Rather than a "membership list" I think you need a CRM. So different volunteers
can easily pick up roles left behind as people move on.
ok again, membership lists are planned.... Creating docs: OpenOffice/Googledocs Sharing docs:
Googledocs/Resources folder on the website
Online groups membership list: email, google Creating documents: google, wetpaint, wikis not well used though.
Sharing documents: google docs, humyo, team drive
Documents are made with any standard word processor then ran through Illustrator if in need of cosmetic punch.
1-4. All possible in Postnuke/Zikula, 2 possibly w/ spreadsheets 3. GoogleDocs possible, 4. drafts etc by email
googledocs is our platform of choice and works really well for those of us who are non-luddites.
Membership list is the mailing lists currently, hopefully will be maintained by Drupal soon. Some people using
Google docs.
Online groups membership list: google groups; Documents: googledocs
google
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
We have our own email listserver used by various email groups. We can share documents online via our wiki site.
Wiki, mediawiki http://wiki.transitionsheffield.org.uk/
Again, everything sits within our Drupal site or on the Facebook group.
Online groups: Wetpaint Project Managment: Dotproject Creating documents: We have a marketing team that
use InDesign, Word, and some OpenSource tools Sharing Documents: Done one Web site or on intranet (wetpaint)
groups membership is set via SMF groups.
Have used basecamp for other project coordination and would recommend, but cost may be an issue.
We use Inkscape for making our poster and put it on the Google Groups file storage area. Google Groups provides
a membership list. We don't have a project management webapp yet but I would use Mantis or Trac - got to look
into this but we are still not active enough to need it yet.
Sharing docs with wikispaces. Far from ideal.
Document sharing via .doc format files
Groups: Ning/Google, Sharing: DropBox/Google
Drupal
Membership: Google / Yahoo groups, Sharing docs: Yahoo groups.
as above people in the st werbs group were not very willing to step beyond email
ning, google groups
Will be using either Liferay or google docs. Probably Liferay portal. Might put some stuff on Amazon S3 if it's really
big, like videos.
google groups
wordpress; drupal; mailman; twitter; google groups; yahoo groups; youtube; sympa
list hosted by local resource centre
we have the facility to do all this but it is not utilised fully yet
Sharing documents: Googlesites
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
Support:
"YES" list
same as above - thanks for giving us some ideas of things to pursue!
Access Transition Town Website, to check out resources being used by other groups, web surf re transition
initiatives
Transition Australia has recently come into being with a list server for communication and a website in
development
Group support: you guys
None of these available, but would welcome all.
support via email with transitioners in other localities; watchign Transition USA.ning -- do you know it?
unsure
supported by other Transition Groups. I make personal links.
uh?
There is a Leed Hub which a few of us ahve attended as well as another nearby group, which got us together to
start with, we just wanted something closer to home.
Phone a friend: Calling the Brixton group for advice
Home 'phone or Orange mobile phone.
regional : talk to people I know who run other Transition projects
Regional/national group support: a BTCV Every Action Counts event brought several groups into contact with
one another. Online help or FAQs: Transition website guidance.
we aren't really doing any of these, though there is some limited communication between different Transitions in
the area and we occasionally look on the Network website. Would be good to have more support and
collaboration, but can be hard to make time for it!
Making PERSONAL contacts with local groups at Hereford, Kington, golden valley, Brilley, Talgarth, Crickhowell
Simon Bayly from the Stoke Newington group has set up some Google Calendars and also a north london hub site
(http://nlthub.ning.com/)
telephone
Telephone, Transition Cornwall Network
as above
I have subscribed to the transition email info thing but have recieved nothing so far??? It won't let me join a
second time
Just email lists
Trying to make contact with Totnes Build Group,and anyother interested TI
sorry - i'm hoping to be more active with the group when my college course finishes in June this year!
Phone
support: TT newsletter
Outlook, Word, telephone, e-mail
regional meetings
Tried to contact various people but slow or no response online. TT Hackney have offered help. (I used to work in
this area)
Outlook Express
Invited Stroud co-ordinator, Helen Royall, to speak at our first Transition-type event (the showing of "The End of
Suburbia"). She kindly came and delivered a great talk and handled Q&A very well. Also gratious personal
support to us (just myself and my husband organising TT here). Have kept in touch with her (not frequent
contact though). Also have had e-mail contact and some telephone contact with TT Swindon and TT
Minchinhampton. It's lovely to hear of other people trying to do what you seem to be the only person silly
enough to do, though, apart from Stroud which is way ahead, the other groups are only just starting and have
not even begun yet to investigate the issues which are real and huge stumbling blocks for us here in Malmesbury,
namely land rights/use/access and corruption in regional politics (which my husband hopes to start to address by
standing this coming June for the new Wiltshire Council - I wonder how many fellow elected councillors will live
in semi-detached suburban houses as we do, without property to politically protect?) I have only used the TT
fora once or twice, but when I did, it proved very useful for having specific questions answered. I'm sure that
there is more that I could look up if I had the time.
phone & email?
Yes - I've downloaded stuff from the main UK Transition Towns website.
often check Rob's blog transition culture
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
good to have the national support when needed, and we're in process of getting local initiatives together to
formulate more supportive working.
Local district council community group support, Transition Website and handbook which are great, friends in
other transition initiatives.
Used the Transition town Handbook to plan events
Online helped rated '2' only because not yet making much use - need to explore further what is available.
Regional: a West Kent group is (sort of) forming after training weekend in February, but we could learn more
from e.g. T.Tunbridge Wells.
E-mails from other local groups are very important and we can invite each other to our meetings.
email
Early stage - need more momentum and organisation before regional / national group support more relevant.
Have joined East of England - most other groups too far away to be of use. Always search net for what others
have done already - not point reinventing the wheel. Have linked with neighbouring transition intitatives - at this
stage these are really helpful.
don't think FAQs help. People appreciate human contact most.
In contact with and collaborating with other initiatives, making use of Transition Training
don't know what you mean by "specific tool" - but see answers above
Emails to ben / Transition Culture / PmWiki help pages
Transition Training weekend in Nottingham
National Tranisition Website
not sure what you mean here .. we use the phone ie not skype but good old BT for all of this
we know lots of other people involved in transition groups around the country and chat on the phone or email
with queries, requests to talk through issues etc
national support : actualy a french-speaking support (google groups and the website of the newborn frenchspeaking networt of TT : villesentransition.net
group support: http://transitiontowns.org/TransitionNetwork; http://energiewende.wordpress.com/
Communication with Transition Network Ireland through Cultivate;use Transition Networks site as resource for
FAQs; starting to build up network of people we can ring occasionally.
Use the main transition website as reference
Yes, the transitiontown.org site
natioanl group support is about to start.
There is a national google-discussion group. Since this started only about a month ago, it is difficult to see its
value
email
NZ TT website
Outlook or phone
Scotlands' Climate Challenge fund grated us £184,000 for 3 years spending budget
email, phone, knock on doors
Ning to connect peopel in the Greater Glasgow area and beyond if they wish to join.
Being on a yahoo group of our next town's Sustainable Group,Dunbar East Lothian
Eva Schonveld and TSS - she's a star!
I think that mutual support is vital. Love the idea of phoning a transition friend. Like a buddie?
Phone or Skype
We are using our web site to let people know what we are doing. We use the phone to make it more personal.
IT MAY BECOME MORE IMPORTANT LATER AS WE STRIVE TO EXPAND OUR PERSPECTIVE BEYOND CLAREMONT.
I collaborate with joint venture partners in the renewable energy field.
Finding collaborative strength via TransitionUS.ning and TransitionCalifornia.ning
All were important when starting. After which FAQ are less so. Here in US the support groups and "friends" are
either non-existant, lots of wasted time, too much pontification, "party time" (US !ing group), or moribund
(Transition USA)
group support: ICLEI, , post carbon cities, / transition friends: calling transitioners directly
Online help or FAQ's is handled informally through e-mail
regional group: Transition Texas on Ning; online help: Transition Towns wiki
Transition Boulder County Regional Support, online help would be great! and so would phone a Transition friend
Transition US
Training group; Basecamp UK and US
It helps personalize and gives the opportunity to talk out our thoughts.
We have just had one meeting so far and so are really infants in the project!
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
I am in regular communication with a TT initiative north of us.
ning, basecamph1
TransitionWiki, TransitionUS, Ning TransitionUS, and Google resources generally
TransitionUS.org, TransitionTowns.org, Alastair Lough
National: Transition US via email. Online help: Transition Network site and googling other Transition Initiatives
to see what they might be doing
only ning sites interconnected; skype contacts.
Transition Network Wales; friends in other Transition Groups
transition wiki and blog
Google listserv
In touch with Transition Netowrk. Speakers from Totnes by personal contact, also from Credition for the village
where I live.
A county-wide Tcommunities group working with Somerset County Council;
the telephone and e mail
e-mail and verbal report back
WeSET
online FAQs
E-mail, telephone
There isn't much cyber support in Ireland. The TT chat forum was useful - would be good to have on a local basis.
We have occassional Irish Network meetings but time is an issue - volunteers are busy.
Conversations - when meeting.
Group support: Sierra Club Online help: Sierra Club, American Community Gardening Assoc. Transition friend:
Larry Chang, Washington D.C.
dunno
hub group meetings - fortnightly & website
national research network; voluntary alliances; committed teams - not sure what you want here
Regional/National group support: web site available globally, with input and ideas that can be globally shared.
google, plone forum; usually I'm the one they phone/mail, but having an IT'er as a boyfriend isreally helpful!
All
this a work in progress and at an earlystage would love to collaborate with Transition Towns
none
Links to Nottingham transition hub
too numerous
regional network used an email list, but is currently down
"About Transition" and "About peak oil" pages, plus searchable Wordpress site.
We've also got a Skype voicemail account.
http://southeasttransitioninitatives.ning.com/
Wikki,blog,ecomotion
e-voice (although nearly non existant support recently) LCCN and locarbondiary and yahoo group SCALA-Action
has some good ideaas and news
London meetups and TT wiki
Apart from other transition people I know and thier web site. Going to National ConferenceStarting to establish
connections with other groups
Attending conferences; scanning forum and other groups' websites for useful info; speaking to other
transitioning-friends about what they're up to.
Actually use online chat and collaboration with a transition friend
informal network
It would be good to have an emergency geek to help with problems. Luckily, I do have some here to help, but I
imagine others might find this helpful.
london transition group on yahoo groups
Some of us just been to a Transition workshop. What is Phone a transition "friend"?
Transition south east google groups
Regional/national group support: Transition Network Forum
Talking/emailing similar theme groups in other transition towns to share info
google groups
Personal contact with ther groups when we meet up
transition network website, plus web presence of other Transition initiatives
Regional group is mostly face-to-face eg at Training plus we just had a first get-together. But there is a
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
Googlegroup...
ornage mobile phone
http://transitiontowns.org/
Transition Town wiki
Regional/national group support: tt wiki; online help or FAQs: tt wiki, transitionculture; phone a transition friend:
contacts from other TT initiatives in London
Transition Towns.org, Transition Primer PDF, contact with other TT's
online help of Faq - google stuff when need to know
All of these would be great if they were easy to have available
Meeting TTT members, attended T4T, talking to other transitioners
We look at the TransitionCulture.org website and look at what other groups are doing in an informal (ie google
them!) kind of way.
Google groups, phone
Business Link
regional support: email, e-letters. online help: sites, utube, etc.
join the local Transition towns Amsterdam
Nat'l group support: meeting minutes and contact list; FAQs: TT websites
We are a regional hub and are regularly GIVING support to local initiatives in the North of the Netherlands. We
EXCHANGE support with the Durch national group and with TT Forres, Scotland. We have a FAQ list on our
website. We regularly give advice via email to people on the Dutch TT Google Group.
phone
Website TT
transition wiki
help on forum, invisionfree; phone, anyone who is a group leader
There is the national US ning group, and a North Carolina one, as well.
No extra support yet.
do not have any sponsors yet, website, telephone
See web sites
?? obviously I am not optomizing my support options
Regional/national - transition town US and Transition WIKI; online help - Transition WIKI and Transition Town US
The Transition US ning site has potential, but I have found it too difficult to sort through. I don't really understand
the other two.
wiserearth and ning transitions sites
Regional support - Wales Transition, open space,training in CAT,Machynlleth Transition Town websites for online
help.
The Transition Forum
Phone: Contacts page on the website with phone numbers for the main contacts
Some team members read transition blogs/sites, but on individual basis. All these services should be integrated
so we are not so isolated from other transition cities and towns.
we're not at this stage of development yet
Regional/national group support: web and phone
1. under development for Transition Cornwall Network
The Transition Towns Wiki (but not using much)
All sounds very useful.
I use the Transition Wiki a fair bit and read the TransitionCulture blog for updates on whats going on centrally :)
Other Transition websites.
National support: web/email/phone (but not sure about what you mean with this question)
Hmm I am also the national support ;-)
Structured Email lists
Transition Wiki FAQ, Phone and face-to-face contact with Eva (transition scotland)
group support: Drupal
not sure we evere got to this stage with our group
Oil Depletion Protocol; Relocalize.net; Community Solution (Yellow Springs, OH)
wordpress; drupal; mailman; twitter; google groups; yahoo groups; youtube; sympa
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
Comments, rants, poems
like the bit about writing the poem. sorry don't have one. Looks like a great initiative - hope we'll have access to it
here! I also like that you seem to have an understanding about the need to help individuals and groups empower
themselves. This is a key thing we are about - we find people can be very unsure about what they have to offer the value of it - and their abilities. I can see that many of features you are exploring could really help people get
involved and gain confidence and see the value of their contribution. Of course it doesn't help the many people
we encounter who aren't very computer literate, or at all computer literate. But it will certainly be very helpful
never the less if it turns out to be what it could be. Hooray for people like you taking these sorts of initiatives!
(hey, that means people like me too - I like that!) :-)
Very supportive to know someone is working on this. Could save us a lot of time and heartache...
Thanks for doing this. We struggle with our capacities to use what is no doubt available - time and complexity are
issues. We are a little location/ suburb in Brisbane of about 300 houses. We have doorknocked the suburb and
have about 1/3 of households signed up to our e-list and interested in one or more of our "interest areas". That
leaves 2/3 not contacted, unless we can access local news coverage. We hope example and word of mouth will
increase involvement. We had not considered using some of the methodologies your survey has mentioned and
some have seemed too difficult. Good luck with the good work!
We are still a young group and finding our way, so it is hard to even have questions at this stage. Even with our
own website (www.canwin.org.au) we are in a stage of transition to participation in the Transition Australia
website, currently under development
virtually yours the world turns around its wrongs and avatars of geekdom
Great to keep getting your stuff. we are relatively new and dont know much yet, but any help is useful.
