CDS and AA Calendars

[Cindy Ecksol]

I'd like to request once again that all commission meetings be posted at least a few days ahead of time on the CDS calendar! And until we decide whether to distinguish AA news from CDS news, we probably ought to cross-post government events to the AA calendar as well. I'm having a hard time making it to meetings because the announcements are so close to the date or in forums and I don't catch them in time. And I'm sure I'm not the only one.

I spoke to our Chancellor a week or so ago about giving everyone in the government privileges to post, but I see that I still don't have access and I'm assuming that no one else does either. Can we please get this fixed ASAP so that information can travel a bit more freely and more people can be involved in these important processes? I'd like to be there, but I can't unless I've got timely information about when things are happening. A note to the forum is not enough.

Thanks!

Cindy

[Sonja Strom]

Of the current RA Members, three have long had posting rights in the CDS calendar:
Arria Perreault
Cindy Ecksol
Rose Springvale

The same rights have now been added for:
Gwynneth Llewelyn
Kaseido Quandry
Muhammedyussif Wikinger
Pip Torok
Patrolkus Murikami
Solomon Mosely
Timo Gufler
Tor Karlsvalt

I did not have Google IDs for three others, but have contacted them and asked for one in order to be able to give them these rights in the Google calendar:
Lilith Ivory
Patroklus Murakami
StuiChicanne Darkstone

[Anna Toussaint]

As PIO, I'll be glad to post any events to the CDS Calendar. Just send the details to me: time, date and what you want it to say. I wouldn't presume to write the copy of any of the intelligent folks around here.

[Rose Springvale]

There is no official AA calendar at this time and nothing should be posted to anything purporting to be such. Until a decision is made later this month, AA is part of CDS. If there is a separation, it will be up the AA community to determine how they want to disseminate information.

I note that the CDS calendar settings were changed today, and i believe the changes will do to other subscribers what it did to me, which is bump the CDS calendar "off" my list. I think MORE access should be given to MORE people, including the right to share the calendar. This is a step backwards.

I encourage you all to be prepared to participate in the Communications discussion tomorrow, and bring your concerns to the RA. Let's deal with this once and for all. We've appointed a commission and many citizens have participated in it. I'm sure the chancellor and staff will comply with whatever laws the RA passes.

As a former PIO, i considered it my job to pull dates and times from the forums and confirm regularly scheduled meetings. By the time someone sends the date time and text, it makes more sense for them to just post it themselves. Sorry, but we ask way too much of volunteers.

[Sonja Strom]

In the Communications discussion it would be helpful to talk about who should have what rights to post in the CDS Calendar, make changes to it, remove posts, and add and remove other people with regard to having those rights.

Today the only settings that were changed to be more restrictive were the ability of Rose Springvale to add and remove rights from others in the calendar. Since she is not in the Executive Branch I decided it would make sense for her to have the same rights as the other members of the Representative Assembly: that they may post, move, and remove events in the Calendar. She still retains these abilities.

As I have said continuously (and not long ago posted about here: http://forums.slcds.info/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2978), if anyone would like an event put into the Calendar, moved within the Calendar, or removed from the Calendar, they may contact me, as Chancellor. Now they may also contact Anna Toussaint, as Public Information Officer.

[Rose Springvale]

I was one of the creators of that calendar, which is why i had the abilities you undid today. And was the person who actually gave you and Arria the right to do so last term. You are right, it is your responsibility and your decision.

[Sonja Strom]

Rose, it was not my intention for that change to be anything against you personally - I was only trying to bring order to the levels of permissions and make them the same for everyone who is not in the Executive Branch.

Maybe you can be returned to having the ability to give and take rights from others, but if that, then I think all 13 Members of the RA should have this same ability.

[Rose Springvale]

So long as you are consistent, it doesn't matter to me. I have no plans to do any posting to the CDS calendar. Personally, I think it is better practice to expand all rights than it is to limit prior office holders. The problem comes when the person charged with the responsibility doesn't do the job. We've had this problem over and over in the CDS group for example, when people buy land, and no one elevates their status to Citizen. It isn't an issue officially, because we all know that group tags are not official on anything, but new citizens LIKE to let others know that they are more than "friends." And last term the "official" PIO wasn't around to do any upgrading and invitation to the calendar group, which is why i handled it.

There need to be things that go along with citizenship other than the right to vote in elections, particularly when our elections are not very competitive. Group notice power and calendar posting seem like small things to those of us with more administrative duties than we need, but to new people, it is important.

Also, is it normal for the LRA to have portal privileges? I was never given the right to post on the portal in all my terms as PIO, so i wonder if now that I am LRA if i have that right. All I want is consistency. Anything less seems like we give "power" to our friends only.

[Anna Toussaint]

Rose, of course I meant that those without Calendar permissions can send me a time, date and message. Those who have such access can, and perhaps should, simply do the task themselves. I assume that's the point of asking that RA members have the permissions. Why should anybody have to wait for me to log in, read the IM, and post to the calendar when they could do it themselves much more efficiently? (And note that I originally wrote "CDS Calendar," not "CDS and AA Calendars"; I have no access to any AA Calendar, and as you point out, we're still one big happy family.)

