How is your initiative doing, activity-wise? :-) ...but beginning to buzz.Our first year has been very nuts and boltsy, building a website and awareness. We are about to have a group visioning day to see where the next year will take us. ...or half way to buzzing...lots planned...not a lot of people to do it...no one else seems excited...it all seems low key! We are looking to go official in the spring... "lurker" only - nearest initiative is about 100 miles away "ticking over" is not used as a phrase in the US. 2010 and onwards it's been a real drought in attendants - it's only the website that is happening 37 attendees at recent Raising Poultry workshop :) Charlotte has about 3000 residents ... A few people work very hard and achieve results. Community- wide interest is not strong. My own involvement is peripheral as I concentrate on specific things, such as waste and recycling, composting and local food growing, and an ongoing complaint with the Council! After one enthusiastic year, one year of winding down, we are basically now not doing much. after two years slow burn, momentum is starting to build.. Always looking to raise levels of awareness and profile. Onwards and upwards. Area too big - I've long wanted it to devolve to smaller local groups. No one has enough time to devote to it. Many members already involved in local green and community initiatives anyway, sometimes difficult to see where TT group fits in to existing initiatives. As long as I am not pushing, nothing happens (partly because I'm in the communication heart of the initiative dealing with newsletter and website). I've had a break of about half a year searching a new home. Meanwhile there's some potential developing which I hope will flower when I put the flame under it again. As to question 2, I've just been talking about T I since 2008. Fortunately there is a non official movement to get started next semester. We'll sure let you know about it. At least an event by one or two of the four local groups in Newcastle each month. Meetings monthly & strategy group too. Trying to secure funding for a peak oil report. Austin is moving ahead, with Dallas buzzing, San Antonio is just now coming on the radar. Some neighborhoods in Austin are far ahead of others... large metro areas of the USA are going to be enlightened neighborhoods first with lower education neighborhoods last. basically, it's just my family, and then it's only me.. my kids go to school, so they have no time to help. my son works nights and sleeps all day. it's just me and i wish there was someone else in leland nc that could help. the closest initiative on your list is 4 hours drive away. Because of a concert we just held. Bee keeping of course! + community orchard/ garden/ park veg growing partnership/ renewable energy project Been going 3 years; generally good 'doing' energy; regular group meetings (food, energy etc); weekly bulletin, lots of events, collaboration with other local groups etc www.transitioncambridge.org Big event this week with over 100 people coming! The Future of Local food and Farming But I am just lurking. But still not fully mainstream in the town. Community allotment, fruit sharing days, awareness raising, green drinks, community visioning event, ecohome open days - now starting a PV panel and home retrofit project. constantly do research on the net regarding , sustainable housing, PV, wind, earthship housing, salt water green housing. … TT has only just got going. There are early teething problems; control issues spring to mind with a couple of the core team. Currently mulling but planning an unleashing within the year. Dana Lyons is coming to town in March, workshops are starting, navel gazing is progressing Define terms! just started to do stuff. Apple day, Peak Oil dinner, film night after a year of talking - feels good, but still too slow! Derby ticking over, Belper buzzing, Eaven distracted by opposing open cast coal projects. Difficult to get more than the core half dozen or so activists involved regularly. Others help out for events etc and there are probably hundreds doing their own fairly 'green' things. Difficult to translate great ideas into action, though, with committed but over-busy volunteers difficulty reaching outside the usual suspects. doing okay but not getting forward traction Don't like the word ticking over. We are more than ticking over but not really buzzing at the moment. Dormant & Buzzing Early days yet. We've just had our first meeting. I used to be involved in one in Stratford upon Avon when i lived there and that is doing really well. Excerpt from recent letter would give you the best idea of where we are. <> feels like ther is a newish influx of people energy and ideas. many of the original steerring group are busy with other things now ( new families for at least 2 I can think of!) Finally ... in a phase of rebirth! Finding it hard to engage young people Finding people still wanting to be 'fed' rather than initiate First 8 months we focussed on a few "food" related topics and now we are broadening the domains and having some more action based days trying to maintain momentum. First mooted several years ago - by myself - in context of supermarket threats to local shops. Still slow... five months of informational talks set up. Working with Council to develop steering group re education and developing a community project Following a difficulty in the group several people said they would prefer to respond to community led initiatives rather than projects through meetings. This is such a precis of a challenging situation. Would like to see new young members - not the same old same old who are always at the forefront of local sustainability projects. Free heat is in experimenting stages, and still requires more infrastructure work, having this profile keeps the fire going through much of the more difficult hoops to jump through, Funds are very tight, but we are near to making a break through wit our first community renewable energy project, so long as government do not review the FIT! Garden project has most interest. Energy projects - non existent. getting hits on the web site and much interest at my first PO talk getting our story defined so we can network getting serious Going Ok. Please use simple expressions... I don't know those ones... =) Gone 'guerilla' to avoid the control freaks. Growing fast, needing to thinking about structure (or non- structure)/communication/capacity/resources Growing interests from various sector of the municipality had a good first year, a rather stuck second year and hope we are getting going again now. Had reasonable interest in film shows etc 1st 6 months, putting together a good prog for next 6, 4 local groups up and running Hard to attract new people with continued commitment Hard to get enthusiasm in TT as a movement, ,but lots of stuff happening around the area, all TT type things, regeneration of community halls, allotments atc, but not under the banner of TT.Its almost as if we have the ideas and someone elso, nothing to do with TT does it! 100th Monkey syndrome? Hard to sustain momentum have been organizing meetings, debates, film projections of Transition 1.0 since november 2009 at local eco-festivals etc. We are opening a local producers café, May 2011 website:http://www.court-circuit-cafe.org/spip.php?article1 Have not found any kindred spirits in the area willing to help in carrying a transition initiative forward haven't attached myself to an initiative yet, nor launched one, am trying to see what is going on in my area TW1 (Twickenham), and will be thinking about what I can do Having frustratingly little success with reaching outside "The choir". Changing our approach this year. … is an aspiring, affluent, C/conservative town. Most of the residents are dominantly loyal to Thatcherite principles and feel extremely threatened by serious green initiatives. We work hard to tailor our activities to this culture, trying to make ourselves accessible to it by talking their language. In some ways, therefore, it feels like we are being very slow. We have participated heavily in Town Council policy development, have run the town's first Eco FilmFest and are planning the second in September, both with District Council financial support and practical involvement, and we have recently started regular film nights. We ran an Apple Day in October and we are considering starting a Community Tapestry, focusing on Hertford Past, Present and Future, using sustainable approaches (like growing the plants to make the dyes) but playing down in the publicity the green agenda and not overtly raising green issues until the last section, Hertford Future, once we will have built relationships of trust. However, now that we have a membership of around 100, we also need to cater for them, who are hungry for more active, green initiatives. So, in my view, we are at a delicate point in our own development, needing to address two, very different - we could say, opposing - constituents, sensitively and creatively. As a psychologist and ecopsychologist, I am keen to try to prevent polarisation in our community, and also to take full account of the psychology of denial in our approach - as people in denial behave in more carbon-hungry ways, and so it is important to try not to do things which push them further into denial. I am in the middle of delivering to the Steering Group a teach-in about denial, to help us to think further about the Community Tapestry and the language we use in our general communication to the public. how to get people involved and balance talking vs doing http://www.ecoseny.net/ Not affiliated to Transition Network.....but hoping that will happen (please help!) Have our own transition currency "eco-sense" but have stalled at new membership/networking into wider community. Hints tips and advice welcome, I am a founding member, and we have been doing this just under two months. Until now, things are going rather well, and there is much promise. But, of course, it vould all go belly up tomorrow. That's not something we would choose. I am a supporter of Transition Town Tilburg, and the initiators are my big friends. Ecovillages and Transition Towns are ""neighbours without walls"" We have the same focus, only from a different perspective. I am a teacher in a social work department and I follow your initiative as part of my job. I teach 'social work in an international perspective' and 'dealing with global challenges' I am an academic, sorry. I teach and talk of Transtition to my students and colleagues I am in the middle of a house move between Weymouth and Glastonbury - Weymouth was ticking over and Glastonbury has yet to get back to me (6 months ago) as to what they are doing so perhaps they are dormant. I am involved in the Green Buckingham Group, but it is not a transition initiative. I am also involved in similar initiatives through my job. I am just starting it up now, after getting my Community Association's go ahead. I am not in one yet. Still looking around. I am not part of a network - My mum lives in Kirriemuir and they are beginning to think about moving towards.... (you get the tentative steps) transition. I am not sure what those terms mean. I am particilarly interested in Public Transport-that is where my interest lies-and I would like to see enchanced bus and particularly train travel emerge from"our" quest to make this "planet" more sustainable. I am trying to find a local group that makes sense to get involved with. tried starting my own and couldn't get critical mass. so starting to work on my block to get more resilient and self reliant. I am very interested in the Transition movement but have not begun a local chapter. I may want to in the future. I have just started a Sustainable Living Ministry at the church I serve as Associate Minister. I belong to two initiatives: I've been a founding member of Transition PDX (Portland, OR) (4 years or so), and as of 12/10, I've been the initiator of Transition West Side. I can't get enough people involved. i could not find one locally I couldn't find any local people to hook up with I DID NOT KNOW IF I CHOOSE THE RIGHT ONE, CAUSE THESE ARE EXPRESSION ONLY YOU GYUS USE, RSRSRSR, I’VE CHOOSE THE OPPOSITE OF “NOT HAPPENING”. WHAT I CAN SAW IS THAT TRANSITION GRANJA VIANA IS VERY WELL, STRONG, GROWING AND THIS YEAR OUR INTENTION IS TO GO OFFICIAL. WE HAVE MORE THAN 8 GOOD ACTIONS TAKING PLACE AND OUR INITIATIVE GROUP IS DOING DINAMIC SPIRAL TRAINING TO GET BIGGER AND STRONGER I did't understand the question. I don't know anything yet! I don't know. There isn't one where I live but I am moving house soon and hope to move to an area that has a Transition Initiative. I emailed a person that was doing a project in my area, but I never received a response. I have been away from Transition Town Wellington for a year - but still keep in touch and provide ideas etc, and will be back in NZ in a year or so. But I am working for ICLEI Europe helping local governments throughout Europe reduce emissions including support for NGO initiatives such as Transition Towns. i have been meaning to join & havent had time....im going to my first meeting soon & from what i gather they are very organised & working on some great projects. I have been mobile, disconnected from any local effort. Previously I have attempted to initiate things, but it was at a time when most folks had never even heard of peak oil and thought it was just bazaar. I have personally had to step back over the past 6 months. Our activities reflect many of the stories I've seen on Transition Culture about initiatives hitting snags, and having difficulty remaining energized. but we do accomplish some great things. my only concern is the equity of participation, and reliance on key members -- i could go on.. =) I haven't actually joined the initiative, but have been very interested in becoming more involved. I actively read all the emails & current newsletters. I keep watching the initiatives map hoping to see some action near me, but no joy so far. Sounds lame, but I don't have the time and/or bottle to start one myself. I live equidistant from 3 initiatives, and have strong links with each, so tend to 'butterfly', partly also due to health issues. i live in bournemouth but as far as i know there is nothing going on here? I Quit! A while ago. There you go with old world thinking; "Centralize!" Time for you to get with it and join with us. The institutions of the new age will NOT BE CENTRALIZED, not in their organization, nor in their implementation, nor in their power structure. Think; internet; the most decentralized informational, organizational structure the world has ever known. Think; solar & renewable energy on each building; the most decentralized "energy distribution system" the world has ever known. Think; environmentalism; the most decentralized social movement the world has ever known. [READ; "Blessed Unrest; the biggest social movement the world has ever known, and why no one has ever heard of it." by tom Hawkens ... hint; no one has heard of it because it is non centralized. Think; alternative medicine or the idea that you can take direct control of your own health by changing your own behavior via networked information; ... the most decentralized medical system the world has ever known. Think; locally grown; the most decentralized food distribution since the advent of corporate ag. Think; DEMOCRACY; the most DE centralized governmental system the world has ever known. [Don’t tell the responsible anarchists I said that.] Think "the new age philosophy"; the most non organized decentralized “religion" the world has ever known. anonanonanonanon ...... Show me an aspect of human culture or endeavor and I will show you how it is being replaced by a more elegant, effective, powerful, de-centralized form than the world has ever known. All the way down and thru the human EGO itself; which is a centralized form of consciousness … to be replaced by LOVE; the most DE centralized form of consciousness GOD has ever known. NO MORE CENTRALIZING, TT! .... JOIN US! Every project TT has ever done ... .,.. we, acting within 1 - 100 miles of where you now sit, are way, way, way ahead of you, JOIN US! [A story; at the last TT meting I went to they were all talking about starting up projects, the like of which were all thriving just down the block and needed helpers. One lady said that she had been trying to start a community garden in her front yard, I ask her where she lives and she told me and I happened to know that there is a REAL community garden, struggling, 2 blocks from where she lives!!! That’s when I woke up. And have not been involved in TT since. JOIN US! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ However, if you insist on centralizing; ... isolating … branding ... ie; Bottling Up The Flow, ... then here is an Idea on how you can help the rest of US; Q. Is there a PERFECT TTown some where? An example of a totally sustainable, totally democracy 2.0 community? A perfectly new age town of the future, designed and run the way ALL towns must be run in the healthy and sustainable future that you and I envision? Is there a working example somewhere ["Finished product"] of a perfect community of the healthy future? EVEN BETTER; is there an ultimate BLUEPRINT, wiki DESIGN for the perfect UTOPIAN, sustainable healthy town? Get one ... or devise one ... then get celebrities like Jimmie Carter or Woody Harrelson, Jim Carry or a thousand other green media darlings, yes you have to start with the lesser and create a buzzz to get the greater...... and then ...... have green celebrities BUILD THE TOWN on a 24/7 reality tv media event called "Utopia; The Perfect Town for the next 500 years" get Google or renewable energy companies to sponsor the place, if need be, .... a full blown media event! IT WOULD BE FUN!! In that centralized way you can spur a huge amount of decentralized "TT" activity. A project that would require some planning ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My personal opinion on the larger issue; I have spent my whole adult life, since the first earth day, studying how this planet will be saved. That’s why I have looked at TT for 3 years amongst everything else that could potentially help. Here are my 40 year conclusions on how the earth will be saved; This world will be saved by one of two events; 1. The easy way, or 2. The hard way; The Easy Way; We will continue to see a massive global upward shift in consciousness precipitated by an ever greater interest, since LSD, in expanded human consciousness. Have you noticed that 80% of violent crime and 80% of wars have gone away in the last 40 years? That mass shift in consciousness for the species has already started but will soon be greatly accelerated by the mass proliferation of neurofeedback technology. [That’s where I’m putting my effort now; I'm a member / practitioner of zengar.com ] I believe that rise in consciousness will happen/ has been happening for 40 years. But if it doesn't go fast enough .... THANK GOD we have an ACE in the hole ...... ; 2. The Hard Way; PEAK OIL!! Indeed, PEAK EVERYTHING will save the planet! [if it has to be that way.] Because of economics , it seems that there is simply not enough cheap rope to completely hang ourselves with. ;-] The sooner oil becomes too expensive for the masses $6US+/gal. to use, the better off we will all be. [yes I know, it will be hard , that’s not the way I would choose ... but while we go through the greatest depression, will renewable energy find the push it needs? Will CO2 output go down? Yes it will.] Another reason I have given up on TT is that, try as you might, there is just no way of presenting TT with out SEVERE Doom and Gloom scenarios. Very profoundly depressing. Who is the local rep up in Sebastopol CA? I forgot her name but I remember her giving a long lecture on TT + Doom&Gloom and she said “ultimately were just rearranging deck chairs but I’ll feel better when we go down.”!!!] I should have never looked back. Because TT is not really what we need and besides, it’s the wrong way to go about it. What we really need; "You cannot solve the problem from the same level of awareness that you caused the problem." - Einstein "Since the discovery of the atom all things have changed except man's way of thinking. Thus we drift towards ultimate catastrophe." - Einstein ..... I have decided Albert was right and I now have focused all my efforts on making NEUROFEEDBACK; the most profound consciousness expanding technology since The Internet, LSD, Jesus and Patanjali, available to one sixth of the humans. And then the shift will come ...... And then Gaia will awaken ...... And then she will speak her first words to the intergalactic family; 'I Am...... Now let’s get this party Started!!!!" There, my 15 minutes are up ...... PS. Feel free to pass around this rant for laughs or education … and check out zengar.com or brainstatetech.com or eeginfo.com or youtube “neurofeedback” and catch the wave. TTFN I subscribe to the Transition Movement (UK) with the hopes of getting in touch with someone here in Belgium with whome I can join with the hope of participating in the future. I think some of the groups are buzzing including the blog which I occasionally contribute to. The local group I'm involved in was buzzing around a particular event last year but has been quiet since. I think the team are consistent, working on issues every month and beginning to be recognised in the community I tracked down a local initiative but it does not respond to my email I was involved in catalyzing interest in Transition in the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti communities, created ning sites for those initiatives, and have maintained the Transition Michigan site. Planning to bring Transition Training to the area started in my living room after a year or so of promoting the idea.... and I took a group up to meet a trainer who we brought to the area. Because of some issues that were a concern to me, I dropped out of the training group and just went back to maintaining the networks (because they are open, not closed) and back to doing things that were educational and consciousness raising which I'd been doing for years under the name Sustainable Michigan. i was once obscenely active in transition horsham, but i had to step away 1) to let it run its course 2) my activity levels were unhealthy personally 3) i started work (a disaster, but im recovering) and 4) to focus on my own personal transition. since doing my p design course (ended in october,) i have slowly become more and more active. I wonder whether the Australian culture is less conducive to Transition. Someone told me recently there are only two countries that are individualistic: USA and Australia. 92% of the world's population live in communally. I don't know how that's defined. The UK is communal! I work with a lot of communities around the country. I have been working with some for 6 years or more. I am doing research on Transition Engineering. I go to your site to study what is unfolding. I would like that i can read the newsletter van transition in my lanquage: Dutch! Now I don't read it, because it 's to difficult in English. I would like to get involved more, but often can't make it to a meeting or group. i would like to join the initiative in my area, but im only just beginning to learn spanish. I would like to start an initiative, but do not know how and am a little afraid! I'm a journalist specialised on public transportation. I'm not involved in any transition initiative. I'm about to start/join a transition initiative, and am networking like crazy in my local area at the moment. I'm all alone out here. I'm not really good at this kind of thing. I'm also attending meetings ot 2 other Initiatives: Telheiras and Linda-a-Velha in Lisbon. Both of them are pretty active and they both are creating momentum and resilience. I am developing efforts in order to start a new Initiative in Lisbon. It will be called Alcantara em Transição and it will also take place in Lisbon. I'm an author and very interested in the Transitions concept, but I don't have the time to initiate anything in my town. What I'm really interested in seeing on your website is a regular update on how many Transitions Towns there are in each country and a list of those towns along with a list of the new ones at the time of each new edition of your newsletter. I.e., some idea of the growth of the concept. I'm an initiator of one, which is a non-starter. I'm doing far too much I'm hoping to interest our city in such a project I'm in the early stages of working out it's effectiveness & usefullness, I hope soon to have a collection of solid goals that can be acheived. I'm interested in Transition but Oberlin doesn't have a movement at this point. However, a lot of people are doing transition/resilience related things. I'm involved with global transition initiative, transition universities, rather than too much local I'm not sure yet as I haven't had time to attend a meeting! I'm one of the coordinators of the activities, and I start to feel we may have given a step larger than our leg. We've organized many activities in only 3 months, and people are getting enthusiastic, but the people that organize it feel exausted and also feel they're lacking their nternal transition. Any help? I'm one of those seniors who stays aware but can no longer be active. I'm poised to offer plenty of effort to this movement, but there's nothing happening in the Wrexham county borough and I don't easily see how to get things started. I'm really confused on what to do next to find a group anywhere near me I'm receiving regular emails on meetings and progress reports. I've been speaking about peak oil since 2004 but am not involved in Transition in my own locality but have worked with Edinburgh group (& TSS) I've been watching mine from a bit of a distance. The interaction I've had thus far wasn't indicating enough juice to get me to join. In Cloughjordan there is so much going on in the line of resilience building but finding it difficult to maintain activity in a Transition group. It is the same in Ireland as a whole lots of initiatives, even many groups emerging but not wanting to be official or joining the Transition Ireland & Northern Ireland network. Incredible teamwork, knuckle knashing social processes, facing the coming storms. Intend moving to Haywards Heath interested by the all process, i didn't yet took the step to look for a group in my region ( or to create one) Interested in peak oil, but have not gone much further that this. Intrested in being a part of one Is just the first step. COntact with some interested people. Hopefully will start a soon as possible. It had a bit of a hiccup- to put it politely! Not it is ticking over in the hands of largely one person it has been difficult to raise the awareness to build the numbers - so the same first few who joined are still running the shaow, with only a few newcomers. It hasn't landed here yet in Indonesia... but I see bits and pieces coming together... it is very difficult in this part of france to get people into action. They tend to discuss and discuss. But we have one autonome wirkinggroup and are reviving other ideas It isn't a Trnasition Initiative but a local group working for Sustainability, and others around doing various things. Maybe it will take off into Transition soon, so far we are just putting down roots really. It took time to establish our initiative and although we have yet to have our great unleashing, we have created several action (working) groups and are on the brink of beginning several very exciting projects. It's been a challenge getting enough people into the same room and promoting the Transition Town to the general public through screenings of the film. It's buzzing with ideas and plans but a but short of enough people with enough time to make them happen It's growing and gaining strength. It's just me at the moment trying to get others involved. It's not an official Transition Town initiative, but there are some people here in Zadar getting together sharing the same dream about Transition in Zadar, we organize education workshops in permaculture, and TT cinema once a week It's not easy to wake folks up to the urgency of the situations. Also, it is not easy to focus the leader team members on the good news and the positive mind set of abundance of energy, creativity and ideas, and love, compassion, community, collaboration and action. It's recently become active again after a dormant period and is doing pretty well. :) It's taken a while to get going, but suddenly lots of exciting things are happening. its exhausting... Its recently gone through a change of guard. Some of the longer standing members (me for example) have stepped forward and a more recent influx with fresh ideas and energy are just getting going. just a few people doing all the contributing to the website so far, but that's ok Just about to start up. We had a recent meeting held by the transition group 'Trieves après petrole' in Crest, Drome, France, and there will be a follow up meeting on Feb 22nd to see for who is willing to start up in our valley (Drome valley, approx 30km south- east of the city of Valence). just beginning just beginning to negotiate for a community garden, and i am just gearing up to introduce transition principles having done a weekend course (which now seems a long time ago) Just contemplating joining Just getting started. Doing a talk series. Networking with Edmonton Federation of community Leagues and City of Edmonton Just going to have our first self-developed training on site on the 12th. Four of us trained in Vancouver in June 2010 and are really just getting going. Just had a great planning meeting where actual projects will start to be realized in a few weeks time. Prior to this meeting we've been focusing primarily on social aspects to foster group solidarity and cohesion. Just moved here, so not sure which of the initiative's around here I'll end up being involved in or what they're up to Just organised a big festival called Green Light! We'll see how it pans out at the weekend... Just really interested in what is happening in the UK Just short of buzzing. Very active group in one neighbourhood, with new small pods recently formed in 2-3 other areas. We're getting a better grip on holding workshops etc. more regularly, and made a recent connection with a City Councillor for support. just started Just started - finished reading the Transition Handbook plus 'How to Boil a Frog'. So becoming 'informed'. Just starting to buzz again after a challenging year or so Just starting to get buzzing at our last meeting Kings Heath Transition is buzzing and has lots of people involved in exciting activities, my feeling as a consultant and an outsider is that they need to prioritise what are the key actions for Kings Heath lack of capacity in project delivery; ambiguous leadership within initiative Lack of people Lack of population is main barrier - same people doing everything - burnout - you know the sort of thing! Largely dormant, but just being rejuvenated. We have kept going with community gardens. Launched with an Unleashing and have some great work going, but no way the majority of the community knows we exist. The city, some service orgs, and all sustainability groups know us now, and we've launched a Transition Youth group in the local schools. Letting it find it's feet before it walks faster live in a village equal distance from 3 market towns all with green, transition groups so do what I can in my village as it's where I live Local unleashing in conjunctions with Guelph University ecology week in March lohdensteele.com/jude see ecotransitionhome e-magazine villageinternational.org attended a workshop in CA a few years ago- one of the first. I have not posted my websites and works on your site - wasn't sure if it was a fit since promotion of our design services, arts, architecture, and building is involved. lost some steering group members in the last year. That's when I joined. A few of us have young children and babies and I find it hard to be totally up to date with initiatives. We have loads of ideas. and lots of enthusiasm.. Some of the longer term members feel a bit lost. We are spread over a large geographical area - 2 adjacent suburbs so we often run concurrent activities and the core members divide up into their respective home areas to organise events. We have become closer to the local councils. We had a Hustings. It wasn't well attended but some good things came out of it. \the movie nights are well attended. Our food co-op has been reduced due to the main organisers work ciommittments and home schooling committments. \the \minister at the local church wants to be involved with us and to get the Co-op going again on a larger scale but no-one has had time or head space to meet up with him yet. LOT`S OF IDEA`S, STILL SEEKING MORE PEOPLE TO REALISE THEM, BUT PERMACULTURE BEING CENTRAL DOING THIS PERMA- CULTURALLY lots of different activities, mostly in the food section, but not under tt roof peak oil is not a topic in our country, there´s more concern about climate change all in all hardly any media coverage policies are still heading to economic growth(for jobcreation and export, massively subsidized) till 2 years ago i was enthusiastic about tt, participated in a training and was considering starting an initiative. meanwhile i´m still a systems critic, but much more fatalist. i just dont feel it being my job or even duty to help save the world. there´s nothing it could be saved from anyway! i´d rather turn hunter/gatherer or hermit.... i still like tt and wish you all the best! Lots of diverse events coming up and project groups begining, many in partnership with our local council. Lots of events but not sure how much progress is coming from