There was a fine lot from Totnes Whose social network was a mess With Tudor cash they're supported Now the
transition's all sorted Thanks to that very fine mob from Totnes
Sorry not much response but our use of technology is very basic at the moment. Very interested in the potential
of online document sharing, particularly for use when organising events and managing tasks.
we are just organising our first community awareness raising function in association with Earth Hour, and also
liaising with Transition Sydney - early days so chance to build basics from scratch and get it right! look forward to
your input
Although minimising computer usage is the best way to be an environmentally friendly computer user, here are
some things that may help reduce your impact and do some good for the world. Perhaps you could share these
tips. -Turn off the computer (and other appliances) off at the wall when not in use. -Buy and install an
ecobutton www.eco-button.com -Print on 100% recycled, non-bleached paper using both sides and using
environmentally friendly font Spanq Eco Sans www.ecofont.eu ....and a few more things I compiled awhile ago.
How to offset carbon for free All you need is the Internet (and Firefox preferably: www.mozilla.com/enUS/firefox/) Remove CO2 from the atmosphere and help the world by doing common activities like searching,
clicking, and social networking. Step1 Search with www.GoodSearch.com Type "carbon fund" (or any other
offsetting organization) where it says to enter a charity, and press Enter. Step2 Install the Care2 toolbar from
www.care2.com/toolbar Every day it's enabled, they will donate money to save 25 square feet of Amazonian
Rainforest. Step3 Install Brighter Planet's 350 Badge from www.350.BrighterPlanet.com The company will
offset 350 pounds of carbon after it's installed on your blog. Step4 (Lil) Green Patch Install (Lil) Green Patch
and Carbon Neutral Profile on Facebook. They both offset carbon. Step5 Click daily at www.EcologyFund.com
and www.StopGlobalWarming.Care2.org. Every day you click at these sites, a combined three pounds will be
offset. I suggest emailing them to bring that number up. Step6 Bookmark and visit the following click to give
sites daily: www.therainforestsite.com (Click to protect endangered habitat)
www.redjellyfish.com/wildlifeconservation.html (Save rainforests and chimps)
http://www.care2.com/click2donate/ (Sign up and help support multiple causes)
http://cannecy.free.fr/solar/index.php (Covert clicks to solar energy) Step7 Donate freely to Global Warmingrelated causes through Microsoft. You can search at www.searchandgive.com Works with IM and Email through
Live Messenger and Hotmail (with the "i'm" program), and at Club.Live.com. Step8 Get Green Beta at
www.inferknow.com/green Green offsets your computer’s carbon footprint for free while you browse the web.
It uses revenue from the webpage ads you see everyday to pay for carbon credits. Step9 Install Blank Your
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
Monitor at: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/7166 BYM: Saves the environment and your eyes by
changing webpage background colours to black. Black screens use less energy, strain your eyes less and increase
legibility of onscreen text. (CRT screens only) Step10 Set your homepage to KeepGlobe search engine:
www.keepglobe.com KeepGlobe is hosted on a green server, powered by sun and wind energy. 50% of revenue
generated is donated to a green cause. KeepGlobe uses Google search because Google is a green company.
Step11 Sign up to Click Green at: www.clickgreen.com.au/engine.cfm ClickGreen will send you emails from
sponsors. You will earn "offset credits" by viewing and clicking on these emails. The more offset credits you earn,
the more trees we will plant! Seventeen trees over their lifetime will offset your carbon emission for one year.
This means that by making one click-a-day you will become Carbon Neutral for a whole year Step12 Add the My
Green Profile profile at: http://apps.facebook.com/ecoprofile Certify that you are aware of your profile's energy
usage by adding an eco-stamp to your profile. For every 10,000 users registered to use My Green Profile, we will
donate money and buy carbon offset credits. Step13 Install Green Pulse from http://greenpulse.co.za/ Save
money and the environment by controlling the power usage of your computer. Carbon Offset Games Game 1
Take the Carbon Offset Quiz at: http://apps.facebook.com/carbons We'll donate carbon offsets every time you
answer a question correctly. You can answer as many questions as you want. Questions will get harder as you
continue to get them right. Game 2 Answer the green JoGo Green Quiz questions at
http://jogogreen.com/index.php For each 10 correct answers, we will plant one tree in a deforested area of
Africa. Together we can save the world.
Sorry I have not been helpful at this stage. We have only had one meeting and then a meeting with council. I am
yet to be briefed on this though likely this week.
just plugging away, staying inspired - one ways is by checking in to T.Culture and looking at a new Initiative at TN
every week - great to be able to say "well, I just read that in blahblah they are doing blahblah - I wonder is we
could do something in that vein?" cheers, verdandi
I have been working through the local council's community committee, and talking with interested friends.
the web-based connectors have to easy and friendly so i (barely-to-fairly competent) can use without frustration.
a silly haiku for u: computer knowledge rarely part of my skill set want connection, tho loves to you for all you
are doing... blessings as you confront the gnarls!
Any advice on how to set up a venture that would A- provide an income to support my family of soon to be 4
while we're in a monetary system and B - will be viable during and after the collapse? And just curious on your
take of upcoming 2012 cycle from a truly scientific perspective. To much confusion with silly notions on the web!
sorry not more help , i literally went to premiere of 'age of stupid' last week and decided i neede to be more
involved. i am off to a couple of talks/ workshops with |George marshall today and tomorrow to find out more
how i can become more involved...so i really am a newbie and dont actually know what the group uses. the first
question i answered as to what i use personally. i should maybe take this survey in 4 weeeks or so. hope you all
get some useful responses.is a great idea to help people.
There was a young man called Ben Who's legs were exceedingly Zen When wearing short trou He replied in the
now The lotus is out is the question Yes well I couldn't think of a rhyme at the end but then, who can
comprehend the depth of Zen .... or Ben's legs for that matter? What was I going to say? Oh yes. I really like your
Newsletter and I think I would like to copy the style for Stroud. One of the problems is that I am part time and
voluntary and seem to be working almost full time on it these days so..... how easy is it to do your newsletter and
could I do it do you think (knowing so little about me) (except my appalling attempt at poetry) (is limerick
counted as poetry?). Ah well, good luck with it. Helen x
A guide to online tools for transition groups, in plain English, would be useful. We do need to find something
flexible that allows document-posting, user participation, etc etc, and we're still exploring. Google Sites or getting
TT status and using the wiki seem the most promising at the moment. Labour-saving tools guide would be useful.
Most of all, what's the best way of getting local people to participate in a meaningful way online?
Technology....you know it all already. How do you spell 'exclusive' again? How we have more communication, but
less time for face-to-face chats. When you're dying to open up your inbox, and would that neighbour shut up and
let you lock yourself back in your house again and slip into the blank calm silence of a chat room. Forums not local
friends or local places. Why can't we start our change here with our local faces? (ouch....(0:) The perochial, the
un-famous, the people that make up the audience who have more answers, deep down, than the 'inspiring'
speaker. This is my neighbourhood, the answers are here, between the local gran, the school-kid and the farm
just near. I can surf on the internet but not in real life, I'm at the cutting edge of technology and can use drupal
but not a penknife. I don't spend enough time outdoors and my neighbours..well... I never meet, but I'm about to
email another incredible international activist in the U.S who is 'right up my street'... Oh...and the embedding
energy in manufacturing this congo-extracted war-microchip techy mental hellhole comes straight to you from a
peak oil nightmare... Turn off and wake up Transition. Use your local noticeboard and your legs - feel some real
fuctionality!!! - your grannies had more sense! How do you spell 'exclusive' again? NB. Read 'When the machine
stopped' by HG Wells... ...no offense, keep up the good work....I just felt like having fun and writing a cringey
crappy rant poem.(0: - thanks for giving me that opportunity on a cloudy Wednesday. Lou x
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
We have just started and are trying to focus on practical activities, letting the further organizational happen when
a few more local people get involved. We are in a quite conservative area and need to work slowly building
support for community action, before we can ask the harder questions. None of us are particularly techonphiles,
so it is taking longer to use the tools we have (google group)
I'm not involved in an initiative yet - but hoping soon to be. But at the moment many of the questions are
We have had many discussions about a website and know we need one but no-one has either the time or
expertise so it wd be great if you could help. Current problem is that my email provider Yahoo seems to have put
a limit on the number of emails I can send at a time and our email list is now so big that I can no longer email the
whole group at once.
not sure I understand where its all heading but I'm sure it will be great! Well done.
Transition is a wonderful concept. I wish you luck, but you have a mammoth task persuading individuals to
recognise the warning signs and take positive steps to change.
Be careful about expecting wide support for or use of online technical resources. In my experience too few
people are sufficiently techy to be bothered - they'd rather get things done face-to-face...
I think it's important that you try to engage mullers more somehow (e.g. via the information on the Mulling it
Over Googlemaps), as with over 600 of us there's a lot of potential out there. Even if we are not at the stage of
setting up our own initiative yet, mullers can make a valuable contribution to already existing local initiatives,
whilst at the same time learning and building confidence via them. Perhaps facebook pages would be a good
way forward - I'm not aware of any existing in relation to local initiatives yet. Lastly, please note the change of email address, and if you can acknowledge it that would be great.
Will be interesting to see what comes out of this! We only set up our website a few months ago, but I think it
will be a really powerful tool, and it's been developing quite quickly. We were very lucky to find a couple of
people willing to do all the technical stuff for us. I am slightly wary that we could become too immersed in, or
reliant on, clever technology when perhaps a phone call or a piece of paper would be just as good (or better), or
really we should have been outside getting on with something rather than twittering glued to a keyboard (and I
am starting to get rsi, so that doesn't help either!). We also have a slight issue that we do most of our
communication and keeping people up to date via email, so it is nearly impossible to properly include people who
aren't on email. But I can see the value in websites and mailing lists and skype and such like, especially when they
work well and you've got the right tool for the job! If you want to have a look at our fabulous website, it is
www.transitionchesterfield.org.uk
So the trouble is we've been thinking about Transition villages since autumn 2006 but we havn't even got a
website going yet. cotesbach.net hasn't been updated since our big event on 777, woops. Sounds hopeless, but
it's not as bad as it sounds. Cotesbach Educational Trust has gained charitable status Reg no 1126840 and will be
raising funds to restore buildings where activities such as Transition group ones can be focussed. Part of the
architect's brief is to use sustainable building methods which people can learn from. We're in a historic,
distinctive rural but highly accessible location with lots of resources at our fingertips ripe for Transition. Right
now I need to source a model governing document for a small Transition group, then I can start getting the
people together, THEN we'll be more prepared for all this essential web stuff. We'll get on board in the end, and
one day I might write a poem about it..
Using web/email is not inclusive to all members - there are a number of people who will not be included.
We're just starting. A kiddy style guide to the agreed useful tools and which of them should be considered at
various stages of intiative building could be handy. It's be helpful to have readily available a list of contacts in the
various transition (town) initiatives, especially the phone "friends". 13 minutes. And the daffodils are in full
bloom.
Good luck with this - it really is key to effective communication of the TT message. Just keep it simple!!!
we are just starting out. Collaborative stuff would be useful. It would also just help if the activities of other
groups were online so that we could 'search' when useful. Maybe we would just like other people to provide
facilities for us - for free - or maybe we would want to stay independent anyway. Also the use of I.T. can be
divisive within a group.
Phoning a friend is a great idea! Am only medium IT confident so a lot of your questions have passed me by and
anyway would want to leave them to someone else.
OK, Rob does web stuff for a living and he created our website: http://www.transitionfalmouth.org.uk/ his email:
rob@transitionfalmouth.org.uk We sometimes use the excellent agree-a-date system for organising meetings:
http://www.agreeadate.com/
Keep up the good work, time is RUNNING OUT
There is an ambiguity here. I've only listed the things I'm using. Is that correct?
Did the rant bit above!! I think you're all wonderful - which is only reason I continued with this- would love to
play a greater part in using our web pages, but not got the time currrently to learn all the bits and pieces I'm not
already familiar with. Others in TH will answer differently. We are, hopefully, about to get someone on board
who has plenty of expertise. I shall forward this to him
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
Someone from the group has already had a phone call.
Appreciate the effort to make things easier for one another. We have been going for 3 1/2 years and have done
6 or 7 of your steps but our group didn't want to call itself a Transitioin Town (in spite of my desires as chairman).
I sometimes have thought the "transition" movement exludes us - but not this time! Thanks again.
transition is bigger, wider, deeper more diverse and creative than Transition Network or TT or TM. It shouldn't be
can't be "siloed", organised, made efficient, channelled.
I've answered the qu's from what I know as I'm not the one who keeps the website up to date within the group.
Just feels like not many people accesss the site and we could do with marketing it more. Our e- newsletter via our
mailing tlist is by far the best way to contact people.
Our group is very early stage. We're all busy people so its hard getting this stuff together. We need to
streamline our communication and decision making procedures, but we're all volunteers so its hard to divide up
responsibilities. Email is the best way to communicate amongst steering Group and general members. Local
press is better for general public. What we need is ready made copyright free reliable up to date source
referenced web site content to create an instant impact and something to draw people into our website and
hence the group. It really matters in this town that things are local so we need to have our own group and its
own web-presence. that way people can trust the advice as its from people they know.
We are at a stage with the ENCTST idea that the drive of Transition Change should fit hand and glove for results
and benefits for all interested parties. We are two years behind but trying to move forward and feel that with a
TI supporting this idea,help to replicate in a succusessful format will be reached. I would be very clad to explain
the ENCTST idea to any group at any time. Rgards Peter Pitts
I CANNOT PUT INTO WORDS CLEARLY ENOUGH HOW WONDERFULLY INSPIRATIONAL AND HOPEFUL I HAVE
FOUND THE TRANSITION HANDBOOK. IT HAS GIVEN ME HOPE AND MADE ME BECOME MORE ACTIVE IN MY
BELIEFS AND HELPED ME TO START FOLLOWING MY HEART AGAIN, I HAD SEEN IT IN THE CAT CATALOGUE FOR A
FEW YEARS AND AM SOOOOO PLEASED I FINALLY SPENT THE MONEY ON BUYING A COPY LAST OCTOBER - SO
THANK YOU XXXX
You are lovely you are, you make me smile of a morning! Sorry, we in Langford are mulling over...that is me and
my Audrey and possibly the Gaia Group that meets once a month...so we have not gone very far what with the
chickens, the veg. plot, the wind farm issue....we are mulling though and coming to the Conference. Sometimes
we feel a bit lonely and anoyed that we don't live in Devon where all good things happen...we are not far from
Letchworth but we want our own group for our own village...mmm
Transition works very well without electronic communication by word of mouth, meetings, posters, etc, but there
is a need for 'simple' coordinated web based communication.
