YWAMKnowledgeBase:Building the KnowledgeBase Community

The community of the KnowledgeBase exists to help each other and all YWAMers to be effective in their jobs and to multiply themselves and what they do. Thus the appeal of the YWAMKB should be towards those who really want to see YWAMers developed and the mission thrive.

At the same time, the community needs to be built. It is very possible to have a nice on-line hi-tech tool but not have any real sense of human connection. And as our goal is not to write a book, but a knowledge base, we desperately need ongoing discussions to be sure that the principles presented here a based on a consensus within the bigger YWAM Community.

There are 3 tiers of work to be done to build the community:
 * 1) Telling people about the YWAMKB tribe
 * 2) Inviting them to join and making them feel at home
 * 3) Drawing them closer to the fire - helping them to contribute and be effective

(We might be tempted to say their is a fourth level of "eldership" but that just might be too hierarchical - I prefer we keep things flat. See Discussion)

Tier 1 - Telling people about the YWAMKB tribe
Tier one is about.

Tier 2 - Inviting people into the community
We are a knowledge base, but knowledge is not everything we appreciate. We actually appreciate the persons!
 * The first impression matters. See: Pink Folder/Bonding
 * We would like to ensure that everyone who creates a user account (see Special:RecentChanges) gets a personal welcome within 48 hours. This could happen via Email or User Talk page. Personal here means: not a machine response!
 * Everyone is invited to leave comments on the Discussion-Page, and the way we handle these inputs need to be open and welcoming.
 * Listen to everyone's ideas. Especially newcomers often bring valuable input about how to make things easier to understand (maybe because they didn't understand at first).

Tier 3 - Helping them contribute and be effective

 * There is a good list of roles and tasks here: YWAMKnowledgeBase:How_to_help
 * We need more documentation how to get started. IMO (Pitpat), each role should have an article page explaining the "why this is needed" (motivation), "what to do" (process) and "when this task is accomplished" (goals).
 * Make the contributors feel they have (in)direct impact: on the community, on YWAM. (How?)

Tier 4 - Train them how to sustain the fire

 * In the spirit of the Bus-Factor, we also need to be able to pass on our work to others.
 * This involves things who at first are invisible, but nevertheless important (technical things, internal/external communication etc.)

Note: You just had a genius idea to build a stronger community? Feel free to share it!