Web Status and Proposals
Prepared by Mark Kaprielian
06-01-98

Preface

Having created the web site for the MetroWest Chess club I have learned how to employ the web to motivate and enthuse players at the club level. It is my hope that you will allow me to take this knowledge and apply it to the MACA web site by empowering me to upgrade the supporting facilities to be state of the art and helping me create the guidelines and procedures that will make our site an effective means for conducting our business and promoting chess.

 

Table of Contents

Web Status and Proposals *

I. Current Status and operation of the MACA web. *

A. Web Team from February 1998 to Present *

B. Who's been doing what *

C. Major Accomplishments to date *

D. Current difficulties *

II. Vision for the MACA web site. *

A. Serve as a central repository for chess information in New England. *

B. Serve as an archive for the organization. *

C. Serve as a major promotional tool for MACA and it's goals. *

D. Become a source of revenue generation *

III. The Mechanics of the web site. *

A. High level objectives *

B. Webmaster *

C. Content *

IV. Other functionality associated with the web site *

A. Lists *

B. Discussion Forms *

C. Forms *

V. Proposals for Action *

A. Obtain a Domain name for MACA *

B. Move to web service provider who supports MS Front Page 98 and Web managed Lists. *

C. Purchase four lists for use by MACA. *

D. Appoint Mark Kaprielian as Webmaster with Harvey Reed and David True as Assistant Webmasters. *

VI. Summary of costs requested for proposals *

A. Please consider the cost investment of the web versus printed medium. *

B. Negotiations are in progress to attempt to reduce the first years cost. *

C. Initial funding might be allocated from the Capital Equipment fund. *

D. Summary *
  1. Current Status and operation of the MACA web.
    1. Web Team from February 1998 to Present
      1. Webmaster - David True
      2. Web team member - Mark Kaprielian
      3. Web team member - Joel Johnson
      4. Web team member - Chris Chase
    2. Who's been doing what
      1. Common look and feel - David True
      2. General Web maintenance - David True
      3. Bookstore creation and maintenance - Joel Johnson
      4. Posting of incoming information - Mark Kaprielian
      5. Responding to MACA addressed email - Chris Chase
    3. Major Accomplishments to date
      1. On-Line bookstore up and running
      2. Re-built and expanded structure
      3. Common Look and feel throughout web
      4. Timely content posting and removal
    4. Current difficulties
      1. Almost no content is being sent for posting from outside the organization.
      2. There is no content from CH to post.
      3. Web and CH has had no flow of information between them.
      4. FTP to site often unreliable
      5. Current web hosting service does not support many features found on other hosting providers.
      6. MACA does not have a domain name. This impedes our ability to verbally communicate how to find our site.
  2. Vision for the MACA web site.
    1. Serve as a central repository for chess information in New England.
    2. Serve as an archive for the organization.
      1. To facilitate the sharing of information
      2. To provide a means by which the membership can see what is going on.
      3. To Archive the actions taken by the board so that decisions and the context information will persist through multiple terms and not fade away due to lack of documentation of their existence. This will save time and energy, as policies will not have to be created from scratch. This will allow topics to be revisited and perhaps modified after due consideration.
    3. Serve as a major promotional tool for MACA and it's goals.
    4. Become a source of revenue generation
      1. By on-line Book purchasing
      2. By paid advertisements
  3. The Mechanics of the web site.
    1. High level objectives
      1. The maintenance and support of the site should not require a high level of skill.
      2. The maintenance and support of the site should not be dependent on the skill or knowledge set of one individual
      3. The ability to have new personal take over the maintenance and support of the site should be maximized.
      4. A minimum of two people should be actively maintaining the site. This is to provide coverage when one person is unavailable to update the site.
    2. Webmaster
      1. Duties
        1. To adhere to the standards and policies set forth by the Board of Directors.
        2. To Protect and to enhance the image, reputation and stature of MACA as expressed through the site.
        3. To resolve all technical matters concerning the operation of the site.
        4. To ensure a common look and feel for the site.
        5. To ensure that content provided for the site or corrections to materials already present on the site are updated in a timely fashion.
        6. The Webmaster is NOT responsible for the creation of data content.
        7. To enhance the capabilities and utilization of the site by using techniques, approaches and such tools as may aid in accomplishing this goal.
        8. To report to the board on the status of data content reaching the site so that the board may address such issues.
        9. To make recommendations to the board regarding matters concerning the site.
    3. Content
      1. The board should set policies regarding the type of content it desires to be placed on the site.
