We are stuck with this website...at least for the moment. But we have a forum here in RK to once again help the DPVA define the requirements and tell them what is wrong with their website endeavor and what they need to do to fix it and give us what we want. We pay dues to the DPVA, contributors give money to the DPVA, candidates cough up thousands of dollars to give to the DPVA in order to get their support. We are their customer! They are our employees! We are paying for a central organization (a business headquarters) to advance our desires, to come up with a business model that will advance the Democratic Party in Virginia. And the one and only tool that most every Virginian can use to find out about and participate in the Party is the DPVA website. And everyone from the Chairman on down must understand this. Where is the customer focus? We are the constituency and we want value for our dollar and a sensible businesslike organization to lead us in electing Democrats.... in 2007.
If you look at the list of DPVA staff, there is a Technical Director and a Deputy Technical Director. Two positions are devoted to the technical area of operation! There is an Executive Director and a Political Director. At a minimum four individuals who should be focusing at least some of their efforts on using the cheapest tool available, the Internet, to better their organization.
Instead of helping the Democratic community organize and get information, rather a template (it's a rather obfuscated one I'd say) has been thrown out there with an implicit message..."you're on your own". There isn't nearly enough information there. Where can you go on the website to find out when the lst District Committee or any District Committee is meeting and what the agenda will be? Where can you find out who the candidates are in your area (or at least direct you to where you should go to find out)? I could go on and on.
When you have a business function (and the DPVA is a business...money is exchanging hands) that automation can support, you gather and analyze what the various types of users needs are and what they require from the "system", in this case the webpage. Who are the users and what are the functions that they would use your website for?
So let's take this opportunity to seriously engage the DPVA "face to face". If you would like to have a state-level tool to help you elect Democrats, then here is the forum that you can use for listing and discussing your requirements.
ACTION ALERT: To seal this endeavor, I'd encourage you to e-mail the Executive Director amy@vademocrats.org and the Chairman cranwell@vademocrats.org of the DPVA to let them know what you want. Tell them your requirements or tell them to read your requirements in Raising Kaine!
I'll go first:
1. Give us a calendar of events. There is no clear way to locate events in other areas or at later dates. The current "local" four or five events that are occurring in the next few days is unprofessional and not useful!
2. Give us clearly identified, up-to-date talking points and action alerts.
3. Give us more to download than party icons! I would like to have a neighborhood organizing guide. I know there are lots of Dems in my neighborhood who would like to organize in the neighborhood to work to elect Democrats. They are commuters who can't get to committee meetings at 7 pm on a week night!
4. Tell us who our candidates are and what their websites are in a simple, easy-to-get-at format.
5. Give us a "Contact Us" function on the front page that leads directly to an e-mail message form to the webmaster for problems with the website!
I'm challenging the DPVA here and now to read this diary (and others), to engage itself with Virginia Democrats, and to listen and implement what we want and need to win victories for the Democratic Party.
A challenge has been issued and that needs to be made as clear as day to them, this is not a suggestion or a polite request it is a direct challenge to the DPVA leadership to if not acquesce, to at the very minimum engage some of its most active members.
To be honest, separate from the website issue, I'm a little miffed that the DPVA does not have regular communication with the Raising Kaine community. Not only should they not be ignoring us, they should be actively cultivating us, keeping us abreast of what they are doing to win back the Senate and the House of Delegates and how we can help them do that.
C'mon good folks at the DPVA, none of use here type for our health, we're all here for a reason, the same reason DPVA exists as an organization, to get Democrats elected throughout the Commonwealth, throw us a bone every once in a while.
I would like to see a frequently updated list of what races in the General Assembly are pending, the name and party of the current office holder, the names of the candidates which have announced for each race, and if no one is running as a Democrat (a frequent occurrence it seems at least where I live), I would like to know if help is needed recruiting a candidate. Those of us not involved in the formal business of party politics only have rumor and hearsay about this information without a reliable source from which to obtain the info.
There are lots of us who are rank and file progressives who would like to help who often have no idea what is going on in races in their own areas.
Too a state party shouldn't leave it to "rumor and hearsay" about legitimate candidate information. You are not alone in not knowing what is going on in races in your own area!!
-- web design/support and ideas
-- "handbook(s)" preparation (examples: one for orienting new members, for generic precinct operations, for Plan of Operation or Action Plan (strategic/tactical planning for documenting what needs to be done, how it will be done, and when it needs to be done), etc.
-- ideas on how to attract and maintain volunteers (a continuing problem for some areas)
This is just the beginning of what could be shared among ourselves so, as you say, the wheel doesn't need to be reinvented over and over.
The Stafford County Democratic Committee has rightly put examples of useful handbooks and manuals http://www.staffordd... on their website....why not the DPVA's too?
And too, for those who aren't or can't be active in a formal committee but who would like to work to elect Dems or to form Democratic Clubs (e.g., seniors, neighborhood, ethnic, etc.) it would only be a boon!
I mean, if the information is wanted out there, it is easily put on the web.
Of course, some thought has to be given to the downside of exposing information about strategy and tactics to the opposition. For instance, it seems obvious that both parties at times distribute "talking points" on issues of the day, but it can be embarassing and counter-productive for the talking points to be leaked. Then the talking heads can simply be dismissed for spouting talking points.
There is an added value to having all the manuals, best practices, candidate list, etc... coming from an officially sanctioned source.
Also 1. It's already DPVA's job to do everything we're asking for 2. Unless you find someone willing to quit they're job or a very rich friend to pay some staff, it ain't gonna happen. As Dianne points out, that is what membership dues and donations are for.