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CityGroups Boston Documentation

benjamin-agaric edited this page Sep 6, 2011 · 14 revisions

CityGroups Boston Documentation
(created on Sept 6, 2011)

MailChimp mailing list for participating in the CityGroups project: http://eepurl.com/fEe-A

Chah's Google prez intro'ing the project: https://docs.google.com/present/view?id=0Ae9b06maMy4TZGQ0NW00dm1fNjVobTQ4Mzhjeg&hl=en_US&ndplr=1

Use the citygroupsboston@gmail.com account for third party services like Google Analytics.


Boston Geographic Regions

(reference CraigsList regions http://boston.craigslist.org/)

gbs - boston/cambridge/brookline
nwb - northwest/merrimack
bmw - metrowest
nos - northshore
sob - south shore


CityGroups Boston Data Issues

  1. What is the data we need?

Reference Seattle .csv = https://github.com/codeforamerica/CityGroups/tree/master/citygroups.org/data

or https://github.com/codeforamerica/Data-Wiki/wiki/CityGroup-Data-Fields

  1. Sources of Existing Data =

Quantitative sources http://northshoreport.org/reports/nsp/export.d/ http://mvhub.com/reports/mvh/export.d/

NWB (from Dan McNeil / CSL ) MVHub

GBS: (Brainstormed by Danielle & Ben Sheldon)

Boston Youth Fund / Hopeline recipients:
CBOs - http://bostonyouthzone.com/teenzone/employment/byf/cbolist.aspx
BCYF Centers - http://www.cityofboston.gov/BCYF/facilities/
Boston Youth Zone - http://www.bostonyouthzone.com/
Boston Navigator - http://www.bostonavigator.org/
MassIMPACT/NN Tech Center map (not updated since 2007) - http://www.massimpact.org/map/
United Way funding recipients
City of Boston neighborhood coordinators - http://www.cityofboston.gov/ons/coor_list.asp
Boston Foundation
Barr Foundation
Fireman Foundation
City of Boston Street Workers
Basketball groups (Dotwell?)
Project RIGHT listserv

Neighbors for Neighbors
Mission Based Mass listserv (Deborah Elizabeth Finn)
DotWell
Timothy Smith Network - http://timothysmithnetwork.org/publiccenters

Charity Navigator

Qualitative sources:

Boston Cyclist Union

  1. How do we merge?

  2. How do we maintain/update?


USER Profile / Needs Assessment

Top Users = [looking for info on] ~ BOS based example (neighborhood)

  1. Community organizer in neighborhood based project ~ Project RIGHT (Grove Hall)
  2. Non-profit or govt based referrals = Youth/social worker at school, afterschool, police, DCYS ~
  3. Parent = childcare, health, nutrition, support services, education ~
  4. Retired / Elderly = health, nutrition, services, entertainment ~
  5. New to Boston neighborhood resident ~ College Freshmen?
  6. Bored youth = afterschool, jobs, homework help, health services ~

Top 5 Data OWNERS

  1. Nonprofit staff (sometime communications officers)
  2. Community organizers
  3. Funders

Top 5 Creators / Contributors (how to create new / maintain data)

  1. motivated np staff
  2. local resident leaders
  3. youth playing a game or as a pt time job
  4. residents who want recognition (Yelp or FourSquare mayor)

Usability Issues:
*data entry point for community organizers to ensure success
*maintaining accurate point of contact for an organization
*organize [networking] events between groups