I am a keen supporter of the Transition Movement but I am also a member of the United Kingdom Public Health
Association -UKPHA-(Environmental Special Interest Group), the International Union of Health Promnotion and
Education (IUHPE), NEF, and FOE. I have worked for more than a year to develop an approach to health within
transition that reflects the links between health and sustainable living recognised and identified by the World
Health Association (WHO) and by health academics (See for instance - Climates and Change - available online at
www.ukpha.org - see also www.theclimateconnection.org) However I have come to recognise that the structure
currently recommended for the Transition Movement in cities and conurbations does not fully support such
relationships. This has led me to develop a separate online resource for transition, low carbon groups and others
who support the 'rights' based approach to health and sustainable living supported by the WHO. (An early version
of my initiative for Liverpool is currently available with some gliches at
http://www.synerga.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. (Not yet recognised by Google - you have to access it by the address
bar). I am not currently attending core group meetings at South Liverpool following a disagreement with an
academic but I am still informed by it's activities as well as those of West Kirby and Brixton. My main emphasis in
the short term is to work with Liverpool Friends of the Earth, which has accepted my resource and is working to
adopt a city wide low carbon initiative. In the medium and long term I am working for a low carbon coalition
between Transition and Low Carbon Groups including FOE and UKPHA. I feel that any meaningful internet
resource for Transition Groups must include some none transition sources such as:
www.theclimateconnection.org.uk www.euro.who.int/healthy-cities, www.feasta.org or my own resource (as
developed), (which includes a number of external links) http://www.synerga.pwp.blueyonder.org.uk
TT Bloomsbury is a new initiative. We have only had 2 meetings so far and the level of interest/attendance is
somewhat muted. We are both very busy people work-wise yet remain committed to getting our fledgling group
off the ground.
Basically I can't help you with your survey - we're not an official group, just a group that's trying to do 'eco' things
as individuals and as a loose group. If we reach 'critical mass' and form officially then I could forsee an increase in
web-based communications etc, but so far can't see it happening.
Hi, these have been an extremely difficult few months. The small group has very different ideas on direction, and
little support has been forthcoming. I have felt I've been holding this together on a string! What has worried me
most has been that one dominant individual has some very worrying views on inclusion, in a very ethnically
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
diverse area of [removed by ED]. I feel very strongly about inclusion and appropriate meeting space etc.
Goalposts change and actions are not completed, so I have been finding it very difficult to work in this situation. I
have tried to suggest roles but this suggestion was rubbished... Yet later taken up following a unilateral decision
that wasn't decided by the group. I have tried to steer us towards meeting space but this was deemed
inappropriate by the difficult individual... I fulfil my actions, others do not... I tried to step down recently, but was
persuaded to continue to help by a newer member [removed by ED)] who has been a great new injection of
energy and is really helping with web development. (Much appreciated!) However, we still appear to be very low
in 'active' support... A phone call from an experienced TTer would be much appreciated. Good luck with the
survey, and everything else.
We're right at the start of it all so hopefully we will get more of an online presence as we grow - but at the
moment email, phone and word of mouth are what we're really using... Have a fun week!
There is almost too much going on (in London) to keep up with it all. A London bulletin would be useful - we'd
put it on our website. We're very much mulling at the moment!
I'm at a very early stage in this process and don't yet belong to any Transition initiative. I do have a contact in
Hitchin who is also on your mailing list and we'll eventually try to get a Hitchin group off the ground but at the
moment I'm only attending Green Drinks and FoE meetings.
Help desk and/or help search would be great. I have reached out for tactical help to other more local TTs but
they haven't been very helpful! If you need to develop some cenralised support and infrastucture for TTs, please
give me a call. I sit on the board of the UK technology trade association and I'm sure they would support a
charitable initiative like TTs if I lent on them :-)
Our web site is only as good as the person willing to drive it, at this moment it is Cindy, it demands constant
attention and vigilance. I personally would use e-mail or phone to arrange meetings or to get in touch with a
group or a person, simply because you have nor refer back to your website to see if you have received a reply ( to
time consuming )
The google map is useful but it was 6-months before I noticed that you could upload information. So I suggest
that you can not assume any level of technical competence. Where jargon is unavoidable it should be explained
in a side-bar.
Jolly and upbeat as I try to be (publicly, at least, for the sake of promoting any kind of belief in change for the
better) about transitioning (after all, we have no choice about oil running out, etc), the more that I try to achieve
in our town, the more disheartened I become. There seems to be no way that our town, despite being
surrounded by countryside, can hope to feed itself as the land is long since ear-marked for "development" and
this is welcomed by the farmers. Land for allotments is miniscule in terms of land area Vs town population
(though after 3 years, I have had one farmer a few miles away from the town say "maybe next year - one field for
allotments - don't know the size yet, but it is a rare ray of hope despite the fact that we might have to drive
there). Garden-sharing might be an option, but a lot of elderly people are very attached to the memories of a
dearly loved departed partner working in their garden and don't want it changed into a veg patch for someone
else. I have spent nearly 3 academic years trying to get many, many things done at my son's primary school, only
to now realise that whatever the LEA says comes first, parents have no say, "environmental issues" are way down
on their list of priorities, that the staff have no understanding whatsoever of energy consumption or powerdown
(despite me sending them the KEDAP to read 2 years ago - a wonderful document!). We have had a couple of
what I would call "successful" events in the town, in that there was good attendance. There might be a chance
that we will get somewhere with promoting local businesses. My husband has had phenonemal success in
getting play parks set-up where he was told "absolutely no way will we ever allow you to have a play park there".
We have a wonderful, age-ing garden club in the town, who are willing to help us. Just need to find a way to
reach younger families - the school has been most helpful in advertising events for us in the school newsletter,
but there is only one member of staff (out of about 20 - the school has 400 pupils) who has any interest in things
"green" and she is completely overloaded in her job already, so if she can't help with any project idea, then it will
not happen. The head is more taken with visiting China repeatedly (under orders from the LEA, I think) than
setting a date for getting the Garden Club in to tutor the pupils - he has agreed to my idea of getting them in to
help, but seems to need a very long time to work it into the timetable (he went to China for a week on just a few
days' notice once). I see the world with entirely different eyes to those working in the school - my first primary
school didn't need electricity at all to operate (we might have had a light bulb, but that's about it!) and my son's
new school building has toilets in the centre of the building which need electricity for light, air
extraction/ventilation and, in the last few weeks, for their new Dyson Airblades and classrooms with whiteboards
which cannot be read in sunlight, so they have to have the blinds down and all the lights on when the sun
shines... maths is done on-line (wirelessly) and now they have just gotten (unbeknownst to parents in advance,
with parents' fund-raised £2,000) handsets - chargeable, cordless, wireless - for Year 6 students to digitally
answer questions in the classroom. "Powerdown" it's not! I am reading "Gaia's Garden" at home and seeing a
landfill bin overflowing with cardboard at the school, while the token bit of land that they might have for
classroom allotments is builders' rubble growing weeds very nicely! I wonder if I ask if I can put the cardboard
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
down on the weeds myself, I'll be told that I'm not insured to do it? Another mum at the school is the author of
our local recycling directory and was told that the reason that this very large primary school recycles nothing is
that a lorry would have to be bought specially to cope with the amount of recycling that they'd have and no-one
wants to pay for it (as if they aren't paying for it to go to landfill!). I am very limited on the time that I have
available for the millions of ideas that I have - I don't even have time to be writing this really, but I thought that
you should know what it's like "out there". All of the "enlightened" people that we know are busy trying to earn
a living, as are we, and we (my husband, Simon, and myself) find that if we organise something, we might get
others to take part and help - some help very generously - but no-one else will organise anything. Seeds may
well have been sown from what we have done already and if Simon is elected he will certainly bring a correct
understanding of the world's energy situation to his position. Too many people here are just too comfortable - I
expect that they change the TV channel if an environmental programme comes on, but will steal the last carrot in
my tiny garden if the shops are empty. I'm not sure that I can relax until "the masses" understand the situation
that we're in. I can keep showing "The Power of Community" to an audience of one or 2 people, once or twice a
year, but that doesn't seem enough. We try to promote gardening as much as possible in every situation
imaginable - e.g., teaching gardens for leisure parks - and we guerilla plant trees in our local park (my husband
clears it with himself as he is chair of the Leisure and Youth committee!). Patience is truly a virtue! It is
frustrating to see the efforts of some many around the country come to so little, but perhaps time will tell.
Thank you for the work you do To wake the world from its fake cocoon
Ooooh when I said I was competant, I didn't mean THAT competant! I just use the New Forest Transition website,
but don't have a clue how it works! You need to speak to Richard Barnett about all that Ta Kate xxx
I feel I have probably misunderstood several of the questions!
I'm part of the Heart & Soul group, and the Core Group members will be better able to answer your questions
more fully. We've only been going since October but have just launched a new website.
- I'm probably very conservative how I use e-mail and websites! - reluctant to join face book etc - I did the
website because more confident than others in the planning group - so I think we'd all need training and
encouragement to use more interactive and sharing features - we have only farily recently been setting up
theme & project groups, so the lists are just starting to get a lot more complicated, and I can see it's soon going
to get difficult for the person who keeps the lists.
Biggest problem so far is finding someone with the skills and time to first design and then keep on top of a
website hence use of blog and yahoo group.
We are Transition "mullers" at the moment - lots of enthusiasm and growing slowly, learning to work together
and learning what its all about and how we can make a difference! We love your website and its simplicity adn
would love to use some content off there but aren't even at the content stage yet as still waiting to confirm
someone who'll do us a site for love (none of us have a clue!!!) Good luck with your reseach and do shout if you
need anything else.
I probably need to check out with the other key people in our steering goup to see who is a techie who'd like to
do more of the online/webpage stuff. Keep up the good work!
Evenings/weekends is best time to call - MINDMAPPING software is an important VISUAL route forwards to
engage/persuade at a local/national level, and to link up to websites/twitter/blogs, etc - would some of the IT
experts @ Conference want to discuss if there is a suitable MIND-MAPPING software for TT? eg,
http://www.thebrain.com/ http://www.mindmeister.com/ best wishes Mark
We're just starting out as a group so many of the "No" answers are "Yes, when we get round to it". I'll forward
this to our uber geek webmaster so he can do his version for Transition BH as well.
Any other multipliers used? > We invited to lunch mid-Jan reps of other community organisations, aims included
using their networks to spread the word and find the people who want to be part of Transition locally, but don't
now it's happening. Some promising link-ups, but slow going.
Thank you for inviting our opinions. Hopefully we'll agree to standardise on the best practice, which will make
communication for effective for all of us. It would be nice if the tools we use are Open Source - the ethics of
that movement fit well with our own.
as I do so much by former conservationist colleague/linked lists, it's an individual initiative but am in a local enviro
Parish Council group (formed due to my efforts)
Great that you're doing this. Love how as an organisation you're all about enabling self-responsibility and making
it as easy as possible for us. Expect answers and importance will change as we find our feet. Would welcome
some support - case studies would be enough - to figure out how to do the temporary initiating hub piece ........
we're a pop of 130,000. Maybe I'll go back to the forum! THANK YOU!
We are a very new initiative, so while a lot of these things sound useful in future, we are not at the stage of doing
them - and probably do not have experience within the steering group of many.
Well done guys! Great work. Scary bit for me answering was that as IT is not my background the names of the
tools mean nothing to me - it feels like a foreign language that I don't necessarily feel moved to learn, at the same
time as I am feeling I want to be helpful, & be helped!
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
What would be good is: A) some generic transition stuff - eg a basic leaflet with nice pics, that we could use a
base for our own TTW leaflet. B)Also, a proper list of Transition initiatives - A-Z listing of towns with Transitions
and their contact details. C)Also a project list - so you could quickly see whose doing a community
allotment/gardenshare etc so we could share ideas
i found the google map quite hard going, both trawling thru 3 versions to find my town, and adding myself. I
haven't completed a lot of the questions cause I don't have anything going in my area, I need some initiative
colleagues to communicate with!
Here's a Haiku for you: not very techy tried my best to answer questions hope this brings forth fruit Mari
It doesn't seem to be that easy to 'meet' fellow transitioneers on-line. For example: I developed
http://transitiontowns.org/York/ by surfing http://transitiontowns.org, copying the format codes from interesting
pages, and experimenting to acheive the effect I wanted. It was a very hit-and-miss way to do things. I would
have appreciated contact with a 'wiki-buddy' to help me through that learning curve (As I recall, Ben's was the
only name I had - and he was on honeymoon!).
I filled out an invitation form for the annual gathering in Battersea in May, but haven't heard anything back about
whether it will be possible for me to go. Did I miss some crucial bit on the form, or afterwards?
Ashtead is at a very early stage, only having had 1 meeting to date, 2nd meeting due next week, hopefully we will
be gearing up after that.
Sorry for being so rubbish at filling in this form, (too tired) but hope the few bits I filled in are useful. If anyone has
got a spare brain please forward it to me... Well done for putting it together though. Hope others do better.
i think Ecomotion is really good and does a lot of what transition is looking for in a webplatform
sadly too tired to think out of the box, too tired to put a poem together too tired to even rant about the 5 hour
queue on the M25 this morning to go to Bexley Heath but not too tired to fill this in with a glass of vino and not
too tired to wind my weary feet up the wooden stairs and not too tired to clamber into my snuggly bed ... night
night!
i do rue but i'm no good at haiku
I copy here an article that I think is relavant - in a thematic sense and in terms of webtools. Please take the time
to read it carefully. It's worth it =) "From the jaws of crisis, Bold Experimentation by Mark Sommer Arcata,
California – In May 1932, with the United States and Europe mired in a devastating depression, then-presidential
candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt counseled his countrymen not to cower in fear but to rekindle the animating
myth of “the American experiment”: “The country needs and demands bold, persistent experimentation. It is
common sense to take a method and try it; if it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try
something.”
FDR's words fit our times and provide a bracing injection of willed optimism to balance president
Obama's sombre declaration of “a new era of responsibility”.
Historians tell us that despite the reduction of
financial resources available, economic downturns have proven to be the most fertile moments for innovative
activity. A great deal of innovation occurs in good times as well, but this generally consists of incremental
modifications of existing prototypes, less related to meeting needs than to stimulating and fulfilling non-essential
desires. But when those needs are more urgently felt, the inventive impulse is intensified, producing
breakthroughs and system-shifting inventions. Common Needs When all systems, from the economy and
environment to conflict and public health, converge at the edge of collapse, the focus of our collective ingenuity
turns decisively towards meeting common needs. As essayist Samuel Johnson once observed: “The prospect of
hanging in a fortnight concentrates the mind wonderfully.”