them towards any down the road results. Lots of good energy to start, but I found it mostly just spun in circles, rather than getting real traction. Too much "spiritual" fluff in town, without the counterbalance of gritty earthy people to get things done. There was also a noticeable lack of young people involved with the same grey hairs in the room every month, bless them. I moved away last Summer. I may see about helping start an initiative in Sacramento if there seems interest and capable alies. Lots of interest and things happening.. just waiting for more people to take the lead...as I feel like, the foreigner, I am.. Lots of internal conflict Lots of local publicity has put us on the map and our events are well attended. Lots of other local sustainability initiatives happening and difficult to build community and alignment amongst members for the role of Transition Canberra Main organisers now organising themselves - personally, at their homes & families Many activities happening which were inspired by Transition initiative but not actually using the Transition banner or requiring extra support. We are about to have our 3 year review meeting to determine what else the local community would like us to get involved in. Many ideas are being processed. We are working on each one of them and learning with each other. Maturing after three years and starting to have a serious impact in the community mid-life crisis More than 100 members, only 2 of whom come from Coin. Various reasons for this. Better than ticking over in fact, but not quite buzzing My initiative is being a director of a community woodland group but I am interested in TT, though not managing to connect with interested parties in Cwmbran, south Wales, though have tried - any tips? My job centers around designing and running the TEV website, dealing with e-mails etc. Also involved with the TEV Awareness group, advertising / publicity etc. My wife and I bought 10 copies of the Transition Handbook when it first came out a few years ago. We spread them around our little community (Texada Island, BC, pop 1107) and got some several discussions going (mulling). Then it just stopped. May it will pick up when people stop being so obsessed with economic survival -- most of us are hurting.. n/a n/a n/a N/A NA NA Nailsea is a small commuter town where most people are not engaged with issues Transition groups cover. It's proved hard to build a Core group but we now have 9 commited members and an email list of around fourty. no idea No interest generated yet - nobody biting No serious effort on the part of most people to commit to a transitions effort where I live, so I contribute via the web to other efforts. No time availability yet to focus on developping officially the transition initiative in our community. Not been able to gather together enough people interested in seting up group. Too busy personally to work at it at the moment. Not due to my involvement! All I've done so far is deliver leaflets Not engaged sufficient people yet - need talks, films etc, so resources are low Not enough focus on getting new members across the whole area not got going after Christmas yet, so feel like there is not much happening, but we were in a good space before Christmas, and have met since, and were buzzing before, so sure will get going again very soon. Not happening yet. Since registering with Transition Territoires in France I've had 2 locals contact me. I hope to develop a Transition Information Centre locally, with Courses like the CEL but secular based on the local Quaker Centre. I'm a Quaker and 80 yrs young! I've acquired the french version of the Handbook and other english literature. Fortunately there id much useful information in French on the web. not in one, just interested Not involved in local group, attended one event. Hust keeping a watching brief. We have had an allotment for 10 years+ and make our own cider. not one locally, I am moving to new area and will be looking up what si going on there Not quite buzzing yet but a bit more than ticking.. Not quite sure what some of those terms mean or how they differ. Not reaching critical mass. Not really happening -- yet. Two of us decided just before Christmas to see if we can make it happen. We've had two meetings in my kitchen, made a number of contacts with interested groups, planning for drinks at town centre pub half term and a couple of film screenings to follow. Not sure, have only attended on event. local group just formed. Nothing in Miami...yet. Observing for now Often feels like its just ticking over but having recently done a review of activities, I realised that we've been doing quite a lot - most months have included at least a workshop, film show, skill- share, discussion, newsletter, meeting or sometimes all of these plus it's looking likely that we're just about to take over the lease of the community hall in Lampeter. OK it's not officially a transition initiative, but it is a growing group of aware and activated people who are very keen on building community. On the way to get structures and to developp first activies. Initiative created in Sept.2010 One example: Last week an Open Space meeting about creating community food gardens throughout the city (population 90.000). There were about 60 people there, most of htem from the organizations who are needed to make this possible. one or two active sub-groups. newsletter and website. not a lot of new membership to my knowledge. Only formed in November 2010 Only just begun Only just joined so not very familiar. only just started it - we've only had two formal meetings, one informal get together but we already have a draft constitution, people in positions - rotating chair, secretary, treasurer, events organiser, etc. and a first project agreed and starting - a food growing project with an early years centre and support from the head and governers and local councillor. Organising food forums, community gardens, bike-moves and film screenings organizational/ energy issues to get things going. Many activites are already overloaded Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium) -> just stopped for lack of active people before we could really start it I'm now living in Ecuador... waiting to start something Our 2010 Annual Report is on our website www.letlivelocal.org and our acitvities are posted regularly on our FaceBook page. our comprehensive town plan is promoting transition values as written into the plan, for the next 10 years, and sponsoring permaculture and Transition education from the town itself, so we started a Perm 101 series of sessions that have been enjoyed now for an entire year, under co-sponsorship by town Parks & Rec. Transition Lyons is also a member of the 150 member local Chamber of Commerce of business persons and non profit groups.. Our Energy Resilience Group (erg - a small unit of energy in the metric system) is about to register as "mulling." We're a neighborhood of St. Paul, Minnesota, and are connected with the neighborhood community council. We've been trying to raise awareness for a year and a half and now are working for more community gardens and solar on a neighborhood business. Our group structure and personalities have not meshed, & those joining later have not had the commitment to following the steps & the timeline proposed in the handbook, so there is no action. Our initiative has just moved into kicking off a couple of projects. A couple of projects are gaining momentum...a couple others lack someone to lead them so are "on hold". Our initiative is "unofficial" - we are not connected to TT yet. More information: http://midest.blogspot.com/ Our initiative is somewhere between dormant and ticking over. Individuals are still involved in local community projects but everyone in the group is too busy to meet regularly. Our very local initiatives are doing better than ticking over Our web communication is proving challenging Out of desperation to initiate local food growing - I have offered a $200 prize at the county fair for a "Garden Challenge" for the "Most Edible Landscape" in our county. Overall things have gone a bit quiet, apart from the food group who are humming (level just below buzzing :-0) and an energy group who have just started to meet again. Peripheral activities--environmental, not directly transition. Plenty; I made a full M.Sc. about it: "Transition Area Bouzovsko”. Is the Transition approach applicable in socially/culturally less responsive areas?" http://permalot.org/files/u2/MVJ_Thesis.pdf poor structure and too few people actively engaged; set up at city level which is too big; local groups are better as they embed in a genuine community probably top of the pile! Publicizing "The Great Squeeze" film showing and discussion coming up. Much argument over how to describe it concisely. Have to say I have no basis of comparison to rate how active we are. re emerging out of dormancy Really have now created a strong steering group Really somewhere between Ticking over and buzzing, lots of activities happening but still not a solid core group of TTers (or Trannies as we are sometimes referrred to over here) Recent presentation on energy and global economy by Nicole Foss drew 125 people (PEC population base of about 20,000). Seems dis-organised / haphazard, not really clear on direction from my limited involvement / observation Setting up CSA and involved in council food strategy consultation Shortage of active leaders (too few of us and we're flat out) Slow buzz - fast tick over So many other initiatives going on. Transitions still too foreign a concept in Canada and our community. some aspects of our initiative - creating a Forest Garden for and with the community is hot. Other aspects are like treacle ... there is very low energy here for people to come to meetings. Some burn out going on. A bit of conflict between members which has not been handled very well. General community has not really been engaged. Some good projects ongoing but need more members. Some of our projects are happening now but once established we just keep an eye on whats happening. The Tilba Growers market has survived for about 15 months with ups and downs depending on the time of year. Narooma is now in the process of establishing a community garden and has netted a grant to help. The Narooma public school is reviving a kitchen garden with help from the community garden member. But it is hard to get out to the general community. Some things going on - not as a Transition initiative. somedays it's buzzing, others kicking somewhere between ticking over and buzzing somewhere between ticking over and buzzing - few people yet - but new ideas and activity and ways of organizing things Somewhere between Ticking over and Buzzing....about to sign lease on a hall to create a centre for all things Transition Sorry, I'm not quite familiar with some of these terms. Our Transition initiative is somewhat quiet at the moment. The steering committee is a bit adrift. There are a number of exciting things happening among the neighbourhood groups, howvever. We are struggling with how to Transition in the city. Sorry,I have some difficulties with english, and don't put in comments. starting up interpol through BBM group " Luckass___T " , want 2 join ? contact me @ BBM ( BlackBerry messenger ) p Steering group had been hijacked by individuals with business interests in energy and close ties with local authority. Food group is now vehicle for transition change. The focus has now thankfully shifted to transition topics and resilience in the light of anticipated socio-economic change Still considering formation of transition movement. Still getting going with various small groups. Some more active than others Still not a broad interest or sense of urgency Still trying to raise enthusiasm and get positive action in village. The original group, Kimpton Environmentalists, is practically dormant. Struggling to get more engagement within the community Submitted our application for official Transition Town status over 1 month ago - have heard nothing. susred is six years old and is sort of stable and established, steadily contributing to local and citywide stuff T-Town Woodstock is at the forefront of recent province-wide consultation's on New Brunswick's energy future. They are a strong advocate of renewable forms of energy, energy conservation, and energy efficiency. As a builder, I am very interested in developments in all of these areas. I am very pleased to see regular newspaper coverage of Transition Town Woodstock's efforts in our local paper, the Bugle Observer. I hope I can help in some way to work toward the realization of some of Transition Town's goals in creating a more resilient, sustainable, community- based approach to development. The buzz is around formation of a core group as we move from an initiating committee to a new formation. Not an easy process as many initiatives have discovered. We have some working groups are buzzing with action. The group has just been launched officially althought planning has been going on for a while. I'm not on the organizing committee. The initiative is for creating a local complementary currency and derives from a local council decision to invite citizens to state their development priorities over the next 15 years. In the same area, with many of the same activists, the first meeting for a Transition initiative has been announced. The 'philosophical/political' background of the two groups is different, so convergence is uncertain. But because I and many other friends will be members of both, a merger is likely to be on the agenda for the foreseeable future. The meetings fall on days that I have difficulty making, so I rely on those who do go to keep me informed. The organisation is struggling a bit with 'where to go next'. There are plenty of transition-type of activities in our area but it is hard to see where out council can effectively enhance what is already happening. The original Heart and Soul group no longer functions but we have someone who wants to start another one The usual problem: about 100 people on our emailing list, but a small number actually doing things. The vast majority of what we do is food related with some films and a little energy work The Whitehorse TT Community Steering Group has been formed and they are excited with the potential opportunities. They are planning to partake in the TT training and are learning about the 12 Steps. There is a transition darebin group for the area where i live, but im not really involved. There is no local initiative yet There is no local initiative, as yet. There is no Transition Initiative where I live. However, I think the whole concept is great and would love to be involved in it. I'm reluctant to start up my own initiative as I think it would turn into a full time job! I already have several jobs and am unable to commit myself to a regular high number of hours. There is nothing happening close to me, so all I can do so far is read posts and get ideas. I haven't yet formed any sense of how I might become actively involved. there is plenty of transition-style-activity buzz, but very little use of the phrase "transition town" so far These terms are very British and I can only guess what they may mean. It is one of the problems with the Transition website it is very British centric and the terms unique to Britain do not often carry over. Things are really starting to get going with workshops and the formation of subgroups. we are hosting a 3 day eco fest labour day weekend so we have until then to really spread the word and get the communities involved. Think we need a training here to help get people communicating and collaborating more. This address has only been used for test purposes -see response from [email protected] for use in survey This is a long story,but to put it short i have been working for a city village called Annikki, where we created a wonderful living village of 32 members plus a how-to-do-it model, which is published as a book "Wise everydaylife" in Finland. Now the village is sold, but the model is beeing used in making villagenetworks in Finland. I am really proud of this. This is far too difficult English to understand for a foreigner, sorry, I quit. In general the site is not sexy. Be clear about the location (the locations from abroad as well, there is a lot British) ) and the subject Film, event, book, group, purpose etc. That helps a lot to find what is interesting This would be good ie where do we put daily thoughts that may turn out to be another way forward which works - I find there is so much info a blog of what is happening every day or what others would like to say would be great and we can have it opening our day on our computers and would be able to be more active and involved and just do it!!!! Those who started the initiative are trying to create a massive geographical Transition Town which is highly hypocritical. Driving 30 to 40 minutes to go to a meeting is insane. So they may be another initiative starting up - - that is not using cars driving all over the place. ticking to buzzing - ish. some v upbeat stuff but risk of burn out from some core folk (esp me!) time passes, space fills, pattern and process take form. TL is ending one major project & trying to get another off the ground, but with not a huge amount of support, particularly from the Welsh community. Most of us are "incomers" from England. To much time being spent on running the business rather than doing the business To my knowledge, there is no active initiative in NYC, though I'd love to be part of one. too many other priorities are rpeventing us form kicking on, but I hope to do more this year. too much is never enough Took a real hit on a public event 2 years ago and lost £600 after self funding our way through the first 5 events. Have got two exciting project planned for this year though Totnes is about changes, in helping community locals realize brighton's recycling model for timber\wood reused locally , rather than DCC RRR,s returning all to woodchip . tough to mainstream ageing hippies knitting hair shirts out of pony droppings trying to achieve officialdom - still mulling but it's hard to find time & energy Trying to keep up and still have a life. trying to move from the philosophical to the more practical unable to engage any kind of meaningful numbers V active on land based projects (farm, orchard, garden share was active too), a bit on energy, a bit on food (market, survey); not much on awareness events (just green drinks but I can't make the date so d/k) Various equivalent activities in town - community garden, community website etc various explorations to date, nothing very public Very early days but no great momentum yet. Was not set up for frantic activity, more gentle exploration through socials and short-term projects We are volunteers with a data base of 500+ and barely keep up with all that is on We (three persons) have been preparing the kick-off for quite some time. Now, after the first three public meetings, we have an active group of approx. 40 persons and lots of ideas for projects to start up. We are a "temporary initiating hub" for our region, two rural counties in Michigan, and we are starting to see local initiatives forming in Fennville, Bloomingdale, Bangor, and South Haven. We've had numerous events, including 2 very well attended Reskilling days and we have a presentation at the annual Bioneers conference. We've had films, speakers, community meetings, etc... we're just slow on getting some on the ground projects that are visible to the community and deciding whether or not to have a Great Unleashing for the new local initiatives. We are meeting our neighbors regularly, having social gatherings, plus a permaculture study/action group... we are starting to work on a community directory of skills and products for Fennville area. Many members are already organic gardeners, CSA's, living "off the grid," and so on. We are a keen core group but are still struggling to gather a larger group (or even some extra individuals) to get bigger projects off the ground. I guess we are largely still at an awareness raising stage, evem after about 18 months We are a mulling initiative We are a relatively new group but our second movie screening last night had nearly 50 people! We are a small and slow group, each year we have done a little more, we raising awareness, running ecological gardening courses, holding open days on our homes, gardens and allotments and this year actively working on developing connections to other local groups We are a small group of about eight people who came together last year to begin making Solihull a Transition town. We did some minor stuff last year and we are planning a 'film festival' next month and hoping to have an 'Open Space' event in May, if all goes well. We have no money, few members at present, little spare time but loads of enthusiasm! We have links with the solihull Eco=faith forum and sustain, who have given us the chance of a meeting room occasionally but we have also met in a pub, a park and someone's home, so we're quite resourceful. We also have a little support from our Council Carbon/ Sustainability team. We are a small rural community but we have had some good events We are active but have a limited number of active people. We have a Fruit and Nut Tree Project planting 150 trees We are co- fiounders of the local renewable energy group We have regular awareness raising events We have an active Heartys, Mind and Soul group We are represented on a number of community groups. We are always looking at new activities and ideas to try and boost local initiatives We are at the beginning of awareness raising, gathering ideas. We are at the generating interest wide enough to put together a steering group. We are developing it slowly slowly. It started from the Kafeneio Kafebio but now we are looking for people to find a land. We are in the mainwhile forming and informing us about community building and village design. Me and another colleague we will attend one Grundtvig seminar in Italy - Damanhur about Eco Village design education. We are getting ready to run our first food growing workshop this month (February) after which we hope things will really start buzzing as we push more people to grow their own and support local producers. Food connects very nicely with water conservation (we are in fact a water scarce area) and recycling, so we are looking at things we can do in those areas as well. We plan to get local recycling companies together for a workshop to see how we can assist one another and increase awareness and get more people participating. We are hugely focussed internally, struggling just to handle internal growth and project design and management. We almost have no time to look at what others are doing (including looking at the Transition Network site). We are in stages 2 to 3 at the moment, raising awareness and contacting other local community groups. We've had two film nights, are arranging a third and are putting together a 2 hr workshop which we hope to do regularly in people's homes as a way of introducing new people to Transition. we are in the beginning of several initiatives, from health food on schools and projects to help poor people to earn their income to start town gardens in empty plots ( one is together with the school next to us, to have herbal tearooms for herbal medicines for poor people, renewable energy at local and provincial levels and hopefully at government level together with local engineer students and local companies. We are Local Transition Hub. In Barcelona there aren't yet Transition Initiatives per se. We are now getting new members who are getting involved We are part of a valley initiative that includes 9 village centres so it has taken some time to get round to visit all of them. The initiating group is also made up of very busy people so one event a month at the most is our max. We are re-inventing ourselves and getting more folks involved. Our activites for this year are a county wide food coalition organizations, gov't, university, all food stores and restaurants, farmers market, home and community gardens. Then we have the folk school (to teach the arts and crafts of sustainable living) and our new partnership with Awakening the Dreamer: Changing the Dream. We have an exciting year ahead of us. We are setting up an events calender with films speakers workshops and study groups. But they are not all going yet, so we shall be buzzing soon. We are setting up our steering group We are starting our Raising Awareness campaign and want to coordinate with Transition US. We are the Canadian distributors for Chelsea Green publishing, so we distribute the Transition titles in Canada. We aren't an initiative yet. I've just formed a Handbook study group. Our first meeting is tomorrow. we created a portal for france,end of september 2010 and try to get a reflexion of all initiatives and contact names in france We don't seem to have a clear focus. There are a few people with energy working on different things. We are in Australia's second biggest non-capital city and are struggling with whether to go really local or more regional. At the same time we do have some good projects happening. We experienced a lull a few months ago, but have introduced a new group structure which is in very early days, but seems to have re-activated the group. However we do need to get more people involved! We had a 'Green Group' for a couple of years but struggled to get things moving. Have learned a bunch about the issues involved and am managing resources against trying again before too long... We had a very active first year, failed to restructure in a way that would have made it easier to scale up, and have then been constrained by what those already involved can do (my diagnosis!). We are about to revisit structure etc ... We had one false start, (aborted really); since then it's been going great. We 'unleashed' last spring. Lots going on, hooking up with lots of other initiatives in Lancaster We have a draft EDAP that we plan to start relesing progressively in Mrch/April 2011. We have a lot of activities we are either promoting or cosponsoring, working toward a permablitz every month, have several Transition neighborhoods starting up within our Hub, and continuous monthly meetings or events since we started. On the other hand, our Action Groups are not fully engaged, we need more participation across our membership, and our membership is not very diverse (certainly does not look like the demographics of our region). We have been increasing in size month by month. Mahoa who is chief local organiser has now made contact with our local (and justly famous) agricultral college.At our next meeting we expect quite a few students (and staff) to attend. At this rate we have to find a bigger place to meet! We have been planning a Peak Oil talk with two local politicians and now a date and venue is set for April We have been spending lots of time to make sure that our core group is working well, and that the workload is spread over everyone, not just one or two people we have been struggling to get it of the ground. We have had a slight lull over these winter months but taking the time to sit back and plan for the year ahead. We have just secured a base that is central to our town to operate from a boost from ticking over we have only just settled into a core group, and getting to know each other. We have our first public event at the next weekend, then lots of ideas around local foods. We have only recently got together and are still at the getting to know each other stage. We have run out of steam and money recently, but looking at running an Open Space meeting with support from Transition Taunton.. We have run an event or similar most months for 2 years and have active energy and food groups We have successfully created a website, are in the process of collecting an asset mapping survey (slow to come in), have offered many workshops for re-skilling and for community building. Also have conducted energy assessments in homes and town buildings, given away out-door home-composters, etc. We hope to be buzzing soon! We joined togheter last year and from a group of 3 people we are now 7. We plan this year to start a few projects, included a school garden. We are working toward creating a fun environment for ourselves and our local community We just held our Launch (Unleashing) and became "official". We have 12 Action Groups formed (on an island of 1000 full-time people)! We just started a very few months ago, and I'm part of the starting gang... We live in an urban, highly diverse neighborhood in Chicago. The model that applied to Totnes and other small towns does not apply 1:1 here. We made a decision not to become a TRansition Initiative but are very active as Carbon Cutters. We plan our Great Unleashing for May 22, 2011 We received funding from a North South funding body Safefood for a 3 year period. This funding has developed waste ground at the Centre, built raised beds, a patio area and disability access.We have employed a gardener who teaches gardening skills to a volunteer group. In years 2&3 besides growing vegetables we will plant an orchard, fruit bushes and design a herb garden. 20 families will be suppled with tools, soil, seeds to grow fruit & vegetables in their own homes we recieved grant funding for lots of projects this year which really helped us progress and gain support for initiatives We seem to go through waves of Kicking to Dormant to Ticking over based on burn out from members. We seem to have a lot of ongoing projects but few completed We started meeting in June 2010. We showed the Transition movie. We showed the movie Beyond the Brink to a high school. We have a series of movie starting next week. We are talking about a few potential things to organise... Our website and Facebook page are well received. We started out with Transition Town Saranac Lake then it became Tri-Lakes Transition and that effort folded into my local sustainability group. The Adirondacks is a weird place...the natives don't want anybody telling them what to do, (lot's of stubborn mountain folk) people are so busy trying to make a living...it was a really hard effort for me to launch. I was the only one driving it on and that, a transition effort does not make, as we all know. I started the Green Circle 4 years ago and we are doing the work of transition in a different name. We have LOST ARTS workshops (reskilling) we are going on our 3rd year of the WAKE UP FILM FEST (WUFF) to raise consciousness...that is really our prime effort and we will be launching a Green Living TV show on local access TV in the coming year, we will start a BARTER TOWN website, a seed saving exchange and much more. We have also initiated the area's 1st Local Food Fest (Farm 2 Fork Fest) last summer and plan bigger and better in the year to come. I think overall big change will come when gas prices go up. We stopped meeting in October 2010 due to a lack of responsiveness in the area and "burn out" among our core members. We went into 'dormancy' back in 2009, as it was clear that there wasn't sufficient energy within the core group to do what was needed. We've been very open about wanting to support any one who wanted to take it up, have had a fair few conversations, but to date no-one / group has wanted to take it forward. There are a lot of smaller neighbourhood groups in Oxford anyhow, and already a sense of groups working together on many climate and energy issues. We were officially approved in December 2010, cosponsored a symposium "Awakening the Dreamer" Feb 6, 2011, and have a solar energy speaker scheduled for March. We're still in the awareness raising stage, but alive and well. We're attempting a re-generation at the moment!! We're concentrating efforts on supporting smaller local neighbourhood initiatives accross Manchester we're just looking into it at the moment we're moving into a more mature phase with bigger practical actions coming onstream. New people joining becasue of the economic issues - dawning realisation that they'd better start doing something... We're not a formal transition initiative but are trying to inspire our local community to sensitively develop a site central to our town that we have just fought-off a Tesco bid/planning app upon. We're really in the beginning stages - I've been working with a (growing!) steering group to plan the initial neighbourhood gatherings - our 2nd one is tonight! There's tonnes of great energy & excitement however. We started with 35 people out and are expecting >50 tonight. We're Rockin' We're so new, we've just had one meeting We're well established with good offshoots (Ovesco, Market, LP) but few active groups, ready for new people to join us & projects to start from the bottom up again! We're working at it, but there seems to be a bit of difficulty getting traction because people in our community tend to be a little self- satisfied and attached to a way of life, that very life that is leading us to ruin. We've had our first of a series of awareness raising films to be shown over the next 5 months, two ariticles in the paper, had a meeting with all the other groups working on sustainablity. Having good response. we've just tipped the balance into "too much" and need to expand our community, so our activities need to change and be more people-focused for a while We've never formally pursued "transition" initiative status, just started doing it after Fueling the Future Conference in Kinsale. Well, I'm busy anyway... What exactly is "ticking over?" We are on a steady pace. We always have something a working group or two are doing. We're not "buzzing" for sure. It's difficult when most members have day jobs and/or young children. Wie had our first organisational meeting, trying to find out who will do what.

