Laserfiche WebLink
Ramsey3 Final Report <br />Grant No. OS-1237 <br />City of Ramsey <br />Ramseyl <br />The Web Site <br />Prior to the Forums, the project constructed an extensive website to enable communication between <br />project participants and also to host a community blog that would introduce the project, house a <br />"library" of background documents and also allow for residents to comment on community issues. <br />More than just a repository of information, the web site allowed people to access to information anytime <br />of the day and forums to express themselves when other commitments do not allow them to attend. This <br />technology greatly enhanced the effectiveness, efficiency and overall acceptance of project activities <br />and findings. <br />Without the website, it is doubtful the early stages of the project would have been successful. By <br />allowing the steering group to exchange ideas and information it became a "virtual meeting".site that <br />greatly reduced the time and inconvenience of scheduling meetings. For example, the website served as <br />the major vehicle for discussions on structuring the forums and identifying speakers. The steering group <br />could easily circulate information about potential speakers, quickly update each other on details such as <br />cost and timing for the speakers, and circulate drafts of the invitations for each session. <br />The second major effort grew from preliminary online discussions with consultant Michael Herman <br />about the upcoming Open Space Technology sessions. Herman suggested that the starting point for <br />those sessions should be for residents to identify what they thought were the five best things about <br />Ramsey. The web site allowed Ramsey residents to fill out the survey online and also post the results as <br />they arrived. This allowed Ramsey3 to combine survey and focus group methodology in a more open <br />and efficient manner. <br />The document library housed a variety of resources on community planning that most Ramsey residents <br />had riot seen. The site also posted links to the websites of various groups such as the Congress for New <br />Urbanism. Documents included: Conservation Easements -Guidelines, Environmental Con~idors - <br />"Lifelines for Living", PPS Scoring Guidelines - Merle Grove Scoring Metliodology for New <br />-5- <br />-196- <br />