On-Line Presence for the Glen Waverley Uniting Church - Update Scope

Project Scope

The Glen Waverley Uniting Church currently has web-site (https://gwuc.org.au) and Facebook presence (https://www.facebook.com/glenwaverleyunitingchurch) on the internet to inform the community within and beyond the congregation of activities and to encourage new-comers. It currently contains a lot of static content concerning who we are, where we are, and our activities. It also includes regularly updated information in the form of video podcasts of worship, links to access livestream worship, and information bulletins and newsletters. (The Church also has a wiki that is used for record-keeping and to a much lesser extent for discussion within the congregation. However, the wiki and the functions it supports are outside the scope of this document.)

The existing web-site is built using WordPress, the Divi Theme and a number of plug-ins. However, it is difficult to maintain because the original designer is no longer available and integration between content on the web-site and material posted on Facebook is manual and ad-hoc.

This document seeks proposals to create a new on-line presence for the Glen Waverley Uniting Church including design and implementation.

Purpose & Intended Audience

Web-site

The Glen Waverley Uniting Church website lets the wider community know about our church. The predominant purpose is outreach. It is intended to encourage people of all ages to join us.

• It is like an electronic brochure with content that is of interest to people beyond the congregation.
• It is used to make available podcasts and related materials associated with worship in both real time and catch-up modes.
• It is used to make available newletters and bulletins.
• Contains a link to the congregational wiki.

Social Media

The Glen Waverley Uniting Church aims to use social media form to engage with our community through healthy faith-based discussion, event promotion and church updates. To date, the main social media channel has been Facebook, but this update will include options to use Twitter and Instagram.

• People both within our congregation and beyond are expected to follow the Glen Waverley Uniting Church on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Facebook

• Facebook can be used by people who might otherwise be isolated; for example, stay at home mothers with young children.
• Facebook can be used to support existing groups within the Congregation, especially those with members who already use Facebook.
• Facebook can be used as a faith development tool, for example Facebook groups may be established in association study groups held from time to time (e.g. Advent studies, Lenten studies). It is also possible that some of the missional groups may wish to have a Facebook group.
• Facebook offers an additional channel for advertising events such as the Easter and Advent programmes as well as fundraising events like the book sale and fete. While Facebook can be used for interactive conversations, implementation to date has been as a channel to publish factual information about events in the life of the Glen Waverley Uniting Church. Posts containing graphics are encouraged. There should be a post at least once a week.
• Facebook is not used for discussions or expressing opinions. This is a possible future option, although we are concerned about the operational challenges of moderation to prevent abuse.

Twitter

• To be added

Instagram

• To be added

Required Features of Website

The web site should contain all the key features of the existing web site:

• Contact information
• Information about worship including live streamed activities
• Information about activities
• Video Podcasts of worship
• Bulletins and Newsletters
• Links to our Facebook, Twitter, Instagram sites as well as internal systems including the church database and wiki.
• Information about hiring out facilities
• A way to contact us.

It could also contain information about how we see our mission (e.g. https://gwuc.org.au/vision/ ).

New features will now doubt be possible. These include:

• an easy way to make donations using a credit card
• ability to make donations for a specific purpose using several payment options
• links to online content e.g. activities suitable for children
• the ability to produce printed documents from content on some pages (e.g. newlsetters)
• replacing links to .pdf and other documents with more browser-friendly alternatives.

Payment options must meet the security and privacy requirements of the major credit card companies e.g. compliance with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).

Design

The design should be contemporary and interesting and entice visitors to explore the web-site.

A style-guide should accompany the design to facilitate consistent revisions and extensions over time.

The style guide should include page templates and guidance on:

• fonts and font sizes
• use of colour
• graphic elements
• the amount of text per page and the style used for text
• what could be eliminated from our current web-site
• the structure of the web-site and its content.

The maintenance of content should be such that it is easily done by people not highly skilled in IT.

The design should facilitate rendering on traditional personal computers, tablets, and mobile phones. The web site should operate correctly with versions of Edge, Chrome, Firefox, and Safari Browsers five-years old or less. Greater compatibility should be provided if possible.

Guidance on the application of the web-site styles on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram should be provide tor the extent that this makes sense.

We expect that some users will be attracted by appealing appearance and graphics while others will focus on finding information of interest. We would appreciate advice and options on this matter.

Video Content

While the focus of this update is on the appearance and functions of our web and Facebook sites and the like, we would be interested in guidance on how to consistently apply design elements in our video productions (e.g. live streamed worship).

Documentation

The design should be documented so that:

1. design elements can be applied to the creation of new content by IT-competent members of the congregation;
2. implementation can be understood and maintained by IT-competent members of the congregation; and
3. the system can be operated and maintained by IT-competent members of the congregation.

Content Integration

It must be easy to post content to multiple platforms.

For example, it should be possible to select multiple platforms for any post and to have the designated content posted in all places without the need for rework. For example, an item of news should be able to be posted to to both the 'Latest News' part of the website as well as to Facebook. It should be possible to schedule posts to multiple platforms similarly.

Content Moderation

Advice is required on what content moderation actions are necessary to ensure that the platforms are not abused or contain offensive content.

Analytics

Advice is required concerning:

• available analytics;
• analytics that might be of interest to the Glen Waverley Uniting Church; and
• information about how to access and use relevant analytics.

Project Components

The refresh of the on-line presence does not need to be done all at once. This section describes one way in which the project may be subdivided and features prioritised. Many, if not all, of the requirements may be able to be substantially supported using the existing technology platform based on hosted Wordpress and the Divi theme.

Module 1 - Social Media

Develop a priority list of social media capability/functions for GWUC.

Module 2 - News posting simplification

This module will provide a means of deriving and posting:

• content for the web site news section;
• a post for our Facebook site;
• and if relevant a Twitter post

from a single user action.

It is possible that this can be done using our existing web-site technology with some add-ons.

Module 3 - Website design and information structure

While there is a need to be aware of the capabilities of web site technology, this is predominantly a design exercise. Implementation of the new design sould be done making use of church volunteers to train them.

Module 4 - Style Guide

This is a design exercise. It covers all information published by the congregation and is not limited to the web site. Examples of the coverage of this item are: the website, the weekly bulletin, the Kingsway newsletter, brochures about activities, and materials for presentation on a screen during meetings.

Module 5 - Website technology, operations and maintenance

Church volunteers need to be able to understand the operation of the web site and perform necessary maintenance and updates. It is possible that the existing technology may be substantially suitable and all that is required is documentation and training.

Module 6 - Analytics

As described above.

Module 7 - Online donations

Provision of means to make donations, possibly described as a contributions to the ministry of our church, via the web site, our Facebook site, and our YouTube channel.

Costs

We would like to know how the costs of the satisfying this proposal are broken down.

1. What are the components of the proposed solution?
2. What do they each cost?
3. What is the underlying technology platform and what does it cost?
4. Are there costs associated with ongoing operation?
5. Are there costs associated with ongoing support and periodic maintenance?

Appendix