Have you added things to the website? If so, what, and how did you find it? ... we are not yet an official transition initiative and therefore do not have a local site... a big 'save work in progress' button Actually I can't remember whether I have or not... Add facility for uploading/sharing files although I added a photo to my profile, it does not show up. Blogs and Events need to go under Community rather than News. People profiles have issues with access and permissions - I've discussed this with Ed independently of this survey and it's in progress, AFAIK. can't had events... it would be good to share our events... Can't really comment as I use it so little can't see how to add to website. error message: You are not authorized can't think of anything at the moment Commenting button says 'preview' but clicking it shows no 'post' button. Was it a preview?.. or has it been posted? confusing trying to first register site. annoying having to go through several steps to find initiative. Recently initiative has disappeared from site. could not figure out how to edit my initiative, even though a group member that added us gave me permission. couldn't load initiative becuase couldn't find the people who had registered, but could find them individally. couldnt find forum via this survey link news from found the world needs to be sorted a bit as theres so much perhaps a clickable map? couldnt work out how to re register on the initiative profile i think it was.... BUT got excellent tech support from ed and got on Did 3 updates today and got 3 different error messages Did try to upload my wormgang initiative, thought all had gone well, but it didn't appear. You included it later. don't have view at present Don't know, but I suspect the site is really for committed enthusiasts! ease of use for luddites - and easier to find info. I struggle to find resources of TTandC every time I want to use it ! Fewer words! Reduce by 80% For events, as I recall it, maps were not readily available. Perhaps I'm confusing things. I have basically been using the site to keep up with general trends in the transition movement, to seek interesting articles. Friendlier interface for profile maintenance Get people who have never done these things to attempt them whilst giving a running commentary to a proficient and silent note- taker who is observing silently Glad that the RSS feed from our site (set up by a predecessor) still works so all events appear automatically! Happy , and enjoy getting the roundup. Helps to feel connected, and be inspired by others Have done a few of the above, but don't remember how easy/hard have not added anything I actually use your site as a model to study when improving other sites, e.g. www.gen-europe.org I am a visual person and most of the images in your site are mostly at several clicks away to most photos on individual Inintiative websites. Maybe looking at Huffington's format where images are links to information and the most hits goes to the top would be more engaging as I csn't resist clicking on a images and headlines of information bits if they are on the first page to seek quickly. I am not the IT person for the grpoup therefore try and use it as little as possible. I am very guilty of not using the website as much as I should.. I believe we have a listingn there but it has been to complicated to keep up with or visit. I can't comment being an infrequent user but that's only because I'm prioritising our work locally, when I have time I take a browse through. I'd like to update our Initiative profile - you've made me remember! I could not register on the website. The image recognition thing did not work, nor did the audio recognition thing. I don't know if it's because I'm on a Mac. If I could register I would happily add content now and then. i couldn't find our initative listed (we're no. 177) and tried re- listing as just 'Wivenhoe' rather than 'transition town wivenhoe' but still doesn't appear in list of initiatives... am i missing something. I don't consider the site as my first port of call for information. Most of the interaction I have is via Rob's news sent by e-mail. I don't really have the time to use the website. We have our own one for Kinsale, then there's the Facebook page, the Transition Ireland website, Rob's website, Energy Bulletin etc....phew! I don't remember any more as I added content a year ago. I don't think there is enough Australian content to make it a valuable resource for me. I don't use it enough to have the cheek to express an opinion I feel that there is so much information on the website but it is way too hard to find - I'm afraid it feels like a wasted resource right now. Was looking for Mentors (Facilitators? Too much local council speak!) - you can only seem to search on their name, rather than expertise. It initially took me ages to figure out what the difference is between Initiatives and Projects. I find the font and lack of colours difficult to read too - so I tend to give up quickly. Sorry! Feel there's a whole fount of information in there that I'm missing! I find the whole user interface a bit unintuitive. It hasn't always I find this site very difficult to use I found it difficult to access. Forgot my password. Couldn't find the right area. Wasn't sure what I took hours putting on was there... is it?? Got depressed and did other things. Am a busy person and if things aren't easy they get left. I get a bit lost round the site - whether what I'm looking for is a forum or an article or a blog. Search doesn't always pick them up. I have been very focused on local initiatives and projects apart from attending the conference in Edinburgh recently, so not in a position to make valuable comments. I plan to be much more involved with the Transition Network in future when I have more time. I have difficulty finding a copy of our logo to fit. There were other confusions too but I think I have it sorted. Feelings of inadequacy arise with all those optional fields waiting to be filled in! i have forwarded stuff to admin for them to upload. I have so much on my plate with health care issues and the transition of that monster, I would not be one to offer anything by way of changes. This is not my first directive, I see the transition initiative more like a resource and once the medical situation makes some headway a place for networking to begin. i have to translate everything from ducth in french for france, and then beck to english, and it just a lack of time to get it all allright I have tried sending you things I think may be of interest - eg links to campaigns like the recent Save Woodland one. Do not feel they are reaching you - black hole syndrome. I haven't added things because I don't really think about this site. When I remember it exists I go there and see what is new. I haven't really used the website as much as I should. Didn't really know how to add things. THis survey is making me see that I should use it more. I havent used it much yet I need to change - I don't think there's much you can do to help! I need to preface all comments so far on the basis of available time and therefore priority I really don't use the website at all. I realsie that you want to keep a track of all those involved in Transition but I have found that other group members have not found the time to register their involvement with our initiative. One subscription too far perhaps! I recall having to get in touch with the website facilitator when making changes to the initiative profile but it was a while ago and I can't remember what the problem was- sorry! I signed up for a login a couple years ago and can't remember what I used for user name/password. Thought it was the same as work, until you sent this message to my personal email. I've tried commenting on postings, entering people profile, etc. and haven't been able to do it. Can you add a tab for "forgot who I am and (like Gandolf) can't remember the password" to get it sent to me? I submitted a report of a survey we undertook. It was put on the site by someone at TN. OnQ 7 above, there should be another option! Along the lines of 'Haven't used but may do so in the future'. This would be better than the 'Don't use but will now!' and more accurately reflects my real answer. I think the changes needed for me is for me to get on the site more often and start using it regularly Your doing a great job thanks. I tried adding a comment once and it wouldn't work for me. I think the events are very UK orientated. I use Google Chrome and sometimes commenting on an item doesn't seem to happen. It's quite random - impossible to tell why. I use the site to read, catch up with issues (e.g. local pound schemes; local food initiatives) that I need to research. Then I'll spend a while. I look at daily news from time to time. I usually go on our local web-site only, but will check out this site more often as time allows! I wasn't able to add an initiative profile when I was attempting to start one in NYC. I would like to say something here as there is no other space - We receive quite a lot of info from the transition network and have installed direct links for visitors using the TEV website. Other colleagues of mine in TEV use your facilities a lot more. I would like to see more timely updates of Official and Muller Initiatives list. I would like to see the Maps of Initiatives and Projects made up- to-date and accurate, not everything is on there or current. I realise that's no small ask! I would like to see the simplest possible instructions for the creation of a local forum. For mine, Among other things, I would want: a free system for a startup initiative on a zero budget, public and private forums, public and private chat boxes, System allowing links to local groups and projects, like a local clearinghouse for Transition activities, Links to TransitionNetwork.org for general information (no need to retell the same stories). I wouldn't presume! I'm too busy to really provide valuable feedback or to spend much time on it at the moment. But... i appreciate that its all there, and that you provide such support. I've just read and lurked--I'm uber busy running an eco company and actually doing stuff that I try and avoid getting distracted by too much online stuff. Never use forums for this reason. I've not used any of this - but will be better up to speed in future I've tried to add something but can't get past the squiggly word before I lose patience In a "Patterns directory" Rob may have missed an important feature of Alexander's book. The contents weren't meant to be linear, but such that one moved around in a network directed by one's own particular needs. However, since I haven't seen Rob's book, this criticism could be entirely erroneous. In general I have preferred to search elsewhere to find facts- scribd. etc for information, which i have found quicker to access and more reliable for an indepth answer (making bidynamic fertilizer for eg). Or perhaps I'm not using your site correctly? Initiative profile - showing who are members and who are core members...see recent email! I haven't done an objective examination of it...but I am sure there are frustrating features.... is it possible to save info and complete/ submit at a later date? it was a while ago but I remember anticipating it could be a 10 minute job, but it ended up taking over an hour. It inserted double spaces between the paragraphs of the text I pasted in. It looks OK, but have to learn to use it myself. I did receive a reply from yuo, so it is working, great! It seems like everything is geared around UK members - I have trouble finding anything about USA groups and events It took a couple of tries to put where we were in the correct format. its not difficult it just takes time to learn and entering things on to a machine is not as inspiring as talking to someone Just beginning in this new game! just getting used to it. just set up our rss feed from our tt wordpress site but it is not showing yet on our profile page - not sure if it's right. will try other features soon. just took a really good look at your site for the first time today (Feb 8, 2011) since I was looking for material for my first "Transition Talk" in the community tomorrow night, so I haven't really used everything yet, but will be intending to do so as time permits learning and preparing Limited ability to use colour, font size etc. Project profile does not seem to be available in local initiative? eg If I set up a project, it does not appear on our site. Events - limited scope to use own design, system inserts get in the way. We now use links to blogs for events and can provide list of upcoming events. list of forums Make it easier for trainers and hosts to add trainings as events. Maybe including other languages? me gustaria que las opciones esten en español, muchas gracias More flexibility or ease in adding "Projects" to our initiative profile that are actual projects we are doing. More guidance for how to set things up More obvious that it exists. Easier to use, more out of it once set up, eg, links to other initiatives similar, that you could share templates between More structure around fields to enable searches that are useful - things I've talked to you about. I had an idea also for an "ideas" page that I'd like to run by you. My husband, an Uber Geek, manages the website and profile Never. I wish you'd add "US" to your name, or UK. I get so many emails listed at Transition, that I can never tell which one you are. no / none not necessary now that i think about it, i have never really used the tn website as a resource... even when i was coordinating transition horsham. i cant believe that ive missed that as an opportunity, but im glad that ive been enlightened. im in the beginning stages of starting a transition horsham working group, and ill probably call it horsham area permaculture initiative or something like that, and i will definitely look into using the transition network as a resource Once me project becomes reality I'll contact U asap with details, also if U wants 2 interject format info please help Project Profile.... we have some projects on the go but the project profile is a little in depth and daunting to fill in. As I am the one who updates everything web based I find I do not have all the information to hand. I don't think it is accessiable to all as really most people have not come to terms to even become members of the Transition Network site. see above seems a bit long winded in places, would like more simplified information which I can then choose to look further into Shepherding less techy founder members into our group took a couple of goes. Would/is it possible to add members provisionally using just their e-mail addresses before they register. The OpenAtrium.com platform seems to have this feature and I found it very useful for getting social-network-shy people into what effectively functions as a mailing list until they register. Off the top of my head I can't remember how much functionality initiative founders get, it strikes me that a per-initiative blog+mailing list could give less techy initiatives some critical functionality "out of the box" before they set up their own websites. I'm also keeping a partial eye on the moves to create a Transition flavour of Drupal. If/when that's mature enough to go live then teaming up with some sort of turn-key provider could be a boon. Meanwhile DrupalGardens.com seems to be amazingly good value at the moment and maybe deserves a plug for getting initiatives up and running on the web quickly. Site is a bit "spread out", could be made more compact sorr, I keep abreast with news via the TN newsletter and Transstiion Culture. Plus I'm super busy with TTL.... sorry ed, after all that caring work. But maybe this survey will prmpt me to be more active... Sorry folks, but farming is a demanding mistress 14 hours a day 7 days a week. I have little time to spend checking the website. sorry my main focus is on the swedish site and then I get your newletter that makes me go to your site sometimes, that's all Sorry, I haven't been using the site Spam filter blocks legitimate users. The change is that we need to use this to full advantage and this is one of the key plans for this spring. Aiming to get support to help get our profile up etc The Forum is not easy. I suggest you adopt the standard layout The navigation is not entirely clear. The only forum I know of is Rob Hopkins blog. Tht is great for Rob and his insights are fantastic. But it is not really an open-space where anyone can start a conversation. There should be a section for unofficial 'mullers' who either do not meet all requirements or do not wish to go through the official 'muller' route. There's just so much there that it's hard to find time to look at it all. Well done, but maybe some more pointers on the home page such as in question 9 below would be helpful. Great site though! This network of people need to have a person, or group, that is willing to listen to a professional engineer that has been building for 37 years in the energy efficient arena that has more experience in land planning, engineering and surveying, and home design and home building and energy efficient envelope design and EE product manufacturing than any 5 people in your group. Someone needs to realize the carbon footprint that we can minimize the most is our HOMES and I've been minimizing the carbon from a properly built home for over 10 years - down to about 25% of a Built to the building code - homes. Those choices are too constricting. Anyhow-- I'm busy and tend not to explore websites that maybe sorta might be useful. Strangely, Rob doesn't encourage discussion on the forum-- he doesn't mention it, and never riff on it. Why is that? Too few groups Translate the website in more langquages! It 's very difficult for me to read this enquete! Uhh, still learning, but if I knew how to add the stories, you know when we begin to make headway. This is probably easy and I just haven't worked it out yet! Unfortunately I couldn't work out easily how to put on an event and then missed the boat in terms of timings, on so I gave up! Updating our initiative details always is a problem eg with formatting and last time we got a whole lot of computer gobbledegook displayed amondst our text. we are new to the site, just regsitered WE were really confused about joinging as a muller and trying to becoming official. The forms needed to be really clear eg becoming a muller, becoming official... Well, I'm a pictures person - too much chat for my liking. I'd tend to find out what folks use the site for and concentrate on that. For example when I looked at projects - they come up all over the world - which is nice - but if i'm just new - i'm maybe looing for a bit of inspiration closer to home/ = but that's just me. I have no idea what a muller initiative is and I don't need to know. A bit more minimalist on the information front perhaps. Well, in the Initiatives page/profile, it would be good if also the country could be displayed in the map. In our case for instance the profile's title is: Nodo de Coordinación para la Red de Transición Hispana, so it would be good to show at least our country and not just the town where the contact people reside. well,i don't know how this is relevant or can be done, but i wish i could list that i'm here and need someone without giving up too much of my info away. i worry about predators. when completing companies aims page froze unable to complete Wiki works well with me, but not with other people I know... ?

Are there other features that you would like us to consider for the site? ????? will ponder this ...... A better map with pins showing groups and individuals. Where the hell is everybody? A clear, consistent and simple user interface would be the greatest benefit. A different layout, information more accessable less directory search, I want to know that content is going to be there before having to drill down through layers of 'clicks'. more newsy style... perhaps alternet.com approach? a large guerilla maybe :-) a link to french films, resources, translated books etc A means for Transition groups to link in formally A page only for problems solving with pratical examples and photographs. A routine but short description of what is going on in other countries. A section devoted to positive visions of the future (along the lines of the invented newspaper articles).There would be diary entries, scripts of The Archers etc, written by people of all ages, and links to books and films which buck the apocalyptic trend. I was intending to set up a website myself but it would be much better to make it part of the transition one if you're interested. I have already mentioned the idea to Ed after the last conference. a small gorilla A very small gorilla all of the above (except large gorilla :) Interesting to note that our popular McLean's Magazine here in Canada just mentioned the Prince of Wales' new book, Harmony, in its book review pages. I believe that Charles will be finally appreciated for his views on permaculture. Hip Hip Hooray. All relative to who does the choosing and if it's relevant. all websites for me are work, like a necessary evil, I dont enjoy lookng at any websites, I just need them to very functional so that I can easily find the information or the person I am looking for and then get off immediately - websites for me are giant encyclopedias and phone and address books - to facilitate life, I dont want to be spending my life on them, I want to be living my life, so features are a distraction, what I need is information quickly, or how to find info quickly without endlessly having to look for things, scroll up and down, try different pages, and find things have moved (like they do in supermarkets to persuade youto stay longer and buy more, I dont want to engage with a virtual world, I'd like it to be a tool, like a pair of scissors, or a telephone, serving a purpose but not drawing attention to itself ) so please dont change it around, keep it simple and easy to find things quickly Alternatives to Transition Weaknesses of Transition An online-now function that shows who is online and viewing the website. It would be interesting to speak, live, to other people in Transition groups who happen to be online at the same time as you. It might help strengthen connections with other Transitioners outside of individual initiatives. Of course, the feature would require a log-in so those who do so know they might be messaged. An open-space. This could be in the form of a blog or forum a bit like The Oil Drum but where guest writers could write up an issue and invite discussion. Thjis could be about challenges to making Transition happen to general issues on project management. EDIT: I 've just found the forums after having another look. See me y comment below re: putting these on the front page. Another large gorilla! Any moves towards transition in my area Articles on societies response to economic change.I am researching the socioeconomic change which occurred in the industrial revolution, is this relevant to the energy descent and the retreat from individualism to more collectivist communities? Articulated with National Hubs, if they so desire As much international news as possible so that an outsider might not even realise which country is posting it (apart from the language). I gave that feedback to Rob for his next book too.. As things are only about to start up, I cannot really suggest improvements on theweb page. better use of social media to draw people in Biodiversity (not just gorillas) - links to permaculture... blogging, interactive features Book and film reviews -- which you probably already have and I just haven't noticed yet BRAZIL IS REALLY USED TO THE NING PLATAFORM. IT’S A GOOD REFERENCE FOR US. PLEASE TELL ME WHAT DOES “NOT ON YOUR NELLY” MEANS but links to local groups/events would be best By asking the questions in 9 you've set me thinking about what I would like to use the site for! We joined the Transition Network for recognition and to give our project credibility. Our project struggles maintaining our own website and hence the Transition Network site because everyone is busy doing a million and one other things and updating doesn't seem important enough. We use our excellent local paper and email to keep our troops informed and they seem happy with that. This is a long way of saying that I'm not at all sure what features we need because we are lousy users - sorry. I guess I would like the site to be a portal to lots of knowledge, but I don't know whether it is or not because I look elsewhere for the info, awful thing to say I know! I should make better use of it first and then answer the survey! But that only makes me wonder why I don't use it more - I'm rambling I'll go and make some tea.... Can't say not that up to date with it lately Dealing in-depth with the theme "Is the Transition approach applicable in socially/culturally less responsive areas"... Sorry, don't mean to be a spoil-sport, but I do believe there is an issue here which is obscured by 'go-happy' positivism... Direct access from the menu to themes (energy, food etc), with results for initiatives, people, projects (and maybe also news) ordered so that those items nearest to a given location (by default, when I am logged in, my own) Directory of all projects, regardless of whether have 'transition' in the title or not. discussion board Don't know Don't know. Easier search feature. I'm interested in Transition News in CANADA only. Examples of where Public Transport has been successful,in Britain,and roll it out as a "new" methood of logistics! Facebook integration Feature a different Transition Community each month on the Homepage. First of all, thanks for having the site and doing all the work. We are just re-doing our site and have had to face the same issues. In terms of your site, well, the site is BLAND - it is interesting only to those who already have an interest, it doesn't create inters. . The colors, layout and tone are so neutral - it doesn't inspire or make you laugh or make connections. The information is great but, for example, when you go on to find other initiatives you get an alphabetical listing - how about an interactive (and coloroful) map? You can put the list at the bottom of the page or somewhere useful but make use of the first page of every catagory. And the HOME page - now that is a snooze - don't start with the history - go with the MOMENT - something very cool, colorful or inspiring. Fundraising, how to get financial support, Generally look at your site traffic analytics, and try to make the major areas very accessible from the front page, possibley with a feed from that section of the site or focus box if not a dynamic area. global trends such as the Green School or websites like TED. Other websites with similar content. A list of documentaries and access to them if possible. water initiatives, tree planting, window farming, models of community gardens, etc etc... Gorilla for Go would be great - need instant arse kicking ideas and inspiration!!!! Growing Pains: Seeing some common struggles, usually heart & soul or power/control related issues for initiatives, planning demise for initiating group, burn on or burn out, worldview (everyone should agree with mine cause it's the right one), etc. Is there a spot for this conversation, either among the community members, or a great lover who would like to offer feedback? Guide to how we could use site more on the front. Hey guys, you're doing a terrific job--I trust you to design and keep the website as great as it has been so far HOME/FRONT PAGE BEST NOT TO BE TOO CLUTTERED - BUT HAS ENOUGH TO DRAW PEOPLE`S INTEREST. TOO MUCH CLUTTER MAKES HARD TO FIND WHAT YOU NEED AND THEN YOU LEAVE. Homepage seems fine as it is thanks Hosting of our own Bassingbourn Transition Village site. We are using Ning which while excellent for our needs is now subscription. The subscription is good value but we would rather use the funds elsewhere. how finance for projects was raised for what and who from how you get involved in communities , not a lot of people realize they even exist I assume that most items on home page would be headlined links to the main content? I didn't know how to respond to the question above - I really like that the home page is welcoming to first time visitors AND gives an indication of what's elsewhere on the site for others. I don't know what a pattern is - Gorillas, YES! i don't know. i don't spend much time on the site since there is no one in my area. but i do check in once in a while to see if there is someone. I have only visited this site a couple of times because I use the TTK2K Ning site instead. If my community was integrated with this site and used it as the main message board, then I would visit it. I remember being very impressed when I have visited the main site. I have to go through the same process of thinking as you have outlined above with our own website. All I can say is make the great ideas work for you. try and try again and experiment all the time, for they is no one way to succeed. I hesitated about putting Dawlish in as 'my initiative' because my main current interest is theoretical and academic, transition as a concept, a recent manifestation of which is your transition movement. So what I could do with is facts. I joined so that I could get an overview of what is happening and the processes used. Haven't really explored your site that much really I kind of like the simplicity and functionality of the website as it is! I think it is important to ask these questions, I was unaware that the site has more features than I previously understood. I think it is just right as it is -- not too cluttered, but with all the links visitors might want. I think it would be very useful to add some into right in the first few inches, left-hand side, of the home page, to say what the heck transition is about and for! The page loads with people seeing the left hand side, and even the first two links (concepts and principles) say nothing about what the point of Transition is! (e.g. helping communitities transition from oil dependency to local resilience; responding to peak oil, climate change, and other worldwide resource and financial challenges, etc.) I find this a real lack. I would love to refer more people to the site, but give them a context, front and centre, as a reason to keep reading about the process of a transition initiative. i think that's enough for now! I think the features you've got are pretty good - main thing is to get more people to use them (both putting content in, and accessing it). I think the Homepage needs a revamp. It assumes everyone knows about the organisation when they find the homepage - but I didn't. I found it via Rob's TED talk and there's no short explanation or 'mission statement' to explain it. I follow Rob and Transition Network on Twitter which works brilliantly - and I get so much information from the: ingredients, articles, new ideas etc - but the fast majority don't use Twitter and are missing out on so much info. Rob's blog is incredibly inspiring and what it's all about. That should be featured on the front page. Photos really important - how about a map with photos of each project - may make the movement feel alive with people rather than just arrows! I wanted to find someone who had expertise on irrigation - but didn't really know where to start. I think the key message is to keep it simple, accessible and attractive. As a principle, you should be able to find what you are looking for within 2-3 clicks and there are things you can do to makesure it is accessible without over-cluttering. I think the white text on green could have more of a contrast (having done some recent work on my own website through work, I know this wouldn't be picked up through a screen reader). I generally think a newsfeed and events/ training feed is a good idea but maybe limit it to the latest 4-5 items. I think the content is generally great, and one thing which is brilliant is that the language is very readable. I think if you could tighten up on the structure and design, it would be fantastic. I think the network website being international, it should focus on featuring internationally interesting stuff. I don't think events fit in that category. I think the Welcome message should be shorter, bringing the other stuff up and above the fold. Images would be welcome, but not too many. I think you are doing a wicked job of creating a friendly, well thought out, usable, community filled, exciting informative site - huzzah! I want very much practical tips to change, to transite, but please, in mij language: dutch. I would accept the gorilla in a cartoon I would be interested and it might be useful to see other TI responses to various consultations and issues, eg Local Transport Plans, barrierbusting etc. I would like to see the same tile-down menu across ALL Transition Sites Example: Main Menu Topics: HOME || Projects || Materials/Learn || Calendar || Maps || Forums || Green Jobs Creation Below: TransitionsTowns || Events By Location TransitionsORG || Maps of Cities and contact Group TransitionsUS Forums for discussing what works/not TransitionsABC Jobs- Bartering TransitionXYZ - Products made by recycling TransitionsUK -Local transportation / local fuel I'd like to have an RSS feed from TN to add to our initiative's homepage. I went looking for it recently and couldn't find one. I'd like to see something interactive... like a create your own Transition Logo! You control the brand but lets us work out the details for our specific initiative. I'd like to see the above... as you see there are alot of them but diversity is cool, so maybe rotate the homepage featuring the above.... I reckon a large gorilla is bound to fit into the transition resilience future visioning somehow.... theres a challenge! I'd love to say I had a view I'm not sure if you allow this and perhaps you would think it risky: On the Ning.com platform group moderators have a good deal of freedom to embed HTML into a group. I've found this very flexible for mashing up handy shared schedules or resources embedded from Google Docs. I'm sorry I can't answer more of these questions. I'm sure there must be good material and resources but we are so busy here I don't have time right now to do much more than keep up with our local activities. I'm still having a hard time getting an RSS feed. And when I entered my US address in the "near me" page, I got the same Totnes-based initiatives as I did when I entered my Totnes address. Which is either a failure or the website, or the failure of the NYC area to have anything going on. I'm thinking the problem with all TI sites is lack of content. Probably focus more on content development than site features now. I'm wrestling with out own site at the moment - fresh out of ideas! I've enjoyed the strip down the right hand side (on the home page?) where there were links to the latest blogs, presentations etc. The cartoons are tremendous - should they be signposted more prominently? Id like to see more on sustainable medicine and not too many loonies who arent registered with some professional body or trained fully in their discipline contributing to a healthy discussion on the way forward There is an excellent attempt at this on a particular website campaigning for natural medicines but Im not willing at this stage to pass all their hard work on without knowing who will claim credit for it Im sure theyll be willing to supply a link if anyone is interested If this is the first stop for surfers curious at what T is, it has totally different requirements for us that use it regularly. I think we need a front page that will help newbies...present them with the core information and something inspiring - perhaps examples etc...but not too mad...or too full of process detail. We need links to such pages. I am not sure the current front page is inspiring enough for people finding transition for the first time. If you want to make this an international site I think you need to look at how to ensure it remains international. For example when I looked at Transition New Me, all the events and groups looked like they were from the UK - I'm in Australia! in the support drop down menu, i would like a section labelled something like how to get the most out of the website. when you click on that, you could specify whether you were a coordinator, part of a steering group, member or new to transition. according to your choice, links could be provided with basic descriptions and instructions. that way, people could be steered to what suits them and they would be better able to make the most impact. i just thought of this as a continuation from my last response and havent thought it through so its probably full of holes. i know it would take a lot of time and other resources to enact this. info for researchers case studies, especially any impacts measured or changes made summary of "what is transitions" and what difference does it make international page Is the newsletter working well? I registered quite a few months back (hence you've got my email address) but haven't received any newsletter since then! With or without a newsletter, it could just be a buzz, I would be interested in being informed of what's going on at the network level of TTs. It sounds like a lot of work. Thank you for even considering all those options. It would be interesting if transitionnetwork.org could offer even local network services in stead of each national or local network creating one of it's own. Just beginning in this new game! how about difficulties encountered and how they have been dealt with? Just make it exciting Keep it fast to load (it is at the moment). One of the best things have been the links/blogs with podcasts and video talks Latest forum comments would be handy. Kinda like Amazon review blurbs on the right side of the page or comment blurbs on right side of page at NY Times. Less rather than more - I'm already traumatised by the options above Links or articles on practical projects. Links to specific bloggers listed by topic? Local maps for permaculture how things can be grown and where in towns. Inventory of local farms crops and where trees can be grown Local section - what's happening in Kent. maybe a large orang utang as well? Also how we can tap into local stuff Maybe any laws or buy outs that may be of concern to accomplishing these initiatives. Maybe separate USA and UK More local events - what ever happened to Transition Totnes? more on the site the better. A way of isolating your area of interest/location . ie all news and events in Australia. MORE photos, people interviews and profiles, to create a movement it needs to look cool and fun- appeal to our egos too- just doing good works isn't enough of a kicker to change- Make it Glam, Chic, Adventurous, Fun, Thought provoking, LIVE+WORK+PLAY+DREAM artful lifestyle. HUMOR, Joy, Lightheartedness, Beauty, Balance, Harmony- the present vib feels a too little serious and doomy to me. more pictures and colour... More worldnews related to transition, green economy, shifting patterns in countries Much less stuff, its far to full of things and it means that I turn off quickly.... Better to have key things that lead into other things easily n/a National Hubs? need to have a feeling of being part of active national / internat network - went looking for 2011 gathering and couldn't find ... wondered if TTN was going dormant! nelly? No No, I think the list above is quite substantial already - but then, being a journalist, I just like to have as much info as possible no, thanks Not sure what is indicated by the categories above exactly, but I would like to be able to click on 'Waste and Recycling' and be led to what is being done in various transition towns about this - good ideas and wrinkles, things that have worked etc. Nothing pops to mind. Btw answers to 9 are all "a great idea" pretty much as having small tabs with each thing covered, and lots of things changing day to day would be a good way of doing it. Okay - i've just noticed that the UK is not even on the list of transition hubs - whatever they are - so I'm probably not even meant to comment. Gorillas are having a tough time in Congo so yes, why not be nice to them here. We're related after all. On the homepage, a PROMINENT answer (or a prominent link to the answer) to the question "What is transition?" - not "What is a transition initiative" or "What are the concepts and principles of transition?", but specifically "What is transition?". At worst, a prominent link to a "Basics of Transition" page so newbies can quickly find out what the heck it's all about. Given the increasing interest from the press, perhaps a Press page would be useful too - contacts, bios, copy-and-pastable material, photos and so on. You could put it under "about Transition Network". other animals - i'm particular partial to water buffalo Overview of growth of the movement with some key data, # of initiatives per country with indications of growth over time. Partnerships for EU grants and Funding! Pattern of the history featured items and a question about the implications people search function. If you need a speaker in Belgium. Who to contact? photos would be great. but *not* of people sitting indoors talking. Primer was in need of an update when I last read it in Nov 2010 when Transition Training was held in Newcastle Really. your site seems very good to me, but I really am no expert. RSS Feed, Twitter Show 2 large gorillas! simple detailed plans for idiots for wind generators/micro hydro/garden/farm machinery powered by hand Since I am not actively involved, may I say that the times that I have referred to the site I have found it to be brilliant! Skills repository and learning resources... Some place to assist/encourage reflection. A quote, a photograph, a question . . . . Something to make it a little easier to read; maybe two columns instead of one Sorry - see above comment!! Sorry I havnt looked at the sites enough to know about any of this yet! Step by step experiences on how to get started with T I : success and failure stuff from australia, NZ, asia would be a really relevant novel approach, so please go for it! Sub-divide to 'lookers' who have no idea of what Transition is about but curious, 'involved', 'committed' and 'activists' (I think these definitions speak for themselves. The latter can be quite a 'turn-off' to the 'lookers'! The basics about why we need transition as the website is the likely to be the first place newcomers go to find out about it. The Gorilla is already in the room. Perhaps he ought to be set free in an appropriate location. The homepage is too wordy and needs refining. The thing that would make me check this site often would be if the front page was always changing, with the latest news, resources etc - and probably a little bit of text telling me how exciting these latest things are, and possibly a picture to go with some of them. The truth on how to build using entry level employees to build the most energy efficient home possible would be nice. I'm not talking Solar, etc. these are add on items AFTER the home is designed correctly. Think the Gorilla could add a surrealist edge To be honest I do not know, but I would love to find people who would think big fex. to think about how to get problemsolving- and coaching skills to every citizen; how to build independent villages and villagenetworks in cities all over the world To tell you the truth, I haven't accessed the website other than to find out how to get onto Brighton & Hove. And having spent time visiting the AGM, rather wished I hadn't bothered Transition projects in the political system. transparency, accountability.... erm wrong survey. Transition Politicians Training School Trunk Monkeys! Unfortunately I do not have the time to spend on the site, and rarely use it. I am lucky if I even get through the newsletter. Now I am being very selective about what things, Transition related I even attend. upcoming national events.... Useful tools from lots of other organsaitions regarding behavioural change? may be good to communicate well with others in a non preachy way. Ways to connect to people/groups with similar interests - perhaps through keywords? webbrain library What is a pattern? There is a problem on ,say the Bellingen site, that the headings, maps take up a lot of space and reader has to scroll down to find information. Buttons with links to see less important matters would help eg map What is working well in terms of economic impact in medium and large city environments,. We need more break through thinking on resilience versus business as usual What the heck are "patterns"???? Anyway, I use the site when I am researching something specific (e.g., building a greenhouse or masonry woodstove builders in VT) ... so I don't really come to the site - yet - as a place to begin the search, but Google has led me there a few times ... When I do look at a home page, I prefer one not too crowded but clearly with relevant recent up-date, featuring worthwhile material - preferably in TT case, from INSIDE TT rather than news from outside. When you have breaking news as the main thing, that's fine but it then gets buried over time - The initiative has to recognise that it is an organic, evolving thing. It might be a good idea to have an archive or a core body of work that has emerged that people could use as reference. I realise that there is the handbook, but that is one person's work. You are running the risk of becoming a bit of a top down thing if you don't find ways for group wisdom to solidify and become real and accessible to others on the journey. In scientific fields we do this with journals and reference books that have chapters written by experts in different areas. In guilds it's also done with journals and standards and outcomes of meetings and conventions. I'm a researcher, but I am also contributing useful things to the movement. There are many others. You will need to find a way that progress can be collected and disseminated. It's nice having a guru and a figure head for a movement, but that only moves things so far. where do you begin if you have a vague idea that this is the right thing and its urgent but feel like a) you're on your own b) it would mean too much change and/or effort c) i don't have time to read the newsletter let alone join the transition Would you consider regular items on the psychological aspects of attracting people into Transition for whom it is initially experienced as a threat? Also, more exposition of the importance of creative, imaginative techniques as part of the core approach - not separated into Heart and Soul. This could have been spelled out more in the training, I think - I recognised the value of it but have found that most of my colleagues did not and are not very interested in adding in such techniques ... out of a feeling that presenting rational information should be enough. Yes, can you partner with OhSoWe.com? They are adding all kinds of neighbor based tools to help communities grow and develop You could perhaps make use of featured content slideshows on homepage (eg views slideshow) to feature content from various categories each in their own block. This could also allow for the inclusion of photos where available, which could spice things up a bit, and a short summary of the content. You have alot already.