Unfortunately, until RA meetings are held at a more accessible time, they will not be attended by me, but let me put my two cents in. It seems to me to be very inefficient and wasteful of time for anyone to have to comb the Events forum to winnow out Calendar postings. Far simpler just to wait until they are finalized as to time and date and put them in the Calendar, either from the More secure, from an information standpoint as well -- having the information in two different places with the official Calendar being culled from the other, which seems to be mainly discussion about the events, invites mistakes, as does having the same information in two different places. That's a basic no-no in terms of database management. Finally, it is not a difficult or time-consuming thing for an event coordinator to either (a) put it in the calendar her or himself, or (b) IM the chancellor or me with the information.

And Rose, I AM a volunteer ... while I am greatly appreciative of the 4 dollars US I will get a month as PIO, it buys less than 10 minutes of my time at my current rates. So far, the other hours I've spent -- inventorying our infohubs to see what information needs to updated, trying to come up with a coherent job description, etc -- have been volunteered.

I volunteered to be PIO because it is a job that sorely needs doing, not to make money. In fact, I did not know it was paid when i took it. But it should be done in the most efficient manner; after all, I have a (more than) full-time job in RL.

Take care,

Anna

[Anna Toussaint]

Rose:

Oops ... I missed your fine post whilst crafting my own finely-reasoned response (<-- facetious remark)

I agree with you that anybody should have Calendar-posting ability who asks; perhaps it should be in the "rights package" given to new citizens. Has that been defined by the RA? (while we're on the subject, I'd like to be able to terraform, but that's not likely to happen.)

Take care,

Anna

[Rose Springvale]

Anna,
Thank you in advance for what i know first hand to be a thankless job. But do remember that PIO is a CDS support position. The position has statutory definitions which may well be expanded on by the RA this term. I do sympathize with the amount of work involved, but remember that many of the things, like the kiosks, involved substantial amounts of time from other, just as busy in rl, citizens, to get that far. The Kiosks for example were the subject of at least two separate guild workgroups and dozens of meetings and discussions.

I still disagree that people who are putting on events should be charged with publicizing them, too, even RA commission meetings. What generally happens, as it did with Feria last term, is that the events simply do not make it to the calendar, sometimes even when specific requests are made. You've done an event now, you know how much work is involved. I think the pio, or someone from the exec office, should do the calendar and SL events postings for all CDS official events, and let individuals handle their individual events. I want to be able to see if i'm invited to a party on saturday night.But that is NOT the same as if my CDS money or government is being employed for an event. Those should be handled by the "professional"... and really, we have so few in CDS its not usually a problem.

That said, everyone brings their own gifts to the job they take on and gives what they can. I'm sure you will do the same.

[Sonja Strom]

I still disagree that people who are putting on events should be charged with publicizing them, too, even RA commission meetings. What generally happens, as it did with Feria last term, is that the events simply do not make it to the calendar, sometimes even when specific requests are made. You've done an event now, you know how much work is involved. I think the pio, or someone from the exec office, should do the calendar and SL events postings for all CDS official events, and let individuals handle their individual events. I want to be able to see if i'm invited to a party on saturday night.But that is NOT the same as if my CDS money or government is being employed for an event. Those should be handled by the "professional"... and really, we have so few in CDS its not usually a problem.

I don't think it is too much to ask that if someone wants an event publicised, they either put it in the Calendar themselves or they let the Chancellor or Public Information Officer know about it.

I think it is fine for any citizen who wants to be able to post in the Calendar to receive the rights to do so.

With regard to Feria last term, no specific request for a calendar posting was made of the Executive except in the Forums during the event. At that time I saw the comment and did my best to get the event postings in the Calendar. It is true that then one day of the events in Feria I posted incorrectly - and I have apologised for that many times - but I really did do what I could to help.

[Rose Springvale]

i agree about private events Sonja, but i think it is very important that CDS have a consistent look and feel when it comes to our publicity for our PUBLIC events. Things like using our logo, reminding people of our status as a democracy,etc., are all part of the marketing of the sims... or have been in the past. All CDS events come out of a "marketing" budget per our treasurer. What makes it a CDS event if we don't have support?

Let's leave last term behind us. There are too many sensitive feelings still about how notices were handled, and it's probably best to just agree to disagree. Let's work on making sure everyone understands who does what now and continue to work to make CDS a positive experience.

[Sonja Strom]

Ok

[Gwyneth Llewelyn]

I would personally prefer to have a centralised way of announcing events instead of allowing pretty much everybody to do it, but that's just my personal choice The point is that sometimes it's not just "posting something on the calendar"; a PIO might have other tools and methods to get the announcement across (sometimes even by just IMing friends!).

But I definitely understand that there is a lot of work involved in that and I'm quite happy to comply and post my own announcements instead! I'm not complaining at all, just commenting on my personal views (what can I say, I love centralisation for the sake of efficiency )

Anna, thanks for the clarifications!