[DDN] Homeless.org and Crime.org

[Dave Chakrabarti]

Hey DDN,

One of the projects I'm working on for Grassroots.org is the  
development of two top-level internet portals, namely homeless.org  
and crime.org A quick visit reveals that the existing content does,  
for want of a better word, suck. Badly. We'll scrap it all.

So, in other words, we've got these two awesome domain names that we  
can do some good with. What do you guys think?

We need help with:

1. Finding partners for development. Know any awesome homeless  
shelters, or orgs working on police brutality? Any relevant mailing  
lists I should know about?

2. Development strategies. Would it make sense to build out  
chicago.crime.org as a local portal?

3. Functionality. What's "portal" mean anyway? Should we focus on  
social networking tools, projects to let the homeless blog, etc, or  
should we just aggregate a ton of good content? Do crime researchers  
prefer a mailing list or a forum, or both? Who should we recruit to  
write content, or promote their existing content / research through  
either of these sites? Is there value in building organic groups (a  
la Yahoo groups) for visitors to organize around?

Technologically, these sites will probably live on a Drupal multisite  
platform, with functionality being added gradually as we identify  
needs and match them with relevant Drupal coolness.

We're geeks, not experts on crime or homelessness. What do you guys  
think? How should these projects grow into something useful?

I'd like to see at least part of the discussion develop on this list,  
since I think building these resources transparently is the best long- 
term strategy.

Thanks!

   Dave.

P.S. I swear I haven't abandoned the can of nonprofit sustainability  
worms I opened earlier; just need some time to play catchup on DDN.

------------------------
Dave Chakrabarti
Director of Programs
Grassroots.org