As you know, we are working on a redesign of the NetSquared platform. First, we aggregated feedback from the Community, and even from ourselves.   Then, we shared our ideas and some mockups with you on the blog this summer to get more feedback, share our thinking, and keep the process open. Now, we're ready for action!   We have a small team in place and we're diving in to make as much of the elements you've all asked for into reality on this site.   And again, we're going to keep the process open...

Find out how we are improving the Challenge voting process!

Streamlining the Voting Process

Part of every NetSquared Challenge is an open Community Vote where any registered user can vote for the Projects he or she likes most.   (You can see more details about the full NetSquared Challenge process here.)   This step is very important to us because we believe you, the Community, drive both what we do and what you want to do - whether that's supporting Projects, creating events locally, or anything else.   We believe that all of you together are smarter than just us alone.   It's true :)

What We Heard

Earlier this year, during the N2Y4 Challenge, we provided a survey for participants to share their feedback and ideas about what did and didn't work.   We learned a lot, and also heard a lot of echoes to what we were feeling on the "inside."   So, with the community voice, we identified ways to change the voting process to be more streamlined for users.

Some issues identified include:

• too many steps included to complete a vote
• finding Projects to vote on that are participating in the Challenge
• navigating between Challenge information and voting or Project viewing

What Will Change

Using the three areas above as a starting point, some of the major area you'll see changing include:

• Filtered Viewing - The Projects participating in different Challenges will easily be identified with filters to help you browse without having to leave the Project Gallery (filters will include Challenges, issues areas and more)
• Voting Options - The steps to voting for a Project are nearly eliminated as a "vote" button will be placed at the top of Projects and you will not have to leave the Project browsing area to make the vote.   You'll get confirmation messages to make sure you know when you've voted as well.
• Submitting Your Ballot - We still plan to let all voters choose 3-5 Projects to vote on but the ballot will always be viewable and will include prompts so you know when you can submit it and if you have completed it.

And even more. Our goal with the website redesign is to make more of the Community's contributions visible (moving the blog to the home page and so on).   When it comes to the voting process, though, we knew it would take more than simply improving the Project visibility—the process of voting and submitting your ballot needs to be updated, too.   So, we really can't wait for the next Challenge when we can test it out!

When's it happening?

Right now!   Well, on a development server first...

We are currently diving into this work (just started this week) and are doing a sprint to the finish.   We plan to have the redesigned website live very soon (like, about 6 weeks from now!). Stay tuned for more updates on the redesign by following this tag: Net2Redesign.   We'll be sure to let you know when it's all live and ready for you!