Has the website made a difference to your project? a few people finding our website via yours, hopefully vice versa A light in the dark...ah, let's say 'horizon'. Inspiration. A lot of information all in 1 place A place to pick up ideas for our community activities A two connection with the wider world of Transition through this website is highly valuable for us in Japan. I plan to update the website with content from Japan. Access to information.it is useful when speaking to funders and community about vision for the project to be able to let people know of work already ongoing throughout the UK and world Access to resources and info-not re-inventing the wheel Adds credibility by showing scale and activity and as an in depth resource centre from folk who seem to know lots about things. Again because Im not using it Allows us to see what others are doing about similar issues. As a focal information point about our initiative to link others to which is presented within a source of credibility e.g. the quality of the website itself. As a source for initial ideas and examples of what's already happening with links to up and running initiatives. As far as I'm aware, UMinho in transition is not moving... :-( As I said we are so busy here that unless other initiatives or colleagues send articles, e-mail or other contacts to us we can't really find our way to what would be useful. I subscribe to Carolyn Baker's Updates. They come every day and I usually am able to puruse those emails by the end of the week, though I'm behind right now. as my project hasn't started, its just a great site to keep my motivated. As soon as we get going, I expect your website to be a very important resource. Availability of resourses and exchange of news and ideas. because before the website, only 5 initiatives were visible and in 4 months more then 27 and a lot of persons who are looking for others to start an initiative Because I am able to read up upon other people's experiences. Because I have not been able to get people to register or use it. We have an email list of around 90 members and only 2 registered on the site. I am one of them. Because I haven't been using it Because I haven't used it that much Because I'm not part of an active, local initiative... Because of the information and the resources we accessed Because of the language (Italians don't speak english so much) because of the quality of the french site (and the translations in) and the informations I've found in. Because we direct people to it and they get the drift of what we are trying to do.. because we have not taken advantage of it. Will do. This has come at a good time, we have a meeting tonight! Beef up the patterns area. One of the main benefits of the TT site is to offer tried and tested methods for tackling problems that similar groups around the country are/will experience. Ideally a group facing problem XYZ should be able to find the suggested pattern, and pick up enough information to set up and deliver whaterver they need to overcome that step. If this needs to be patriarchal and prescriptive, so be it. People can always go elsewhere if they want to reinvent the wheel ;-) Been rather too busy to browse. Just the odd update. Others have asked about how the Community Farm got going - but we were lucky. Our partner, The Duchy of Cornwall, had a bit of an ulterior motive for the assistance we got which probably wouldn't be available to other intitiatives. Being aware that it is there for future development here is reassuring. Being in Canada, more content to refer people to about Canadian projects and initiatives would work out best. Biggest problem is TIME...at the beginning it was great to check out what others were up to, use Forum to discuss issues/problems Briefly because I came into transition with little to go on and had to look around at other websites including this one for inspiration and guidance. can get people interested , just takes time to get through their thick sculls , reply ? info ?advice ? Can't get consensus in our group to follow the steps, and no commitment to organising transition activities. can't say yet Central place to advertise our initiative. Useful resources - e.g. primer, patterns. Consistency of style credability by association Definitely a very valuable resource. We refer new people to your site, rather than regurgitating everything on ours - this also gives the whole Transition movement more credibility by showing them how extensive this is!! didn't know about it's existence Don't know don't know Don't know if others have used it. Don't know! don't really have time to use it Don't use it often enough to make a difference. I log onto Transition Culture much more often than the Transition Network site so if there could be loads of cross-links between the two sites that would be great. dont really have a project yet! early days really, although i should imagine it would Especially the resources are very helpful, I have learned hips of new tricks and now I am organizing my own initiative! feel connected to something bigger, people can find and contact us pretty easily Few members use te site as we are not official 'mullers'. First of all the website made us start up, and it feels both inspiring and "safe" to know that you are not alone in this process. For ideas and inspiration For me personnally it's very interesting to follow your activities, the other ones dont understand english, so..... For reference. Duh, how's that for a comment. Sorry. For the moment it helps to lead people I advertise T I to know more about it. I will let you know more about it soon after we succeed it here next semester. forum for transition together, downloading current TN slide pack, looking at patterns, etc. Forwarded information to colleagues, shared resources with TT and my organisation locally Gave me info to realize that I had already started an initiative, without knowing it... A Kinsale type of effort so far... Got me to be ready for the training... Gave us information to start! given me ideas on how to do things. Gives me some pointers, but for me the key thing is how to begin networking with existing local transition initiatives. Bit difficult to work out how to use the present website for that. I wanted to make a direct appeal for people in my area to contact me. Had to use another website to do that, with much success. gives people a place to find out more without me having to explain transition to everyone individually Good for resources and ideas Good for resources to use in workshops and other awareness raising. Also helpful to know what others are up to. good ideas at fist, a bit limited.. like the books better Good resource to point to for in depth background good to see what others are doing in my interest area, Great potential great resources and encouragement great source of info Great to see the rich reflection and learning happening great website setup & good projects and articles... Guess I mostly put on our web what I'm asked, by others who probably use you site more than me :-) Hard to know if anyone has connected with Belsize through our initiative page. Other content on the site is a great resource for ideas. have not found a way of using it, intergrating it other than as a background available resource have not used it Have not used it, other than to refer to it in promotional material. Tried using it at the beginning and got confused so didn't continue. Need to set aside a day or two to get my head around it (or one of us does). Alternatively, would appreciate some training. Have seen an occasional enquiry as a result of someone looking at the website Haven't filled in this and several questions below as not directly involved in an initiative. Haven't looked haven't really had time yet to look into it and explore the site - we're bombarded with so much information Haven't really used it enough - but i will now Haven't used it havent looked at it more than at the beginning once helps us feel more connected I think there are a lot of useful resources on the website. We have focussed on receiving training, the Transition books and local initiatives which we are working closely with. As an initiative funded by the climate Challenge Fund, we have also had access to a lot of useful information from the Sustainable Development Commission and other Scottish Government Resources and local sustainability organisations. I ahve not used it much, but will now! I am afraid people do not have time to look at web sites. I send out links to interesting items, but rarely get a response from anyone - too busy. I am not as involved directly in Transition Denver because I'm working on starting a school. I am not involved in a project. However, if I was, I would change the answer accordingly. I can see there are no people in my area of Spain! I can't say. I can't speak for any of my groups. IPersonally I regret not using the website enough in the past. To be honest I tend to respond to 'prods', like newsletters, and find I've run out of time for anything else. I can't speak so much for Transition Town Brixton, as I've only recently gotten involved, but just the short time I've spent browsing this site has uncovered a wealth of amazing info, I can't wait to read more! I didn't manage do the Live Feed from our website. It's good to be listed and be able to update information about our initiative ourselves. I don't get the impression many of us use online stuff that often. I don't have enough initiative, and lately, my project is keeping a roof over my head, and creditors at bay. I don't know I don't know I don't think members use it though I intend to ask at our meeting tomorrow. Like everyone else I have so much info to sift through not to mention a family and a job...I just don't get to it! I don't think the group realise what a valuable resource this site is. I think having the directories is a brilliant idea and I will bring it to everyone's attention. Thanks, great work ! I don't think we have actively seen it as a resource before. I can see that it is now. I think it could prove to be helpful to inspire! I don't think we look at it. There's a chance for information overload. Looking at the patterns might be a good way to get beyond that. I have done a bit on the projects directory, but again without more filters it can be difficult to sift through it all! I don't use the Transition Website a great deal, but when I need to, it has helped me. I don'yt know the site well yet, I am so focused on developing my idea for a community assosiation that I havn't made the time yet to check your site properly. I dont often use the website, but I often follow links in the newsletter I find most Transition groups by myself. Or they find me. It would help if Canadians who contact you knew that the books are easily available here. Some seem to go to Green Books or Amazon.UK, rather than Canadian sources. I forget to use it. Not sure how to use it. We have had to deviate from the usual process so haven't used it too much I found it difficult to use and didn't go back to it. It looks much easier now and I will probably use it more. I give the site info to people that are curious about transition. I guess OVESCo is an innovator at the moment so we tend to be contacted rather than usig the the site to contact others. I had forgotten all about it until I received the email for the survey. A newsletter is a good way to remind people of your existance. Since I haven't received any newsletter, I forgot about your website. I have since 1966 been deeply interested in the future of man in the light of industrial civlisation's extremely problematic relationship with nature due to population growth, depletion of natural resources and harmful/dangerous impact on the environment, and in 2000 I took the initiative to arranging the first conference in Denmark on oil depletion and a coming oil crisis with Colin Campbell as the main speaker. The conference took place in the building of the Danish Parliament with participation of several MPs, a representative of the Danish Energy Authority, a Director from Shell etc., and Campbell was on Danish TV for 7-8 minutes in the evening. Generally speaking I am on a different wavelength with both the political economic elite (several members or former members of the Danish Parliament as well as other members of the elite know me or know of me) and the "environmental movement". The latter (as well as the first) do not want or are not able to face the real realities of mankind's ecological situstion. The only grassroots movement which is facing the ecological realities is the Transition Towns Movement, and I am a very great admirer of the movement and especially of Rob Hopkins and his phantastic book: "The transition handbook" (I have a private library of about 180 shelf meters of books of which at least 20 are about human ecology in general, 5 about the oil industry and about oil resources and peak oil in particular etc.etc.), so I know what I am speaking about. I am in close contact with the Danish movement and on March 31 I shall for instance hold a lecture on how the coming oil crisis will differ from all previous oil crises. It is, however, for several reasons not possible for me to be active on a practical level in the movement. One reason is that I am working on another approach to the problems industrial civilisation are facing supplementary to the Transition Movement at the same time also necessary, I think, because TM cannot possibly as a grassroots movement alone solve the MACRO problems we are facing. I have some ideas on that (partly also influenced by my having studied economics at the University of Copenhagen for some years in spite of my age of 76!) I don't think it relevant in the context of this survey to elaborate on that; if you really were interested on that you would have to contact me. Best regards Jens I have used articles to help write my own thoughts. Eg 'A Transition Take on the Big Society' when replying to request for advice from local Labour Party I haven't quite found the time to ignite my latent excitement about all this. Once I can see how to do something worthwhile, I shall give it everything I've got. Not quite there yet. NE Wales is full of apathy. I haven't used it very much yet I haven't used it. At first glance it seems UK-centric. I just look at Rob hopkins blog, and i follow him on twitter, and i like reading books, and i connect in to web resources that are about redland, and bristol because thats where my focus is, and if i spread to national and international i do it in quite specialised ways. i think my answer would be different if i was starting a transition group now I like reading about what other towns are doing, gives me ideas and hope. Makes one feel part of something large and wonderful! I like to feature local news in VREN enews bulletins - I've not, on the rare occasions I've browsed the site, come across anything Cheshire- related I might start one when I find : the courage, the time, others willing to join me I never hear anyone mention it I operate off things directed to me - emails, RSS feeds, tweets, whatever. I rarely go to websites, even yours, unless I've been sent a link, which is how I got to the forum I can't get an RSS feed for. I probably would get more out of it if I made the time to check more often. I think I can say that I personally have not explored its full potential by any means! I think I've only visited the website to download the primer... I actually can't tell the different transition sites apart - Rob's site, Transition scotland... I think it is an excellent site but we have not got ourselves up and running enough to use it too its full potential I think other members of our steering group keep an eye on the site and forward details of interest to others. I think there is a perception that it is too UK centric and not that relevant to a small Australian group.It is great to read about successful projects in a report format, when I go serching for it, but I don't need to be swamped by information on every transition event from here to Timbuctoo. It's hard enough just keeping up with what's going on locally I think with a small initiating group, we are up to our limit on web and computer tasks maintianing our own groupsite and gmail accounts. Would be solved by getting someone on board who is interested in keeping us all up to date I think you better ask the real leaders of transition Leuven. I use it and one or two others know about it. I have also recently looked at partnering another initiative (Green-enterprise.org) with the network and the site has been very useful for infor and as a communication tool. I would like to seamlessly integrate our own initiative web presence into the site I use it for stuff to use in presentations. I use the local Transition Sweden much more, yours more as a reference I used if for some reference and information when I was creating the Totnes EDAP I was a contemplative nun. I prefer not to spend a lot of time on a computer, period. I was looking for example "lessons learned", roadmaps and descent plans. But nothing much was available, I assume because most initiatives are still in their infancy and people are not confident enough to share their ideas. I think that communities might be more similar than people think, and a common template would help get people started. I was writing a report on resilience in mobility for my work (awareness raising of politicians!). I was looking for information on Tranisition Towns itself plus on particular projects in mobility. The latter was harder to find, tough. That is, projects and initiatives that are new/not known or mainstream yet (eg car sharing already is). The site gave me good information any how, thanks. I went through the membership to inform them of my initiative. Quite a few initiatives were not contactable. Response was disapointing. I managed to get through to around 160 initiatives, received around 20 replies. Don't know if any took up the initiative in the end. I would definitely like to commend you on your ongoing maintenance of a web presence. i really do believe this is important to sustain a basic level of energy and community around Transitioning. Beyond the basic levels gets tricky. I myself have put tonnes of effort into using the web to communicate with our group (internally and at large), but it is difficult. i'm developing a course in ecopsychology and want to look at real- life initiatives. I'll be looking into it more, as will my students, once the course is up and running (Sept 11) I'm just an interested party wanting to know a bit more about it all. The B&H website is a painful affair I'm not able to connect with other interested NYers. I believe it has more to do with the daunting task of starting an initiative in NYC though, than anything else. I'm not in one :) I'm not involved yet I'm not really involved in the initiative, just connected to it a little so far I'm not sure how much difference it has made. Useful for me on a personal level to keep up to date when want to. I've found it helpful. Most others in our group seem busy enough without keeping up with efforts outside our neighborhood. I've never needed to use it. I've not made the effort. If I'm the only one using it and then sharing with the group, it's not as effective. I'm working with luddites. In our setting up In practice, we don't have time to surf it, or get to know it. On the odd occasion when I've asked for help, I haven't got It (or perhaps forgot to return to check if anyone replied!) - too much other stuff, sites, e-mails, etc. in the beginning it was just about all there was to refer too. now i look for the latest and greatest guidance. included thinking in my government work eg. strategies Inspiration! Inspirational for sure It allows some of us who visit to draw a sense of working as part of a larger undertaking. it created a space for dialog about creating a T NW entity to serve as a Regional Hub It definately helped us to get started and to apply to be an official initiative. I've often used the resources and links. it didnt make a difference to my initiative (when i was more active) because i was very focused on the tasks that i thought were necessary for our fledgling t initiative. it might be helpful to reach out, especially to new initiatives, and remind them to relax. but you may have to say it again. like, relax... no, really... relax. i find this questionairre to be outreach in that it allows me to express what i want. and no, i didnt really get the whole soft side of transition. what is it called, hearts and minds, or something like that. i respected the people that were interested in pursuing that side of transition, but it wasnt until i went on my p design course that it made sense to me. maybe calling it people care somehow made it easier for me to put my ego down. dont know. but im much happier now that i am aware of my emotions as a part of transition. now that im thinking of it, i did use the tn website quite a bit when i started out to reference things and for support, but it did seem a bit over there, if you know what i mean, when i was a bit stranded where i was, without much local support. the best thing i did was phone the tn offices. could someone be hired for the tn to respond to the people care side. i know its an impossible task, as they would probably be flooded with work, and it could be quite addictive work actually, making it twice as dangerous. just a thought, any way. It feels all too far away to be highly relevant and we are often so busy we don't have time to look It feels like there's enough to do keeping our own operation together and I only occasionally "remember" about www.transitionnetwork.org! It has been a good starting point, but I think more resources should be available, and easily uploadable in one place (perhaps this is already the case...?) It has been useful to see what is happening in other projects and to be inspired about we could eventually achieve It has enabled me to contact Peter North re local currencies -- very valuable! It has potential to be a wonderful resource for INner Transition, the place I will continue working in Totnes. But someone (me??) needs to put some time into galvanising this. It has the potential to make a difference but we're not that web- based at the mo. It hasn't attracted anyone who lives in my town, hence all I can do is chat with people in the greater region. It is a go to for the newsletter subscription and upto date links to resources and information. It is helpful when designing Transition Talks it is more about us not utilising it and being unsure on how to maximise potential & usage It is the only thing that connects other members to the network...we have had enquiries from people via it...makes people realise the benefits of our work go beyond our village...I am still working on getting people to do the reverse - learn from other initiatives..and liaise with them! It is very useful to know that this movement is going on, where local chapters are in the US, how we might get involved and what that would mean if we did. It is very usefull as a way of giving hope. It's not very useful because every different place as a different culture and so a different approach. It keeps me well intentioned, to create something that the world can believe in. I am so excited when I see my project featured on the side of the projects map, after adding content to my page. This keeps my project exciting, that there is a global network which my project is connected with, despite it's small size. This is good, I believe, because despite it's small size, the potential is there for great ideas to spawn. thanks, so much Al Freedom Heat It may have-- but I'm not aware how. It really makes me want to start something in our area It recognises mulling projects which focuses minds on what we are doing. It show that we are a part of something greater it sparked my interest in permaculture, which I now am part of in sweden, and also I think it was here I saw about guerilla gardening first? it took us a while to find things we wanted It was a good source of information when we first started. Also good to refer folks to who don't know what this is all about, and how many communities in the world are part of the "movement" It was where I found out about transition after a short conversation with someone on a course. Also we are using it for info on how to set up our initiative It will.... It's a challenge to keep the broader thinking of being part of a larger network in stride with all of the goings on locally - taking the time to reflect/record/celebrate while hitting the ground running. It's a source of information but we're spending most of our energies organizing right now. It's good to know it's there - can't recall a specific application but the more powerful it gets, the more there will be. It's great to be able to remind ourselves of the basics sometimes. Other initiatives/projects inspire us. It's hard to find any other people's ideas, contributions, trial and errors, other than Rob's. it's helped my general knowledge of Transition but havn't translated this into anything specific locally It's helped to spread the word wider about our events and often comes up in google searches for initiatives and project - helps me find the right people to talk to and find projects I didn't know about before. It's how I found out about my local group. It's inspirational - this social movement is happening around the world and this is an important connection! It's made us officially a part of a worldwide movement. It's our only public timeline so it gives an uptodate record of our growth. It's pretty easy to get caught up in the work at hand, especially awareness raising and developing relationships among transitioners and city/orgs/service groups, and not go looking for more info. Most of our group are barely aware of the world of Transition beyond the local, but a couple of us get Rob's blog and check out TUS and TN sites, report back to the group. What we've taken from it is a major interest in the pattern language book, project ideas (LETS time/stuff network, project ideas, etc). We have our own website and tend to use it to share the highlights or points of interest from multiple Transition sources. It's time it did! It's very UK-focused, not surprisingly. We are on the Canadian West Coast so we network with other initiatives on the coast and islands, mostly. The times I have added things to the site, something has always gone wrong: when I added our initiative it got marked as muller, not official, and I had to ask Ed to fix it manually: when I went to add a project, at that time it was UK only: and recently when I added our RSS feed, there's something wrong with it (our end, not yours, but it gets frustrating, you know?). Its a way to pass the word we're here just beginning to use just found it! or it found me with this surve! so hope it will make a big difference, but I'll need to translate most of what I find helpful. Just not geared in quite as much as I should be just the word. "Transition town movment" -- it carryes light, and hope. Keeps me optimistic - other people are making change happen. Keeps us in touch with the 'transition world' and great resources Lack of time and people to help Lack of time and proficiency Loads of info, so necessary to have online although should be more concrete examples of projects and HOW TO DO THEM(recipies) Loads of stuff to help us combat ignorance and apathy Lots of ideas and inspiration, in fact a surfeit of those - but translating to 'real world action' is harder - time constraints a big issue Mainly for accessing the primer, training info etc massively encouraged by the recent interview with christopher alexander, i contacted dealwithit and am attending the next meeting may be because we are not an English speaking initiative may have done, but i'm only a fringe contributer to our initiative me gustaria que las opciones esten en español, muchas gracias My fault, as not a project going yet My first visit to the web site was to learn how many transition locations thee are. I don't even know the language to talk about this yet. My second visit was to take this survey. This might be the place to say that I have other, higher priorities, and so have not time to make much use of the site. My interest is largely theoretical. I have a strong interest in sustainability issues and therefore scan a number of "green" sites. N/A n/a n/a N/A - I don't have a project NA NA Need to choose whether to devote my energy to local activities or diffuse with research on outside developments. Right now, former seems to be the wisest choice. new ideas No initiative yet No initiative yet. Web site problems have limited usefulness. no projects or initiatives near me Not a focus not a lot of computer savvy here Not actually involved in an initiative or project. Not appropriate at present Not as far as I'm aware but I'm only one member, others may feel differently.. Not as yet as we haven't had much time available to play with it. Not at, since, as mentioned, things are only about to start up here. Not been actively involved as yet. not bothered by the site Not currently part of an initiative, but would like to be someday. Not enough time to go on the site Not enought of us to take things on boeard! Not for me, but maybe for others. Not had much time yet (as I said before, I've been out for half a year). I think we will use it more often. I plan to integrate is stronger in our local work. I feel the need for a good website to share experience, find resources and to have an overview of how transition is doing. Some kind of overview or analysis would be helpfull in