Editorial Policy

1. Vision

Our vision for this site is that it serves as a practical resource and communication channel to people who are working to strengthen the capacity of their communities.

2. Objectives

Our editorial policy reflects the following objectives. The site will:

• Offer opportunities for different government departments and community groups to come together as users and contributors.
• Feature material which is of use for economic development, community capacity building and environmental protection.
• Create links between material which stimulates users to think beyond their immediate need for information and encourages them to make connections between their work and the work of other people involved in community building.

• Select information and discussion topics which are lively, interesting and informative and which will inspire site users to think about how they may begin building their own community, or to re-invigorate existing community builders.
• Use feedback on the articles and case studies to ensure that visiting the site is a regular activity after people's initial visit.
• Endeavour to provide accurate and comprehensive information which is visually appealing and quick to down load.
• Rely on the Online Strategy of the NSW Government to extend the access to information technology to community users. The site also gives effect to the strategy by promoting an awareness of the benefits of the web for finding information on community building and for communicating with other community builders.

Measurements of the success of the site will be:

• Numbers of people wanting to submit their material or hyper-links to their own site
• Numbers of visitors to the site
• Feedback on the type of articles people wish to see
• Use of the discussion forum
• Assessment of other sites linking to it
• User surveys will also be used periodically

The site will be home to information which can be classified in different ways and comes from a range of sources. The material will be used mainly by community groups, government staff from local, regional and state organisations, and interested members of the public belonging to community organisations.

Given the nature of the Internet, the information could also be accessed by people across Australia and the rest of the world. The Premier's Department has to set the highest standards in relation to the accuracy and relevance of the material it publishes. It also has to make every reasonable effort to ensure the relevance and accuracy of links to other sites.

5. Areas covered by policy

Editorial policy covers the following:

1. Articles published under the nine key module headings and cross referenced against the criteria: 'practical resources', 'case studies' and 'related reading'. The nine module headings are:
   1. Be a community builder
   2. Understand your community
   3. Get organised
   4. Funding facts
   5. Create stronger communities
   6. Case studies
   7. Link with others
   8. Rural & regional communities
   9. Drugs & community action
   
   
2. Government information

3. Events calendar

4. Discussion forum

5. Featured organisations

6. Moderated topic-based chat rooms (currently not available on the site).

i. Information

The communitybuilders.nsw site copyright statement must be displayed as part of the disclaimer notice on the site and will be sent to all contributors of information.

Where submitted information does not have an explicit 'permission to copy freely' all material must:

• have been sent specifically to Strategic Projects for publication or requested by Strategic Projects.
• have 'permission to reproduce' provided in writing and filed by Strategic Projects.

ii. Case studies

Permission must be obtained in the same way as outlined above. Where two similar case studies exist, the New South Wales examples must take precedence over other parts of Australia and the rest of the world.

Where a number of players are involved in the process described by the case study, the person submitting the material should make reasonable attempts to verify the recorded position with other players.

Case studies should have a contact name and number wherever possible.

iii. Government Information

The government information featured on the site will be either:

• Published government policy, program or project
• Consultation on policy, program or project formulation

Government policy which is not signed off can be featured for consultation on the site. To do this, there should be an agreement made between the editors of the site and the officers managing the consultation that:

• The policy is relevant to community building
• The elements being consulted upon are clearly stated
• The consultation replies will be responded to
• Areas which are not for consultation will be highlighted with reasons why that is the case.

iv. Links

Links must have been checked to ensure relevance with the site and that a reasonable quality of information, clarity and speed is possible. It is not expected that the whole of any site could be perused before agreeing to it as a link.

v. Events calendar

Acceptable material will always be related to community building and will consist of:

• Community events
• IYV events
• Conferences
• Workshops
• Training courses
• Announcements

Events can be for profit as long as they are relevant.

A contact name and number must be provided and any changes to advertised information should be provided immediately that change is made.

vi. Discussion forum

Please remember that any information disclosed in these areas becomes public information and you should exercise caution when deciding to disclose your personal information or other peoples' personal information.

By participating in the discussion forum or chat sessions, you consent to disclosure to the public of your email address and the content of your contribution. If you provide information about another person, you are also responsible for ensuring that you have the permission of that person to provide the information.

You may request the moderator of the discussion forum to delete an email provided by someone else which contains information relating to you.

vii. Acceptance criteria applied to submitted 'self-published' material

The following criteria will be applied to all submitted material and will be clearly signposted through the self-publishing templates. Submitted material will:

• Be relevant to the vision and objectives of communitybuilders.nsw. published in 'about this site'.
• The individual or organisation who submits material must be able to agree that the material is original and where references to other published works are made, that they have permission in writing to use the references.
• Submitted material must have a contact name and telephone number supplied and the author must be prepared to deal with calls regarding the information.
• Be prepared to have the material edited by the Premier's Department or to have suggestions as to how it could be presented differently to reach the target audience more effectively.

Much of the information used on the site has its origin elsewhere. Acknowledgments will be made relating to this information, in such a way as to fairly acknowledge the work of others but without detracting from the way in which the material is presented.

The IDEAS group holds the Australian trade mark rights to the name "Community Builders", only to ensure the integrity of a specific leadership training methodology which they have implemented from America.

They are happy to agree to its use in the title of the site, but with specific reference to the fact that the name in Australia does relate to a specific program which is to be summarised as a resource on the site.

8. Disclaimers

The disclaimer will be referenced on every page of the site and will apply to all material.

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