The good news in the cascade of terrifying
statistics is that we are about to enter an era of unprecedented experimentation. This innovation transformation
will occur not only in technological invention but also in our social relationships at all levels – in our habits,
attitudes, institutions and behavior. At moments like these, everything is called into question. Indeed, history
itself is asking whether we will continue to use our incomparable ingenuity to undermine our collective well-being
or to reinvent the way we live on the basis of sustainability and the common good.
We are also on the cusp of
a flowering of life-affirming human creativity equal in genius and far larger in its reach and scope than the
renaissance. A convergence of capabilities in information, insight, communication and collaboration that, if
guided by wisdom, will spur us to make chasm-spanning leaps of collective intelligence.
The model that will
drive this innovation transformation is the open source movement that created the internet two decades ago.
That was a collective effort by thousands of computer 'nerds' who neither sought nor earned fame nor financial
reward but simply the chance to contribute to a worthy shared enterprise. The internet is an innovation
commons where information is freely exchanged and users build easily on the results of one another's
experiments.
The challenges we now face are of such complexity and interconnectedness that their solution
will require both a wider range of perspectives and participants and better communication among them than can
be gathered from even the most brilliant team of specialists. One of our most crucial social inventions will be
more efficient processes to enlist and organize the information and insights of expanded circles of stakeholders in
the solution of a given problem. Essential as they are, experts are by no means enough. Indeed, it was our
misplaced trust in one-dimensional financial 'wizards' that led to the current economic catastrophe. Only crosspollination of specialists, independent innovators, and laymen will yield the breadth of perspective and depth of
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
experience needed to produce robust solutions.
Promising experiments are already underway to tap into the
“distributed intelligence” of global publics with specialized knowledge but no organizational or geographic
affiliation with one another. Often called 'crowd-sourcing'. They utilize an 'open innovation' model in contrast to
the 20th century approach of closed-circuit innovation, where the best engineers were sequestered in private
laboratories and tasked with designing proprietary inventions. Open innovation advocates urge that we harvest
insights and information form every relevant source.
Following this strategy, Innocentive, a private webbased operation spun off from the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, brings together corporations, academic
institutions, public sector and nonprofit organizations with a global network of 160,000 engineers, scientists,
inventors, and business people with expertise in life sciences, engineering, chemistry, mathematics, computer
science and entrepreneurship in an Open Innovation Marketplace. There, 'Seekers' can post problems to be
solved and 'Solvers' can browse the Innocentive site (www.innocentive.com) by 'Discipline' or 'Pavilion' and take
on a range of highly specific design challenges for rewards ranging from US$5,000 to $1 million. Positive
potential Once we grasp the positive potential at the heart of this terrifying moment, we can make use of
adversity to fuel a transformation of the many systems, human and technological, that must be reinvented to
address a radically different reality. In the process, we will regain confidence in ourselves, one another, and our
shared posterity.
In the same speech in which he called for bold experimentation, FDR called on fearful
Americans to adopt the innate optimism of youth. “We need the courage of the young,” he said. “Yours is not the
task of making your way in the world, but of remaking the world which you find before you.” (©IPS)"
1 here in matlock we need to remember that many people in this rural area do not yet have any access to
broadband so are still on dial-up and therefore do not spend a lot of time online or do not even have email... we
will stall always need to use printed media, posters, newsletters in key local cafe's etc. 2 - most people here do
have some access to the net - through workplace fast connection or slow home dial up access - so we are
developing our own website using joomla in the hope that we can encourage members / the public to look on the
website for information about events, BUT we are finding it hard to get people (co-ordinators of working groups
and steering committee etc) to come forward to learn how to upload content onto the site. We are in process
of making a forum to enable us to interact with all members and get feedback, and ask for ideas etc.... not many
have every used a forum before so we need to encourage people to try it out once it is up and running. I think
that whatever you develop you need to remember that not everyone is very computer literate - or even wants to
try to be! I think this is an issue we need to try and address and the net can be a wonderful way of
communicating BUT there is a lot of resistance. I was very surprised to find out the number of people in our
group who do not even use email..... helen
The network sounds interesting. Sorry to say but this is a really boring questionnaire! Anyway our group is very
small at the moment - an offshoot of Transition Leeds. We have had problems getting news out to the group,
particularly when our google group was spammed a few times by messages that didn't suit the family friendly
atmosphere we were trying to promote. I don't really like being contacted by email but another member of the
group seems to do little else, so the right kind of communication does make a difference.
Using sits lie Googles sites is very convenient and useful but there are varying levels of ability within groups and
phobia of technological tools, whilst some people are very competent others are fearful and risk being left out of
the process. Online tools are vital, not just because they save people ending up in meeting after meeting but
because they are open to all and allwo fast and consistent knowledge transfer.
1) I *really* like the sound of "social media surgeries" as a way to spread good use of the tools. I wrote about it
here: http://www.doorsofperception.com/archives/2009/03/what_tools_for.php 2) Gnarly - or "noueux" as
they call it around here. 3) I met Ms TT Laguna Beach last month - probably the richest suburb on the planet.
But I have not heard of any TTs in France closer than Paris.
Thanks for the great job you're doing !
Hi, I'm working in a research institute dedica
http://ec.europa.eu/energy/intelligent/call_for_proposals/index_en.htm
our initiative is quite young, it started only in september, and only now we are about to have an own website. So
there is not very much experience in online networking until now. But it has become clear already that this will be
very important and is al real chance to avoid mistakes and double work. Great that you care for good tools to all
this! In the meantime it could also help to get an overview of what tools are already existing, does there exist
already something like that?
We're not officially a 'branded' transition initiative but I thought you'd be interested anyway. We're up and
running less than 6 months. I'm sure we'd be delighted for any feedback you might have. We're kind of a
captainless ship though I should point out, we want to be self-sustaining and those who set it up are too busy to
become official heads - we're reliant on the membership to keep the ball rolling. We're finding the ning set-up
great though and very flexible. I'm also using it for another project, organising a festival - it's not a public site
though.
Like the idea of the Network supporting local intiatives on developing local websites. Seems lots of us are
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
inventing the wheel over again with web presence!
Site is just getting up and running. Have a look and send feedback. www.transitiontownclonmel.wordpress.com
Will put a website name transitiontownclonmel.org pointing to location soon. You could do worse than to set up
a google website template for towns that do not have any site or similar. May do one at some point for Clonmel
and just point to blog for future details, but blog seems like the way people are going from all transition sites
around. Alan
We could indeed use some support in streamlining our communication and networking systems. O'Leary,
O'Reilly, O'Hare and O'Hara, there's no one as Irish as Barrack O'Bama.
We have quite a lot of visual resources that we as a group have prepared. There doesn't seem to be a central
place where we can put those to allow others to use these. Things like peak oil graphs, graphics and photos
Oh my. The technical possibilities you suggest are mindboggling, that is if I imagine their use for the TT process
and the tasks at hand. We've only just had our first Open Space, after 13 film-screening-plus-discussion evenings.
For a layman, it is difficult to grasp the possibilities of the tools you hardly know... Very good initiative!
Note that I'm not directly involved in running a specific transition group but get involved via the Green Party and
other like minded groups 'sustainability'groups. Hence I've left some of the questions blank
I hope as TT expands and evolves that the tools to navigate don't grow overly complicated. I hope that it can be
visually simple and have a navigable interface, but also reaches deep into resources and connection tools.
...suppose a little like an apple computer. wish I had a little ditty to support that...
We're building gardens in schools and at community sites and while the organisers use i.t. hugely , the people we
get to participate in the real work are often techno-shy and talking is the best communication. Face to face is
best, though local radio and telephone trees are also useful.
Using gmail address as contact for theme groups has proved excellent, different people can access, leader can
change seemlessly. Most people involved are 50 - 70 years old. Know basic email but not much more.
I am studying for a degree in Sustainable Rural Development at present. The future as I see it is in returning to
local resilience by using our knowledge of the past and present and applying it to plan appropriately for the
future. I am an advocate of Lovelock's Gaia's Hypothesis. I am acutely aware of the limitations to growth and
natural resources and I want to steer my community towards sustainable growth and development and give hope
to future generations.
All these tools are important as dif people absorb news in dif ways. Also, I like to communicate with folks at least
two ways so they don't miss anything i.e. a text and an email about an eventetc!
There is a transitioner named Mike, he burns wood in his home, eats local veg, then goes wee wee wee - all
the way home back to the Findhorn Ecovillage (5 miles from Forres)
on white sand sand pipers run
run
We are not an offical transition town yet - we are acting more as a hub and are currently trying to raise
awareness of Towards Transition Glasgow and the Ning site to try and create more momentum, in particualr in
more local areas - we feel that Glasgow is just to big to address as one Transition Inititative. Subsequently we are
just a collective of individuals rather than an established organisation or attached to an organisation. Therefore
what we are doing is just going with the flow, whatever people feel energetic about, and hopefully more local
official transition initiatives will be set up. Also all our solutions are free to use however obvious issues re backup
of info/data. Also most of my answers have been 4 - I think all these things are important however most of
them are only tools and they can also act as a barrier so it is important that we focus on our local
communities/neighbourhoods/streets and engage with people directly in th emost appropriate manner. And a
poem (since you asked for one...) Here is Edward Bear coming downstairs now Bump Bump On the back of his
head Behind Christopher Robin, It is as far as he knows, The only way of Coming downstairs, But sometimes he
feels, there is another way, If only he could stop bumping for a moment And think of it. (Winnie the Pooh) and
to end with a quote - not sure from who... "You're all a huge inspiration to us - thanks for doing the work that
you do."
Great you are doing this. a question you might have put in" Do you use Yahoo groups when for your official
committees?"
I've filled this in as the chair of Linlithgow Climate Challenge and as such although I'm interested in the transition
model there isn't the interest/comitment to go just for the Transition model but more to develop a model which
suits the community of Linlithgow which is still very traditional and staid so that the detailed structure of the
transition model might appear to some too prescriptive. We are travelling as fast as we can with the volunteers
who are engaged and our one paid coordinator. Best wishes for your efforts and I hope the above is of some
help from where we've got to so far. Peter Roberts.
use of websites to engage other groups - the school loved ours, but wanted gaming to get other young people
interested. Input not just from the committed transitioners but other interest groups - young people, older
people, etc is essential for inclusion. Good luck!
To be honest I prefer to read info, eg in a magazine than go online and do things, I think this is because I use a
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
computer a lot at work and therefore don't want to spend lots of time using it at home. I have felt bombarded by
emails etc since our group set up - many I haven't read. I appreciate that a web tool is really useful for many
people and would probably use a website myself but not sure how much time I would spend on it. Please don't
forget all those people who either can't, or don't want to, do lots of things online.
I'm sure there's lots more. C'ant think right now. I personally prefer short stories to poems. But you aint gonna
get one now. Sovvy!
I am designing the Ning network site for the Transition Sweden Network together with Steve Hinton (yes, he is
from UK). Steve is our Ninga Warrior.
mild rant: in our town, computer use is the territory of anglo middle-class folks (yes, other folks have computer
skills, but they do not have computers at home nor do they have easy enough access to make them part of
everyday life). So, if we are to be inclusive (which seems pretty essential for a Transition Town Initiative) we can
use computers only for communications with the one demographic group that uses them easily....yes, this is
frustrating, but it is the way our town is and we all need each other. Transition Town language pretty much
ignores class; using computers instead of one-to-one communication appears to be a middle-class phenomenon,
whereas working class families and latino families tend to favor person to person direct communication...so, to be
inclusive, we have to use a wider variety of communications, we believe, than we might if we were all middleclass.
Transition is easy Transition is free It's being good neighbors Locally and globally HOw's that? :- )
Our initiative at this time is local and inwardly focused
I am technically a 'muller' until I can convince others to try this with me. I have found that most folks here are
either not believing there is a real problem [they pooh-pooh both climate change and energy depletion
predictions]; or they are not interested in helping others with their 'solutions' [hoarding food etc]. Please put
me in touch with other 'mullers' in the midatlantic US region. In the meantime I focus mostly on teaching
sustainable food gardening to neighborhood groups. They seek me out because it is now hip to be green and
nutritious, but as you know that's not why I'm doing it! We need a Transition Town midatlantic region presence
[Washington DC/Maryland/Virginia/Pennsylvania] in the USA. I can't fly to California or New England for
conferences. And thanks for the book! It is great! I will keep trying to recruit for a TransitionTown Annapolis
group. Helen www.annapolisfoodgardens.com
We are at the very earliest of stages, so don't take all of the "no" answers too seriously. We would expect to use
many of the tools once we are up and running.
I have been busy as an assistant in developing a cohousing neighborhood. I have been to Asheville's revived
transition town meeting last week. But, I did read the Transition book a while back and underlined the book
thoroughly. I am hoping to have many principles of transition town in the cohousing neighborhood.
We are as an organization still at the beginning stages in attempting to make our community more resilient. Until
recently we have not been as proactive with Peak Oil and addressing energy issues. But now we are on the
leading edge (in our community) of directing change to lower energy, renewables and sustainability. Thanks for
what you are doing and reaching out. We learn from others successes and shortcomings.
I admit that I have not been a prime mover of transition ideas in the Boston area, but I appreciate being kept up
to date on new ideas and events. I would like to participate as actively as my schedule permits.
We're only using the basics at this point; still getting set up as an organization.
ONE OF THE MAJOR QUESTONS IN THINKING ABOUT JOINING AN INITIATIVE IS WHAT THE ADVANTAGES ARE?
THAT DOESN'T SEEM TO BE ADDRESSED MUCH, OR IF IT IS IT IS HARD TO FIND. IN THE END, THE BEST ANSWER I
HEARD WAS "IT IS IMPORTANT TO GET AS MUCH OF THE COMMUNITY INVOLVED AS POSSIBLE, AND AN
INITIATIVE CAN HELP WITH THAT". ANOTHER QUESTION I HAD WAS WHETHER JOINING AN INITIATIVE IMPLIED
GETTING THE CITY COUNCIL TO PASS A RESOLUTION. THE ANSWER WAS NO, AND I STILL WONDER HOW
MEANINGFUL IT IS TO SAY A CITY (SUCH AS LOS ANGELES) HAS JOINED WHEN ALL IT TAKES IS SOME
ORGANIZATION TO SIGN ON. IF WE JOIN, I INTEND TO ASK FOR A RESOLUTION FROM THE CITY COUNCIL, AND I
THINK WE WILL GET IT.
I have metrics on my algaloildiesel.wetpaint.com web site. I get about 130 hits a week, but no one leaves a
comment or joins the website. Many lookers, very few takers. I get requests once a week for an article on algae I
wrote in 2006 and posted an abstract on a couple of blogs. Only two people (current joint venture partners)
really understand renewable energy enough to want to use my technology and grant writing skills. The problem
is not so much my lack of outreach but really dumb populations who surf the Web who are clueless about the
how our energy needs to be repositioned in our world from fossil to renewable.