      2. Policy regarding the transfer and sharing of information with Chess Horizons needs to be established.
      3. The board should clearly identify the source of the content for the site and who is accepting responsibility for generating/obtaining the content for forwarding to the Webmaster.
      4. Suggested areas to be covered:
        1. Bookstore - Deals with all Bookstore matters, i.e., reviews ...
        2. CH Advertisers - CH Advertisers Ad Text as promised
        3. CH Online Archive - Prepare past issues of CH for publication on the Web
        4. Club Locations - Text Directions and maps to Clubs
        5. Clubs - Ensure that the Club listing is up to date
        6. Demographics - Various kinds of Demographic information
        7. Election info - Maintain Election info and Bio's
        8. Event Locations -Text Directions and maps to Area Event Locations
        9. Games - Manages the Game archive and provides commentary
        10. Links - Create and Maintain Links page
        11. MACA News - General news about MACA goings on
        12. MACA Contacts - Keeps the MACA contact information up to date.
        13. Scholastics - Prepares materials concerning the Scholastic program
        14. Tournaments -Prepares Tournament announcements for the Web
        15. Tournament Reporter - Hunt down results of Tournaments, Obtain Crosstables.
        16. Web Policies - Establish and Document Web Practices and standards
      5. Other ideas for content
        1. Demographics
        2. Membership expiration dates for use by organizers and verification of membership by new members.
        3. List of sponsors, advertisers, etc.
  4. Other functionality associated with the web site
    1. Lists
      1. Use
        1. By having a list for discussion instead of copying people, it ensures that no one is accidentally or possibly intentionally left out of the discussion. Of course, individuals can be emailing privately between themselves on a topic going on.
        2. Having a list removes the burden of making sure you have all the correct address every time. The addresses are entered once into the list. When an address changes, the person managing the list (web master) gets notified and can track down what the new address should be and make the correction.
        3. Some people have multiple addresses, often a home and a work email address where they may or may not wish to receive email on MACA business. You as a sender don't have to think twice about it where to send the email to as they individuals will ensure that the correct address are placed on the list.
        4. Facilitates discussion on topics between formal Board meetings.
      2. Recommended minimal set of Lists
        1. Board_List - Restricted to Board Members only for Board private discussions.
        2. News_List - This would be open to anyone who wishes to receive announcements from MACA. We would try at the least to get the entire membership onto this list.
        3. CH_List - For use by the CH staff
        4. Form_List - This list is used for distributing information submitted by on-line forms to the appropriate party.
      3. Example applications
        1. MACA Board Business by way of lists - Lists facilitate discussion of topics between board meetings so that most of the information and pros and cons are made known in advance of gathering for any formal action. One criticism of this is that, at times, not all board members have email. If discussion reaches some major points of view, these points may be summarized and postal mailed to the people without email. Some may contend that this is not fair, as they are not actively part of the discussion. Consider then if it is fair to not allow board members to discuss a topic until the time of a physical board meeting. I would think that maximizing communication is much more desirable than minimizing it.
    2. Discussion Forms
      1. Use
        1. Discussion forms allow users to view previously submitted comments on a topic and then submit a response message.
        2. Users can search on keywords
        3. Users can view all messages previously submitted. This allows someone to come in to the discussion late.
        4. Use of a discussion form is essentially archiving the entire discussion.
      2. Example Applications
        1. Board topics discussed
          1. This reduces email traffic.
          2. Eliminates the need to file away the emails received
          3. Eliminates the need to create and sort messages into topic categories.
          4. Provides a history that can be revisited later should the topic ever arise again.
          5. Entire discussion can be printed out for distribution to non-web based board members.
    3. Forms
      1. Use
        1. Forms are pages that accept input from the user and store them on our web site for retrieval later. (Note: MS FP98 will email the information to a designated address as well).
      2. Example Applications
        1. Pre-Registration for tournaments.
          1. This will allow us to confirm USCF and MACA membership
          2. Populate the sections in the Pairing software in advance.
          3. Post the pre-registration to the web to allow players to confirm and to generate enthusiasm for the event by being able to see how the sections are shaping up.
          4. Even though no cash is received, pairing software such as WinTD allows you to enter players into sections but not "check them in". This means that they will not be paired unless you check them in. We would not check them in until all their information, membership status and payment are complete.
