Communications+&+Technologies+Committee

Reformed in late 2013
The Communications & Technology Committee began meeting again in late 2013 and is using Google Docs and Google Groups to manage communications among the group, meeting minutes, and other documents. If you are interested in joining, please send email to: commtech@c3huu.org

Missiontoc
The Communications & Technology Committee...

Members
Current members: Marya Ilgen-Lieth, Kathy M, Ruth Leopold, Sindy Baker, Mark Smith, Lynn Harmon.

Minutes from 2012-08-12
Sarah convened meeting at 5pm using AnyMeeting.com dial-up line distributed to all interested in meeting as a committee.

The majority of the content reviewed is from [|v2 of the Communications & Technology Google Document] (this document is available by request to __Mark S__).

The work of several related committees and initiated by staff were mentioned, including:
 * Proposed WordPress web home page. This is the 6th type of more artistic Home Page proposal presented over the past 10 years. Request focus concurrently on requirements and a plan on interoperability between the various tools in use today before introducing yet another web tool into the small set of staff and volunteers at C3HUU.
 * Requests of the Soundroom team to make sermons more broadly available and pursue interactive streaming from the sanctuary
 * Request to make video or "Ken Burns style enhanced YouTube" of select sermons or related presentations
 * The Church Management System (ChMS) used by C3HUU is IconCMO which has a Group management function within it and ability to setup users with access to group information but not as administrators of the IconCMO database. IconCMO is used by staff use for church membership and in some fashion for financial planning.

Request that Phase 0 of any Communications and Technology Strategic plan include:
 * Inventory of all communications & collaboration tools in use at C3HUU, see embedded spreadsheet below for a start
 * Establishment of guidelines for exchange of certain planning documents across staff, board, and committees, such as Quarterly & Annual reports, requests for funding, cross-team collaboration, etc.

Related references from other committees are included below.

Communications & Collaborations Tools Inventory
The embedded draft Google Docs spreadsheet below contains an inventory of known Communications & Collaborations tools in use across C3HUU staff, board, committees, and members. Here is a link to the Google Docs spreadsheet itself (edit access is available by request to __Mark S__): media type="custom" key="20579922" Common requirements for all collaboration tools employed by C3HUU staff, board, committees, and members:
 * Run on reliable, production service with some form of assistance available
 * Wherever possible, integrated and coordinated. Note many services used at C3HUU are on the Google platform (Google Docs, Google Calendar, testing Google Sites)
 * Insure that all stakeholder (staff, board, member's, and friend's) requirements are considered before selecting a new service or technology. Some decisions by a small group on using a tool or service may not meet the needs of a much larger group. Example: choice of box.net many years ago for archive of documents and sound didn't work well for streaming audio (podcast) of sermons.

Wish List
Some of the future "I wish we could do..." list: Some of the "We really have to do..." list:
 * Broadcast/Podcast/Stream our services to other sites "live".
 * Have a YouTube introduction to our church I can point out to friends.
 * Hold collaborative meetings with other sites with high quality audio and decent video.
 * Post some, maybe all, of the wonderful music presented in our church to the rest of the world over the internet.
 * Participate in some ongoing local radio or community TV or public TV outreach.
 * Have a beautiful web page with rotating photos of site and activities, accessible multimedia (YouTube) videos inviting new members and re-invigorating current members!
 * Repair and/or replace the Easy Listener system supporting hearing impaired members and visitors.
 * Document the wiring and repair and/or replace the wires or speakers in the Community area outside sanctuary so sound is audible (noise makes it unusable currently).

Related Web Pages

 * C3HUU IT Services - planning pages for IT Services prior to C3HUU staff assuming responsibilities circa 2010
 * C3HUU Soundroom Technologies Planning - including prioritization of many technologies surfaced to the Comm & Tech Committee
 * C3HUU Soundroom summary wikispace page
 * C3H Sermon Audio - the wikipace page which has an embedded table of all online sermon audio
 * Notes and related links from the Eastern NC Technologies in Congregations meeting
 * Demonstrations from the Eastern NC Tech in Congregations meeting
 * AnyMeeting.com - excellent service, free for up to 200 participants. Long distance phone number, but for people using their land lines 30 minutes is usually less than $1.50

Joining
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