There once was a lad from Cotati (Kuh-tah'-tee) Who thought himself rather the smarty (smah-tee) He started
a mission To create Transition In his town; now he's the life of the party! (pah-tee)
I need more help on how to get things started. I gave a presentation to 65 people in my "conservative"
community. Nobody really took the bait. They wanted to know more about "green tech". I'm having trouble
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
finding like-minded kin in my community. How do we connect with people who are movers and shakers, rather
than those who get together at the coffee shop and compare notes on our assessment of the world? What from
your experience is the big hook? I know you guys are busy, but those are my specific questions, and might be
helpful answers for a broader audience as well.
Check http://www.projectforum.com/ for information on a group wiki that allows for quite a bit of collaboration
and sharing. Still checking it out, but looks promising - at least for smaller groupings.
Thank you for providing a human, down to earth, wholistic approach to this incredible challenge. The tone of
TransitionNetwork.org is calming. Thank you.
We have a website, but we are still small enough that we can work informally using e-mail and the website. We
have recently formed an alliance with an interfaith group in town and can see that our needs for collaboration
services are increasing.
especially valuable for our initiative would be guidance in how to successfully apply transition to large
metropolitan areas, i.e., umbrella organisation model vs. (or in collaboration with) neighborhood groups.
Found TRANSITIONS totally by accident on one of my web-searching events. Joined the Jemez SPrings, NM group
as I own property there and will eventually relocate to that area. Very new to the group and know little about the
group and TRANSITION itself. Best wishes! Chris
The fact that youtr sending a survay to get the info is fantastic. Being new this is quite overwhelming but very
comfortable. thanks for all the effort! I am of service to the movement!
Could I speak with you on correspond via email about how you created your web survey? I'm working on a
project with the city of Longmont regarding their web site - creating a portal that links to all of their
environmental programs. Many people have complained about the Ning site and they can't seem to figure it
out. It took me a while to feel fairly comfortable with it but I've experienced problems, e.g., trying to make a
"link" LIVE. I had to learn the technique. Also on the Transition Longmont page, I can't seem to control the size of
our logo. Even when I edit the HTML code, it still looks the same. Go figure . . . I'm forwarding your survey to all
the members of our initiating group so they an choose to answer the questions for better results on your part!
Thanks
Very new the transition bit, just getting our feet under us, niot very experienced in organization or coalescing
behind unified goal. I am really not sure what is important for the stuff we have not yet tried.
The Ning platform we're using is somewhat clunky/inflexible. People are finding it intimidating and thus not using
it much. The other problem we have in terms of communication is that there are a dozen or more online forums
(fora?) of various formats (Yahoo Groups, Google groups, blogs, etc) for various existing groups in our city, so it's
hard to coordinate it all, or convince people to join yet another.
thanks i think the ning site is pretty good, except i think the invite ends up in people's spam box a lot of times.
also some people are overwhelmed by the technology, and i suspect all the questions that are asked to set up
your account (upon my urging, at least one of them has been changed).
Please continue to use words / systems that welcome more people. "Low carbon" is likely more relatable than
"transition"..."sustainable" more likely understood than "low carbon." Less words, more targeted points - you
won't lose people. We have a big job ahead. Words and systems will either help or slow us down. Clarity.
Simplicity.
Thank you for thinking of the long-term here and of ways to provide the infrastructure.
Sorry to be so evasive but I am a techno phobe to some extent and new to these challenges but hopeful that we
will all be able to effect some changes in our community.
I'm doing the training so I can get ramped up on doing a transition town, or at least learning more about what
others are doing. These questions all presuppose that I have started one - sorry! :)
Sometimes I feel like I drag a bag of rocks behind me. I am the driving force behind the initiative and it is hard to
be the only one fired up and willing to make this important work a priority. It's frustrating, but I am determined to
keep at it. Do you guys know about the Sustainable Cycling tour that is coming through these parts and raising
awareness of Transition initiatives across Vermont and the Adirondacks?
ummm
I think I wasn't much help here. I am still searching for like-minded Localizers in the Portland, Maine area. Your
site has a placeholder. That how I got here. Personally, I'm looking for guidance on "intentional communities",
what to build in, what to leave out. In many ways, we have a chance to start over and build sustainable
communities. I'm sure there's research available on the key components of sustainable communities. After that
local variations and the flexibility of its citizens will determine the community's success. I view websites such as
yours as key repositories of information and vehicles for tranmitting support. Thanks for all you're doing. Good
luck to us all.
I'm pretty much the only person locally interested. The one or two nearby I've tried to contact via email have not
responded. I'm afraid everyone is watching the shopping channel or Real Housewives.
Good Luck! And don't forget the non-Transition interface. There are at least 8 substantive list-serves/websites
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
focused on sustainability in the Philadelphia area. The hot topic currently is combining them to reduce
management and cost. I like this form of combination: a global set of links where you can drill down to a specific
site with a clear focus.
Transition Reno or T-Nevada, hasn't gained steam yet, but many local groups are gathering energy and it seems
that soon we could start a real Transition Group. I will be attending a Transition training in Oakland CA at the end
of May and perhaps have more to contribute after that time. Thanks for your time and energy, we need it.
We're at the part where it is absolutely exhilarating and exhausting all at once. We cannot keep up with it, it is
flying so fast! questions you forgot to ask: about Wiki. We don't have one and the Transition Network one
seems to be just enabled as one single page. Someday it might be good to have a Wiki -- can you recommend
where/how to do a full fledged one, hopefully for nearly free.
For me, the key to this, is to have a system that is as simple as possible, takes up as little time as possible and
offers maximum value. Those of us who are doing the work have to balance the time in interacting on the web
and doing work in our local community. I'm working on a new book, As Civilization Sinks: Making the Transition
to a Better World, to offer some of my personal experiences over the last 15 years doing this work as well as
some of our joint experiences here in Willits.
I am not as involved in using these as would be Sandy... who we rely on for expertise/technical support. She
could probably provide more info as well as a picture of skill levels and usage of tools in our area and others as
she's very sensitive to this and sizes up folks aptitude in this area quickly. thanks for all that you've done!!
I did that in number 5.... big help would be for guidelines, starting points, briefing specs, suggestions for SIMPLE
ways of doing things so that the sense of powerlessness when an IT superstar says 'this is the best way' and you
have a gut feeling that this will leave you forever running round in hi-tec circles not being able to do the simplest
thing (e.g. send out an email with attachment to the list) because a hi-tec fix is needed to make the system
perform this simple feat and the hi-tec superstar is away on holiday for two weeks.....but because you haven't any
of the jargon, or the knowledge to ask the pertinent questions the hole gets dug.........
We are trying to get started, but there are not enough tech savvy people (with time) in the group to get even a
website up & running. We desperately need something we can just take & use: hence currently relying on
Google. We need e.g. website (to give us a presence), on-line fora (to get people involved).
1) surveys we use opensource Limesurvey 2) dont forget GIS! we are creating a Green map from our resource
audit toolkit from www.greenmap.org map base from eg peoplesmap, google earth, or OS as a last resort
database - hopefully MySQL 3)A note on Yahoo Groups - I use 20 different Yahoo groups, very very useful, but
wanted something more under our own control for TLT - hence emphasis on DIY and OpenSource 4) for fora,
hopefully PHPBB 5) if you phone you may get my husband Geoff who makes it all happen
I think we're a bit technically behind as we don't have anyone with huge amounts of IT skills. We're having
success with home energy surveys and a community owned hydro scheme and stuff, but could really do with the
IT side improving. Keep us posted and thanks for all the hard work. Dorienne
As we are just starting I feel we need help with our group process - the online tools are not so helpful at our
stage. I would like access to a documentory on a Transition Town that has made some head way
We are at talking stage to start, Great looking through your survey & reading info on site. Will get back when we
are a bit further along track.
Hello from Saskatchewan! I'm really REALLY excited about the transition initiatives. One thing that I find a lot of
from my neck of the woods is that people are really apathetic. Apocalyptic, but apathetic. And one of the things
the TTT movement does, that I haven't encountered in many other places, is offer people an actual TANGIBLE and
positive vision for the future. It gets people excited and inspired about actually DOING something - it makes
people feel empowered rather than helpless. That being said, one of the things that I've really encountered
difficulty with is that "peak oil" is still a really taboo subject in our area. Given that the tar sands are really being
developed next door in Alberta, and the economic "downturn" hasn't caught up with us yet, as a rule, most
people here are of the mindset that endless "progress" is a good thing. Which can be frustrating - trying to
change people's minset, and THEN talking about transition. Anyway, I really took the liberty of going on a rant,
here :) There's something I'd like to throw out there, as long as I'm here: I'd really like to organize some sort of
grand permaculture conference here in Saskatoon, a big event that gets people really inspired. Only thing is, we
don't have a ton of permaculturists here - a lot of people who are self-taught, but not any experts really. So, if
there's anyone that you guys know of that lives *around* these parts, or someone you can put me in contact
with, that would be really and truly AWESOME. Anyway, thanks for tuning in - I realize I didn't say anything
about the web aspect, but I'm not exactly proficient at the computer either. Keep up the amazing work! Jessie
Best
Sorry not sure if this survey is for me, TT Lewisham not really up and running yet!
"Audaye e" <[removed by ed]> does the web stuff for Low Carbon Exeter - best to send this survey to him
Am not sure how any mortal would have time to get to grips with any of the above. They would need to be
welded to their computer - what a life!!
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
We believe that Transition Initiatives (= Transformation of our lifestyles to more wholesome, planet & people
friendly ones) need to involve all kinds of ordinary citizens, at grass-roots, in each & every community
(farmers/tradesmen/'housewives'' kids etc, in actively participating, sharing skills & resources, great & small, in
whatever projects are appropriate to each location, rural or industrial, especially in getting more people actively
involved in growing more of our food (community self-sufficiency- e.g. ,more allotments) and generally restoring
our natural environment (growing & planting more woodlands) also, in cities with high unemployment, more
money-free job & skills exchanges between the skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled unemployed so that all people
can get what they need but which the poor cannot afford to pay for!
Computer illiteracy may have a generational aspect,some older people are wizz at computers others not, I get
easily stumped. Can spend hours on computer, instead of doing real stuff. Also need to include non computery
people in town. Greater competence would be an asset, Web page makers are at work in our group, it just isn't
me thats doing it
Was delighted to join the network Realised there'd be much setwork. Small family, freelance duties, poems to
write But let's be honest, my contribution up to now has been shite. Will do better soon. Promise.
As all the members of our core group are extremely pressed for time, we are trying to not overload each other
with too much information. Mike Grenville's Transition Newsletter is brilliant. An occasional regional meeting is a
good idea. And the once a year conference is good. But we are actually trying to cut down on the time we spend
on the computer.
Trala, trala, technology can be fun, But then sometimes it's just a pain in the bum! I know there is a lot I could
learn But I'd rather be on my allotment getting sun-burn.. Well a tan anyway :-) Good luck, and thanks!
We need emergency laws to exempt wind power from the farcical planning process!!!
with techy support some wonderful tools seem possible, without techy support or with stuff thats not beautifully
designed it can drive you insane. I dont even know how to fix a phone conference even though I have taken part
in them. I dream of going to library or local cafe where all this stuff is on tap for a small fee - so the 'workplace' is
like a shop.
Because I don't understand some of the things you describe it is difficult to rate them for importance so these
replies were a bit of a long shot. I am a concerned that too much reliance on I.T. can mean that some pople
without it will be alienated and that the deeper sharing that comes with face to face meetings might be lost and
decisions taken too quickly without sufficint discenment. ( I am refering particularly to the suggestion of an area
where groups can write lists of things to do.
I've answered this to the best of my ability but I am not IT skilled - I just use what we've got the best I can. I
would really appreciate a link on the Transition Towns website as we have been working really hard at this and a
few of us have achieved quite a lot but we need all the publicity we can get to attract new people.
As a "backbench" member of our Steering Group I am able to grasp the philosophy of the initiative but sadly not
the complexities of the modern communications system!
We are wondering whether to use Ning as lots of others seem to be but we are not sure why we want to and
whether its any good!
You can see I'm barely competent ...... most members of our group are much better.
I reckon dedicated funding to an Irish Network would be extremely beneficial. We need central admin, support
and cyber training. Rant - nobody wants to give money!
I'm an elderly novice who's noticed desecration of environments in UK and abroad - and breathed foul air. I've
never liked it and want to help initiate reform before I cease breathing!
Hi there, I don't know whether my project is a transition project or not!!! I have been recycling bicycles that
would otherwise end up in landfill site for the past two years, I use all recycled parts and sell the bikes back to the
local community for very little - the cost of reconditioning. Many folk bring bikes to trand or exchange, but
essentially I do this on my own. Is this a transition project?
I am desperately trying to wake people up to the whole picture. We have been deliberately fragmentised to
prevent us seeing what is happening, coming up to 2012. I need more membership for my FREE weekly e-letter.
You may not realise what the whole picture is, and the media, governments etc certainly lie, lie, lie about the
truth. Transition areas are fantastic, and I am hoping to return to the UK to live, and join one of them. But it is
only a part of a huge picture. A bit like closely watching a lion creeping up on you from the front, completely
unaware that the rest of the pride is coming at you from behind! This serious, and the media, governments etc
are all deliberately working to destroy society as we know it or are being manipulated themselves. Here's
something I found on a forum - the moderator could not trace the source. Again, it may or may not be true, but I
know a lot certainly is. If I have said enough to interest you, please give my e-address to as many as possible,
and let them decide for themselves. I use a different address for the e-letter. Anonymous ‘offering’ to
‘www.noonehastodietomorrow.com An illusion it will be, so large, so vast it will escape their perception. Those
who will see it will be thought of as insane. We will create separate fronts to prevent them from seeing the
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
connection between us. We will behave as if we are not connected to keep the illusion alive. Our goal will be
accomplished one drop at a time so as to never bring suspicion upon ourselves. This will also prevent them from
seeing the changes as they occur. We will always stand above the relative field of their experience for we know
the secrets of the absolute. We will work together always and will remain bound by blood and secrecy. Death
will come to he who speaks. We will keep their lifespan short and their minds weak while pretending to do the
opposite. We will use our knowledge of science and technology in subtle ways so they will never see what is
happening. We will use soft metals, aging accelerators and sedatives in food and water, also in the air. They will
be blanketed by poisons everywhere they turn. The soft metals will cause them to lose their minds. We will
promise to find a cure from our many fronts, yet we will feed them more poison. The poisons will be absorbed
trough their skin and mouths, they will destroy their minds and reproductive systems. From all this, their
children will be born dead, and we will conceal this information. The poisons will be hidden in everything that
surrounds them, in what they drink, eat, breathe and wear. We must be ingenious in dispensing the poisons for
they can see far. We will teach them that the poisons are good, with fun images and musical tones. Those they
look up to will help. We will enlist them to push our poisons. They will see our products being used in film and
will grow accustomed to them and will never know their true effect. When they give birth we will inject poisons
into the blood of their children and convince them its for their help. We will start early on, when their minds are
young, we will target their children with what children love most, sweet things. When their teeth decay we will
fill them with metals that will kill their mind and steal their future. When their ability to learn has been affected,
we will create medicine that will make them sicker and cause other diseases for which we will create yet more
medicine. We will render them docile and weak before us by our power. They will grow depressed, slow and
obese, and when they come to us for help, we will give them more poison. We will focus their attention toward
money and material goods so they many never connect with their inner self. We will distract them with
fornication, external pleasures and games so they may never be one with the oneness of it all. Their minds will
belong to us and they will do as we say. If they refuse we shall find ways to implement mind-altering technology
into their lives. We will use fear as our weapon. We will establish their governments and establish opposites
within. We will own both sides. We will always hide our objective but carry out our plan. They will perform the
labor for us and we shall prosper from their toil. Our families will never mix with theirs. Our blood must be pure
always, for it is the way. We will make them kill each other when it suits us. We will keep them separated from
the oneness by dogma and religion. We will control all aspects of their lives and tell them what to think and how.