that respect, though not completely in line, I presume, with the aim of the website to provide a tool to let it come from the people. Not had opportunity to use it yet - see above. btw, I know there are 3 initiatives in my area - Waitati, Valley 473 & Port Chalmers (via NZ transition site). Only the first of these is on the initiatives directory (under another name). Not had time to explore it, website needs better links to subject being researched- definitely a mind map type interface which enables subtopics to be accessed. A neurophysiology friendly database Not in a project not in a project! Not in an initiative yet Not in initative currently not involved not involved in an initative or project; meet monthly with a peer group who communicate via e-mail list Not involved in one at present Not involved with a project Not listed on it - make sense if we were - i think we have done everything on the transition checklist - we are called sustainableredhill.org.uk Not many people seem to look at it. not reagionally applicable. some of the approaches and ideas are transferable. Not really got into using it yet. not really relevant to our activities - most people work together face to face Not really. Well, only insofar as it inspires some of our own projects. not sure not sure not sure - don't know who visits it. Sometimes your newsletters have reached our website, other times not. Not sure for this one would be a more accurate answer. Not sure, Our group is now quite big, and I personally look at the site but not sure how many other people do Not sure... not got the impression that its used by the group much. not that I know of not to my project or initiative, rather to my impression of the organization and how it goes about doing its thing. its calm, efficient and heart-based. Not too relevant not used it until just now - its a boring home page isnt it? Where's the gorilla? Not yet - we are not far enough along to really use Not yet because I have not utilized all it has to offer. not yet in a project Not yet, see activity descrilption above. not yet. I've used the TransitionUS site more. Now that there is Spanish material on the site, it can be of interest...but I/Transition Network need(s) to connect with the hierarchy to integrate into their structure. Obviously haven't used it enough, wasn't aware of all the stuff on it, newsletter should possibly feature website more prominently, to promote features which may be of use for TT groups. Occasionally a new interesting idea appears Once more people get in the habit of using it more regularly it will be very useful One of the great things about the transition initiative is having that wider support and connecting in nationally and globally - it gives a lot more confidence locally.I personally could use it more, however it has some great resources on there, like the primer, the recommended books and the initiatives map that is great. One part being another country on the other side of the world. Another part navel gazing. We send out our own newsletter, and just show the TN blog feed on our website. Only because I don't have one!! Only the Wiki existed when I first heard about Transition so it was where I went for basic information Only use for work research purposes at the moment. open minds! Others in our group have utilized the resources info, and I myself have found the information and forum discussions on inclusion and diversity has helped me to have a better understanding of the challenges in this area, as well as thoughts and feelings of other Transitioners on this subject. Our group are really only now getting the website/e message !! Our group is still really new and small and still trying to figure out how to increase our numbers before we move onto bigger things Our initiative rarely meets now because everyone is too busy. Our Transition initiative may be dormant, but I'm still thinking about it. Your website is a window into the world of people who are actually doing formal Transition. I'm also still quietly doing informal transition stuff, so the website helps with ideas and just psychological support. Our transition website is local (which seems appropriate) - but I actually envision the demise of the Internet (sad, as I use it for research / information most of the time) - but the Internet is a huge burden on money / pollution / minerals / energy (etc). passive visitor only People finding our site through network people in this area have enough problems getting their headds round a low carbon community as it is! PICKING UP IDEA`S FROM OTHER TRANSITION TOWNS Probably more than a bit , but less than lots.... REsources were great, help, especially at the beginning, the connections to other groups, helped see how, and what others were doing. Saw some really great projects, that inspired, and made want to replicate here Project not started yet. Re Totnes Pound Group: Don't know - ask Ben! I haven't been involved since the beginning. Really it is early days yet.... I am still trying to encourage people to come along to the site and investigate. I have a link to our community site but don't really know if people are using it. If you don't have that link it is difficult to find the Community Microsite, so a Transition Near me on the front page would be useful.... I take it you would have someone type in their post code or something. As a whole there is so much that is of use. It is a resource to share ideas and best practice... always invaluable. Reference the principles registering and being linked Resources are usefull. Resources at my fingertips 24/7 See 10 see above Sending traffic to our local initiative website. Using some reference material like the logo/branding guidelines Since we are new and just beginning and I am a leader to get us started, I am going to the site a lot to get talking points, help answering questions, and writing about principles, projects and training. So far, good general information on what to be doing. We intend to start using this site a lot more. So many people still confuse TTT and the Network. I redirect them and find info relevant to them. So much information presented in words without pictures. See how International Living- sends you a postcard to you everyday with feel good stories, secrets, and photos reminding us we want to live abroad and promoting help. Yes it is probably too commercial for you but there are lessons to me learned there. So much inspiration from others around the world, who are just a few steps ahead of us. It's wonderful not having to start from scratch. So much of it - I'd spend a week trying to find relevant bits Some interesting and thoughtprovoking articles, but I really have not used it enough Some members think TT network is the bible Some new ideas to work with some of the leader team members access stories and resources Some of us check it out sometimes. As a group we've fallen short on our web presence so this is just one aspect of not being up to speed. It makes a difference for those people who use it to connect to the wider network. some people find out about us and connected with our blog page SOMETIMES WE DIDN’T HAVE ENOUGHT TIME TO TRANSLATE EVERYTHING AND UPLOAD ALL THE INFORMATION Sorry, but we were already done, when I found this site. Starting out it is great to get some ideas Steph Bradley's walk was inspirational to help understand burnout and the need for Heart and Soul. We have modified our approach so that we are concentrating on fewer things, but they are things we are passionate about and they all have more than one core team member to work on them. Still new for me, but being aware of the larger context of enthusiasm is uplifting Still researching Th whole TT idea is clear for us now. We just need to find enough people capable to lead the project locally. The About page & Principals specifically got me to look up my local group The address changed & I couldnt find it The core team in CPTT don't seem to be hooked by it. May be them, may be the site? The french are just in a starting face, that is why we build the transitionfrance.fr to make more visible waht is going on, and i can not see who (except the hetherlands) is also using in that phase a portal The initiator of our local group could answer that question. the multiple choice answer not really appropriate - I dont really know , TTT has its own website it might make a difference to transition tales as this has a wider audience but not until i can build capacity for responding to enquiries hence not putting it there yet though I have a whole set of webpages written up! The original Wiki gave us a simple website. Since then, we've not used it much - we're probably missing out! The primarily foreign and English-based information can seldom be applied in local Swedish conditions. The project drivers are very different from the typical transition initiative but its aims are very much aligned with the transition movement's objectives. The resources have been helpful, we've had a few find us through the network. The site has so much on it and there is so little participation from the US that it is hard to find what is most relevant to my region and community. The most helpful thing for me is the Pattern Directory. It's great to have the second edition of The Transition Handbook developed as a collaborative project! The Transitions org needs to initiate some "organizational" tools for helping people locate, group and initiate Transitioning. Much like a centralized educational system for sharing information and connecting people on a more local level. Make All Associated Websites use a "unified" menu which will give all groups total access to all info so there is no "hunting down" info - even on the web it can be daunting. The website and the newsletter helped put us in touch with Catrina, which was v valuable. The website enables me to update fast. It (like the quality of this survey) acts as a significant indicator of TT progress. The website is definitely needed because that's where we found the information to get us started: primer, official registration form, forums etc. But that was already there on the old site. The new site has potential, esp with its database of people and projects etc, but somehow There are a couple of other members of the group, one who has co- ordinated some of our events and one who set up our website and is our main press person, who very regularly explore the site and draw the rest of our attention to resources and approaches from it. I think therefore that the site's culture is woven into quite a lot of what we do, but I cannot be specific. There is helpful news and information There is no real initiative yet here in Israel. There isn't a transition initiative where I live. There's a lot of crossover with our own fledgeling community initiaitve. This doesn't apply to me since I don't have one yet! thnking in patterns Time is the big problem! With my work for Greenpeace and everything else locally, I run out of time. I wish there was more than 24 hours in a day. Too many words to wade through Too soon to say Transition groups are key clients for CAT's services Unfortunately, we just don't have the time to access the website. We are all busy, many involved in political parties, opposition to cuts, other, local initiatives (this is all sounding a bit like a long list of excuses...) and we don't have time to look at the Transition Network site - perhaps we should. Unsure -- I am not a driving force behind our efforts. Used resources such as Primer, but have had no one contact us via the site. Used the Powerpoint to launch ASCENT - that was critical to making it a Transition Initiative. Am in touch with other local TIs useful for Garden share scheme as documents were there, but we often feel we're reinventing things Useful for resources and to hear how other initiatives are dealing with certain issues, particularly diversity issues Useful reference site in the early stages, then occasional use to check for new information. Useful resource. Helps us remember that we're not alone, because it can be hard to keep up the big effort required. Usually, not very useful. Very locally focused. Hard to get members thinking wider. Time constraints seem to be overwhelming We are all too darn busy to get more benefit out of it. We are always looking for ideas. We are genuinely focused on local, and local for us is here. It is taking all our energy and is very rewarding - energy building locally. Leaves less and less for putting energy outward. Our next priority apart from immediately local are neighbouring Transition Initiatives, then Brisbane Transition Hub. So you're there, just down the queue. That's Transition for you! Local! we cant build up sufficient numbers to take an interest We decided early on that we didn't /couldn't fit the criteria for Transition. we don't use the website We frequently look at the news from TNet. We would appreciate a more updated resources selection when it comes to documents. For instance, it would be awesome to see all the Peak Oil Task Force reports in one place. We go to other sources for technical stuff - architecture, renewables, spotting boondoggles, win-win solutions to go for we have enough ideas generated locally We have had a couple of emails from folk via the network listing.... I think!... we have our own ways we operate that works We have our own web site. We have started a local Quaker sustainability group and one of our members read a lot from the site and this was very helpful in her/our thinking as we were starting off. She is less of a luddite/has more time for surfing than I do. We have used some of the material but not lots. We haven't really got our initiative going - I just look to see what transition means and what other folks are up to. we just don't refer to it, though this survey has made me have a look for first time in ages. We're all too snowed under. I think most of our active members barely look at our own blog, neverming anything else about transition! Perhaps it just doesn't draw people in, eg no pics/images on the home page, which I think is needed, as well as text. We just haven't been using it.... We look for ideas, but haven't really connected globally yet. Should, though. We mostly communicate with other nearby initiatives and the flemish transition network We simply don't access it regularly enough We use it as a reference tool when we need guidance. What have others done, what has been successful? We don't always find what we are looking for but sometimes the contributions to the website have been very helpful. With over 400 signed on .ning members it is difficult to know how the website is being used by the membership as a whole but I do know the seven initiators make regular visits. We use it to send people to to save us re-saying stuff. Gives new people a good sense of what they are getting involved with so we can concentrate on local basics. We use the website when we're stuck We used it to support us getting charitable status We used the primer We used the wiki a lot to begin with but now have our own website. I think i may use it more in the future though. We do link our site to your site. We were too focused trying to organize local events to spend much time networking with other groups. Had we gained more momentum, I think the site would have come in handy for resources etc. We're based in Canada & much of this info is quite UK-focused. That said, we've used it to help give newcomers to the Transition idea some background & context, and to help articulate our own vision. We're doing our own thing. I guess people read up on what's happening elsewhere; I know some folks have been to the big conferences too. We've got our own local website and that serves our initiative locally and regionally. We're on the map, and have been for a long time. We've looked at other places for ideas (but not much) Well I think we look to you for guidance, help finding our way as a new group, building a sense of worldwide community, that we are not alone... Well maybe it helped original founders of the group. It only helped me by directing me to my local Transition group. Well, it seems that there currently is no local initiative well, most of what i've done to prepare is common sense. store food, garden, pay off debt/mortgage. i've been working towards this for years. What I read gives me thinking materiel When trying to gaarner local interest it was my main resource, plus Transition handbook when we started to gather here in zadar, and started talking about permaculture and projects in town, we were directed towards your web site by our english friend Rakesh When we wanted to announce upcoming events Whilst we were operating it was good to be able to link through and contact other nearby groups. With documents and information, useful for classes Without having met up with local individuals who are interested in Transition, I find it hard to be motivated to look things up Yes, I did receive response last year from TT s in Uk, so this encourages me to continue for this year. Yes, it's a great resource to use to find out about Transition in between meetings, especially when you're a new member Yes, you guys were emerging the same time we were and I was totally preoccupied with getting local work done. I used the site when it first started to keep track of what was going on and the TUS started their site and now I hardly visit your. Your support in building it was helpful. Don't think anyone has found us because of website though...

CAN YOU FIND THINGS YOU ARE LOOKING FOR ON THE SITE? IS IT CLEAR ENOUGH? ? 1. a 'resources' section, linked from the most visible (=top?) menus - this wd go to the primer etc, and to a place we can buy the TT handbooks 2. events - national events shd stand out from all the local ones; and access them from a top level menu, not 2nd level A clear site map would be useful. A few icons A map of initiatives Again anything specific to your own initiative is not so easy to find. Although the overall structure is clear and logical, it is not always easy to filter the large amount of information to find what is of interest to me, eg to find speakers nearby that can do a talk on renewable energy etc. analytics - see examples using silverlight http://www.silverlight.net/ I would be interested in the ability to slice and dice information from the site to look for different trends. as above As TN functions develop I think the menus need a bit of restructuring. I like the database structure. As you know I don't think the patterns grouping is helpful for understanding the structure of Transition. I think this may need research to find out what questions people want to get answered. auto cue by topics that can be cross-linked to projects, initiatives, etc. Better searching - but I'll always say that.... but ... as often happens with sites run by Content Management Systems (including www.transitionpenwith.org.uk) it can seem like a bit of a maze can't figure out how to edit my initiative. Could just be me Create picture links on homepage for most visited areas of the site Don't change it - You have it right now - Ignore my comments about adding more front page stuff that should be some where else ( A local newspaper perhaps?) Dont know enough to suggest Edit it down - fewr words, same information Good internal search tools ? Clear site map ? Google maps for initiatives etc are great - but not so helpful to open at global view (though this does help convey the global reach of the network) Haven't really looked enough. Haven't tried. I am sure if I were part of a TN official group the framework would work better. but without KNOWING what each area is up to its a long process to find specific project info. I have been reluctant to spend the time to learn your system....for me it has been easier/quicker to find info on Google/facebook/scribd/ other... I couldn't find a place with a record of people in my area who are interested in getting something going in the area I did have some problems finding initiatives and getting contacts for people involved from the website, but I think that has changed I didnt find the definition of TT trough the homepage/ above the website. I always go to check on the upper menu. It took some time more to see there was an immediate link at the right. And as I said, I was looking for more renewing or in depth projects on mobility/transport. I don't have a detailed response but I don't think the navigation is ideal. I don't like those google maps - they take ages to load & are very disappointing to try & use. But that's not your fault. I don't use it that much i find it easy to find things because i know how, i am not certain it is so easy for a novice I found flash cards, but they downloaded as gibberish text. I had a look, there's loads of stuff there - I'm trying to be upbeat. Some people like reading more than me. Its true I never made it through War and Peace - tho I did manage a good number of classic texts. I have looked for stuff before and not found it... such as putting diversity into the search engine and not finding anything about Cat's work. This may have changed since I did it, more may have gone on the website recently about that. Also I recently searched it for Draught busters and drew a blank.? I have seen a tag-cloud on some sites, but I think the Search function is more than enough. I think it is more a problem that some content just does not yet exist, e.g. a list of tasks where local government are needed (i.e. some tasks are for individuals, some for the Initiative, some for local government, some for businesses, some for other groups -- I'm thinking of a responsibilities matrix showing the list of tasks and who is involved). I haven't been lately but always found i difficult to find other initiatives. I love the "mullers" page on the UK site. I just did a test search for "food co-ops" - a bit slow and not the best listing. Any way to give a new user thematic help like this? I know in the past I have been able to find things, but it has been ages since I have used it. I need to discover it before I can comment I need to know what I'm looking for first! Some things could have 'shallower' locations (i.e. not so many links to get to them)--specific transition pages/information. I stopped looking after I got no response from the higher ups in regards speaking with me how I can help every Initiative in every state in the USA. As I can be licensed in every USA state in about 3 weeks and $150.00, as a professional engineer. Civil (this includes construction) I think the directory idea is a good way of categorising things. It would probably benefit from more pictures which people can click on. People don't often read headlines but will respond to a visual. A less linear approach, too, no one ever scrolls down to the bottom of the page, but might click through if something catches their eye. I think we have discussed some of the problems I have had...and it is developing...I would need to be more objective ...not today! i've not had occasion In anticipation of a low energy future are you setting up the Monastery and training the novices to copy your books nicely? in my book "ok to find things is GOOD" It just very wordy - like most sites! It depends upon what you are looking for. it is more of a case of making it enough of a priority to spend a couple of hours just looking around that always feels like a luxury I dont have its very slow to respond on my machine which often puts me off waiting and makes me eager to get off the second I have the info i need It would help to be able to see all the boxes (top stories, lastest initiatives etc) below the welcome bit .. i've often missed them on the home page, so moving them upo so they were visible would be good. It's the nature of a big site that everything can't be placed right in front of you, or it would be too confusing to look at. I think the structure is designed logically, but many people will just use the search facility if it's not obvious at first glace. You might consider upgrading to the google search facility, there is a small charge for the version without advertisements, but it;'s probably worth it. Its more about my personal capacity and time to go to the website... I havent realsised how it can support me yet and havent invested the time to research that.... Just an awful lot of really useful information to wade through! just make it obvious people can search for any word and find stuff - make sure the site finds all related content and displays it nice. keep it simple stupid lokk at recommended sites and how they do it Looks sensibly arranged, can't wait to dig deeper. Hope I can find some inspiration from it to apply in my local area. Maybe a contact page for USA and where to go, what to do next Maybe the menus should be a bit more intuitive, and maybe a bit more elaborate? Might just be my computer skills and level of distraction that makes it harder for me to find things. Mind map or title and subtitle format More sophisticated search engine would be great more use of colour, more graphics Nice to find things that you weren't looking for outside your expectations More tools and sample invitations for hosting good meetings no No --See above - each Transition site has its "own forest of links" - unify them, integrate all initiatives and be a force! no idea really some way to connect better but then i probably need to investigate the forums more.. no opinion none yet not a lot to find tbh Not always obvious where things are. Not as intuitive in finding things as I would like -- seems to make searching complicated Not looked enough to comment usefully. Not practised much yet Not really used it often enough to comment Not sure yet, but my initial approach was top-down (start at the top, read everything, link on every link). Very organized and impressive and comprehensive. Not sure what will happen if and when I need to do a search on a specific subject. I'm sure it will be fine, though. Not there enough to run into issues. occasionally have to look about a bit for what I'm after but mostly quite easy to use ok ish. I haven't found it the easiest site to navigate but perhaps I give up too easily - but maybe i give up cos of the above, ie it's not 'attractive' in some way. There's way too much text c.f. pictures/graphics/images - be good to have some pics/clearer headings on various 'home pages' to take you onto a further page to find out more. On the Transition Initiatives Directory search, it would be handy to be able to just enter a postcode and a radius in miles to see what's going on nearby. pastel colours are hard to read Perhaps easy to find if you know what you want e.g. when I want to find an initiative. But I didn't know abuot the patterns so didn't look It is clean looking, which is a plus Put the forum on the front page. If this content is updated regularly, it will get me coming back every day to check out wahts new. If its the same boring home page and takes me several clicks to find new content, I won't bother. recent user - not yet up to date to comment remove drop downs. Not good design. SEARCH FUNCTION IS SLOW - HOW ABOUT LETTING GOOGLE DO THE SEARCH USING THEIR TOOL? see above See above - less is more, where I'm concerned See previous comment Seems okay. I think there is too much information/links on the home page which makes it seem uninteresting. Needs more visual stuff to create interest in wanting to look more. simplify, use colour coding? Make it visually stronger Site navigation is very good and easy. Sometimes - see above re TTandC resources once signed in... Sometimes difficult to quickly find the initiatives by location... Sometimes the search function is imprecise. It would be good if sitemap/headings to places were also returned, rather than just individual pages sometimes too much going on, found things I was not looking for. Struggles with using the right search terms, might just be a language thing but I've looked a couple of times for things without luck, later was provided via email with a different set of terms and had multiple hits. Not sure how to fix this one! Suspect this is down to web overload and a lack of my time to become familiar with the site. the search button never takes me to where I want! There is no easily accessible central, intuitive map or graphic of the website to show how you move around the website and what is available. To be honest I've not looked at it too much just lately. But that's no reflection of its value. I used it more when first finding out about Transition and tried to find other interest in previous place I lived. Had some trouble when forums where on the old website... too soon to know Top bar with more extensive drop down menus instead of the infuriating scrolling to the bottom, and ugly fat buttons on the right, especially if you are going to put even more featured stuff on the front page Well, transition New Haven, in CT wasn't on here for a while, i even forget how i wound up finding them, but they are in Connecticut, USA. I don;t know if they are on now, but either way, that would be their issue I think, not this websites.. What doesn't work? I put my postal code and country in (Canada) and I get UK results only. Don't know what's going on. When I have gone there I was not able to find what I was looking for. Also when I have referred others they have found it confusing. Would like clearer links to main resources and support. Yes, give a translation to everyone's language You need to get people to put stuff up on the site - the maps are so incomplete as to be almost useless - there are, for instance, no projects listed at Totnes, which is absurd (and when i get back, I might at least try to get the food projects up there!)

