Section 5 - Developing Parent Participation

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1 Section 5 - Developing Parent Participation e) Websites Subject: How to Develop Websites to Enhance Parent Participation Who this is for: Particularly relevant to members of parent forums What this section is about: Why websites are useful Issues to consider Naming your website Getting going Building your website Ensuring people can find your website Publicity for your website Examples of parent forum websites

2 5e) Websites: How to Develop Websites to Enhance Parent Participation Why Websites are Useful Websites can be one of the most efficient ways of informing as many people as possible about parent participation and local parent forums. If designed well, they are a quick and easy way for parents and professionals to find out about what is happening in their area and how parents can join in. You can use a website to: publicise your services, what you do, why you do it and how to contact you publish up-to-date information (e.g. newsletters, results of consultations) and so save on printing costs inform people about parent forum meetings, consultations and participation opportunities enable parents with special needs to ask questions and join in discussions e.g. people with visual or hearing impairments create local and national networks e.g. for parents groups set up e-forums to enable parents to contribute their views on local services when they cannot get to meetings attract new parents who like to but do not like using telephones or going to meetings raise your profile amongst service managers and professionals have links to local services and useful organisations including the local service directory Issues to Consider This is not intended to be an exhaustive guide to setting up a website. However, here are a few practicalities to be aware of: Will it create extra reach? Not all parents will be able to access the internet. It is excellent for working or geographically isolated parents but not so good for those in deprived communities. (See section 5 - Reaching Parents of Disabled Children.) Together for Disabled Children 2010 Page 2 of 8 Version 2.0 March 2010

3 What will it cost? You will need to think about whether you need to pay a web designer or have someone in the forum with the skills to set it up. Alternatively you may be able to get a volunteer to help you (see below). There may be software or hardware computer costs and training costs. You will need to pay the cost of registering your domain name and its annual registration fee. Where can we get outside help? There are some options you could explore: 1 The Community Website Builder allows organisations to build and maintain their own website free of charge. To qualify for use of the free service your organisation must be from the United Kingdom, providing a clear benefit to the local community, and be one of the following: registered charity non-profit making organisation volunteer led group / organisation 2 it4communities is a national IT volunteering programme. Its main areas of activity are: helping charities and community/voluntary groups to find volunteers to help with their IT needs helping IT professionals to find suitable IT volunteering opportunities providing support for volunteering projects from project definition to project completion 3 The website of National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) has some useful tips, some of which have been used for this guide. For more details see Who will maintain our website? People expect websites to contain the most up-to-date information and indeed this is part of their attraction to users. It is very off-putting to potential members to look up a website which has not been updated for some time. Unfortunately a lot of websites fail because there is no one with the time to maintain it. You need to be aware of the ongoing commitment involved in updating information and responding to enquiries. Weigh up carefully your precious resources of time and energy. Together for Disabled Children 2010 Page 3 of 8 Version 2.0 March 2010

4 Should we have an e-forum? E-forums allow parents to comment on particular issues, as well as creating an ongoing dialogue with parents who may not attend forum/meetings. An e-forum is helpful to parent representatives who sit on steering groups/committees so they are able to represent the views of as wide a range of parents as possible. However, if parents are adding their views, someone needs to be responsible for responding to them and moderating any inappropriate content. Who will take responsibility for this? E-forums need guidelines on appropriate use so it is worth making contact with other groups who already have an e-forum to find out how they are monitored. Naming Your Website Having your own domain name is something to aim for. You need the funding to pay for this or you cannot get going. Your forum will need discussion time to settle on a name you all feel happy with (see some examples at the end of this guide.) Most groups opt for a.org.uk domain (the use of the word.org denotes a charitable or not-for-profit organisations) but some choose the more global.org or.com. Once you have registered the address it is yours for as long as you pay the annual fee. You can move the site to a different ISP whilst keeping the same address. Nominet.uk gives clear information about domain names. Nominet is officially recognised as the.uk domain name registry by the internet industry, users and the UK Government. Nominet ensures that each domain is only used once and all the other providers have to register through them. There are a number of providers of domain names offering varying services. Examples are: Getting Going What should it contain? As a starting point, a group of parents should discuss the possible content. For example, County Durham Parents Steering Group asked parents at one of the parents conferences what they wanted on the website and what they hoped it would achieve. There are some excellent parent forum websites already up and running and it is worth looking at these before thinking about your own. A list of some of these is at the end of this guide. Together for Disabled Children 2010 Page 4 of 8 Version 2.0 March 2010