We will guide them kindly and gently letting them think they are guiding themselves. We will foment animosity
between them through our factions. When a light shall shine among them, we shall extinguish it by ridicule, or
death, whichever suits us best. We will make them rip each other's hearts apart and kill their own children. We
will accomplish this by using hate as our ally, anger as our friend. The hate will blind them totally, and never shall
they see that from their conflicts we emerge as their rulers. They will be busy killing each other. They will bathe
in their own blood and kill their neighbors for as long as we see fit. We will benefit greatly from this, for they will
not see us, for they cannot see us. We will continue to prosper from their wars and their deaths. We shall
repeat this over and over until our ultimate goal is accomplished. We will continue to make them live in fear and
anger though images and sounds. We will use all the tools we have to accomplish this. The tools will be
provided by their labor. We will make them hate themselves and their neighbors. We will always hide the
divine truth from them, that we are all one. This they must never know! They must never know that color is an
illusion, they must always think they are not equal. Drop by drop, drop by drop we will advance our goal. We
will take over their land, resources and wealth to exercise total control over them. We will deceive them into
accepting laws that will steal the little freedom they will have. We will establish a money system that will
imprison them forever, keeping them and their children in debt. When they shall ban together, we shall accuse
them of crimes and present a different story to the world for we shall own all the media. We will use our media
to control the flow of information and their sentiment in our favor. When they shall rise up against us we will
crush them like insects, for they are less than that. They will be helpless to do anything for they will have no
weapons. We will recruit some of their own to carry out our plans, we will promise them eternal life, but eternal
life they will never have for they are not of us. The recruits will be called "initiates" and will be indoctrinated to
believe false rites of passage to higher realms. Members of these groups will think they are one with us never
knowing the truth. They must never learn this truth for they will turn against us. For their work they will be
rewarded with earthly things and great titles, but never will they become immortal and join us, never will they
receive the light and travel the stars. They will never reach the higher realms, for the killing of their own kind will
prevent passage to the realm of enlightenment. This they will never know. The truth will be hidden in their face,
so close they will not be able to focus on it until its too late. Oh yes, so grand the illusion of freedom will be,
that they will never know they are our slaves. When all is in place, the reality we will have created for them will
own them. This reality will be their prison. They will live in self-delusion. When our goal is accomplished a new
era of domination will begin. Their minds will be bound by their beliefs, the beliefs we have established from
time immemorial. But if they ever find out they are our equal, we shall perish then. THIS THEY MUST NEVER
KNOW. If they ever find out that together they can vanquish us, they will take action. They must never, ever
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
find out what we have done, for if they do, we shall have no place to run, for it will be easy to see who we are
once the veil has fallen. Our actions will have revealed who we are and they will hunt us down and no person
shall give us shelter. This is the secret covenant by which we shall live the rest of our present and future lives, for
this reality will transcend many generations and life spans. This covenant is sealed by blood, our blood. We, the
ones who from heaven to earth came. This covenant must NEVER, EVER be known to exist. It must NEVER, EVER
be written or spoken of for if it is, the consciousness it will spawn will release the fury of the PRIME CREATOR
upon us and we shall be cast to the depths from whence we came and remain there until the end time of infinity
itself.
I should tell you that my group isn't really a "Transition", except in my mind. We are trying to be a Sierra Club
"Cool City" (and are!), but I am hoping the group will also take on being a transition town. I want this to be a
group decision, and I don't think we are ready for it yet. My Quaker group has just introduced the Transition
Town concept to Frederick, and I am sure this should be something I do in my own local town, Brunswick.
computer support delegated to group members comfortable with 21st century
The key to the blanks is in the answer to the first question - there is no group in Colwyn Bay yet. I have found no
one else interested in transitioning - but I'm not in a position to go out and search for them (too decrepit!). Take
me off your list of contacts if that would be appropriate.
Sorry - don't think I've been a lot of help - I'm a new member and much more into practical projects- maybe you
should try contacting somone else?
i have a sore throat which is effecting my ability to write so there's no energy to gloat about our group's
increasing mite!
it would be good if you did say what is on offer through Transition Towns, what is being used now. There is a bit
of yea-saying in th eabovel.ists - of course we all need all of tem. I belong to a fascinating emil group/website
K4Dev whose members use every known electronic device. I also recommend a book Schuler, D. 2008 Liberating
Voices. A pattern language for Civic communication which has 150 ideas.
We've taken a provocative stance at www.transitionnewcastle.org.au, and put some ideas out there, asking for
input. We have only just got the site up and running, and had about 60 people to a mtg last week. Hope to get
some ideas flowing soon, and have asked for a grant to do some local workshops, and transfer the results onto
the web, and then collate all the ideas.
I would like there to be an alternative to google since we don't really trust them, but they offer very handy
services we haven't been able to find elsewhere. So maybe it would be helpful to add a question on wanted web
utilities the network could offer?
Communities are as effective as their economics. Asset Capitalism replaces money with a currency based on
assets. www.greenmoneyworks.com
...but you already have my email, so we want to keep hearing from you!
There is a need to develop a comon ubderstanding of a few basic points 1)We are a spirit that has manifested a
body 2) Bodies are controlled by a huge banking conspiracy
I'd be interested in seeing how Transition Towns nationally and locally could support Energy Saving Day (E-Day).
Warmest regards, Matt
The problem is always accessiblity (for those who cannot or don't want to use the web, how about inclusivity or
computer courses). It also getting people to use these tools when they would prefer to be out doing something in
thier community. You find the people using these tools are already clued up about web apps and 'like this kind of
thing' .Web usage is probably a lot les than you think when you take into account age, social background and
interest. As a web designer I get very concerned about people getting wrapped up in the technolgy rather than
what they want to do which is communicate and web tools cannot take the place of this but must enhance and
this is a very important point or else there is no point. Saying that I think the range of tools out there if used
correctly could help in some way transition groups
Momentum has flagged recently, as a result (in my opinion anyway) of the initiative being too top-down. Not just
directed by core group but by one individual ("that's not what I want to achieve at this meeting", "the group isn't
ready for that") and I suspect that is reflected online as much as off-. Well, a little bit more so, because only the
"leaders" have email lists and so on. It's hard to see how to change that, which is a great shame.
I am web editor for BTI, happy to chat about our approach. Also keen to learn from other groups and
experiences.
We are lucky in our group as we have a bit of web knowledge. Hemel Hempstead group (the next town) are really
struggling with their communications as there is no one with any computer knowledge. I'm sure some sort of
starter pack would really help them. It would include: Easy to set up web presence and a couple of emailing
groups (one for within the group, and one to outsiders). If you want any help doing this, I'm more than happy to
try and help. I know html, javascript, php and mysql if any of those are of use?? All the best and thanks for being
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
there! Marion
Our website and use will be given the attention it deserves very soon and many of the tools mentioned above will
be incorporated.
We want an integrated email and web database, that all members can put their own details into and edit. It
would work best if all the Transition Bristol groups could access it, and, if they wish, get both TB and local
information sent to them. We have someone who could build it, but no funding of our own to pay for it at the
moment. And Transition Bristol (for reasons best know to themselves) have refused to develop anything similar.
So our contact database and theirs are totally separate.
We have an amazing person called Nicola Terry (I think she already replied to this survey as I forwarded it to her)
who sorts out all of our web needs - she created the wiki, discussion forums and groupspaces account, and works
with the code to improve things as needed. None of the rest of us really understand it, we're just very grateful to
her!
I am not in the steering group and our subgroups are pretty independent so I don't know everything that goes on.
I manage the website and the discussion forum and I set up the groups spaces account for the newsletter so I am
biased. I think the most important tool we have is the e-newsletter.
In Cheshire we use a number of tools and web based activities, but these are restricted to the those who can use
or are confident enough to learn them.
The recent loss of mass email is going to be a hassle to overcome - but gaining of Drupal would be worth it. I'd
like the idea of being able to communicate with others about IT issues - does it already exist? Thanks to you for
what all you're doing!
You didn't ask about anything that is planned, or that we might/would use if laid on. I have tried to indicate
anticipated/potential importance of things we don't currently do - not sure if that was what you wanted.
I recommend rapid prototpying. Build something quick and simple and cheap that solves the key problems of
today. A Wordpress site and Googlegroup creates more online discussion than any of us can keep up with, plus a
space that interested parties can find out more and get in touch if they want to. REAL LIFE face to face
communication is what is important. The online tools are just that -- tools to bring other people into the group,
and to act as a summary of what the group is working on. Cheers, Finn
Project management - more trouble than its worth to do electronically, unless its an engineering project. Wiki 2
would be a big step forward but its hard to get people to use it. I've been trying to get us back on line with
national &tc but so far no joy currently using ning but with some tech support would like move to Elgg to have more ownership of the data. The
longer we leave it the harder the data and user transfer will be.
We are at the early stages of assessing ecomotion for our main online support. Although its not ready yet its
looking promising. We are giving them lists of things re functionality etc that would be needed if we were to roll it
out to the whole of Glastonbury. We are seriously in need of something to consolidate what we are currently
using as there are too many different things being used. What I like about ecomotion is that it sets us within a
vibrant context- a larger system of green groups. I am concerned that transition groups don't get too 'tribal' - that
they remember that they are part of a bigger system.
look forward to developments
A very valuable exercise, this stuff is only going to get more important! A little bit more explanation of the named
elements would have been good - there was some duplication, e.g. online groups, mailing lists and e-newsletters
overlap. Could have afforded more open questions as the ratings feel a bit arbitrary - but that's because we
haven't been evaluating our comms enough, and this survey will encourage us to do so, so well done!
Lancaster is not very far down the transition road. The core group have done a good job so far in helping to
establish groups. Groups are still finding their way but as the person who looks after the Web site, is the contact
person for the Energy group and wants to set up a travel and transport group - Ifell that there is a lot to do and I
have a lot of ideas. Its a bifg problem sorting out proirities and maving things forward and just wading through
the mass of information available. For example I'd like to do a web surver - Ive just sarted to design a google
form, to look at domestic energy issue for Lancaster -what'a the current possition, What's the potential for
change, where and how should we apply effort to acheive best impact. etc.. I'd like to publish on the website
guide sheets on the best local sustanable solutions for particular energy issues eg: Making houses need less
energy - loads of stuff out there already but not all of is appropriate or sustainable or local Helping people use
less energy - be less wasteful and profligate, raise awareness of issue - "low energy day", "turn heating off day"
etc. etc.. Local genergation - What are the solutions for local situations, sustainable, local sources if possible,
affordable. I'd like not to have to reinvent these things but need to make sure that the advice is ballances and
correcta,d most efficient and effective and sustainable. Groups are great but they can loose site ofthe bigger
picture in spending too much time discussing the intricacies of insulation - valid though that is. I feel the question
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
should be where is the best local sustainable supplier and how do we get a lot of people commited to reduce
their needs. I could go on but I want to be possitive - we are faced with a massive problem but I do think that we
can go a long way down the right path with many small steps - at the very least the sooner we get more people
setting off on the journey the better it will be for all of us.
I am working very closely with a friend on lots of things but we find it difficult to meet up so online collaboration
is key and allowing us to drive forward many of our initiatives. e.g press releases, organising events. It is also
allowing us to support each other. We are finding facebook surprisingly useful and people are becoming involved
through this that might otherwise fall by the wayside
Hi Ben, hope yr well. I can't update the Lewes info on googlemap for some reason. Hope you and Cath are both
well, I need to talk to you abt currency. Love, Adrienne xxx
I am feeling overwhelmed by the work involved with the website at the moment, and its hard to find someone
with the skills to take over, and I dont feel able to devote the time to training anyone. Nevertheless, there are
exciting things on the horizon. The Ning platform (used by Transition USA) is very user friendly and I think if we
had used this from the start some of the problems I am having with getting a web geek to take my place would be
easier to resolve.
the wiki website doesn't allow us to upload sufficiently large files. Also I have not been able to find a way of
deleting the files. We definitely need some kind of a blog system.
we distributed flyers at the age of stupid premiere in wimbledon inviting people to join an initiating group and got
sufficient people to turn up o a meeting to arrange a second meeting next friday and now members of that group
are leafleting further screenings of age of stupid so we may see an official transition initiative in wimbledon yet.
Keep up the good work :)
We're just starting out, so time will tell how well we get to grips with the online stuff. So far a lot of people seem
intimidated by the Google Groups, so a meeting in a wi-fi enabled place and some coaching will be in order
sooner or later.
I'm keen to use as many online tools as we can. Thinking about Google Maps too for member locations for lift
sharing... Twitter account that a number of the group use... etc. etc.
There is a wide variation in ability and access to IT, otherwise sharing, project management and other such tools
would be of far more value (at present these would effectively exclude significant numbers from contributing
fully).
Hows about the Transition web platform has a bandwidth monitor that compares to CO2 emissions, teaspoons of
oil, cow farts, burgers, miles driven, etc. Perhaps the website could be designed in a colour scheme to reduce
monitor pixel illumination power consumption?
I think some form of freeware CMS would really help. I would like other TTs to share my google group on waste
issues so that we can develop best practice and not reinvent the wheel parochially. Thank you for asking and
taking on a coordination role: there is a danger that some who are naturally paranoid may see it as control ...
