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Welcome to @Communities Internet.
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Stuart Duffy |
My name is Stuart Duffy, I'm the "Communities
Internet Web Master" for @Communities
Internet, which is another word for a manager, better known to many as
the CI Webbie.
We are a voluntary not
for profit organisation and a registered Scottish charity.
I head up a dedicated team of people who's aim is to develop a network
of community web sites for everybody to enjoy. We
come from every walk of life and share a common vision, a rare thing
these days!
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Our primary focus is
building and supporting community web sites for communities and
the various support sites help us to maintain and develop this
focus. We try to keep pace with developments in the Internet and,
where financially possible, we keep up with them.
Because we are at the
forefront of "Community Inclusion" we extend our services to any
community organisation in our area, and in some cases beyond by
offering a web site, easily updated without the need for any
technical skills, we'll host this web site, organise email and
domain names - see
www.webbiesportal.com for more information on current costs.
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Brian McGuire |
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Iain Duffy |
We have started to
implement new services on our community web sites where we buy in
bulk or organise the discounts and pass these on in a community
club called "eCo". eCo is an electronic co-operative. The idea is
that we have standard products and services we all need at reduced
prices. The other products and services are suggested by members,
we consult the other members and with that suggestion we approach
potential suppliers who can offer a special discount for the club
members.
We have had input from
suppliers and community team members on what they would like to
see, so we should see eCo's as standard on every community web
site we manage. |
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So to recap, the
community web sites are free to the community and the the
businesses based in them, we offer free web sites for community
groups, we offer very inexpensive starter web sites for
businesses, we try and make the web sites fun, informative and
useful to everyone, we help anyone who emails us to the best of
our abilities and we are highlighted as a model for others. The
web sites cannot be sold to anyone and we hold them in trust
developing the web site as the local volunteer team suggest |
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We often have people ask "what do you get out of this?" and they
dismiss the answer "a community to live and raise a family within" but
that is the reason we do this, We don't make a profit, we work hard to
offer a service and put any cash raised back into the project. We help
people when they ask for it, we help community groups, we help
businesses, we help schools and we help central and local government
agencies with their digital inclusion strategies. Why? Because it's
the right thing to do, we are in this for the community, ensuring that
the community is and stays the only item on the agenda.
Stuart Duffy
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