Features Report | Deliberations | Editor's Page
How suggestions become features on WiserEarth.
How suggestions become features on WiserEarth.
- Suggestions: users can make function suggestions for WiserEarth by going to the Feedback Page. This is found in the left navigation bar. Then >>Suggestions. The user has an open forum to suggest any feature or function that they think may benefit the WiserEarth community.
Editing: Since the original format of the suggestion is not in HTML and therefore not interactive with the community the information is copied and rewritten into the suggestion box. This would include any combining duplication of ideas as well if two or more were given in one comment. - Nomination: Once the ideas are recorded into the suggestion box, the community has an opportunity to read through and second any of the listed suggestions as described in democratization.
If a user is so inclined, they may also make a suggestion directly in the suggestion box. This saves time for the idea to be seen by the community.
Fastrack:
At this point in the process the webmaster will recognize the officially nominated suggestions and move them to the proper location. The idea can either be fastracked (move directly to the tech team) or moved onto the next level for Deliberation by the community.
Parameters to Determine Fastracking:
- Is planning and clarity necessary by community? (yes/no)
- What is the widespread affect/impact across the site?
(must be negative to the following)- Radical alteration of the site
- Removal of existing function
- Changes interface
- Forces new rules
- How much technical time will this feature take to implement? (less than 1 hour)
- Deliberation: The suggestion is taken to a new page for the community to develop and approve. Currently the amount of time for this process is 7 days. There are three activities to accomplish at this step: Voting, Priority of Feature, and Description of the Feature.
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Voting and Priority: These occur simultaneously with a vote of 1-5 *'s or 1-5 0's. *'s are a positive vote and 0's are a negative vote. In both cases 1 is the lowest level of priority/emphasis and 5 is the highest. This step provides the right data to inform the tech team. Until this process is automated the user is required to type the number of *'s or 0's.
- Description of the Feature: In order to aid the community in defining exactly what is desired, the New Feature Formatting page gives an outline of the information that should be included. Deliberation and revising of the content should not veer so far as to eliminate the original concept. If this should occur a new feature should be suggested in the Suggestion Box and the original suggestion refined.
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Voting and Priority: These occur simultaneously with a vote of 1-5 *'s or 1-5 0's. *'s are a positive vote and 0's are a negative vote. In both cases 1 is the lowest level of priority/emphasis and 5 is the highest. This step provides the right data to inform the tech team. Until this process is automated the user is required to type the number of *'s or 0's.
- Ticket: Items are moved into the Trac program and made visual to the public via the Features Report.