I definitely think we could be doing far more re-use of web content for the basic 'message' stuff (the Why
Transition bit), so the work you are doing here is important, but I also think a local flavour is vital the success of
any of these initiatives. So a bit of a paradox, but one I am sure technology can fix, good luck ;o)
I think the main problem with any system, no matter how good/simple/efficient is getting people to use it,
especially if this means switching from something else and changing the way they work. There are many systems,
and many users; the problem is getting them all together! It's hard to envisage everyone using the same system also, a centralised transition system, whilst appealing, is not exactly resilient to the fading out of the internet
(which may happen, much that i would hate it, as part of the transition)...
I've been participating in the Food Pilot and found it unuseable. When someone contributes, instead of emailing
me what they've said, I get an email saying someone has said something and inviting me to go and try to find
what it was. Half the time I can't be bothered, I don't have that kind of time. At other times my success rate has
been less than 50% - the stuff just gets hidden somewhere obscure on the site. And I have a background in
programming and website development, so I figure if I can't find it, probably most people can't. Why can't it just
email me the text? Is it a secret?
this country is green, But it could definitely be greener, It would help if the government where a little bit
keener. P.s idea: business transition groups? university transition groups?
:)
I'm afraid I'm not very good at poetry, so it comes in the form of some observations. Clearly the Transition model
is very web-based, which is great, but risks alienating certain people in society. But for people for whom the
internet is an integral part of daily life, it can work very well. Whilst the WIKI format can be more integrating, it
can also look rubbish. This is a major frustration for me with many Transition group websites. Thinking about
how we use the internet to take Transition forward is very important.
It demeans your respondents to attempt a joky air in this sort of questionnaire if you want us to take it seriously
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
Happy to answer by e-mail... just have a six-month old daughter so no time for phone calls, really...
Discovered Ning on Ben's suggestion and its great. Problem we have is making people aware of it.
There was a young man from Birmingham
Once I have talk to group i will setup an officelive web site. Get that lisited on search engines local links etc. I can
do that. I am out of my depth with php, and coding Ian
I think you're doing a grand job
I've been concerned over the general issues of the Transition movement for a number of years and have tried to
alert others but still find that living in a small village community there are only a few who have the same
concerns. It is quite difficult to engage the wider small community that these issues are very important to our
collective future without always being on my soapbox. I fear that until current or future events really start to hit
people in their pockets or there is an unavailability of goods, services, energy, food, and water then unfortunately
the apathy of the many will prevail. I personally ebb and flow between optimism and pessimisum but then
perhaps that is only to be expected when the subject matter is of such magnitude and the obvious way forward is
difficult to plot. Hay ho keep smiling!!!
I presume you've also emailed Kamil Pachalko with these questions - he and I tend to work together on the TW
website and online communication stuff - it would be interesting to see whether he's given the same answers re
the importance of various web tools, etc
I'm using quite much of the tools and feel proficient at them but my group varies in their access, skills and
experience with them. There is a need for training within ones own groups so the proficient users support
newcomers and people who aren't used to using those tools. Apart from that keep it up.
We currently have two websites to allow us to have a blog and have a wiki. Training people up for the wiki is a
challenge as with the age group of members we have here, they are fairly techophobic and have limited
capability, and some insist on only using non microsoft solutions as well. So haven't engaged in some of the
more esoteric activities you list, as i myself am on a steep learning curve, here and elsewhere! So some good
instructions for whatever you provide would be really useful for people like me as well as technophobes. Also, I
think looks are very important, and must be customisable to give a local flavour. Some wikis are frankly, ghastly!
And I am planning to get a Facebook presence for us soon once I and my daughter have found time to get
together to set it up. Some good instructions about what makes a good facebook presence and what doesn't
would be useful all round. I have come across a facebook entry for the Climate march last December that was
unfindable because of the way it was titled. And can you invite Dave Morris of Sustainable Haringey to this
survey, if he is not already invited, as I am sure he would be interested in your initiative. dmorris@onetel.com
Great work! - look forward to seeing what you produce. And that leads me to my final point. having just migrated
to our new sites about 6 months ago, I am not prepared to do that all over again to get extra goodies, so
whatever you provide must be able to be bolted on to whatever people have already. Sure you will have thought
of this already! Clare
Just that this is heavily directed to those already in a transition initiative where as a lot of us are teetering on the
edge or waiting for launching. Might be worth offering a seperate questionaire for those at initial stages and
wanting to find out more! Cheers for all your hard work! :-)
This is my question. The blackbird calls the morning in The sunlight gives it life Oh what a fool I was When I
could only imagine strife We've bared our heart We know what's right We ride up to the edge Then we hear
the words- “We can't show 'the end of suburbia' it's not very cheery.” “I think we should have three carrots to
one stick.” "They'll appreciate the words moving over the screen" And I wonder when I died. Thanks very much
for all the work and effort that happening.
Some projects & tools may cross over with Transition work and some might be pure unadulterated Transition
projects.
I have just set up some basic stuff for TTT, the blog mainly and we may look at more as the initiative develops.
However, I do wonder how many people actually use the site - only 8 "followers" so far. Our email list has about
250 people on it so that, basic though it is, strikes me as the main communication tool currently. Good luck!
The above gives you information about the tools we use (and don't use), but nothing about our activities.
Having a good wordpress theme with calendar, event listings, static pages, membership profile pages, and blog
roll in a few different colours for each subgroup would be perfect. Combining presskit guidelines would be useful
too - ie Press release template, reminders for print deadlines etc. We have lots of techies but all want a break
and have little time for extra web work. Easiest solution best. Having a transition presence on all social networks like Facebook and Bebo is a good idea too. And free widgets for national transition news updates for blogs would
be nice.... Good Luck. :-)
Quality assurance is an ongoing problem, and we could particularly give more attention to mechanisms that
would help struggling new groups to get advice and assistance from mature established groups. I see a role for
teleconferencing and telepresence in this, but don't have the skills and experience myself to provide the needed
infrastructure. There is a gap now between the lower-bandwidth information media like print and web sites and
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
the high-bandwidth experience of person-to-person interaction at meetings and conferences. There should be
something in between that can provide a medium-bandwidth person-to-person experience, but without the
expenses (money, time, and environmental impact) of traveling to meetings and conferences. The Fortune 500 is
making this happen for them as I type this sentence; we can surely do it too.
I understand the above as that you want to know waht we are using now. I expected you would also ask what we
need to have in the near future...? Another time I suppose or do I miss something?
We only just started our forum and it's still in experimentation stage. We think it is going to be very important
and many people are enthousiastic about it. Your questionnaire doesn't distinguish between things we actually
do and things we either would very much like to do, but haven't got time yet to realise, or are just starting with.
So the image you get from our answers might be a bit distorted.
In another organisation that I am involved with I receive phone coaching on particular topics , this may be useful
for IT, or a new group setting up , or how to deal with NO. A panel of volunteer coaches and a set of specific
outcomes might be useful.
Sorry not able to contribute a lot as new to it, but I do think sharing resources is a good idea.
The most important things for us are mailing lists, including sub-groups, and calendar of events. We want to
develop a website and have a wiki and discussion board.
Technology should be used as an addition to normal conversation. Its a great way of saving energy from driving
to pointless meetings but it can become a burden and exclude folk if used too much. ps I'm no use at writing
poems!
If it ain't broke, don't fix it, I say. I find the wiki great - easy to use and looks fine. Also the google platforms are
great too.
We've shifted from one forum to our current one & are now contemplating moving again (aaargh!), mainly to get
a better calendar. I'm pretty happy with the set up but many of our members aren't - I'm too geeky!!! I'm
struggling to share the responsibility & need funding to pay for admin time. Help! Katy
www.sustainablefrome.org.uk (forum) & www.transitionfrome.org.uk (website) ...... soon to be joined so the
website is the main front page (when I've worked out how to do it!)
Transition beckons Groups give hope, but frustration Transform anyhow (This isn't for spreading all over the
place, but I had doubts about the US Ning from the getgo. I think Ningmasters forget, or never comprehend, the
crucial role of face to face in THIS process. But I also think Rob's your delay (dithering?) in setting up a clear US
model set the stage for the Ning-ization to happen. I'm speaking on Transition Towns next Monday, and hope to
call around to a few US towns. Great discussion on Stupid the other night! thanks for all your good work!
I appreciate that you're working on this! Thanks! Too many online tools, too little time to assess them all!
Because of the networking facility of facebook, and the fact that it is the media of the young people (and us
elders) facebook would be my media, not of choise, maybe, because they "own" your material, but that may be
for legal reasons. I am about to form a "group" in facebook. I have no experience in fund raising,and my wife
and I are running out of funds to support our initiative. We'll think of something. I would be good to have a fund
raising FAQ and group as I would guess this could be a common problem and could stop many an initiative.
Best place where you can help is the list of free or inexpensive resources. That will help us increase our
sustainability forces.
When watching the transition series on youtube I realized that contacting community leaders (who didn't have
time or desire to take the issue to heart) might not be the way to go. Reaching adults with a message of "change
is coming" usually falls on deaf ears so they need a feeling of "urgency" to take on the issue. Kids on the other
hand are in need of Food For Life - so I designed our NoMowGrass.com to take up a role in providing this as fundraising activities. I yet to have the method by which to implement the Food For Life Program and will be seeking
a full time person to promote it to local schools, churches, and other non-profits orgs. My sincere thanks to you
and Rob Hopkins for all you are doing for spreading the word. I hope to be an asset to your cause and be an
instrument for others to gain insight. Thank you!! - Sherry
Sweet smell New life Gracious gift
We have a HUGE need for a simple tool like Google Groups and right now don't have that -- so we may go ahead
an use Google Groups for simplicity and ease of use. Also need simplicity and ease of use in colloborating with
regional, national and international efforts. For this reason, I would like to see Transition Town US merge with
Transition WIKI so there aren't two places to check for support, info, etc. Maybe Transition Town US could be a
subgroup of Transition WIKI but I think it all needs to be under one umbrella if possible. It's confusing and time
consuming to check both, yet both offer some resources valuable to the overall effort.
Thank you so much for your continuing work. I can see that there is much untapped potential for us (i.e. all my
"no" responses); we will need to either find a local expert who wants to bring us up to speed, or get some sort of
training. In particular, I would need help separating wheat from chaff, because of course the internet is a timewaster par excellence as well as a useful organizing tool.
there is not a gadget or widget that cannot be devised to run in any social software, in particular ning. though
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
mixxt.com and grou.ps are most excellent and can do the same stuff, ning can generally be tweaked to do just
about anything, and if it cannot, googley stuff can be added or developed. i like idea of developing campaign
within wiserearth to consolidate and tie together loose knit T sites. their map development is the most excellent
so far i have seen. there has been real lack of networking tools and support so far. a main site should have feeds,
mapping, global search, and tools for networkers. a central site should also be prepared to decentralize and not
seek to control everything, and avoid duplicating efforts like the current T US ning site has tended to do.
While our group is using CollectiveX for most things right now, we are only moderately happy with it - it is hard
for people to access, and not visible to the larger community. We're searching for viable alternatives.
We are quite embryonic at Bangor so some of the tools may gain more importance as more people are involved.
For a new initiative the first thing that is needed after the first meeting of like-minded people is an emailing list google groups seems to do the task - would be good to have info on who to use, make sure set up a 'general'
email for group rather than use a personal one (I am having to change now). Also recommenndations on which
boxes to tick e.g. on security, posting, moderating etc. How green is google? Having only set up one web site
using a very simple tool this has been more of a problem - looking at Wordpress but haven't worked out which
ISP - we don't have money. The Openspace meetings/training I have gone to have been great for swapping info.
Once we have groups looking at different aspects we will want to extend the web/blogging into parts plus will we
spawn off other initiatives and be a link????
Interesting stuff, Ben. As you will see from the above, we have tended to potter along using the existing tools that
are available to us, and I imagine this to be reflected quite widely in Transition-land. It strikes me that some
internet solutions do not seem to work that well, e.g. I set up a free forum for Bro ddyfi steering group members
to use as a means of quick & efficient communication, but it never really caught on. The Sea Monkey package I
mentioned above is very easy to use with a little bit of training, making it possible to create web pages without
the requirement for learning lots of code - and it's free! However, I note that I am still in sole responsibility for the
Bro Ddyfi website - which I don't mind! Cheers - John
I'm not interested in getting involved too deeply with groups. I'm quietly doing my own thing working towards
greater level of self-sufficiency and preparing for a more sustainable lifestyle with a lower consumption of fossil
fuels - along the lines of the Transition network. What I am doing can and will be integrated into the local
transition network when the time arrives. I am a bit remote to get involved with local transition group.
However, I will attend the occasional local meeting if there is something particularly interesting on the agenda.
Concerned as always about the 40% of the community without web access. Truth is, they don't seem to be
involved in transition - is this self-fulfilling ??
We are at the very beginning of Awareness Raising and will probably extend the use of our website for some of
the items we have answered NO to in future.
Hmmm, how about redundant servers, geographically dispersed ? If you expect some issues (rising sea level
clobbers a lot of telco operations; power black-outs) then some degree of duplication could be good. Perhaps get
some freeby relationship going with Akamai or similar, they can replicate the website. Also it is useful to have
information spread around on multiple sites / servers, maybe off-site backups that can be enabled quickly ?
Check out the community website "stuff" that a local not-for-profit is doing in our area. An example website
would be "thebegavalley.org.au", and the people that run it are "austcom", contact Geoffrey Grigg (email
available on the website), built on a data-base style web server called typo-3, provides lots of extension &
packages, editable on-line (password protected), username & password can gain edit access to certain parts of
the website.
Hello, A transition town hasn't started in my town yet. I'd like to be part of starting one up. From my perspective
I don't see many tools/areas on your site for connecting up new people to start transition towns in their area. It
would be great if there was an area on the website that was very focused in connecting people to move onto
starting a transition town. The google map is good. Perhaps just a forum where people could post messages. Or if
there was a central area to sign up for newsletters, for the closest transition town to hear what they were doing
that would also be good to keep aspirational transition towners in the loop? Anyway just some suggestions,
Thanks very much for the info on the site,.
I've answered personally, ie about my own use of communications technologies, not those of our transition
group, hope that was what was intended.
You didn't ask how useful we find the tools we are using! Our use of Yahoogroups has been a qualified success nobody really engages with it in any way other than as a mailing list though. I think we'd be better off with a
straightforward forum/mailing list combo, as we had problems with discussions that get started through the list
going out to everyone, which can fill inboxes and put people off.
I would suggest you don't become particularly presecriptive. New technologies are developing all the time and
technologies for networking these technologies are also developing rapidly. Mashups are the buzzword of the
moment bringing together technologies from different providers to provide a variety of task specific functionality.
Be open minded.
