NETWORKING NETWORKING NETWORKING

NETWORKING NETWORKING NETWORKING

List-serve? --- YES, YES, YES ---- Governmental or Non-Governmental?

There is concern that a governmental based list-serve may be viewed too suspiciously and may be too confined by bureaucracy.

Casey K., as President of the Iowa Prairie Network, said that they are in the process of completely reworking their web site. They have a new volunteer who really enjoys such work. Casey has offered the services of the IPN to sponsor/coordinate/monitor the list-serve. – It will be set up on the Augustana College system.

The concept of ‘Newsletters’ was brought up. However, it is believed that since this cooperative group is not formal that a newsletter would not be appropriately functional (too much trouble and expensive to produce).

Stan says that there is likely plenty of opportunity to piggy-back with already existing newsletters.

Cindy Hildebrand also discussed the possibilities of using a forum approach vs. the list-serve. (or both?)

Roy Marshall, State Fire Marshall, has offered to be a conduit to the community fire folks. -- Jean Eells and Daryl Smith will independently follow up on this offer.

Do we have a name for this collaborative group? -- No specific name was arrived at. Basically, we did agree that:
We want to work as a steady reliable network/working group to provide an information conduit via list-serve.
That the governmental organizations need to start coordinating their resources. This will likely need to be done under a separate umbrella. We will probably need some formal cooperative agreements.

FYI: DNR Forests and Prairies are currently redoing their web site. Although it will be sometime before completion is expected.