5 Types of websites There are four basic types of websites: basic promotional websites: this is who we are, what we do, how to get in touch directories and online resources: specialist information, stored in a directory so you can read it online or download documents such as newsletters and leaflets E-commerce and fund raising sites: buy something from us or donate money because you support our cause networks and forums: join in with what we do and feel part of our community share in discussions, read our bulletin board, post your opinions about what we do Creating a design brief Your forum needs to start with a simple design brief. You need this if you are paying a web designer or if you are using a volunteer to design it. The brief will ensure that your forum considers all the issues and that the designer follows the wishes of the forum. It should contain the following: Summary what you want, time scale and budget Aims and objectives your forum s goals and how the website will help you meet them Audiences and how your website will help them Design requirements a list of websites you like plus your house style requirements (for guidelines on written information see section 2 - Information) Sitemap the main pages you think you need; who will update the site and respond to enquiries? Functionality what you want visitors to the site to be able to do; will there be a members only section? Search engines how will your designer ensure your site is easily found by search engines such as Google? User testing at least three potential users should try the site before it goes live Deliverables documents on how to manage the website, user names and passwords and a statement that the website has passed accessibility requirements Domain name write down who is hosting it Budget fees, domain names, hosting, training, and new software or hardware Timescale key dates and specific milestones that may be important to launch it e.g. at a forthcoming parents conference Ownership be clear about what rights you have over future use of content, images and other computer code, to avoid the potential for conflict later Together for Disabled Children 2010 Page 5 of 8 Version 2.0 March 2010

6 Building Your Website It is possible to build a website yourself but it will need skills and time. If you are using a volunteer from the parent forum ensure they have some of the skills already e.g. can produce reader friendly information and are familiar with the internet. The options for building your website are: build it from scratch: use a programme such as DreamWeaver. It would be similar to producing a newsletter using a desk top publishing programme such as Microsoft Publisher use an online site builder. Systems such as Blogger, Wordpress and Google Pages let you build a site through a website. Some are free and some charge a fee. This is similar to creating a newsletter using menus and templates built into Microsoft Publisher use a website template. You can use Open Source tools such as Drupal, Joomia, or Wordpress to set up a website using a template. This is like having someone else design a newsletter template which you then update for each edition Training There are web design courses at local colleges covering the basics of web design. Courses vary in length from short taster sessions to year-long courses. A volunteer would need to factor in the time to do this training and your forum would need to cover the costs. Ensuring People Can Find Your Website Registering your website When your site is up and running you will have to register it with the major internet search engines so many people find it. Advice on this can be found at Search engines You need to maximise the chances of local parents of disabled children finding your website. Increasingly parents are browsing the web for local information using search engines such as Google. How can you ensure they will find you? These tips will help: ensure that your site clearly explains its purpose in a way that is relevant to parents make sure each page clearly introduces what it contains and repeat relevant key words Together for Disabled Children 2010 Page 6 of 8 Version 2.0 March 2010

7 think what key words people will use to find you and use them prominently on the home page. If people commonly use jargon, then use jargon too, but explain it keep your design simple and clear so there is less clutter for search engines links into your site are a key source of ranking. Compile a list of websites and ask them if they will put links to your website (e.g. the section on the Council website for disabled children) test your key words by searching on Google and see the results. Look at sites above yours and see why they are scoring more highly update and adjust your site regularly according to how well it is ranking in Google searches It is also most important to ensure that your website is accessible to all types of browsers such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera and to Mackintosh PCs. Although Google and Yahoo are commonly used search engines in the UK, there are many others and the main ones are listed on the Search Engine Watch website Most of these search engines will have a Submit URL or similar link where you can tell them about your website. In most cases this will be free of charge. Search engines all work slightly differently and that is why their results vary. Additional Publicity for Your Website There are additional important ways that you can ensure that parents and professionals find out about your website. put your web address on all your publicity for the forum publicise it in local newsletters which are distributed by schools, local charities and/or Disability Register get other local authority websites that parents visit to add links to your website ensure that it is highlighted in any local Aiming High newsletters and publicity Example Norfolk parents forum has found it very beneficial to link the commissioning of their website with the Pathfinder s Short Breaks website. As they were being planned concurrently it has kept their costs down. Many of the discussions about the two sites have overlapped. Some Examples of Parent Forum Websites Waltham Forest Enfield Richmond Together for Disabled Children 2010 Page 7 of 8 Version 2.0 March 2010

8 4 - Southwark Kensington and Chelsea Redcar and Cleveland Durham Oxfordshire Wiltshire Norfolk Together for Disabled Children 2010 Page 8 of 8 Version 2.0 March 2010