Hi,
I currently maintain (technically) a handful of Joomla sites for various groups related to Boys' Brigade and Girls' Brigade. However I'm finding it difficult to inspire/motivate/convince people to login to the sites and submit their own news. I'm hoping that once a few people start posting that others will follow suit, but at the moment I'm struggling with a culture that says "that putting news on a website needs to be done by someone who can do HTML coding."
Can anyone offer any suggestions/ideas/thoughts/past experiences about how to encourage posting of news?
Thanks in advance,
Anthony
How do you encourage people to post news?
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How do you encourage people to post news?
Last edited by tatster on Mon Feb 19, 2007 11:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: How do you encourage people to post news?
Hmm have you identified a universal human behaviour? lol. 
We are experiencing the exact same reaction. We are doing the following to not only encourage submissions, but also to breakdown the HTML phobia.
1. We have a binder in development that provides templates for articles they are very simple text documents which are also available on the website as static content. These template are simple forms used to prompt the writer about details for an event, notice, or other type of article. what where when title subtile location why how often etc.
2. We ask them to copy it and paste it in an email and fill in the blanks as best they can or we just email them a blank form.
3. As new users go through this introductory process they gain confidence to submit articles through the regular Joomla login. It is working, its all about breaking that initial perception that you point out so well that websites are only for people who know how to code.
We are experiencing the exact same reaction. We are doing the following to not only encourage submissions, but also to breakdown the HTML phobia.
1. We have a binder in development that provides templates for articles they are very simple text documents which are also available on the website as static content. These template are simple forms used to prompt the writer about details for an event, notice, or other type of article. what where when title subtile location why how often etc.
2. We ask them to copy it and paste it in an email and fill in the blanks as best they can or we just email them a blank form.
3. As new users go through this introductory process they gain confidence to submit articles through the regular Joomla login. It is working, its all about breaking that initial perception that you point out so well that websites are only for people who know how to code.
Re: How do you encourage people to post news?
What it boils down to is "what are the rewards of posting?"
It can be purely for the thrill of "seeing your name in lights", the liinks to your profile page etc.
It can be for the earning of points, of contributing to the community, in this case the brigades.
There could be awards/prizes/badges/merits or whatever for the best article, best post etc.
Personally I think the community spirit and contribution is the biggest pull but there may well need to be some "post of month" lure that helps toward this end.
Maybe asking people what they want and saying "well get to it, then" may work...
I don't know, but hopefully there's some food for thought.
It can be purely for the thrill of "seeing your name in lights", the liinks to your profile page etc.
It can be for the earning of points, of contributing to the community, in this case the brigades.
There could be awards/prizes/badges/merits or whatever for the best article, best post etc.
Personally I think the community spirit and contribution is the biggest pull but there may well need to be some "post of month" lure that helps toward this end.
Maybe asking people what they want and saying "well get to it, then" may work...
I don't know, but hopefully there's some food for thought.
Last edited by Lever on Wed Feb 21, 2007 8:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: How do you encourage people to post news?
This is always a struggle at our school website. We are making progress, but never enough. Here are some strategies that I have implemented to help.
Steve
mod note: link removed. Please add signatures to your profile and not to each post.
- Get people started by having them enter events in the calendar (If you have one--if not I recommend setting one up). The interface is simple and it gives them the structure needed. A well configured "Latest Events" module does wonders for keeping the site current.
- I have created small Flash videos using an audio/video screen capture utility to make little clips on how to enter content and put them on the website.It is tailored to the website, so there is no confusion. http://wellscsd.com/multimedia/Untitled-2.swf
- Encourage people to copy and paste memos, notices, and other items that they have already created on a word processor into Joomla.If that is too much, I encourage them to send it to me via email and I will post it
- Enlist volunteers to help others post content. For example, I have a parent that will resize and compress photos so they are appropriate for posting on the website. I even have a policy to encourage photos wherein if anyone in the school takes pictures they can hand me or our librarian the camera--we will take care of the rest!
- Make sure you invite all parties of the community to submit content. In the case of our school, that includes, parents, teachers, administrators, and students.
Steve
mod note: link removed. Please add signatures to your profile and not to each post.
Last edited by brad on Fri Mar 16, 2007 12:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
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cyberexpertz
Re: How do you encourage people to post news?
Steve, I check your site ...looks neat. whats the name of that gallery you used. I would love to use that.
Re: How do you encourage people to post news?
cyberexpertz wrote:Steve, I check your site ...looks neat. whats the name of that gallery you used. I would love to use that.
Thanks!
Are you talking about the gallery or the slideshow?
The gallery is Coppermine with the default css hacked to match the rest of the site. The slidshow is slideshow pro which is commercial, but has rather liberal licensing terms and is reasonably priced, but you have to have Flash to use it.
Steve
