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So the website is finally here! Welcome! I am Hiren Aghera, I’ve been one of a team of people who have taken it upon them to develop this website.
When I spoke to people about the new website, I generally got one of two reactions; Website?! But we already have a website!! Or… what took you so long? It’s about time we left the stone-age! To be fair, Mahendrabhai (Kaneria) has done a grand job over the years in maintaining the old website, single-handedly keeping it up to date.
So why DO we need a new website?
I think everyone will agree that the previous site looked dated; having looked around at websites for other communities, our website wasn’t as easy on the eye as others out there. It was also quite cumbersome to maintain and only Mahendrabhai himself was able to do this. As the website was entirely static (i.e.front end users are not able to add any content), it was also somewhat limited in what you could do on it.
So out with the old and in with the new! And off the back of Bipinbhai’s (Kataria) visions of a “Web2.0 Samaj”, the new website was born. As illustrated by networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter etc, there has been a shift towards information sharing and collaboration (often referred to as Web 2.0). A lot of Samaj websites are largely static, but we think a website serving a community such as ours needs to do more. Rather than being something you browse every now and then, we envisage our website as an interactive space where the members of the community can easily contribute therefore bring the community closer; a website that embraces Web 2.0! We would like our new website become a communication hub for our members.
The possibilities for the website are endless, and to try and achieve it all in one fell swoop is not realistic. Therefore, the website development team has undertaken a phased approach. What you see now is phase 1 which provides basic functionality such as the ability to display articles, as well as storing and displaying multimedia such as pictures and videos.
The functionality that the next phases bring is being decided. Here are some of the ideas we’ve had thus far.
- Members only area, accessed by username and password. Once this is implemented, it will allow users to comment on articles, add new content etc.
- KPS Centre booking system. This will allow availability of the hall to be managed on the website.
- KPS Member Directory management. Moved house? Changed your phone number? This will allow you to update your details on the website straightaway.
- Matrimonial services. A closed website to provide networking for single Samaj members.
But of course, this is a website for the Samaj, so any ideas or suggestions are more than welcome.
How it all began?
This project was initiated by the Community Development Sub-committee more than year ago. I was initially contacted by Manojbhai (Ardeshna) and Chandubhai (Makadia) to see if I can help with the website. I learned that there were several other members (Sandeep Jalavadia and Bipinbhai Kataria) that also felt the website could do with a revamp. Along with Mahendrabhai, the six of us formed the website development team. Our biggest challenge was that we all have day jobs and so we established “the weekly conference call”. Initially we set out to secure a budget, and to do so we put together a proposal that was presented to the executive committee. The committee unanimously agreed to grant us our requested budget and so it all began…
We decided to use a Content Management System rather than develop a site from scratch. This offers the benefit of providing most of the required functionality out of the box. We contacted several developers to get examples of previous work as well as quotations of cost. We decided upon a development company in Canada called Rootways, who had previously developed a website for Saurashtra Patel Samaj of Canada (http://www.spscanada.org/). Over time we developed a design, and passed it over to Pankaj at Rootways, and the rest was history!
Although, we have got the website up and running, there is a long way to go. We have only delivered phase 1 and ultimately the success of the website will be judged on the amount you guys use it!
By Hiren Aghera |
