Features
Below I provide some general specifications for the PolicyOptions.org websites.
GENERAL NOTES:
- We’ll want to use this same underlying PolicyOptions.org Database for multiple locations. We should plan for one or more national sites (e.g., USA, Canada, Israel), each with many states, which in turn might have one or more city/county sub-sites. What's new here from our original plan is that we want to be able to handle multiple countries. One aspect we'll have to consider is that for every local site we'll probably need to automatically define the state and national site at the outset.
- I assume that the subset of the overall database would be determined by the user at login either by manually identifying themselves (which you had suggested) or else by which web site they log into (e.g., they are using the NewJersey.PolicyOptions.org web site and therefore every entry automatically includes New Jersey in the database search).
- We will want the enduser to be able to jump between their local or state searches over to the national information (e.g., cross over from state welfare proposed legislation to federal/national proposed legislation). This will need to be solved both as an interface issue and a database issue.
- As you know, we’ll want separate data entry (the adminstrator access you called it) so that folks from various locations around the country can be inputting data into this system (either national or their own state or local information).
CORPS DATABASE MODULES:
Based on your notion of programming distinct modules for the Framework site, the PolicyOptions.org website will consist of two major modules:
- a basic PolicyOptions.org Database module for policy news, research & resources
- a second, linked PolicyOptions.org Database module for constructing issue briefs that will include "planning trees" for policy options (and will also be include records from the basic PolicyOptions.org Database such as current programs, organizations, etc.)
The originally proposed modules (e.g., FAQ, registration, courses, projects, discussion list) will be used for the general parts of the site rather than the public policy portions. The originally proposed modules for news, resources, calendar, and feature stories should not be mistaken for the PolicyOptions.org Database modules with the same names. The distinction is that these original modules will be used for the descriptive web pages for each site (e.g., news about the local PolicyOptions.org organizing efforts, calendar of outreach events organized by the host campus, and feature stories that might describe activities of the local campus efforts to start the local PolicyOptions.org affiliate web site). None of these are directly part of the PolicyOptions.org Database module on policy related news, research, and resources.
Finally, I want to consider having a wiki companion module linked to the policy options section of the site (and maybe the entire issue brief) to encourage user input of alternative perspectives to what is already in the system. In fact, it may turn out that their isn't a policy option submission on the primary page so the wiki might be the first content for these. Amazon.com has enveiled something like this for user comments.