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE NEWSLETTER’S FREQUENCY? 2 monthly as there are lots of relevant e-newsletters these days. Though people full time into TT would probably prefer monthly. My use of site & group is probably not a reliable guide compared to use by those involved in TT again less is more !! Also, maybe with less of a Brit focus. As long as something in it hits me in the eye and makes me read on... Bear in mind there are other news sources - the daily transition digest, TC and TVoice...and no doubt there are regional ones too... bi monthly would be ok Bi-monthly I think would be great or quarterly is fine too but no more than a month. bi-weekly? but it seems to come round really fast but only because I get so many emails & never read them all! Can't access all the articles Don't care don't recall that I received it each 15 days Every couple weeks would also be nice Every two months would be best. Every two weeks First time i've seen it fortnightly would be good Haven't really read it. But it should really be a UK big picture (small) Local picture (Big) i actually enjoy robs blog more and find it good frequency -sound bites i read about 70 % of posts fully. have found the last few newsletters unwieldy and haven;t read them as i feel informed by transition culture? dont know if thats useful or not... I didn't realize there was a newsletter - sorry! I am so overwhelmed with info that I just go looking for what I want when I want it and read very few things that are sent to me unless specifically requested. I don't recall receiving it, but i'm pretty harsh with deleting stuff. Not because it's not interesting, but just lack of time. I haven't been seeing the Newsletter! I've signed up now though! I like the newsletter! I need to discover it before I can comment I never read it. I really enjoy having this arrive in my Inbox as I can get a "form at a glance" sense of what's happening in transition world I really like the comprehensiveness. I skim it for info and news. Any more and I probably wouldn't look at it I think 4 times a year is fine, I used to read it all when it was less frequent and we didn;t quite know when it would come now it feels like yet another thing to add to the to be read list I'm quite busy and don't have time toi read through it all the time. I've signed up for it twice but have never actually received it. If change in the world accelerates, or when it does, maybe twice a month would be a good idea. If you have a good dynamic website, a newsletter is obsolete. An RSS feed or monthly reminder email of website highlights coan be used to prompt the less regular visitor to jump on to the site. It has too much of stuff. Arctic Startup is another newsletter I'm interested in and they have only 1-3 stories per issue. I think you must limit it around 5, and/or make regional newsletters. See Arctic Startup here: http://www.arcticstartup.com They're one of the best Internet RSS/newsletter communities I know. Copy. Learn. Repeat. :) it sometimes is too much information, I don't get through it. Like every 2 weeks, so there could be fewer listings and more info about what IS listed. Maybe a quarterly one would be better - for me anyway, as I'm always swamped with emails and stuff I want to/should read and often can't catch up to. Monthly is good, with perhaps occasional shorter supplements in between, should an occasion warrant it. more contact is better. send a postcard of something that reminds them of your site at least ones a week with something interesting with an unsubscribe option. People serious about transition do it everyday. A transition movement needs energy expressed. Music on a site is annoying but a video of someone singing a passionate song is invigorating. My perception is that there are a lot of things happening, it seems a very dynamic time so more frequent news would be helpful. It's also a motivator to see others progressing. N/A - It's just a bunch of earth people doing earthy things that aren't minimizing the worlds carbon footprint, only theirs. And their willing to live in tents and wood homes and don't mind sweating. Never read it. Not sure I've ever receive it Okay - once a month is great. The rest of the time I'm being swamped by rhinos in need of cash and other world saving urgencies. once the connection are completed , we can exchange ideals / info weekly , so as to keep peoples attention span from going into " sleep mode " Please send me the newsletter!!! quarterly Really good and informative - easy to scan and well writen Really like the newsletter. It prompts me to go investigate the site etc, rather than other way around. see above Seems OK now. Shorter bulletins are good if there is "breaking" news of importance. the emails from Rob are extremely frequent, a digest might be more efficient for the more frequent messages. The newsletter is the best support we have found from the larger transition coordinators. This is the most useful thing for me. I like the format too. this is very useful and i always make sure that TEV has a link back to your website so that our viewers can read the newsletter online in their time. V inspiring, full of ideas that we pick out for our news too.... Could be far less England-centric though. weekly weekly What newsletter? what newsletter? Why are there only 900 subscribers? How about if Rob gave away prizes [new book] to two members of it, and we tried to get the number up to 10,000 globally. We've sold 500 Transition Handbooks in my town alone. There MUST be 10,000 people who want to get the newsletter. It's not that long. You may need to email me with 'stop press' You're supposed to be practicing the lifestyle at home, monthly is enough to allow you to get on with the garden as well

PLEASE CHOOSE WHAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE MORE OR LESS OF IN THE NEWSLETTER - the venus project - gett into it. transition town stand so alone. yet ever strong <3 ? (Summaries plus links to more details works well) a list of whats needed in the way of surveys reports research which people could propose for academic or market research Lots of people are signing up for reseaerch qualifications or have experience in Market research who might like a project to take forward which would benefit as sound info for decision makers locally nationally and globally a little less talk, a little more action bayba... Advice on group member selection & processes to assist in the formation & operation of transition groups, & how to deal with conflict. All - with links to website. As in current design. It allows a quick glance down page to relevant sections then link to larger info on site. All of the above are good ideas - draw the viewer into the site and get folks talking. Although we (and I mean me, too) have the ablity to make things interactive we still remain static (so I think that folks who grew up on books, not the net are designing things) Anchors in the contents list to the relevent article Another gorilla for consistency :-) Argh--you're doing a great job, keep it up. You're making great choices, I support you in these choices. Don't think the site needs tweaking, go out an plant your potatoes! As I am not in a project, again, don't really feel ok to comment. i am linked in out of general interest, to support the concept, and for future info. As much as I am curious about what is happening in the UK, it would be more useful for me to see news and information from the US. As the economy here slides, crime is going up, even in our tightly- knit island where crime has typically been negligible. Example: Garden vegetables and garden tools are being stolen, in particular, which is discouraging community gardening. The local RCMP work hard to catch thieves, but the police are only marginally effective. How are other communities coping with the issue of maintaining the rule of law, especially in remote areas where decent incomes are disappearing? can not comment. Can't comment as I don't read it regularly Can't have any opinions if I haven't seen a newsletter yet. Can't really say as I haven't used it enough Cannot compare since I have never received it but I have put 'more' to anything I would like to see in the newsletter. Case studies clearer ability to tweek settings so you get sub-sets of newsletter. ie events in my area, in my language, etc. Not all that keen on links to other countries that are in other languages, but at the same time it's important for others to have this option. comments on government policy and ways of changing proposed anti-eco bills Connection with other initiatives outside TT Don't know Too be honest I see Transition as something that we try to do in our local community and for me the website doesn't really impinge on this, yet. easily navigable members lists and details so we can communicate with each other events also from local groups in other countries more Funding sources and ways to connect with others for funding bids. What if TT's access EU funding this would take a joint bid from several TT's. Collective power with groups working together on mass to make real change. global trends regarding sustainability and green living. or have categories and update each one monthly. ex: water, trees, buildings, food security, etc... Gorillas of all sizes Have not been reading them. Maybe I will take more of a look in the future. Have the initiatives speak about themselves haven't ready the newsletter yet. How about a roundup of Transition in the 'mainstream' - media, parliament etc.? How many and who have done EDAPs How to Build the safest, strongest, most mold resistant, non- combustible, non-flammable, termite proof, LEAST Carbon Footprint by three teenagers: ie one athlete and two other girls that want to work. humour. transition joke of the month, let's have some lightness too!!!!! hyperlinks connecting directly to the websites I am not familiar enough at present to comment - this applies also to the rest of question 15. One of the things our group has been preoccupied with is the type of structure we should be evolving to make our group truly participatory in its activities and how we work with organisations that are very hierarchical. We are also concerned about the interface with social entreprises and businesses when we want to share knowledge freely. We feel that growing our organisation in the best possible way is a really important aspect of running a successful group. We still have a lot to learn about this. I don't know what you mean by Patterns. The UK-originated stuff uses different and strange (to me) wording and style, e.g., the "big gorilla" above. Can't you be just serious? UK sense of humor is weird. (Sorry) I don't want too much- I don't get time to follow many stories up but I did really like the edition that covered the gathering/conference or what ever it was called. I don't yet feel in a position to judge. I know that I am looking for and trying to launch checklists of a place's preparedness for the energy decline. I happen to think that is the first step, and so that is what we are focusing on, because we are new to Columbia, MO. I generally find it a good read because it gives a wider perspective on transition activity than the local group can achieve. I think it is important to continue showing the bigger picture and offering encouragement to local groups as it can sometimes be a struggle to remain upbeat. I have real challenge to read it all.. I havent used it enough yet to say i like it as it is. again, there's no screaming fonts or assaulting colors. and i like the tone. it's honest. if the newsletter could also include what's going on around me, i'd like it even more. I like the mix now, whatever it is... I need to discover it before I can comment I really appreciated the future 'case stories' in Rob's book such as the Urine collector business woman. Visionary potentials like that is great inspiration, and may even harvest a smile at the same time... I really can't make any comment on these due to lack of longevity to this group. i think its good i dont know what patterns updates is I think the newsletter is brilliant, the digests give you the picture and you can just pursue the ones you want in more depth. It always makes me feel that huge amounts of things are happening, everywhere, WOW. I think the newsletter is good, and draws people onto the site I think the newsletter may be reaching people who don't make a point of visiting the website - so its good to have headlines and summaries and links to what's accessible elsewhere. This can be recent changes, or just a regular scroll round the resources available. I think you can already spot I'm an avid reader I'm so lost, I don't even know what I want. I'm sorry, I have to confess that I've got this far without knowing what a Pattern is. If it's Pattern as in Design Pattern then it sounds jolly interesting! I've only received 1 so far (just signed up this year) so it's pretty hard to comment yet. Ideas for the normal person to try to be greener! In the archive especially, the table of contents should have links to the articles. It depends on what the newsletter is aimed at. If it is for Transition Network then it needs to be for an international network of practitioners. Natioanl, regional and local newsletters take on a different flavour. It's fine - I just skim it to keep an eye on what's going on. Its pitched about right for me. just a variety of what ever is live just like a clever ideas section for some banter and maybe something just to stimulate thought in a different way. Less international Less patronising tone. "Transitioners, Low Carbonistas, game changers all over the world!" That's just embarassing. We are people, not sad, aging teenagers. Every time you go "gosh, wow" I stop reading. Links to external news sources maybe an occasional personal interview with someone heading up really interesting work or ideas. It would feel more like we know each other a bit more at conference etc. Maybe put it more compact, like a digest. For me it's too much information. More links and less text. Meetings - be there if it is useful - lobbying ie telling those with the power the changes we have to have More articles tackling national issues related to local experience more connection with other grassroot initiatives around the world, for example, what is the connection between transitioning here and changes in the middle east? More featured articles about issues, philosophy etc More highlighted material, sorry to say its a bit too parish press for me. more open attitude towards the outsiders whom could become assets More photos in the newsletter. e.g. Check out the newsletter from Sieben Linden, how it links to further info but supplies inspiring pix. More pictures... more worldwide news National Hub News News in your local area e.g.per county etc would be useful to see who's doing what nearby, as I feel close initiatives need to support each other. not able to make this assessment yet, but since one of my goals is to make "Transition Town" a household word here in Richmond Hill, I would like to see a fun-loving section on website that makes a big deal everytime the phrase is used in the media (round the world). not sure - I glaze over a bit when it comes in - it feels a bit political and serious Not sure at the moment ok On reflection I don't read it that much, mostly I imagin becuase so much labeled transition locally is so at odds with what I heard initially from Rob and co, the tone of the web based information and training. Once again if this is going to be an international site and newsletter it needs to be less UK focussed. Patterns update not needed as it is on TC...everyone should subscribe to that! Events should only be regiona/national/international.... people doing transition in photos on the first page + videos, songs, headlines, progress reports... like obamas presidential campaign- a movement for change with moviestars and songwriters and bloggers and videos- Obama Girl - make it inspiring and entertaining if you really want to get more onboard transitioning Personal stories of being involved with Transition Personally I am happy the way the newsletter is progressing. It will change /respond as everything does to future needs. Personally I am not too interested in what is going on outside the UK, unless it is something really big and important - It's interesting to know where new initiatives have started (that is is reaching places like Ibiza!) but I am interested in the things that affect everyone - e.g. the latest transition news in the UK - progress with parliament, Bristol developing their action plan and any influence it has been having on the wider society. Personally I would like access details for events/conferences etc where those events are publicised by TN. It seems to me that access for disabled people is not a priority for the T movement, and I have to keep pushing to get basic information that ought to be supplied in the very first piece of publicity. Pictures - I'm not a big reader! pointers to new things both on an off the website that are pertinent, salient descriptions of transitioning re question 17 option5 ( no space to comment!) UK community languages might be more relevant e.g. for us Punjabi, but also Urdu, Tamil & Bengali Really hard to answer this, (sorry) because I so rarely read it with the attention it deserves. Events, unless local, are of little interest, as we haven't the time or the money to travel to London/Devon... recipes, how to's, funding sources, equipment for share, sale regional content Seems very useful to me as it is. Segmentation between more local stuff and more big ticket national stuff Short descriptions with links So far I think it is fine. Sorry -- I don't read the newsletter - too overwhelmed w/ info :( Sorry cant really comment - it's all good stuff once I look at it but I wouldnt spend time on blogs Sorry to say but videos rock. They are more engaging and demand less than reading text. So... if you can give one video in each newsletter? Or Youtube channel, maybe? I know, we're getting lazy. Sorry would need to refer to newsletter and don't have time right now! Re Patters: I wonder how many readers understand what they are? Same thing as Ingredients? Sorry, I don't know what patterns are?? Sorry, I've never read it properly Start with latest initiatives and then link !! stories from real people doing green stuff in their everyday life - with photos & video links. Stories on successes and how to replicate them in your community. Technical stuff The amount of things on the newsletter really will depend upon if you are going to go to HTML as text is very limiting content wise The Sustainable Farming Association - MN we belong to does 2 news letters. One is state-wide and the other is more "local to us" so it gives us the best of whats going on. Its a unified message but has locality as a priority. Theoretical discussions. For example, I thought the discussion of 'inclusiveness' very valuable. We're grappling more with what 'resilience' means & what builds it locally & what doesn't. We need deep thinking on this, because the local discussions need well- formed answers. This is the philosophy of the movement that gives us vision & empowers the movement. Local stuff is only relevant if it is extracting the deeper generally applicable lesson. What absolutely doesn't work is any sense of local events that people in other countries can't possibly attend. The Newsletter needs to be very careful not to have a local UK feel as it is a global vehicle. If there is a place for a local UK newsletter, that should be something quite separate. The Newsletter is valuable and we are now forwarding it on to our members. It gives a sense that the movement is global, and that what we are doing locally is part of a big picture. That is very valuable. theres always one thing in it that i like, usually newsy To emphasize: more exemplary projects, instructive stories, and helpful resources. I think the exchange of experience between local initiatives is the most important thing the Transition Network can provide. Also, more pictures would help to brighten it up. Um, well you could add a few pictures. Okay I think you get the drift now. What's a pattern by the way. I'm thinking I don't know the jargon. So please don't compromise your work by listening to my ramble. Unfortunately I don't read it very much but it's good to know it's there! We need inspiration, we all do don't we? We need the inspirational stuff to keep our working groups tied to the core values of the movement what are pattern updates? what are patterns updates? what do you mean by 'patterns'? what is a pattern? What is a pettern i dont get that option on the drop dowm! What's the difference between an initiative and a project?? whatever is working at a national level here or abroad - inner transition stuff would be good - how people moved from 4wheel drive to cycling kind of stuff but in a good inclusive way Whatever you think it good. I mostly look for inspiration Works fine as it is for me good balance all round. like the indexing so i can choose which bit to read......

WHAT COMMUNICATIONS TOOLS DO YOU USE FOR YOUR INITIATIVE? .ning, Facebook, Twitter, personal email tools, gmail, (n.b. TF for Transition Falmouth, TCN for Transition Cornwall Network) Emailing Lists: Yahoogroups (TF/TCN), Online Fora: Postnuke (TF) Elgg (TCN), blogs for groups and members: Elgg (TCN), Micro-blogs: Twitter (TF) All above were answered for the period we were active (Jan - Oct 2010) Email and E-newsletter: Gmail; Local noticeboards: churches, groceries, community college, nature centers; Local press: newspaper Are any of these being used by B&H? as an activist I use all of these above, but not within the transition work, since it is right now dormant As I don't send out the mailing myself am unable to say. As I'm so new I don't feel I can adequately answer this. Blog on wordpress, email-list/newsletter from rise-up, google group for initiating group only Blog, email list, community e-noticeboard blog, wordpress, mailing list, google groups, facebook group, local radio, Youtube, newspaper online blog (weekly), 2 community blogs with RSS feed from our website (reach 15,000 households in town), teleconferencing with Free Conference Pro, skype and Maestro primarily for Transition US webinars and trainings. We've made a deliberate effort to rely on personal contact and live meetings to develop relationship within our intiative, and other than email updates all meetings are face to face. Blog: Word Press w/ plugins: G-Lock double Opt-in Newsletter, Wordbooker Facebook integration, Event calendar, Simple Flickr photostream, and ggis Subscribe for MailMan maillists Blog: Wordpress Emailing list: Manually BCC sending to subscribers through Gmail blog: wordpress mailing list: google groups and linkedin facebook, twitter, online newspaper... Blogger in the main blogger, google groups Blogger, Google groups, Vimeo blogger, twitter, youtube, facebook blogger. home made email list via personal yahoo account; we do have a shared gmail account and just started using for shared docs among core group. have a twitter account but not active. have flickr but only 2 people using it. have a facebook thing. Blogs : Facebook group blogs (for colour and flexibility) , email lists, email newsletters, local shop windows for posters, local press for events Blogs and Online Fora: all through the http://transitionvba.ning.com website. We also have Facebook page integration now. I keep the email lists on my gmail account at the secretary. Blogs I think Wordpress (or blogger??) ... it's only used by group leaders as far as I can see; press + Dorset Echo, View from Dorchester Blogs, Mailing lists, Facebook, Utube, Google for Direct Contact with people who are unaware of their effects on our environment - very useful. Then emails via hotmail. blogs: blogger mailing list: google groups Blogs: on our website; Emailing list: Google groups; Press: free community or city-wide newspapers with events calendar listings Blogs: Wordpress E-newsletters - tool Dreamweaver to write and MailChimp to send out. Micro-blogs - Twitter Facebook Emailing Lists - Google group for Somerset Transition Local Press: Somerset County Gazette (variable success is getting something in), 10 Radio - local community radio, BBC Somerset (radio) Local shops/noticeboards - local health food shop, few noticeboards in the district. Blogs: wordpress.com; Microblogs: Twitter; Mailing lists: Joomla! extension; Online fora: Kunena for Joomla! blogspot, google groups, googlesites, skype, wikipage chat; skype / email list through our Drupal site/Same for E- newsletter/Word of mouth: Ears and mouth (Duh!) Collected email addresses, my mouth, the phone when I can find it in the kids bedrooms, relationships with cafes etc (mouth again) Local rag, but am looking for the smaller newsletters too communitykit website, blogspot, email Computer/Google groups/hearing of meetings,etc.,that come up"on the grape-vine! constant contact, go daddy, gmail Contact list in Excel, friends and neighbours and local newspaper, Council paper, media releases Conversation with other interested people currently unknown Don't know DrupalGardens.com and lists.riseup.net E bulletins, paper bulletins for non IT people, Press releases, posters lealflets email list powerpoint for awareness raising with local groups, Facebook for allotment group routine phone use for general communication. E Data base 1750 names , Quarterly E Newsletter , Community Greenzine Quarterly Advertising our events ,Facebook big time ,Poster every event Announce in local papers e mails to groups, local newsletter, website..... what is 'onlin fora'? e-blast notifications of events; blog; Facebook; announcements in church; sustainability column, press releases, events columns in local papers; phone and email among Steering Group members when organising events e-mail - no idea, it's someone else; online fora - Grouply (but only three bother!) e-mail list self generated, some google groups E-mail list: File Maker data base E-newsletters: designed in Apple 's Pages, sent as PDFs via Gmail Blogs: available for members on our Drupal website Word of Mouth: our mouths :) Local Shop Windows/notice boards: fliers designed in Apple's Pages, posted at the local library, two local universities and assorted local small businesses Local Press: Community television interviews x 2, local newspaper (print and online x 1 E-Mailing List; adverts in local paper & news items occasionally; signs in shop windows for public events e-newsletter written in word cpied into outlook, sent to a list copied from exel posters done in word E-newsletters, blogs for our gardening group, word of mouth when out and about, phone when we need to, local press on events about to do and have done. E-newsletters: by just normal email for now, online fora: Ning, blogs: Ning and Wordpress, word of mouth: mouth, phone: phone, Local press: local public radio station (KPFT) e-newsletters: gmail, emailings: googlegroups, blog: wordpress email face book page email : gmail / blog : wordpress / e-mewsletter : wordpress / word of mouth : buccal cavity / phone : fixed and mobile shop- noticeboard : organic stores, museum, environmental and community center / local press : town and agglo level which are monthlys email / phone / volunteer website management / 'tame' radio journalist We are not currently using local shop windows but expect it to become very important when our local currency project begins to function email and e-newsletter are googlegroups. email group lists, newsletters left in shops and passed about, email newsletters and updates, word of mouth, phone, noticeboards and the odd shop with events posters, local press for big events and discussions. email list email newsletters wordpress blog twitter - use slightly word of mouth at work friends socially phone each other - chat and organise press - now and again but we lack skilled pr person youtube - used for showing films etc in news letters Email list are held by members using their own mail programs. - clunky but effective. We have some groups using google groups. E-newsletter sent out by an enthusisatic editor each month to email list. Some of our members have their own blogs on blogspot etc Word of mouth works well for events Phone lists are held but not used very often. Texting seems to work well. We have a regualrt weekly column called Living Lightly in the local newspaper (circ 30K) Regualr radio spots email list is just a reply-to-all in whatever email software you use email list, e news letters, blogs, print email list: google group; enewsletter: email; word of mouth: around the kitchen table, in the street; phone: phone; press: radio/tv Email list/online fora - googlegroups for now, but looking into ning Again, we're really new... still figuring out how to get the word out. We've also delivered some personal letters to neighbours we know. Email lists - currently google groups, intention to upgrade to PHPList of similar. E-newsletter - pdf once a month (various software) Blogs - currently blogger, but would like to integrate into site as module in future Micro-blogs - occassional twitter and regular facebook Phone - sipgate voicemail and individual members numbers when appropriate Local press - occassional press release Youtube - but probably flowplayer on our own site in future Not using yet: Teleconferencing / online chat - Skype conference calls are in the pipeline to reach people who can physically attend meetings. Local shop windows - has been discussed, but not specific plan as yet. Email lists for our group and to send editorial to all parish mags around us. Word of mouth, just answering people when they ask me, 'what is transition then?' Phone, mostly parish council business, trying to help them see life thru a transition lens.Local press for awareness raising thru monthly editorial. Email Lists: Google Docs Micro-blog: Facebook (well, thats how we use it mostly!) Youtube: Youtube Email, email mailing lists, google group, phone, e-newsletter, word of mouth, website, notice-boards... Email, Facebook, Twitter email, mailing list,googlegroup, radio, yuutube, vimeo email: gmail list blog: wordpress (just setting up now) local press: two local newspapers & their websites email: googlemail; e-newsletter: can't remember. I do blog but that's not TTL cos I like to be more radical sometimes oh and we love 'doodle' a free tool for planning meetings. email: using google and yahoo - google email for our group members newsletters and e-newsletter: We have an online newsletter but it is not regular, we also circulate a printed newsletter at events but it is not regular either. Blogs: We have a blog on our website http://www.transitionedinburghsouth.org.uk/ Just planning to be on twitter and facebooks word of mouth - through events, networks of transition and community groups Phone: we currently have an office and three staff who also have mobile phones Local shops windows/notice boards, local press: We regularly run events and training events and these are advertised in local shops windows, libraries, community spaces, the local authority, the local press, local politicians etc. We have posted some of our events on Youtube emailing list emailing list and group emailing ability Emailing list- do it our selves with excel. E-newsletters and Blogs (through our website which I think is Drupal. Emailing list, blog, twitter, local shop windows/noticeboards/trees etc Emailing list, e-Newsletters: via our CMS website We had a forum on the site but no-one used it much & we had to take it down Emailing list: PHP list. Newsletter: PDF printout of the e-newsletter. E-newsletter: PHP list. Online forum: PHP BB. Micro-blog: Twitter. Local press: The Argus Emailing lists - google groups Graphicmail - e-newsletters Blogs - ask Charlotte as I find it too complicated! Word of mouth - Hmm! Phone - pick up and dial Local shops etc. - when we have events, we have fliers printed Local press - we've just aquired short column in local free magazine Emailing lists - not fully used yet but used occasionally, more to send out in the future no doubt. Enewsletters - this will happen but at present we are focussing on drawing people into the TEV website. Generally speaking our members and interested parties seem not to be very 'high tec'. We are trying as much as possible to initiate first hand experiences, green drinks evenings, public meetings, research and discussion groups, talks, film shows etc. Events are sometimes filmed and then put on You Tube for others to view. We use the local press and local community traditional publicity, buildings, street, shops libraries as much as possible. Emailing lists = Mailman & Google groups E-Newsletter = Google Mail Phone = phone & phone tree Local shop windows = flyers/posters Local press = environmental articles written for local paper Emailing lists via Project Dirt - Vital; E-newsletters - mac template Emailing lists, Newsletters, E-newsletters - GMail; emailing lists: currently one person's email software, switching to Mailman mailing list software. e-newsletters - as above blogs: our main site is a self-hosted WP blog under the hood twitter - blog posts are auto-tweeted, but that's about it word of mouth - duh phone - duh local noticeboards - footpower :) local press - duh emailing lists: Mailman Newsletters, E-newsletters: Open Office, and pdf-writer Online fora with email notification: Yahoo groups emailing, blogs Emails = Hotmail Blogs = Wordpress Word of Mouth = ! Phone = local phone line shop windows etc Press, Radio, Facebook Youtube, emails and newsletter sent by email emails; BBM ; and skype , yahoo messenger contacts and windows 7 messenger live web and conversation one on one errrrrrrrr mailing list, word press (I think) a project blogs, posters work well events and updates go out to e -mail lists Face book Facebook group Facebook-- you didn't mention