"Better Together Mariposa" (BTMariposa) is dedicated to building community capacity by supporting local groups, associations and organizations.
Our initial strategy is to build a free, user friendly Web 2.0 (internet) infrastructure and provide support and training for local groups and organizations. We have started with:
1. An electronic bulletin board (a "wiki" ) called Celebrate Mariposa!
2. An open source Community Calendar
3. Discuss forums for civic engagement, sustainable living, and building our community caring capacity.
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Founder:
Dave Goger
admin@btmariposa.org |
BTMariposa is the brain child of Dave Goger. Through his work with vunerable families, Dave knows that government and professional services, while needed, are inadequate to meet all the needs of families. Families also need significant connection to and support and encouragement from their local community.
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Inclusion/Exclusion Policy
BTMariposa STRONGLY support an inclusionary policy and wants to foster dialog between the diverse groups and communities in Mariposa. BTMariposa holds no political position and we desire to support the whole spectrum of community groups - from those providing traditional opportunities to those promoting emerging ideas. Therefore, we embrace all groups and organizations in Mariposa that can affirm the following ethical guidelines:
• To affirm the dignity and equality of all individuals,
• To respect the environment which we share,
• To hold to the rule of law and the principal of peaceful resolution of conflicts,
• To act ethically (e.g. provide services within one’s scope of competency and one’s professional code of ethics)
• To engage respectfully and listen thoughtfully (all groups are encouraged to share their practices, research, tenets or principles upon which their group or organization is based).
Any organization that attempts to undermine these values by exploitation, intimidation, harassment, coercion, unlawful discrimination or by degrading others may be excluded.
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Web 2.0 (internet) Infrastructure
Web 2.0 refers to the second-generation of Internet-based services - such as social networking sites, wikis, and communication tools that let people collaborate and share information online in ways previously unavailable.
After researching a myraid of options currently on the internet, BTMariposa is offering support for three online programs: Google Apps, Zoho, and AirSet. While each individual program has it strengths and weaknesses, these were chosen because of ease of use, appearance on the internet, and functionality.
Google Apps and Zoho are recognized as the leaders in provide free web-based tools comparable to MicroSoft Office. Web-based means you do not have to download anything to your computer and your files are available from any computer you are on. Click here to see a CNET comparison.
We are using Google Apps primarily for email support (a beefed-up version of gmail for groups).
For calendar functions, we are using AirSet.
For wiki (web-pages), database, word processing, spreadsheet and presentation applications, we are using Zoho.
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Accounts and Privacy
Each of these Web 2.0 services require setting up a free account with them. However, we have attempted to building in maximum flexibility by provide several functions that do not require accounts, e.g. our Celebrate Mariposa wiki (electronic bulletin board) and our Celebrate Mariposa community calendar. This wiki is completely public and requires no sign-in to post announcement or even create other public wiki pages. For our community calendar, we have created a public assess account, allowing anyone to sign in as "guest@btmariposa.org" with the password of "guest"
However, for true collaboration, you will need to sign up with Zoho for web/word processing/spreadsheet/database functions, and with AirSet for calendar functions. While BTMariposa is support groups and organization by utilizing these online services, we make no statement or provide any assurance about this services, their policies or the security of your data. All we can say is that we are utilizing these services and posting our data with them. However, we strongly encourage you to read both the Terms of Services and the Privacy Policies of these services prior to signing up. (Terms of Services and the Privacy Policies can be found at the very bottom of the home pages for these services.
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