This document serves as an overview of a vision to create an online presence for the party that will support the party with whatever objectives it may currently have or may have in the near future. This is a breathing document and therefore anything mentioned here can be changed as seen necessary to achieve the aforementioned goal. The details in the document focus specifically on the online presence of the party and therefore it is recommended that additional documents be created to define the vision(s) associated with places outside of the internet, as well as documents to define the overall strategies of the party and associated objectives.
Currently, the online presence of PPNZ comprises of several components that are largely incoherent and out of date. The main website, wiki, and forum are treasure troves of information from several generations of the board. Together the content does not make sense and it is expected visitors to the website would be confused by the array of information.
The social media accounts for the party can be divided into two groups: accounts that are controlled and used by the current board and accounts that are not. Accounts that match the former classification include Twitter, and the internal Facebook group. Accounts that match the latter classification include the Facebook page, the unofficial off-topic Facebook group, the Google Plus page, and any other social media accounts that are unknown to the current.
Platforms for discussion include the forum, the mailing lists, IRC, and Loomio. The forum is considered completely dead, and the mailing lists have been inactive for a long time. IRC is still used, but generally only as a backup to Mumble for board meetings. Loomio is considered the preferred tool for discussion, however it has recently been inactive too.
Management of membership was rescued from several legacy systems into a Google Sheet that has been considered a source of truth for currently and past membership information. A CRM was built as a replacement to the Google Sheet that would allow new members to sign themselves up without the complication of scanning and sending back the membership application form that was previously used. This process was aided by a change to the election rules that now allows electronic reproductions of members' signatures. However, the server hosting the CRM has been lost and it is unclear whether we have a retrievable backup of the data that was stored within.
There will be two main websites created from scratch to replace the websites that are and were hosted by the party: a Content Management System (CMS) and a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. Since both websites are to be created from scratch there is an opportunity to create websites that are defined completely in source code and therefore can be stored in a version control system such as GitHub. This will provide a suitable collaborative environment where anyone can suggest inprovements to a website, the improvements can be reviewed by anyone, and anyone can track the changes over time.
The CMS will provide public-accessible information about the party. The website should provide as much transparency about the party as feasible, although it is not suggested to present particular transparent details of the party on the main pages of the website - instead these should appear on sub-pages. The current list of content that should appear on the CMS includes but is not limited to news, frequently-asked questions (FAQs), pirate principles, local chapter information, national board information, the party constitution, published editions of party policies, a list of upcoming events, details for chatting on IRC, information about the mailing lists, and contact information. The CMS will be presently publicly in a read-only format from the following URLs: https://www.pirateparty.org.nz/ and https://pirateparty.org.nz. Note that the pages will enforce secured HTTP communication. Administration of the CMS will be performed from the following URL: https://cms.pirateparty.org.nz. The separation of these two functions (viewing and administering) will improve the ability to cache the main (viewing) site and improve the overall security. The CMS will be operated from its own Docker container. Initially the CRM will serve static web pages, with development of each section or feature occurring over a longer period of time.
The CRM will be operated in a separate environment from the CMS. This will be achieved using a separate Docker container for the web server and associated database server. There will be no requirement to run the containers in separate virtual or physical machines - instead this will most likely be determined by party funding and the availability of servers. It is expected that the CRM will provide a secure environment to store membership information. The environment will allow members to view and update information stored about themselves and the officer in charge of memberships (usually the secretary) will be able to manage those memberships. It is envisaged that long term development of the CRM will provide social media integration and analytics, and integration with external tools so that members can sign up for Loomio or mailing lists from within the CRM. All access to the CRM will be provided at the following URL: https://crm.pirateparty.org.nz.
In addition to the two core websites there will be other web applications that may be useful to run in order to support the objectives of the party. These websites should also be operated in separate Docker containers so that they can created quickly, easily be moved to a different server if necessary, and cleanly destroyed if they are no longer needed.
Redmine has been defined as a secondary website to assist the board with creating projects and working groups that will develop and provide core functions to the party. For example, there could be a website development project or working group, a policy development working group, and a marketing-based working group.
When the domain becomes available, pp.nz should be purchased by the party to provide shortened URLs that can be used in marketing material to refer potential members to the core websites. The URL shortening service could be integrated into the CMS or CRM to provide analytics that augment the party's marketing strategy.
Loomio is considered an external website because it provides a core function to the party but is not in direct control of the party or the party's administration team. By nature of status quo it is expected that discussions within the party will continue to occur or be directed to our Loomio group. It is possible in the due course of the growith of the party that another tool becomes more suitable for party discussion however that is beyond the scope of this document.
The party needs a dedicated communications manager that is responsible for media releases and for the social media accounts. The party has previously appointed members into this role however there currently is no suitable candidate. This person should aim to increase user engagement with current and prospective members via social media, and raise public awareness for the party through media releases.
Currently the two main social media platforms are considered to be Facebook and Twitter. Twitter is already under control of the current board and therefore can be used to support the party's objectives. Google Plus, on the other hand, is considered to be a dying social media platform and therefore there is no urgency to attempt to take control over the existing Google Plus page or create a new one.
Since the official Facebook page is not currently under control of the current board it is recommened that another official Facebook page is created to replace the current page, assuming control of the current page is not surrendered to the board in the near future.
There is a lot of work required to build a new online presence for the party. With enough support this vision to create a platform to support the party's objective can be reached with some effort.