that, nor Ning (which I can't stand) Facebook, about to start a blog, writing column for magazine on setting up Transition where I live facebook, e-newsletter integrated in joomla-website Facebook, mailing lists, email notifications. Facebook, Oulook email, google groups, groupe meetings facebook, twitter, email, utube, links to other transition sites, will begin to use google groups to collaborate (soon, I hope) FaceBook, website, group e-mail lists, google places Flickr using v.Important, Events with Ical using V.Important for mailing lists we use individuals email addresses...have discussed standardising... g-mail and Groupsite gmail email list wordpress site local community magazine other information sharing organistions EN4M, Whalley Range Forum, BigNoticeboard Chorlton google email list for Transition Somerset. Email newsletter via our website using drupal. (Soon migrating to wordpress) Google Group google group and own website google groups google groups for e-mail lists. google groups website conference info and dates google groups, e-newsletter , web , printed postcards, pull up banner for events, local free press. Google Groups, Facebook, PBwiki Google groups, individual emails PHPList Meetup forum Google groups, Newsletter via Microsoft Publisher, Blog hosted by Fasthosts & replicated to a blog we have on the local newspaper's website, Twitter, we have a phone number Google Groups, PDF newsletter e-mailed and available on the web site. Twitter and Facebook. Mouth. Telephone (mobile and bake bean can wire thingie). Noticeboards with posters for events. Err - YouTube! Google Groups, Wordpress Google mail, Facebook, google, wordpress googlegroups googlegroups, gmail, blog, web-page [email protected] group developed it's own e-mail list Groupsite - excellent! Every time we appear in the local papers, one or two new members join up. Groupsite.com ... It is amazingly good & free - covers all our online needs. Additional emails with PDF flyers are sent to neighbouring networks. We access existing youtube clips, but don't upload at this stage. Have our own website now. E-Newsletter is popular...traffic is good. Virtually impossible to get people to contribute content. Having good success with web advertising (google, facebook, and local weather page). Hey, I'm not the pepperoni geek, I'm the potato planter (permaculture garden designer, actually) I trust our local geeks and our local web guys to keep up-to-date with Web 2 Humans I am not taking advantage of resources at this site, rather use my own email list, my clients word of mouth, and You Tube because someone who has a station likes my work as it gives him a ton of hits. I don't have an initiative, all n/a. I haven't answered on behalf of TTT but for myself within TTT. I mention PACT events on Twitter and Facebook. I only said "yes" loosely, since we're in dormant mode. But from time to time the small group of us (about six people) do get together for dinner to chat in person about transition-related topics, and for that we are doing "word of mouth" and "phone," in a sense. I read e-Newsletters I receive from Transition US and Transition In Action, and I tell people I know about the Transition movement. i spread to some chhets to neighbours about a permaculture course. and a presentation of the handbook. i would like to be chat on transition page, and open email list. yes. Important I believe to prioritize personnel contacts around activities for getting out of cyber community living in an artificial world and rebuilding a sense of real community living and being involved in a real world In-house meetings Joomla tools (email lists, e-newsletters, online fora), Twitter, Facebook, we have a one-hour weekly program (broadcast daily) on local community radio that broadcasts exactly to our area. Our Joomla website manages membership to keep it truly local which is very important given that we are part of a big city & resources pour out of this region to big attractors. We aim to be no paper, and that is working. No postage. Almost no communication costs, but very wide coverage. We are also working to network with every local organisation & community leader, & have developed powerpoint presentations to deliver at breakfast meetings & the like. A big banner & marquee to have at local events to give visibility. Joining any & every local organisation & being active, rolling up our sleeves. just plain old email... Just regular gmail email Just word of mouth for the present. Will surely use all of above lip service lists: Google groups, fora: Google groups, blogs: don't know - I'm not blogging, local shops: tape & tacks & maybe staples, press: e- mail & phone listservs, social media website, Local paper - good relationship with the editor & local radio, shop windows occasionally, phone between main group, Word of mouth aligned with display boards at local events, email list for odds and ends and communicating with groups like Landcare etc. LOCAL PRESS ARE KEEN TO INCLUDE TRANSITION COPY (BLACKMORE VALE MAG, WESTERN GAZETTE) local server provides all web & email services, built on a typo3 platform. MailGroups - GoogleGroups Mailing & newsletter : private list We don't have our own website & tools yet, but it's coming soon. mailing list Mailing list mouth A4 posters Mailing list - Group Spaces. Also Facebook and we're just getting started on Twitter. We just got rid of our forum as no-one was using it. Our groups use both yahoo groups and google groups to communicate internally. Mailing list - standard email categories on btinternet.com. Blog: blogspot.com mailing list (but most users do not know who else is on it.) Mailing list (we have used from the start), google group - used byt not satisfactorily yet, blog (just set up), shop window (OK), press (Ok), web-site (out of date for most of the period we/ve been operating) mailing list google groups & Outlook group mailing, homepage builder: Web 2 Expression microsoft, wiki: wikispaces, skype, mixi social network site in Japan, Mailing list on google docs. Copy and paste into our ttc gmail account when sending out global emails. We also use Yahoo groups to mail core group members. mailing list- google groups for individual groups ie orchard group, food group, database of contacts for everything Mailing list, Blog site, walking Mailing list, Facebook, Twitter mailing list, friends, local businesses, local media Mailing list, Google groups mailing list, google groups, photoshop Mailing List, Googlegroup, Transition talks, Phone (for non PC users), local press - print Mailing list, weekly news email, Yahoo group, our own website on wordpress, flyers, Facebook Mailing list, Wordpress for site, Mailing list: Google Apps; E-newsletters: standard email program; Online forum: Google Groups (but no longer in active use); Blog: Blogger; Micro-blog: Twitter (but not been updated for some time); Youtube (but not been updated for some time) -- our members are mostly middle-age or older and they do not seem to be very computer literate, often pushing back on anything technical proposed, other than email and website (but only for reading, not for online forums etc) mailing list: google groups mailing list: google groups. webpage & blogs: wordpress I think Mailing list: MailChimp, Chat/teleconf: Skype, Twitter: twitter Mailing List: ning, Phone: mobile and Skype, Youtube: video channel mailing list: Your Mailing List Provider (http://www.yourmailinglistprovider.com/login.html) Mailing lists mailing lists Mailing Lists, Blogspot, wordpress, Twitter mailing lists, facebook, twitter, Mailman, Ning micro site would be good, but not official as i am the only person in area who has done transition training and a permaculture design course. Mliing list: 1 & 1 Internet mailing list Mostly via Transition website notices Mouth, fingers to type movable type blogs, parish newsletter leaflet N.a. n/a n/a though our activities have our own website for the community. You may like to view it? granitenet.com.au Need to get this stuff sorted if we're to get known ning google groups skype Ning Not sure about the newsletter tool? Ning (www.openworldcafe.com & www.transitionsweden.se), Wordpress, Skype, Facebook Ning for Transition Ireland & Northern Ireland and Skype ning network site and facebook group are the primary connecting tools being used Ning, blogspot, google groups NING, FACEBOOK, TWITTER Ning, Facebook, Twitter (but could be onerous to update latter two as well as Ning but don't know as others do this) Ning, Mailing list, google groups, Facebook, networking with other local groups, print and radio local press Ning, skype, meetup.com no not applicable at present not in a inititaive Not involved in an initiative not sure of the tech detail not very sophisticated just yet - copying & pasting addresses from previous emails! nothing, because not in french and not enough people have a computer. OhSoWe.com. they are in a private beta and have some great tools for transition efforts. Online Chat - Facebook between members Emailing List - A Google list E-Newsletter - word document sent out to email list Micro-blogs - Facebook Page Local Press - Newspapers Online Chat - Skype Emailing lists - google groups Online forum - projectdirt.com, possibly others? Blogs - New wordpress site: transitiontownbrixton.org Micro-blog; twitter (for some groups) Online chat (skype) Emailing lists (self explanatory) Word of mouth (mouths) Phone (mobile...) Local shop windows/noticeboards (preferably a clean window without other fliers around) online chat, google, skype mailing list cretaing by ourselves, and via wordpress newsletter, by email and print word of mouth, we have members without email connection phone : / skype for personnal or urgent matters local press, we have a good contact with the local press Online chat: google groups Emailing lists: gmail Blogs: wordpress micro-blogs: facebook Local shop: posters.. online: meetup.com blogs: Google groups Our e-mali list is updated monthly. We have a monthly news letter which is sent to people not on e-mail. There is a face-book page. Sub-groups tend to keep in touch by e-mail or phone. We advertise events also in local shops, and local press our website's a wiki - so lots of people can edit it.Otherwise, not sure, said the Luddite... Outlook express emailing group. Hoping to start a newsletter if we can get some funding. Awards for All application has just gone in. Outlook, email provider, google docs/publishing; acorn host web hosting for non-profits Outlook, Mobile Me. Outlook, Word, Outlook, Twitter, weekend Magazine: paper.li personal e-mails to mailing list of clients and supporters, e- magazines, virtual & actual gallery & studios, websites, phone, picture alblums, facebook, linkedin, flickr... please not that I don't take any initiative so the question above is not applicable to me regular email updates and intermittent emails about specific events/meetings etc. Regular email. Bulletin boards. Neighborhood monthly newspaper. Richard's our chap at New Forest ... look at his answers riseup listserv, facebook self-explanatory Simpli-Cite.net, Yahoo and Zimbra, Facebook group page, Local shops and newspapers print media, radio/local community tv Skype Skype Mailing List local press skype, doodle, google groups Skype, Excel, Word, skype, google chat, google gruops, facebook groups, local stores, farmers market, orange phone company Skype, Google group as mailing list (little on line access), News letters with Word (Yuk ! Want to move to Scribus), some blog via facebook, we all talk to people, website has some content management system, I don't know the details. Skype, google groups, email newsletters, posters in local shops, press releases to local press, uploading files to Youtube Skype, yahoo groups, yammer, twitter, Facebook, mailchimp, website (ojodesigns.co.uk), Skype; email list - dk how managed ... others are self-evident Skype; Max Bulk Mailer; words ... mouths!; Adobe InDesign; Final Cut Pro sorry I don't know. Sorry not sure what tools are used for email lists and e-newsletters. I just receive them. Static websites in estonian: www.weissensein.ee, www.srik.ee Blog in estonian: weissenstein.blogspot.com Blog in english: midest.blogspot.com twitter: wpaide Teleconf: Skype & Google Groups. Online Chat: Skype & Facebook. Email lists: Entourage. E-newsletters: not me but they go off the website. Blogs (EDAP site): Wordpress Word of Mouth, all those people, groups friends etc. Phone, Talk Talk at home + O2 mobile. Local shops windows; about 18 sites in Totnes plus another 30 around the parishes inc Library & wholefood shops and cafes. Local Press; Totnes Times, Herald Express, Western Morning News and Totnes Directory. Youtube for viewing and showing content therein not for loading up my film Teleconferencing - mixed, often skype Email lists - Ning, personal contact lists E-newsletters - created as PDFs and emailed to lists Online fora - Ning (...bah!) Blogs - Ning Micro-blogs - twitter Word of mouth - ...yeah events, meetings, potlucks, etc Teleconferencing: skype online chat: skype/facebook emailing list: yahoo groups newsletter: email reader e-newsletter: wordpress online forum: yahoogroups blog: wordpress microblog: none word of mouth: yes chatting with friends and family and facebook phone: err... telephone and cell local shop: bakery, grocerystore, market stalls and local school and bb local press: local newspaper youtube: we are in the process of publishing a video about our initiative Teleconferening for training on line, reading newsletters, word of mouth (I tell everyone I meet!), phone, posters up in prominent spots around town, press releases to tv, radio, newspapers THis answer is a mix of TT Totnes (most of it) done using TTT website. And ning site for national / international heart and soul, which has blogs & event calendars. This highlights a number of issues our group needs to get on top of ... We're in an area that was late onto broadband and speeds are low. Our own competence falls short. etc etc . We have an email list which exists as a column in a spreadsheet. Some people prefer to receive fewer messages (the e newsletter) and to be blind copied. We struggle to make sure we follow our own protocols there. This is supposed to be about local community not about computer networking so a more personal approach is better and we might not have computers in the future anyway. Less reliance on technology is a preference - more human contact this relates to village bulk suma food order and other foodie stuff info this survey is too long - you lost me Ed... Too much information requested TransitionSarasota.org (Ning) Constant Contact Newsletter Facebook and Twitter Meetup Group Flyers and announcements at events twitter twitter, Facebook, little bit of Skype, our web site, lots of e-mails and telcons twitter, facebook, wordpress Unfortunately I am not involved (or very little anyway) in my initiative anymore. Useful list, but we're not operational yet! We are just getting started. We are using twitter, setting up drupal, expect to use embedding fora and/or blogs for people projects and groups. We aren't really using technology much - I want to live locally in the solid world and already spend too much of my life online. We need to build the main connections on the earth and IT should be backup and not take over. No doubt we will gradually use more.... it's so powerful but also dangerously distracting from Real Life!!! We have 8 constituent local groups. One uses google groups, the others use Facebook. We have a Drupal site built with Drupal Commons from Acquia. With groups, blogs, discussions, email notifications... The email list is just a collection of emails that we use to let folks who are not on the website know about stuff happening. A lot of folks in our small town do not want to use one more social network-ish type of website! We have a googlegroups site which, as yet, has sufficed but as we're at very early stages this may change. We have a Spruz website and various desparate mailing lists... must do better we have a webpage constructed with Wiser earth we have our own mailing lists and a new website We lack techie expertise so I'm struggling a bit! we use website www.signsofchange.org.nz, www.aemslab.org.nz, you tube signsofchangeconf, and actually, I just do a lot of visiting and giving seminars and workshops at towns. We use wordpress and cooler email. We are going to create a Facebook page this month and hopefully start blogs. We have a Buy Local campaign about to start and will then add signboards and decals to the list. We have a bi monthly column in the paper We use wordpress for our website on which we have a forum. We use mailchimp to manage our weekly ebulletin We use Youtube to find explainations of Transition. Its been hard to find a concise 5-10 minute one to show people. Website / Yahoo group / Mailing list / Facebook (a few people) website, google groups, emails well, youtube, i'm getting info on how to do things (gardening, repairs, etc)....everyone i talk to on the phone and in person, i warn them that they need to prepare (they think i'm nuts). i did, after all predict the mini collapse 2 years ago. i am careful not to tell of my resources because everyone and their uncle will show up on my doorstep if the worst happens. Word of mouth (at this stage) wordpress wordpress and mailing list Wordpress blog, Twitter and Google groups wordpress for our blog googlegroups for our mailing list wordpress, blogs, enewsletter. We are just setting this up. wordpress, emailing lists, google groups, local notices, press ads/articles wordpress, facebook, twitter, meetup, google contacts Wordpress, google etc wordpress, googlemail, wiki, facebook wordpress, mailchimp, wordpress, mailing list, depliants, flyers WordPress, Yahoo Groups (but considering moving away from these) Wordpress; google groups Wordpress; riseup lists; google groups; twitter; facebook www.join.me Skype Youtube Facebook(small value for the effort) XL spreadsheet + paste email addresses into Outlook Express. Those without an email address get the occasional printed newsletter via mailmerged labels Yahoo group yahoo group for susred, twitter for our CSA, enewsltetter for transition bristol, youtube for some interveiws, local media articles, articles in local delivered news thing redland directory, skype for meetings, word of mouth especially at farmers market yahoo groups yahoo groups . Wea re only just starting out! yahoo groups, instead of email list Yahoo; Tahoo; mouth; telephone; printer; e-mailing Windows Live You forgot just talking to people including by e-mail. You have not mentioned Facebook, Meetup...

WHAT ONLINE PRESENCE TOOLS DO YOU USE FOR YOUR INITIATIVE? ? (same reasons than above) Acorn Host website hosting All above: Postnuke (TF, but not personal profiles -see http://transitionfalmouth.org.uk ), Elgg (TCN, all - see http://transitioncornwallnetwork.org.uk ). Additionally using integrated Google Calendar via Cornwall Community Climate Forum for Cornwall wide events - see http://cornwallclimateforum.co.uk/calendar.htm (embedded on several diff sites incl the 2 above - would rate this as a "5") All on www.permalot.org Our host is www.Permaworld.org All part of the Spruz CMS sites All this is waiting to happen Also using Facebook as above as above as above, DrupalGardens.com (will probably host Drupal myself on a linode.com sooner or later) As I'm so new I don't feel I can adequately answer this. AT&T isp windows 7 exploxer 8 , addobe flash , BBM Be very careful of this 'green' movement. It is political and deceitful. Just look at the light bulbs they are mandating... full of mercury. The Green movement is about the ponzi scheme of the carbon credits and tax. Total control into more fascism. Blog Blogger blogger for our web presence. developing new website hoping to use Drupal. we use pages on the blogger site but only 1 person seems to be able to edit these. basically all the internet stuff is a blessing and a pain as we don't have anyone shit hot at this stuff. blogger, blogger, google groups, blogger blogger, picasa blogs to link to from micro site Blogsite with links Calendar: Google calendar. can't remember web platform. Chris Smedley of Hudoq is in charge of that. cant be specific, its all done through the website by the wonderful web man jonathan.... cms CMS Made Simple - opensource used for website and all content Community web site host no idea about the rest. Currently struggling with the website ditto above dk - I am not the tech person for our core group don;t know - somebody else Don't know dont use doodle, wordpress, facebook Dream Host, FaceBook Dropbox for files from TT training workshop Drupal Drupal Drupal Drupal based website; Eco Web Hosting Dunno - Sarah's doing it for Melbourne, and Colin for Derby , but Melbourne is whatever you suggested... Err...Joomla. I'm not sure I understand the question, really sorry. One of us is 'The computer guy' and it ain't me! Facebook facebook group Transition Town Zadar Facebook page for Holywood Transition Town local food group and posting stuff on Holywood goes Global the local network flickr, CAT website, google calender, googledocs for the web page we are using webs.com foro the online file and resource storage ifile.it google (google photos, google calendar, etc.) google docs Google Docs, Google Calendar Google group google groups Google Groups Google sites, google calendar googlesites Greenpeace, Flicker, Redbubble,yahoo Groupsite Groupsite, Dropbox for Initiating Group haven't had time yet I am probably not the person to ask about computer use - others in the group are more excited by the prospects. I belive its a WIKI page I don't really know as Charlotte does it all now. i dont know the web side of things too much but its www.transitionhorsham.org.uk I just familiarize myself with what various Transition Initiatives (I have checked out Transition Pennsylvania and Vermont, too) are like and are up to. I need to plant my carrots, as well as my potatoes. See comment above... I run the PACT website that uses Drupal - we're about to start using "simplenews" to get people to sign up for newsletters. ISP: HeartInternet it's all within our website www.transitionyorkregion.org and separately on Facebook (not that active on there yet, need some more awareness raising) it's only ME. and if i spent this much time online and doing all these things, i wouldn't have time to prepare and get my home sustainable. it's that bloke Richard's turn again...... Joomla joomla Joomla to do most of the above ? Is green hosting all it's cracked up to be ? joomla website, integrated calender tool on website Joomla, Picasa Just lacking IT skills and time to set this up just setting this up Just text for web pages. We need to put more into this. links to transition towns page, yes..i use my own.. for now.(callender) local server provides all web & email services, built on a typo3 platform. Mainly PBwiki and a new website through Ning we're working on. Meetup.com EcoWebHosting (for future) micro site Most of these functions are incorporated into our main website (see above). Most popular thing is not on the list...a green mapping component. Also a new yard share database. They seem to want to see custom features, not the usual canned ones you can get elsewhere. Mostly Facebook Mostly used via Ning, linking to flickr accounts etc. Would like to use green energy hosting but use whatever Ning is hosted through. movable type n/a Ning Ning Ning Ning ning flickr Ning for all except Photos: freefoto.com Ning page and new local initiative site being built now it will be a .info web address ning site and facebook - posting of events, ideas, meetings Ning site for events. NING, FACEBOOK, YOUTUBE, DROPBOX Ning, www.ecologicalhosting.com No idea .. this is an question for our Webmaster to answer ... to technical for me None? not applicable for me at present not applicable, just yet not in a inititaive Not involved in an initiative not sure tech details Not sure usually have to have family help!!!! Not yet applicable, as things have not started up yet. Oh, dear. Luddite after all. This is not within my field of experience. On TTT website or ning site. Our group also uses "Doodle" to arrange meetings. Our own hosted website Page on National site, calendar on national site Pages on TTT website. Personal profiles of our steering committee. photos are currently with an individual member's account. We should really get flickr. Web site is through Joomla. We've experimented a bit with an online community. we had the food group on ning, but have abandoned that and tried JomSocial, but it's not got off the ground. Events are through Joomla as well (JEvents I think) picasa, google please not that I don't take any initiative so the question above is not applicable to me Project Dirt and own website being redesigned. Wandsworth Town Community Garden website Same as above same as for no. 18 since i joined there has been work on a website but it isn't happening yet s far as \i know. Sorry guys, I've switched off! This is too geeky for me. I want to go and look at the sky, feel the air, touch a tree and feel alive again. Sorry I'm not involved with the website. Sorry, I don't know. Hopefully the person who manages our webpages etc will also answer the survey! Sounds as though one of us should learn about all this stuff and Keep Up!! spip Static websites in estonian: www.weissensein.ee, www.srik.ee Blog in estonian: weissenstein.blogspot.com Blog in english: midest.blogspot.com Still groupsite.com .. it's replaced everything else for us. http://transitionsouthbarwon.groupsite.com This is a bit technical for me - hope you've also e-mailed members of my group who are working on web stuff This is all being achieved inside the Transition Evesham Vale website this is the transitionsweden initiative typepad, flickr, youtube umbraco and windows live Useful list, but we're not operational yet! Very early days but more on-line presence is planned We are currently redesigning our website and web presence so, tbc.. We are currently struggling to get this right. It would be great to have a working model or tempalte we could adopt rather than having to crate our own. We are in deepest West Wales. We have a percentage of folk with no access to computers and a high percentage without access to high speed connections We are just defining our communication network but general opinion is for google... We are just re-designing the site to include all of the above. Wordpress and cooler email. I don't know how we are setting up blogs we are setting up a web page through our wordpress blog www.sooketransition.org We do everything through our Ning site and Google Docs We have a one-page website on the Bega Transition Initiative site, not web skills in our group are low, so it isn't maintained. We need it though, because some of the resource material is in large files, which has caused enormous email difficulty. We have a website run by an interested helper so steering group members send him content We have a website with calendar, resource links and photos. We use it to have people sign up for things. we have only just started up and so, have not implemented these tools yet We have our own website: www.transitionstroud.org.uk, reports etc. on the website, personal profiles in fundraising bids, green hosting for website (can't remember the company's name) We use our microsite!!! We note it is encouraged to be used for gaining recognition...tho I struggle to get my core group to engate! We use the Events tab on the central Facebook page as a collective calendar. Local groups each have a Facebook page (+ the one google group) that they can post events on. We use wordpress and facebook. We are just at the beginning of organizing so we haven't gotten very far in our online presence or utilization of tools & resources. we were using google groups for some of the groups, but it's been losing functionality lately... We're dormant, so I couldn't answer "yes" to anything. Would love to use some of these tools in the future. We're planning on getting a website/interactive forum up soon which will include a calender, photos, resource sharing database, and pages for different projects. web : Mac stuff and ning online files: ning calendar: Doodle calendar Web = wordpress Storage = wordpress Calendar = wordpress Web page web page Web Page - currently webs.com but in process of changing Photo Library - on website and on Facebook Online Calendar - On Website web page hosted by a sympathiser web page on wordpress, file storage and sharing via google docs for initiating group only Web page with storage of documents - not used at all well. web page, profiles Web page; wordpress Web page: Blogger. Online storage: Use the document storage inside the online forum. Online calendar: Blogger. Web page: Drupal Web page for theme groups: Drupal Online file and resource storage: Drupal and File Maker data base Online calendar: Drupal and Google calendar web page: I'm told WordPress. We're just getting started. Web page: wordpress Online calendar: none --> blog post Web page. web pages Web pages Web pages + Youtube web pages and blogs web pages and online calendar - drupal Web pages etc: Joomla! with EventList extension for the online calendar functionality. Web pages for your initiative (We have a page on the online community forum of Transition Norway.) Web pages for your initiative = Wordpress presently Online file and resource storage = Gmail (email contacts database) & Google documents (past newsletters) Online calendar/diary = doodle.com (easy scheduling - really great!!) Web pages word press. web pages, photos web pages, photos print materials for conferences web pages, photos, Web pages, soon to be online calender. web pages: microsoft expression homepage builder, wikispaces, google calendar Web pages: Wordpress and Drupal Web pages: CMS Web pages: don't know Photos: flickr Web pages: Google Apps; Online file and resource storage: Google Docs; Online calendar: Google Calendar Web Pages: Mac designed by member Online File: Google Docs Online Photos: Facebook Online Calendar: Google Web pages: we have a website The website describe themes groups We also have a separate online file and resource storage called grassgroups, with folders and email communication - we are also using batchbooks to keep records of members and detailed information We have an online calendar on our website, we also use doodle to set up meetings There are some personal profiles on our website but mostly linked to activities members do We keep some photos on flickr and on the website and also on WEB PAGES: WORDPRESS web pages: wordpress online file & resource: google docs online calendar: google calendar green hosting - Hostgator (they claim 130% wind powered) Web pages: wordpress blog Online file: Google docs Online photo library: Flickr Online calendar/diary: use Doodle to arrange meetings Web pages: wordpress, Photos: flickr, Calendar: Google Web site Web site plus Yahoo group web site we have a hasrd time keeping it current with volunteers web site, e-newsletter. We've talked about flicker but not done it yet. Web-site - UK2.net. We use pmwiki and our wonderful web-person, Nicola, just adds functionality as required using php. We use flickr sometimes, but not that much. We just post pictures to the web-site. People are starting to post more pictures onto facebook now. We link to important files from our web-site, but there aren't very many. Web: Currently 'CMS made simple' - future probably Drupal Green energy hosting - please circulate a list of possibilities! I'm assured ours is, but I haven't checked the details. Web: Wordpress and Blogger; Online files: Google Docs; Photos: Picasa; Calendar: Google Calendar (but not kept up to date lately; our blog has an events page which is kept more up to date); Webpage on Wordpress http://transitionalbany.org We don't have theme groups yet. Webpage: Ning - includes all other data & photo storage and event listings WebPage: Wordpress Webpages WebPages - Dreamweaver, ISP - Ecological Hosting Webpages - I think Drupal webpages Wordpress for theme groups idem Diary, a local web agenda webpages: wordpress Webpages: Wordpress (EDAP) TTT ? Not sure about the rest webpages: wordpress; noline file and calendar: google? webpageswordpress, phots wordpress, files, wp, Website - ojodesigns.co.uk, yahoo groups, 1and1.co.uk are a green hosting company website is wordpress, using diary for events Website pages Website was done some time ago by a member with a Mac. Now we need to update it and generate a replacement that's easier to keep up to date. No idea what tool was involved. website www.transitionpec.ca website: CMS run by local web co (member of TL) who I *assume* are green! Website: Wordpress: transitiontownbrixton.org Online file storage: Website, and google docs Online Calendar: Combo of Wordpress website cal and Google cal (mostly Google) weebly, webbrain which is a green enerygy hosting company?.... did not know there was one. Wordpress Wordpress wordpress wordpress wordpress wordpress wordpress wordpress wordpress wordpress wordpress Wordpress but I don't find time to keep it up to date Wordpress for site, Wordpress web page / blog; Google docs wordpress website for susred, and TB website Wordpress, Blogspot, Flicr WordPress, Flickr, Facebook, YouTube wordpress, flickr, twitter, facebook, shutterfly, google cal, google docs, wish there was a decent totally green ISP. most are just carbon of-setting con merchants. wordpress, google group with shared docs Wordpress, google groups wordpress, the Box, riseup, doodle Wordpress; wordpress; wordpress;google calendar; Wordpress. We've only just got out website started so nothing much to report just yet, but we're working on it. Yes - we share the towns website @ www.mybeartown.co.uk You guys have to contact Simpli-cite.net for your all inclusive web- collaborative tools! I use Joomla to create our initiative's website.

