A new form of communication

Hi,

This is a new form of communication (http://sites.google.com/site/carletonbeaver) I am trying for our Section and Area. Please have a look and be kind, this is only one of my seven or so regular jobs.

Thank,
Duane...

I have been using a Google group as a mailing list/file management tool for our Cub Pack: http://groups.google.com/group/2nd-fort-victoria-cubs

It seems to be working pretty well for us.

We also use Google with great success. Great tool for communication.

The website is simple yet elegant. It really looks like it provides the people in mind with the information relevant. As long as you keep it up to date, great job!

I personally use my own hosting as well as vPortal and WordPress. A mailing list and facebook also assist in keeping our group informed. My group of course is made up of youth not youngsters.

An update on my original article, and its purpose:
Being short on time, I didn't detail enough the purpose of my original post. Based on the kind feedback, I see you all got the message about Google's valuable tools. The other purpose was to showcase and discuss my multimedia experiment. I was not sure where to post this originally, but it seems to fit here, so off we go!

I will post a separate article about the "Carleton Beaver" website, and its purpose. It is one part fun, and one part multimedia experiment to see if kids will recognize "Beaver" after a year or two. He has been with our group for two years, and has been to many of our area events. Time will tell, he is starting to build "brand" recognition. He is very well connected, and has some big surprises in store for the kids in the future.

Background; We have been using Google's systems for about three years now, and I also maintain these sites:
http://sites.google.com/site/4thkanata/ (This was my first Google site for 4th Kanata, it needs a refresh)
http://sites.google.com/site/4thkanatabeavers/ (This was my next site for our Colony, better layout, cleaner, still needs work)
&
http://sites.google.com/site/carletonbeaver/ (My most recent site, and brand new multimedia experiment)

Here is my take on the Google tools:
This is an excellent group of tools for any Scouting group out there to create a communications platform. You can even use a vanity domain like 4thCityname.ca or 4thCouncil.org if you feel the need to spend the $15/yr. The only benefit is that you could take your whole domain and site to another host in the future if needed.

1) Gmail, an excellent email system, next, Google Groups to communicate with leaders and parents, lastly, Google Talk to communicate one on one.
2) Google Sites, used to host your website, it is free, bandwidth is good, and tools that anyone can use. You don't have to be a geek.
3) Google Calendar, an excellent place to store all of your events, and easily embeded in your website.
4) Google Docs, an excellent tool to share spreadsheets, word type documents, and just recently, any type of file you can upload.
5) Picassa, and Youtube, you can use these to store and organize all of your multimedia requirements.
6) Google Analytics, Trends, and Webmaster tools, these are for the ADVANCED user, and helpful to see what is going on.

The good, the bad, and the ugly:
If you were to go out and try to purchase a suite of tools such as those available from Google for free, you would easily pay hundreds to thousands a year. The only downside is that support is difficult, or non-existent at times. You can find help from like minded users and geeks, the help-groups which usually have some kind of answer, and if you are really lucky, sometime Google will help if it is in their best interest. You get what you pay for, but sometimes a little more.

My 2 cents,
Duane...

Re Google Sites - a warning: I had an experimental set of Google Sites pages up, and within a matter of days it was made unavailable by Google for violating "Terms of Service". The problem is that they did this without notifiying me, and with no explanation as to what in the "Terms of Service" I have violated. Nor have they responded to my inquiries about this.

I have poured over the "Terms of Service" document to see what no-no I may have committed, but no idea.

If you Google about Google Sites (ironic, is'nt it?) you will find numerous complaints about this, and they apparently never reply.

I would be very cautious about using Google Sites as a free Web Host - it is quite possible it will be taken away from you with no explanation given.

In respect to what Alan has stated, be sure to create some sort of back up. For if this type of horrible event occurred, you don't want to be left in the dark.