CMS EDU - Chicago and Beyond

(excerpted and edited from an email response to a Knight News Challenge applicant from Africa who is interested in exploring how to use open source CMS for developing and promoting their project)

If you're just getting started and developing a Web site, here are a few suggestions:

1) Take a look at www.knightpulse.org, which provides an opportunity to discuss topics that are posted on a blog there. Participating in discussion can be a way to learn about new technology and issues; it can also be a way to become known by the staff, who may also work on contests that offer funding. Try checking in once a week, and seeing if there's any way you can contribute. By participating, you might be able to develop some connections, and when you have a Web site or blog, you can put the link in your profile.

2) Consider making a blog - you can sign up for a free Gmail address at www.google.com/gmail, and then create a blog by going to www.blogspot.com

Using a blog, you can work on developing the "story" about your project, such as talking to people that your project relates to, sharing your thoughts and motivations, and describing situations that relate to your project, such as people who you are trying to help, or maybe how something that is in the news has an impact. I'd suggest starting with a single blog.

3) One you have a blog and some content on there, I invite you to visit www.ideagarden.cc and share your idea by stating the title of your project, 1-3 sentence description, and including a link to your blog.

In other words, to prepare for developing a Web site, you need to develop content, and to interest people, it's good to think about how to tell the "story". A blog is a great, easy way to get started. And if your head is full of ideas, start with a single issue -- like if you had to choose one, which would you choose? All are important, but maybe focus on one, to begin with. Then, for example, if the blog was savewomen.blogspot.com -- you can take that link, and then go to www.ideagarden.cc, and submit a question, with the title of the project (ex: "Save Women"), a 1-3 sentence description of the project, and then a link to the blog: http://savewomen.blogspot.com (or whatever your blog address is).

IdeaGarden is open, and people are starting to share ideas.