          5. This process was done for the 1998 Pillsbury and was very effective. We also caught mistakes by posting the information up.
        2. Surveys
          1. Forms can be built with pre-defined selection options as well as free form text boxes.
        3. Taking orders for items we wish to sell
          1. T-shirts
          2. Mugs
  5. Proposals for Action
    1. Obtain a Domain name for MACA
      1. Pros
        1. Makes it easier for people to remember how to find us.
        2. Improves our image among those on the web.
        3. Moves us in the direction of improvement.
      2. Cons
        1. We can live without it
        2. Keeps things the same
      3. Costs
        1. Internic Registration = $100 for two years
    2. Move to web service provider who supports MS Front Page 98 and Web managed Lists.
      1. Pros
        1. By using FP98 as the primary tool for site support we obtain the following benefits.
          1. No knowledge of HTML is required by the webmaster to support the site. Anyone with a firm understanding of MS Explorer and MS Word is capable of creating and maintaining a fairly elaborate site. For example, the MetroWest Chess Club site is done entirely with FP98. This allows a much wider range of people who can be drawn upon to fill the role of webmaster or to assist the webmaster.
          2. It provides common look and feel capability far beyond what is capable with HTML.
          3. Interactive forms and discussion forums come built in. No special coding or effort is required to create and maintain them.
          4. Should we decide to, it supports the ability to let different people work on specific parts of the web site without letting them have access to the rest of the site. This allows us to distribute work and responsibility without compromising the security of our site while allowing work to be done by others directly to the site.
          5. Has advance site maintenance features that would otherwise need to be purchased separately.
          6. FP sites can still be operated on by non-FP tools. The advanced features are not easily replicated so only simple pages are practical.
          7. Very Significantly reduces the time to do similar operations on non-FP sites.
      2. Cons
        1. Generally web service providers charge between Five and Ten dollars more just for hosting a FP web.
        2. FP is not everywhere though the number of sites supporting it are increasing significantly all the time.
        3. Very Low cost providers are difficult to find. Reasonable priced providers are much more readily found.
      3. Costs (Using Quartznet, a very low priced provider for FP services and the one used by the MCC)
        1. $19.95 per month.
        2. Total for the year = $240.
    3. Purchase four lists for use by MACA.
      1. Pros
        1. The arguments for lists have already been stated previously in this document.
        2. It is not feasible to maintain a list of possibly hundreds of people who would like to get news from us, by not using a list. The MCC list alone is 90 people
      2. Cons
        1. Other than the News list, you can do with out lists by having everyone create and maintaining aliases.
      3. Costs
        1. One time setup fee of $39.95 per List.
        2. One time set up fee for 4 lists = $160.
    4. Appoint Mark Kaprielian as Webmaster with Harvey Reed and David True as Assistant Webmasters.
      1. Pros
        1. Mark has experience as the Webmaster of the MCC who created and maintains the site. Mark has also done much work on the MACA site.
        2. David True has agreed to this switch in roles and looks forward to continuing to assist MACA with its site.
        3. Harvey Reed has agreed to assist also. Harvey has been responsible for producing the content for the MCC Study Group pages and hence has proven experience with FP98
        4. This group of people is ready and willing to do the work.
      2. Cons
        1. Other people may want the role.
        2. Other people may have a completely different direction they would like to implement for the MACA web.
        3. Use
          1. On-Line forms allow web users to submit information to our site.
        4. Example applications
          1. MACA Board Business by way of a Discussion forum - A Discussion form has all the benefits as described for Lists but with the additional benefits of:
            1. Eliminates email traffic generated by topic discussion
            2. Eliminates the need to save and categorize email
            3. Provides a visual outline of the discussion
            4. Serves as a historical archive. Can be revisited long after the discussion has been completed.
            5. Allows people to come in late to a discussion and see what has transpired before
            6. The information is searchable
  6. Summary of costs requested for proposals
    1. Please consider the cost investment of the web versus printed medium.
    2. Negotiations are in progress to attempt to reduce the first years cost.
    3. Initial funding might be allocated from the Capital Equipment fund.
    4. Summary
 

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3 or more

Internic Fee

$100

0

$50

Web Service Provider

$240

$240

$240

Lists

$160

0

0

Totals

$500

$240

$290
Since the Lists are a one time cost, you might choose to look at it as $53 a year over 3 years with zero cost in years 4 and beyond.