October Net Tuesday SF (10/14) will explore Alternate Reality Game (ARG) Superstruct, a project of the nonprofit Institute For The Future with Jane McGonigal. Join Us!
NetSquared is an initiative ofTechSoup
NetSquared enables social benefit organizations to leverage the tools of the social web.
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- Venture Outdoors: The GO Guide - Linking the Community to all Things Outside
Venture Outdoors: The GO Guide - Linking the Community to all Things Outside
Voting Summary (Elevator Pitch):
The Great Outdoors Guide is the focal point for a comprehensive outdoor recreation campaign. The GO Guide allows nonprofits to post content to a shared central source, and allows users to access content from any participating organization's website.
Supporting organization:
Venture Outdoors
URL:
http://goguide.3rc.org
City:
Pittsburgh
State/Region:
PA
Country:
United States
Project Vision Statement & Potential Social Impact:
The current Great Outdoors Guide system features a variety of outdoor activities, organizations and sites throughout southwestern Pennsylvania. The goal of the project is to promote the incredible natural resources in the region and to encourage people to take advantage of the many opportunities available to enjoy our surroundings.
This project represents a new approach for the integration of traditional web sites and information sharing with the GO Guide. Visitors to the GO Guide will be able to seamlessly search for information. They can navigate to all of the information directly from participating organizations' web sites.
Venture Outdoor's vision is to create a regional information asset in southwestern Pennsylvania that will allow area organizations to dynamically create, combine and retrieve vital information, regardless of its original location. The benefits to the region are both tactically significant and strategically transformational.
By breaking through some of the technical barriers that inhibit collaboration, the GO Guide initiative is providing a catalyst for a cultural transformation in the region. Organizations are realizing synergies that go far beyond merely sharing information. Additionally, the GO Guide utilizes an architecture that will allow for dramatic improvements in the way we collect and disseminate information in the future.
In order to fulfill this potential and critical role as the outdoor recreation campaign's portal, it will be necessary for the GO Guide to be enhanced beyond its original more limited use.
With NetSquared funds, we will expand the purpose of the GO Guide to bring about much greater use and value to the public.
Sustainability (financial) model:
Local organizations and foundations currently support the GO Guide, including 3 Rivers Connect, Venture Outdoors, and the Richard King Mellon Foundation. Venture Outdoors is currently seeking additional funding from the Richard King Mellon Foundation for its Outdoor Recreation Communications Campaign, in which the GO Guide is a pivotal component.
Potential obstacles:
The most notable obstacle of the GO Guide has been its limited number of content providers. With the Outdoor Recreation Communications Campaign, Venture Outdoors and partners seek to raise awareness of the GO Guide to local organizations and users. Twelve organizations have already started to enter content as the prime season for outdoor activity approaches. Other obstacles addressed by Richard King Mellon's funding of the Outdoor Recreation Communications Campaign include conducting focus groups to refine the GO Guide experience for organizations who enter content and users view it.
The GO Guide is gaining traction:
Resource Needs:
To expand the scope of the Great Outdoors Guide, we need $15,000 to enhance its infrastructure, design a user friendly interface, and support custom programming from 3 Rivers Connect.
Key Milestones:
-In 2003, GreenPittsburgh.net was launched to promote outdoor activities in Southwestern Pennsylvania.
-With funding from the Richard King Mellon Foundation, GreenPittsburgh.net was redeveloped by 3rc to be a part of their "Information Commons". The Commons is a powerful community-planning tool allows organizations to more easily share crucial information that is essential to the delivery of their services. The Commons leverages leading edge peer-to-peer database technology that enables the seamless flow of information.
-Using this technology, GreenPittsburgh.net was renamed and the first release of the GO Guide launched in July 2006.
-An Outdoor Recreation Communications Campaign is currently in progress to promote outdoor activity. The GO Guide will serve as the main portal for this campaign
Within 90 days of receiving this NetSquared award, we will launch the new GO Guide, redesigned to meet user needs and easier to use for Outdoor Recreation Partners, and serve as the centerpiece of our regional campaign.
Project Summary:
The Great Outdoors Guide (goguide.3rc.org) features a variety of outdoor activities, organizations and sites throughout southwestern Pennsylvania. The goal of the project is to promote the incredible natural resources in the region and to encourage people to take advantage of the many opportunities available to enjoy our surroundings.
This project represents a new approach for the integration of traditional web sites and information sharing. Visitors to the GO Guide will be able to seamlessly search for information. They can navigate to all of the information directly from participating organizations' web sites.
Venture Outdoor's vision is to create a regional information asset in southwestern Pennsylvania that will allow area organizations to dynamically create, combine and retrieve vital information, regardless of its original location. The benefits to the region are both tactically significant and strategically transformational.
The GO Guide is a catalyst for a cultural transformation in the region. Organizations are realizing synergies that go far beyond merely sharing information. Additionally, the GO Guide utilizes an architecture that will allow for dramatic improvements in the way we collect and disseminate information in the future.
In order to fulfill this potential and critical role as the outdoor recreation campaign's portal, it will be necessary for the GO Guide to be enhanced beyond its original more limited use.
With NetSquared funds, we will streamline the user experience, expanding its use and value to the public.