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
I'm just in the process of completing a temporary web platform for Transition Haverfordwest, built with Joomla
and various plug-ins. As you are probably aware, I am also currently building LocalEyes that aims to offer all the
services Joomla offers but on a joined up nationwide framework so all the content entered by all the sites on
LocalEyes contribute to creating a "comprehensive community resource" for all communities. This can then be
promoted to the wider community, outside the existing transition groups to encourage much wider participation
in the name of "Building Community", engaging people from a point of self interest as well as dealing with
environmental and climate related initiatives. I've always said LocalEyes will hopefully be a digital toolkit for
transition but as of yet this potential has not yet been fully recognised by the transition network. It has on the
other hand been recognised by many other leading authorities including NESTA, The Ministry of Justice, Somerset
County Council, numerous transition groups and last year LocalEyes was nominated for the Revolutionary Awards
in Gordon Brown's nationwide social innovation competition. With support from NESTA we aim to secure 500k
social venture capital investment within the next 12 months to develop this UK wide digital platform. Obviously it
would be fabulous to work directly with the Transition Network to achieve this goal to show joined up thinking.
Also collaboration would only strengthen our case for funding and many of the foundations are already complete.
Both Triodos Ventures and Bridges Ventures have confirmed that LocalEyes is the type of project they will fund
and we are just waiting on completion of our 11 pilots (4 in Pembrokeshire - led by Transition Haverfordwest, 4 in
Herefordshire - led by Transition Hereford - Nick Sherwood and 3 in Somerset - led by Transition Glastonbury). As
you also probably know John McGeechan (who built the TTT web platform) is our Technical Director and has
intimate knowledge of the Transition Networks requirements and is fully committed to seeing LocalEyes apply
technology at a local level and reach it numerous goals - to empower residents within local communities enabling "Direct Democracy" and regular "Community Consultations", to build local social networks - connecting
people via interests, skills, car sharing, products etc, to calculate community carbon footprints, stimulate local
economic activity, provide seed funding for local initiatives via SBSR - small business social responsibility, .. to
name some of our key objectives. The focus is not just local - but also to enable a consultation at District, County
and higher levels .. but we want to ensure this grows from the grassroots to ensure maximum participation. So its
Facebook, voting on X-Factor, Dragon's Den, Ask The Audience (WWTBAMillionairre), Carbon Calculators, eBay,
FreeCycle, Swaps, Time Bank, Lift Share etc - all rolled into one and applied to the local - I'm sure you get the
picture by now ;-) This is the platform I believe is required for Transition. A holistic platform, that is easily
accessible – integrated into the latest technologies and that covers as many bases as possible, that appeals to the
majority and truly makes an impact, a visible, tangible difference, when people engage in it. To take all this
information and eventually "PersonalEyes" it, in a proactive way, similar to the way Amazon functions,
recommending I meet these people, participate in these groups, go to these events etc - and making me aware of
the carbon footprint of these choices BEFORE I make them. A tool that is a powerful catalyst of human
engagement and bringing people together in the real world. One that identifies many of the connections that we
so often miss and that might be just around the corner. One that can organise and coordinate the largest super
power on this planet - that of public opinion/energy. That sounds like a good place to stop!! .. I hope we get to
discuss it further. All the best - keep up the GREAT WORK and see you at the TN Conf later this year. Peter
I only look after the web presence. The yahoo group is separate and includes the steering group members only as
a means of coordinating activity. We have tried blogs and wikis, but it is hard to get much live into them.
Garden Exchange project is just starting so above are proably unrepresentative, as once it is properly underway it
will use more web tools. With 1 person running it - me - , I don't need to set up too many tools at present
Rant: "Forum" in Latin is a neuter noun and therefore the plural is "Fori". In English the plural is "forums". Rant
2: Why do the least and most skilled computer users get saddled with loaded epithets? Seriously, I feel we all
need to take care not to judge and alienate people through casualness of language or thought. Nobody minds
the use of "Don't know" but "Dunno" might be enough to put off someone sitting on a fence. In general it is a
bit early to judge what our initiative might really need. At present I have trouble just getting the people in the
website group to visit the site! Slowly slowly!! Thanks for all your efforts
In our group there is a lot of talk about how to reach people who don't use much the Internet or email, but we
haven't got any great solutions for that. Any suggestions appreciated.
About #4: It's not just the tools, especially at this stage. There is huge potential in telecommunications but also
many threats and part of our work should be in preparing for these and enabling the positive aspects. A lot of
how Transition is run depends on the IT tools adopted and their functionality. For example, there is a certain
perception in Bristol that things have to be cleared and supported by the core group, but for example groupings
could be ad hoc and the software could support this. I think to find requirements for this we have to dig deep,
beyond the present functionality. We should share and facilitate the expression of the ethos of each group but
this should be balanced with that of the wider network. To what extent is it decentralised or heirarchical? We
should look into the meaning of communications and of technology, into the future requirements - in case there
is something we have to do now to ensure they can be met, into the past, to pick up what we've lost from other
technologies, into different cultures and how they communicate and spread knowledge and skills, into different
personalities and human issues and how we interact. Can we make a tool that encourages honest open dialogue,
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
can we still be in touch with people and groups far away across the planet, and feel united with them in some
way, is our use of technology egalitarian? These and more are questions we should all be asking ourselves, and
they are just as important as providing tools that support the current needs of our particular initiative. Phew...
1. you need another 2 options to the answers [yes, no, planned, in progress, dunno] 2. questions... 2.1 start date
of transition initiative, 2.2 date of unleashing [to work out time it took] 2.3 date of web presence [soft launch] 2.4
date of full web launch 2.5 number of web editors/contributors 2.6 whether or not it was easy to get volunteers
2.7 how easy the contributors thought it was to update the pages/news etc 2.7 level of expertise of editors
good luck
As I mentioned we were using Wordpress (the current site is still the Wordpress version) and I have just built a
Drupal site. We have added the functionality for Local businesses to register and (if given permissions) describe
their services. The content is then featured dynamicly on the homepage, along with recent news, upcoming
events and a random featured group. We found that users were not that interested in information beyond the
basics so the redesign is all about dynamic community driven content and links to other sources of info. You
should probably add a website box on the details form at the top. Ours is www.transitiontownexmouth.co.uk , it
won't be updated to the new site for a couple of weeks though Thanks, Tom
Already have much of functionality described above for TF, and (as a separate project) am also involved in
developing online trading software for Falmouth LETS (Local Exchange Trading Scheme) and LETSlink UK. All the
best, Rob
OK, here's the difficult bit. [removed by ED] I'm willing to help out at a consultant level with what you guys are
doing (I've done projects for big companies like Lloyds TSB, BT etc. as a programmer/team leader/troubleshooter)
as I think we need to get a more comprehensive thing sorted out...possibly as a 'glue' solution (Ruby?) where we
can pull in the functionality of external stuff like googledocs etc...?
This is a really important thing to get right early on, we need to do this locally and nationwide ASAP. We are
already going ahead and developing our own Drupal site. There are sites like project dirt, but TT's need their own
platform to enable easy collaboration. Also important to build in resilience by not hosting all TTs on one site,
perhaps one for London, one for South West etc BUT all using same s/w eg Drupal: maybe TT can provide a
Drupal template / module which is easily customisable and be able to roll out regular updates to this? Important
that TT groups feel in control of their own site and branding, logos etc, not pigeon-holed into centrally managed
system with standard look and feel. Producing and maintaining a suitable platform for this a full-time job for one
person, however (I'm interested!).
Though the Google Groups are working well for our committed members, we are looking for a suitable forum
platform that will encourage and enable the wider public to have its say. A similar survey in a few months time
would probably produce more Yes results as our activity rate builds up.
I hesitated to fill this in as I'm not active with the transition movement here yet as we're probably transitory to
Malvern and likely to move within the year. Therefore have not got involved. You may want to discount the
answers but I include them in case they are of any help.
I have to admit I'm not fully involved in the Transition Norwich Initiative, however I would like to offer help and
advice where I can... In the past I've used many Content Management Systems, mainly specializing in the
following: Textpattern, Joomla, and Drupal. The latter is amazingly versatile and easy to set up - well worth a
look!!! :-)
Transition Sheffield is very lucky to have one member who is extremely competent in web technologies and we
are thus self sufficient in this area.
I don't know where to start...
The online tools we've been using (mainly Wetpaint and Dotproject) have been great. We're a fairly young group
so I do worry that our direction in this area excludes older members when they come on board. everyone's so
busy though and the online tools enable people to contribute as and when they can. Joomla has been great for
our Web presence. Our site is very much in it's early stages but the ease with which we've got it where it is has
been great and the fact that group members can contribute without us having a single 'web master' has been
great. Joomla also has loads of extensions for forums and Wikis which I haven't explored yet. I've also used
Skype for conferencing outside of Transition. I've tried to share events and resources with neighbouring
Transition groups (like a "Intro to peak oil" leaflet) but it would be great to have a national sharing area for this
kind of thing. Seems silly for us all the re-invent the wheel when it comes to resources. Also, a central point for
speakers and offers for events would be good (with a way of reviewing/rating them?) Keep up the good work
(I'm out of poems today!)
Would be good to have a massive google calendar kind of thing so you could see what other Transition initiatives
around the country had going on. Could be inspirational to have examples of what technology others have used
& how.
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
The digital divide looms large within our village: while some people love everything online, others need paper and
meetings. We have to do both. Frustratingly, often the "paper" people have internet access, they're just not in
the habit of using it for group working and that is only changing slowly if at all. I have a growing feeling that
perhaps we should go back to paper, as it would be less work overall, and keep the web usage to a simple public
face.
Errr... We feel that its highly important to put the web presence in the hands of the community, if only because
if its 'owned' by only a few individuals, it will may wither and die over time. Moderators can be used to keep the
site alive and with sensible, quality content. As a result we've investigated wikis, and feel that the wikimedia
project does most of what we need for information gathering and dispersal. It does include strong 'membership'
and 'communication' tools, so its not clear if this needs an additional product. 'Chat boards' could easily be
bolted on with myPHPBB etc.
I think Transition Network's idea to code up a custom webapp is a bit of a waste - there are plenty of good
webapps for project management and social organisation already. It would be better to point people at ones that
existing Transition groups are using well, and show them WHAT to use tools for, how HOW to use tools.
Experience with FoE local groups is that a system that's flexible enough to allow groups to easily share
resources/files/news, etc., would be very useful. A system that encourages collaboration and cross-fertilisation of
ideas between groups - e.g. a newsfeed that can be embedded on a local initiative's webpage that shows what
other groups are doing (inspiring, + fosters a sense of connectedness).
Can I plug our carbon footprint calculator - its now been going for 2 years, and has been recommended by Ethical
Consumer Magazine and Women's Environmental Network. See http://www.carbonindependent.org
Ciao!
I'll be sending the "important" stuff to Ben as well, just in case this form crashes. You never know.
I am advocate here in NZ for collaborating as much as possible (versus each and every local initiative trying to set
up their own online presence & tools). Having said that, I also think its very important we use "distributed"
systems, ie. reduce our dependency on servers in far away countries. Lets build systems that work for all of us
(I'm convinced we can do that), build them once and build them well and make sure these systems can run
independently in each country or even region.
Not part of an official initiative yet here - and there'll probably be other people in touch with you guys if we do
start one. Most of these repsonses have been 'No' (not using) because of that, but I've tried to rate on how
important they might be if we did.
I had thought about using a Drupal/CiviCrm (http://civicrm.org/) implementation for the Web site and
Membership database for Transition Scotland (when I get time). Would be nice to have a DrupalTransition
distribution that bundled all the stuff you'd need to get a group up and running - including documentation etc...
Thats quite a bit of work but theres a lot of fragmentation in the tools being used at the moment, a bit of
standardisation might not be a bad thing. We use Google Apps (Standard Edition) for Transition Scotland which
allows you to use your own domain for email addresses / private calendars / doc sharing etc.. Seems to work
quite well.
be sure to check out: http://www.richmondbrainstorm.com/
What is the purpose of the survey? Are you considering providing a centralized service to support multiple
transition towns? That's going to cost $$, which means you'll have to charge for it. Our group doesn't have a
budget, doesn't have any money and isn't ready to raise funds yet.
First of all, thanks for your efforts. I'm not an organizer in Transition Pima, and they are just getting started, but
I follow the mailing list and other sustainable-themed lists in Tucson. I'm a professional web developer (Ruby is
my platform of choice), I work for an Agile/XP shop, and I do open source work (google Chad Woolley or
thewoolleyman). I work in remote collaboration 75% of the time, and have for several years, so I have a good
level of knowledge about these types of technologies. Here's the tools I think are good, and I use on a daily basis
for my work: Skype Google Groups Google Docs Google Voice/Audio Chat IRC Gmail EasyDns GitHub (for
free source code sharing) Flickr (for free photo sharing) Ning (haven't used it much but hear it is good) OSX
Leopard Screen Sharing (best remote collaboration tool for mac owners) UltraVNC (best remote collaboration
tool for windows use)
I am an IT expert and can assist with the heavy lifting. See my resume at
http://stalberg.net/telecomputingresume.htm and my web biz e-brochure at http://web-analysts.net. Our
transition/sustainability non-profit is at http://ccalternatives.org
Although we have problems with attracting enough new people, I'm not entirely convinced that lack of
yechnology is the problem. 15% of people on the mailing list have no email account, for example. However, I'll
admit that being more visible on social networking sites might help attract younger people.
We at West Wales Transition have the facility to do most of this - some of it is hidden for now. We are providing
the local towns with the facility so they do not replicate information unnecessarily so we gain regional input not
just our specific town. An information repository so to speak. Over time new towns will come onboard and can
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09
benefit from other towns experience. If I can be of use please call Des p.s. I am sorry about not answering the
text bits but they take time and if you really need info just email me.
On my to-do list: A tool to help prioritise the overwhelming number of possible threats and responses, and
identify activities that give the "best bang for buck". Create a spreadsheet, with "Problems" across the top, and
"Actions" along the side. Each cell contains a "strength of association". Each row and column is summed,
weighted by various factors (such as Importance, Cost, Benefit, Difficulty). Actions can be grouped by "sector"
(such as Individual, Community, Government (Local, State, National), NGO, Business). Additional columns can be
added to contain additional info, such as links, and to track progress. Ultimately, members should be surveyed to
obtain the values, particularly for "Importance" and "Strength of Association", and the average used for the final
figure. I am unlikely to get this done in the foreseeable future, so I'd be rapt if someone else takes on the
challenge.
Sorry, have just moved from Devon to North Somerset and haven't linked with(or formed!) a new group yet.
Thanks for all that you do. Sally
Once constitution is sorted, Google website will be available to all "subscribers" to Transition Athelney. Each
action group will need to take responsibility for it's own section of the web site. How do we make sure this
happens and that the web presence isn't controlled by ME?
Web survey: qualitative responses, 04/09