BATC online presence - the future?

[g8gtz]

All,

The BATC committee is currently thinking about the future requirements of the BATC on-line presence and would welcome your input.

We have a very successful video streaming portal which we are just starting a project to update, we have an increasing successful forum for discussion of all matters ATV related and we have a rather tired looking website.

But before we do too much work, we need to think about our online strategy so we can make decisions on the future of the web site and the streamer based on what our members needs are – this will be a combination of technical and commercial thinking – from there we can decide if we need a CMS driven website, if the forum becomes the main vehicle for messaging to members, if we need a wiki etc, etc.

My own personal thoughts are:

The streamer works very well and just needs some updating, particularly around the archive area and streaming to tablets etc – various members thoughts / requirements are documented in a separate topic on the forum. I would then like to try to take the position of Youtube when it comes to any amateur radio video. At the RSGB convention I saw a member of the microwave group showing some video he had posted on youtube about 24 Ghz - of course it was mixed in with all other stuff and surrounded by advertising – I’m sure we can do better by offering personal channels with topics tagged across in to specific subject matters...

The forum is good and we just need to encourage people to use it so it gains momentum. I would urge you all to get in to the habit of posting on there when discussing things technical or of interest to other club members rather than sending emails to closed groups.

I think the big question is over the web site – given the above, I think its role is as probably a more static site where we put the official stuff, make announcements which are not for discussion, run the shop and membership etc. And it becomes the landing place for newcomers with good pointers to all our other sites. As such it needs to be good and modern looking but maybe not do everything that the forum and wiki – see below – would cover.

The other topic to consider is do we need a wiki – this would become the place where knowledge and documentation on a variety of subjects is available – this could be how to use our own website / streamer / dxspot and gradually build up in to a knowledge base for anything on ATV.

It could also be where, subject to copyright concerns, we build a library and members place documentation on equipment, where the DTX1 knowledge base is built, Comtech module circuits are placed, how to guides are built up by the community etc, etc.... It would not replace the forum as there is no discussion on a wiki but rather compliment the forum threads.

All these site would need to have cross references between them or they become isolated - that is why several of the channels on the streamer now have an news ticker announcing the latest topics on the forum.

AS I said we are looking to plan the next step in building the BATC on-line presence and would welcome your input.

73

Noel - G8GTZ