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Tailoring Online Health Promotion
“A Toolkit for Communities”
Notes for SPARK toolkit
I concur with the point that IT staff should be involved at the very beginning of a project in addition to maintaining communication throughout the project.
IT staffs can help define the back-end technology required for meeting your project’s target goals. This is not to say that the technology piece should drive the design, but that you can use the technical requirements to frame conversations about the design.
In the case of Youthspark.ca, the County of Huron IT division was provided with a general overview of this interactive web site project - the Huron County Health Unit would be constructing a separate website, co-designed with groups of youth, “to provide online access to youth appropriate health information.” We were asked to research, recommend and prepare a budget of hardware/software that would meet County standards and make the finished web site compatible with other sites owned and maintained by the County.
A fairly basic list of hardware/software recommendations was drafted based on previous involvement with other youth-driven projects. To ensure that selected technologies were appropriate, IT staff confronted the challenge by asking “what” the project was to achieve, “why” it was being done, “who” would be involved and “how” the Health Unit wanted to meet their objectives. This approach in itself differed from other non-technologically based stakeholders who were intent on approaching the project focused on the technology needed, rather than on its purpose.
Answers at hand, plus knowledge that a driving force would be community, network and relationship building meant that while hardware/software choices would be driven by issues of security, support and sustainability, there was opportunity to involve some new Web 2.0 technologies.
Apart from the requisite computing hardware, a digital camera and separate web server for the project were purchased. Selected software choices were based on system compatibility, availability of in-house training and support, as well as project outcomes listed on the original grant application.
The selection and purchase of the project’s technologies were completed before the hiring of project staff. This meant that no prior knowledge of the technology skills of the project team was taken into account.
Software dollars spent on Moveable Type, ePodcast Producer, TechSmith Camtasia 3 Studio and TechSmith SnagIt were not used to their full potential, possibly due to ineffectual use of available training opportunities, or personal comfort levels on the part of the youth team members. On the other hand, Macromedia Studio 8 and Adobe Creative Suite 2 were well-used and readily adopted by team members.
When the youth component came on board, discussions took place surrounding the pros/cons of incorporating blogs versus discussion boards into the youthspark.ca website.
Group consensus prevailed and it was decided that discussion, or bulletin boards constructed using phpbb be incorporated. While the County’s IT staff recognizes the benefits of using open source software, we were hesitant in encouraging use of this open source software solution in this project. Potential drawbacks identified included:
· Compatibility – phpbb wasn’t compatible with the existing computers and network; IT advised it would be better to have all applications compatible than to use some open source products in isolation;
· Support – none of our available staff could provide adequate ongoing nor sustainable support; while it is widely known that enthusiastic support is provided within the open source community, that support is frequently aimed at developers, with user end documentation aimed at a very tech savvy audience rather than a team of youth with varying levels of technological skills;
· Open source is not plug and play – loading and installing software can be a major hurdle; not all device drivers are supported in all installations, and often the installation process can lead to problems with wide-spread implications to a site.
· Security – phpBB is well known for security vulnerabilities regarding remote command execution and SQL Injection exploits that allow for remote attacks and access not only to the web server, but potentially the entire network.
Despite reservations, the YouthSpark team proceeded with the open source solution and had phpbb installed on their webserver. This meant that an outside contractor had to be authorized to install software at the server side. As a cautionary note for similar projects of this nature, I would advise making a list of the requirements that must be met by all solutions incorporated into your technology structure.
Case in point, ongoing comprehensible product support should be at the top of your main requirements. Currently youthspark.ca is waiting for technical support with server-side software upgrades, a situation which undoubtedly will be repeated as the life of the website continues past the project’s close.
There are definite benefits to involving IT staff at the beginning of your project, and maintaining this line of communication throughout your project. All new services, including web sites, must have folks to run them or know how they work; IT support for your project can go a long ways to ensuring sustainability, especially long after all of the team members have gone and the active development has ceased.
One of the best ways to get IT buy-in with a technology project is to involve IT staff with the planning process; invite them to become stakeholders. Sustaining their involvement can easily be maintained by:
· Publishing defined project goals, manuals, training documents
· Encourage knowledge transfer
· Realize the values of working together
· Keep all stakeholders up-to-date with the project
IT involvement in this project provided the YouthSpark team access to staffs knowledgeable in programming languages, software installations, security (particularly permissions & spam prevention), usability, accessibility and policy issues surrounding web development. During the project’s duration, minimal IT intervention took place.
One possible recommendation for similar projects would be to maximize your engagement with available IT staff. Keep them up-to-date with the project’s ongoing progress; don’t just consult them when concerns or issues arise. They can be more valuable to the project than just being technical “firefighters.” Ask them what types of training or support they can provide for you. Communicate any challenges you encounter during the project as they’ve probably encountered the same situation or know of a solution.
Establish a shared understanding of the project, where the challenges lie, and outline your goals for working with both your team members and the IT staff. With all stakeholders contributing their expertise into the process you will be able to build the capacity for success with the technological component of your project.
County of Huron – IT Division
Prepared by Marian Doucette, Web Architect
7 March 2007