WHAT TOOLS DO YOU USE FOR WORKING COLLABORATIVELY IN YOUR INITIATIVE? Adobe Acrobat, A Illustrator, A Photoshop, Word, Excel Adobe InDesign; Adobe Acrobat Again, we've barely started. All the above using Elgg (TCN only), creating/sharing docs (TF: Postnuke and Googledocs) An old but still usable web design programme - Adobe Go Live. Adobe Photoshop. My colleagues favor Microsoft Office facilities for visual displays etc. as 19. as above as above As far as I know, Google docs shared with various groups is widely used. With the new website, perhaps more will happen on the site itself? As I'm so new I don't feel I can adequately answer this. Assign Project Managers to everything ie Project Leaders Backpack (for volunteers and staff) basecamp, issuu Books / web stuff/ DVD's Creating and sharing documents: Googledocs creating and sharing on dropbox, or wikipedia creating and sharing: googledocs. Creating docs...on computers...share at meetings. Same with sharing docs. creating documents - word creating: e-mail and Word w track changes sharing: ning page and e-mail Docs, links docs: openoffice, google docs, office sharing: yahoo groups document management : "at home tools" first, then we'll see the specific tools. documents Documents documents - Google docs Documents (inc. meeting minutes etc) created on Word or Excel sent to colleagues by email Documents (Word) Documents = Word Sharing Documents = email Documents for all which we email to each other. documents: google docs Documents: googledocs; project planning; googledocs Documents: Yahoo Groups and Google Docs documents....what's to add? Don't know dont use Drop Box Dropbox Dropbox Dropbox E-mail documents e-sharing PDFs Email and MS Word docs email and wordpress and phone - need to get more offline direction beofre online collaboration Email attachments email sharing of docs Excel sheet to document results of a survey we took of Albany residents. Google doc to share and analyze results Getting folk together and talk over tea - I know not what quite you mean but I've experienced too much meeting in rooms planning to change to world (and running meetings very badly) talking about website and tools and not enough engaging with people where they are at, going to them and treating them like 'us'. google docs google docs Google Docs google docs Google docs google docs google docs google docs Google Docs Google Docs Google docs Google docs Google Docs google docs Google Docs Google docs google docs Powerpoint Google Docs and previously PBwiki GOOGLE DOCS, DROPBOX, NING, FACEBOOK Google Docs, emailing of docs back and forth. google docs, only just started using in core group. google docs, yahoo groups, basecamp google docs. google docs. What are project management tools? We set up a google group and shared the password, then share all docs so everyone working on a project has access and can edit. We have a group like this for our annual Earth Day hosting team, Transition faith group (inactive), and Transition Youth. Works great! Google documents google website. use this for sharing docs. Googledocs googledocs googledocs googledocs googledocs Googledocs Googledocs googledocs googledocs googledocs googledocs Googledocs googledocs (just starting to use) googledocs and mail chimp googledocs and ning page googledocs mainly. Basecamp for training files. googledocs, isuu googledocs, but as above not used well at all - not up to date and most members don't access, many on steering group very uncertain about how to use all this googledocs, Documents OST googledocs, email Googledocs, I think googledocs, Word, Excel, Powerpoint googledocs, worddocs googledocs, xmind, not many decent project planning tools for the mac platform. never heard of basecamp. googledocss Groupsite hardcopies of documents I don't think any are used. I don't think we're into this I email Transition Whitstable and Transition Canterbury with items of interest which I receive by email - eg interesting news items, events, campaigns, petitions, etc. Transition Canterbury is very efficient at forwarding these to all subscribers. Transition Whitstable sometimes puts them on their website, other times not. So the way to get things into people's attention is via Transition Canterbury. Quite a lot of Whitstable Transitioners subscribe to their mailing list. Kent Green Party also puts Transition events on their monthly newsletter if people send them in to the editor for inclusion. I haven't found the best project management tools, yet. Suggestions are welcome! (currently using: Highrise) I'd be interested in the level of project management that OpenAtrium.com provides when our initiative gets as far as having several substantial and independent projects but fear the predominately non-geek members might be scared of it. Likewise I'm desperately trying to steer members away from e-mailing copies of Word documents (proliferation of out-of-sync copies of documents that one has to pay a corporation £100 or more to edit? How did this happen??). I find Google docs to be excellent value but it seems to take an inordinate amount of effort to ween people off the Microsoft Office assumption. I've suggested using WikiSpaces for some documents and I'm messing about but haven't shared anything yet Joomla also strting to use Drop Box Just download-able files from our website Just email and facebook Just email documents. Might try GrowVeg.com; just word. by mouth microsoft office Microsoft Office and Project microsoft word Mostly PDF documents MS Word, Powerpoint, email MsWord My initiative is probably not aligned with this organization, rather is one I have been working on for many years. Moving the mainstream medical to learn about food, farming and alternative therapies is a major effort that takes incredible creativity. Once people get better fast, it spreads like wild fire with word of mouth. Perhaps soon other practitioners will appreciate the efforts and also learn what to do to change this dangerous medical practice we are stick handled into. n/a Ning editor and native file formats e.g. MS Office, PDF Google docs no No online document creation tools used (question just says 'tools') - we use Word and convert to PDF for emailing and uploading to our site. Sharing docs is done with the groupsite. None of these, just sending emails like minutes of meetings to relevant google groups None, but good idea to begin using them! None, just email docs around via google group None? not in a inititaive Not involved in an initiative Not sure Not yet applicable, as things have not started up yet. OpenOffice, website to share. Oppen Office, radio. Project management tools, creating documents, sharing documents, Project management tools: Me. I am an organizing machine. Creating documents: Apple's Pages and Keynote Sharing documents: Drupal website, G-mail Project management tools: visio, google docs creating documents: microsoft word, acrobat, excel, SPSS, various applications by our graphic designer Sharing documents - google docs, email, dropbox, website, addition social networking site Project Mgt: various /Word Excel & Pro Project. Creating docs; Word (for Mac). Sharing docs: Google groups and email Project: google groups Sharing: whatever email Same answer as 19 same as no. 18 sendspace & dropbox; Set up a live share but no one uses it... all to technophobic so most files are emailed. Sharing docs - googledocs sharing docs: Dropbox The EDAP project people might be using stuff I don't know about! Sharing docs: Google docs sharing document, by editing via websie Simpli-cite.net simply microsoft word documents. some pdf files. so far only Word docs shared via email Some open office, MS office, Adobe Creative Suite, Google apps Sorry, maybe i should have answered 'luddite' above. start up project the Box They email me what they want on the website. I've built submission forms but they won't use them. think you've probably got the idea now...... This makes me realize how much is up there which we are not using to its full potential. Wow! Unfortunately I just got a couple of emails form UMinho in Transition unsure Useful list, but we're not operational yet! We are novices at all of this and we manage most things in our core group meetings and for each group there is one person with access to the website so they can update. we are trying to use googledocs but not everyone has got the hang of it! We do all these things but use Word or PDF for documents then circulate via email for any amendments then file on the Ning. We use To Do lists, meetings, emails, phone and minutes to keep track of progress for project management depending on type and urgency. We do all this through email and at meetings of course we generally use word and circulate them, we have a windows skydrive...but many of us find it clunky (and forget even more paswords)...we store finished docs on the micro site...it be useful if we could use this as a means to work collaboratively on documents.... We have just started to use and are getting to grips with Google Docs we just use emails right now. We post our meeting minutes in a private group so later folks can check them out. We also post important info we don't want to loose, and/or we want to be able to refer to. We share documents through the website. We tried googledocs but it was very complicated. We just email to each other We use google documents. We use microsft Word with soem use of editing tools. not everyone is proficient in using these tools but we muddle through. Docuents rew share dvia email. - sometimes too much is sent via email. We use yahoo groups at the moment. Looking at basecamp, yammer and other free sharing tools to aid. we ventured into Opengoo for TB, but dont use it, we manage fine with meeting and sharing We're not doing this very well - could learn more about it. The Joomla Kunena Forum is where we are bringing it all together. We're not really web-orientated in our initiative--except for news and calendar. ~We have a fair number of folks who are barely email literate. We tend to have monthly meetings and talk face-to-face.... What? We write and share documents as necessary - MS Office. We manage our projects the old fashioned way, they are small and local and concrete - planting trees, making exhibitions, plkanning meetings. Samll scale. wiki, dropbox wikispaces windows live Word Word and Publisher Word docs shared by email. Google docs a bit too technical for group currently Word documents word processing and email Word used by most people. Scribus / Inkscape / Gimp would be much better in many situations. Using google docs a bit with TT&C. Word, Excel on occasion, googledocs WordPress

DO YOU USE THE WEB TO GET ONLINE SUPPORT FOR YOUR INITIATIVE? IF SO WHAT TOOLS DO YOU USE? ????? ??????? A "MARKETPLACE" ON TRANSITION.ORG WHERE SKILLS, ETC, CAN BE OFFERED. a chat ? more movment? (can i come to you gys) ? ((type)) A difficult one to answer - when the need arises one searches to find a solution A national Transition website would be great for Australia a peer to peer support service A Transition-focussed version of Ning that could be scaled to support any initiative. Ning is not bad, but it is a bit of an island, and does not support much of what we need, e.g. database support for personal carbon calculators, urban farm food production and sharing, threaded blogs and fora, etc. All are useful all of the above! + mutual twitter following, Facebook celebrations perhaps .... all of these if we get beigger.... but is that really the point?! already providing most of the above but via email lists rather than web as above As I'm so new I don't feel I can adequately answer this. As mentioned above, an "live chat" feature on the TNet website. better access to advice for setting up website boot-straps both online help...and Phone a friend Can't say until we activitate ourselves, assuming that will eventually happen Don't know don't know what your'e talking about, sorry Don't know. Never thought of these options before or know they were available. Energy reduction tool - most carbon calculators seem too generic Establishing Transition Pals, someone you can call -- of course we can call anyone, but a mentor relationship provides greater permission to share struggles without feeling like you're whining or infringing on their time, and also provides a measure of confidentiality to hold the touchier people stuff we all seem to run into. Facebook, e-mail, Skype, phone free phone! globally shared resources (eg: the flashcards used in "training for transition") - which I already have access to. Google analytics show number of visits to site - useful for funding applications Help on the people & process issues - we have anarchic chaos! Help with technological stuff, like how to send a group email so each person sees their name in it. how about a good links database which would have the following fields: name of link, read/by commented on by ______: tag words for search purposes, contact info for experts or for further info, tie into transition initiative name; which part of transition will it help me with (awareness raising?, honour the elders? etc.) I communicate person to person via internet with prospect engineer students I didn't know these things were there! I don't know I don't think we are at that stage with this! Would be good if we could get some more local hands-on support. I don't understand this question I feel a bit distant from other initiatives outside our area. Kent's a big county. What would be most useful is a stronger local network. I get the Somerset transition emails I have no clue yet... I promote the best practice ideas I think all the above would be useful I use the search engines (Google mainly) to find the contacts I need I'm getting out of my depth ....! I'm too much of a luddite to answer thisI If a standard package was used then an online support tool would be very useful. in france all info is very dispatched, ther is no coodination Just to read about projects with impact that work like our Transition Reskilling Institute Less technology more human contact Maps Maybe Facebook Maybe online help More basic resources, not to technical. Need good photos with no copyright for instance. More informational resources again. More on implementing inner transitiion. more time in a day and a young person to interface with unreality n/a National help fora (already exist to an extent) - perhaps OpenID or similar login method would improve uptake? Registering is a pain. national support groups No idea None of the above, probably. we are such a locally based organisation (and that's what we want to be) that I don't see much value in these. Not discussed / thought about. not in a inititaive Not involved in an initiative Not sure as there is so much going on and so little time! not sure at this stage. Not sure that I understand the question Not sure what you mean exactly by "online support." Not that I know of - though we are in touch with neighbouring transition initiatives people who would put them self forward as experienced in certain areas Phone a friend Phone a Friend would probably be fun; I think we're pretty sorted in finding our own way and working things out to suit our town Phone a T friend might be useful... it would be good to have a regional support group.. Possibly all the things suggested above - yet to try them Recently building on Northwest/Cascadia Regional Transition Gathering (N. Am) Regional gathering of Transition Initiative co-founders/leaders/core team members. Regional Support Regional support groups resource directory 2 include apps on mobile, connections with other orgs. same as no. 18 searchable TN database of skills/projects so I can find like minded or skilled people who've done projects we wish to copy. CSA, community engagement, etc.. see above Set up international e-pal links! should be using this. Someone who can advise on how to get the best out of netwroking sites etc - and explain in simple English sorry but rarely get a response when I email anyone Sorry, I am not the one keeping contact with the outside TT world. The ability quickly to identify similar projects to avoid 're-inventing the wheel'. the time to do a tutorial. Fish or cut bait. Fish or cut bait. There's only so much time to go around to have a common stratgy according to translation for example, To NOT be totally web dependent. Seriously, under what descent scenarios will it remain available and free? Transition Japan hub website & Japan / Asia events calendars needs more work translation in other languages We did once ask for national group support last year over conflict resolution issue but hadnt thought of it otherwise. We have the Transition US site for national support. We haven't got much support from the national Transition Network when we consulted with specific issues. More specific help would be good. We just use personal connections we need a portuguese transition hub We need to have a vision and purpose first We use Rob Hopkins's books etc as resources and we have undertaken Transition Training We use the Transition East web-site to advertise our events. wordpress and email lists at moment Written examples, as a way of doing. But practical and clear.

WHAT IS THE QUESTION WE DIDN’T ASK AND YOU WOULD LIKE TO ANSWER? 42 ? ??? ... "Are we concentrating too much on process & tool, and not enough on self-change ?" Maybe :-) "How we can help non-UK initiatives feel more included?" The "roundup" already includes news from all over the world, and that's great. We felt very chuffed when we were in it! Sorry, I'm now drawing a blank on more suggestions... maybe survey non-UK initiatives specifically and find out what, if anything, they want? In countries where there is a national hub, maybe it's not needed. US initiatives have loads of support on the US national site. "WHAT CAN WE DO TO MAKE THE WEBSITE REFLECT THE FUN OF BEING INVOLVED IN TRANSITION?" "What do you think about the Transition Town movement?" --- it is hopeful At this critical moment in human history, we have to take action and not stand-by. TT is a beacon. Thank you, Ann Rose 42 ...Apart from that. A general issue to ecologist magazine, you guys and everything out of UK; Please try to be global oriented; I'm a Dane in CZ, with a past in USA, future in....? All in all; Transitioning is a global cause. (Sorry; haven't czeched out your site lately, all may be well, just noticed how Sieben Linden's conference initiative got ignored last year.... A training : advice online for ordonary people to use communication technology, i see a lot of small initiatives and group inititaives using fi facebook, and for other countries the different stages from a fer initiatives, what could be on blogs and on website to a real supporting platform like transitionnetwork An area for community power generation linking TT's to work together share knowledge and build a decentralised power base. Also please support OVESCo and other groups to ensure the FIT is not cut back for projects over 50kW this is too small! any new info , updated , and new survey in about 5 mths Any other comments. Some of the questions may need explanations for some - I had to keep flicking to the network site to check what they meant Anything about an on-line platform for TT groups - still much needed and awaiting, meanwhile many groups are developing their own - much re-inventing the wheel going on. A set of templates and plug-ins for Drupal and Joomla, for instance, and negotiating cheap bulk hosting deals with eco-hosting suppliers would save TT groups money currently being spent on Ning hosting. Are there free and excellent software tools with and Open Source ethos that more in tune with Transition than MS office ? I think there are... Ask me. Happy to discuss in detail. Are we there yet? no Are you a website designer? Yes, although typically focusing on smaller sites with an emphasis on SEO, flash content, html with css and joomla content management. I also create limited bespoke php coding, and work with photoshop and Illustrator. Are you enjoying yourselves? Yes thanks! Are you going to be sucked in and spat out by big society...last newsletter included a link to a bit suggesting if somebody's going to buy forests it might as well be transitioners.So answer quite possibly, yes Are you happy? Yes, now that Im in Transition! Are you in a Transition Town or which is your TT Are you involved with any other Transition inititatives? Yes... As a newby muller am not yet sufficiently familiar with the site, newsletter etc. to respond usefully. As an Elder,aged 80,I feel I would like to encourage more traditional communities,using modern methods of help and communication.I will read the book by Carolyn Baker,when I can.Perhaps the Transition Town,is not a place for me?None of the above seems really relevant for Very Elders,yet I feel that we DO have a place in life,even if we cannot actively take part.After all,it can easily be seen,that Elders were once a part of their communities,and were not always isolated or segregated. My question is therefore - What is the place of Elders,in a Transition Town? I do not have an Answer,but I will think about it. Yours sincerely, Stormlantern. As stated, I'm very new to this so everything's new at the moment! I'll get back to you on next years survey..... At what stage is your project - just started, 6-12 months on, over a year. Brain not that awake today...... Can the project support coordinator help in other countries, either via their network or directly, with the practical communication tools that may be unfamiliar, or we didn't think of them? Answer: The question wouldn't make so much sense if I knew the answer Can we have an RSS feed from TN please? Can we make it? Lets get on with it and find out! Can't think this is very comprehensive! contact list name, numbers and special interest or skills Despite the negatives above, there is still commitment & enthusiasm for community transition in our town - we just don't seem to have either the right mix of people or any processes to move us on. We have used a model for meetings of whoever is there decides what is happening, but there is no history, no commitment to the transition steps (once some people disagree with something, consensus decisionmaking leads to stasis), and no action. We need to start again, but with some better ideas of how to organise ourselves. whilst historical "committee" structures might be outdated, they do allow for assigning of responsibilities and action, but there must be some less formal middle ground that others have found work. Also, many idealogues of the 60s & 70s can't let go of their baggage and aren't willing to compromise - perhaps a younger group might be better at it! Difficult to complete this. Too much of a Luddite! It certainly takes longer than 5 mins!!! Do you find it easy to use the site? Can you use less tech jargon please? It is still very technical. Can you take it down a step or two for us who use the internet a lot but are not used to all the jargon. Not sure what everything means in this survey and I use the internet a lot. Do you find the Network easy to navigate? No - I struggled to get into the 'put me on the map' bit, and found the whole thing a bit overwhelming. I generally consider myself fairly net-savvy but found there was so much I didn't know where to look, with different links sending me diffferent places so I wasn't sure what was the network, what was the Totnes site, what was Rob's blog, etc. Confused! Sorry! Do you have time to read the website? No, I'm too busy transitioning. Do you know what to do next ? my answer: no! Do you read all the newsletter? - No!!!! Sorry, I scan it and look for the relevant bits to me., Do you represent your Transition Town? Is this your own personal response? i.e. my responses are not necessarily representative of what others might say. Do you understand all of these questions? Answer: NO Do you use Public Transport? My answer:YES.! do you use the portal as an intermediaire between Uk and france, i would like to discuss this Do you use the web to support your transition business? Have you set up systems that while they use the internet are not dependent on it to survive? Does the Web site and web tools make you feel part of Transitioning? Does the website need more colour? Yes. education for ind groups by Transition.org hmm.... diversity... ethnicity... women... representative of the local population... More diverse than I might look; not from this area! Would be interesting to know how many diverse people - in particular, those who are not web-loving geeks - are replying to this. If they aren't, would that skew your survey? Can you send me a copy of my responses? hmmmm....good question, need to think on that and get back to the site in the future. Is there a good place to post random questions? (yes, that's it, that's my questions!) (you post the answer in March survey results, ok?) How about video? I don't know how much embedded video there is on the Transition Network website but it would be good to have video content easy to find & access. How can a local intiative effectively use the Transition Network site to inform and provide 2 way communication locally, instead of creating a local site? Not sure of the answer, but it would sure save a lot of time and trouble, and also get us to the TN site more frequently! I tend to rely on delivery (TN newsletter, TZ newsletter, TUS newsletter, and Rob's blog) rather than visiting a website on my own initiative. There's great stuff there, but I don't always remember to go looking for it! How can people outside of active initiative participate more actively? How can the Transition organization in the UK better support various national or regional (outside the UK) Transition Initiatives? If financially feasible, hire a consultant who could offer their advice and guidance on grant-seeking in specific jurisdictions. how can transition towns get funding from their local government or what are some cool fundraiser ideas? How can volunteers like me, who find technology generally a turn-off, find support? How can we better help you through our website? I am not sure about all the support mechanisms you offer. How can we better link up with CAT to deliver a zero carbon Britain? How can we create a worldwide network of web developers to work on project templates that can be taken off the shelf and adapted to local conditions. For example, I have a great idea called Free Rider that is a website that allows Transition members to offer and share free car space for longer trips. We aslo have an idea for a local Tool-sharing co-op that would also be run via website. While these will be great for our town, they could be repeated in many other TransitionTowns around the world. Our problem is getting the websites created as we have no money to pay anyone to build them, and don't necessarily have the skills ourselves. But, website building is something that can be done co-operatively on the web itself as a community project. It would be great if Transition Netwok could halp create the space where these sorts of web site building projects could happen co-operatively and the resulting templates made avaialble to Transition communities to launch the projects in their own localities. How can we get a livelier sense of discussion amongst the grassroots? How can we help Green Books to sell more Transition books? (er . . . not entirely serious) Answer: by signposting books even more clearly on the website! How can we help you to grow your initiative? By offering speakers to come and enthuse your local audience. How can we keep it simple? Keep asking yourself, 'Is it sensible to increase the level of complexity? How can we of help bringing outside 'lurkers' into the transition process in areas where there is no initiiative started. It may already be part of your site but some way of informing us (automatically with our prior agreement) of others in our areas of interest who are near by. how can we stop you reinventing the wheel? More resources on line, someone to answer emails /phone calls at Totnes or equivalent- a human response not a website How can your iniative be better supported in the global meshwork of Transition Initiatives? To include news items (informational) about Initiatives weaving critical connections with other iniatives. Also, how can this website support your iniative to make better use of Transition Training opportunities? By including short inspiring reports about Transition Training opportunities and specific benefits received. This is a new more aware and responsible culture we are weaving together around the world through Transition Initiatives. This website takes a stand for the importance of that. Take an even bigger stand. How can this website address the issues of inner transition facilitating out transition? By continuing to give examples and models for inner transition supporting outer transition. How complicated is our site? Ans: Very How do I( being you and everyone in your group, especially the originators) learn to minimize the carbon footprint the most? And when I realize it is the home I'm living in where do I go to learn how to build it? ANSWER: Contact John How do we keep the flame burning ? Forget about oil...its peaked already! How do we make this movement go viral and inspire all the people to rise up (ie Eqypt & Tunisia at the moment- but hopefully without causualties) and demand Transition & Resilience from supressive and wasteful and inefficient regimes, systems, and patterns? Answer: Use your imagination. Be creative. Make it look like the best, greatest, most inspired, enlightened, hip and fun game on the planet not because doomsday is coming , but because living the Transition Way is the (FUN) Middle Way that touches and inspires and balances our passions - it is beautiful, creative, FUN, the most fulfilling, intelligent, responsible, rewarding and artful path that makes us the happiest and most content living with the chaos in our world. It is a way to find our heart's desire, helps us live our true purpose, and become our most soulful and mindful selves NOW. May sound cheezy but you will not get many to really change without excellent marketing and appealing to all the senses - especially Desire. Explaining and expressing a point of view that this work must be done to avoid suffering for ourselves and future generations may be compelling to some but you need a bigger audience for your work to really make a difference. Sorry for my soap box tone, but you have a challenge to reach the non believer - preaching to the liberal environmental dogooders is okay but more is required. How do you convince the conservative, non believer in global warming and limited resources, gun toting, evangelical, or sectarioan capitalist, bible/koran/balance sheet thumping person that we all need to change our behaviors and habits? My guess is first it must look really good, young, cool and fun and promises to fulfill our desires, hopes and dreams. Artfully inspire us to change because it feels good. Hope it helps... This work has a noble cause but my strongest advise is lighten it up and let go a bit. I think your message presents a bit too serious even though it is growing in amazing leaps and is awesome how you are inspiring others you can do more by digging into your tool box of creative limitless imagination. Go for the best you can muster... All the best to yo How do we re-skill people in an efficient manner. Reskilling is going to be the driver to change. How do you build community and welcome people to participate? I'm trying to discover what works. How do you evaluate which to spend more time on -- e- communication or face-to-face? Varies according to region and demographics: higher age demographic here in Prince Edward County favours traditonal (face-to-face) meetings and mind-melding. I personally am trying to lessen my interactions via e-technology and increase embodied communication. How do you feel about the style of language on the site? I see the desire to be more friendly than formal, and it's great that we're going to have some training in plain English. Please be careful of in words & jokes that are exclusive for those who don't get them. Kicking and Buzzing for our initiatives? Who doesn't talk like that? Ben's transport method?. If you're not in on this stuff you'll feel outside. But generally it's brilliant & I deeply appreciate the wonderful work you are doing. How do you feel about your initiative? How do you get more people to be active. Everyone likes what we are doing but is leaving it to "the usual suspects to carry on. Run an Open Space ? how do you learn how to do a web site? How do you survive without bananas? I don't How important do you think IT is/should be in your project? Answer: it is important and useful as long as it doesn't suck too much energy out of the projects which build community face to face locally and change the way we are on the earth, directly. As with centralisation, theres' a very stroing dynamic in our culture to give more and more time to what is essetnially sitting on a chair in a room alone! It#'s a storng drug and should be used sparingly and with care. How involved are you with your transition project? Not very anymore; it seems to have fizzled somewhat. (I think because we started with too large an area.) I therefore do not know the answers to many of the questions on your survey. So I am more of a lurker and probably not a helpful source for surveying. How many ecologists does it take to change a light bulb? All of them. Ecologists demand an integrated approach, and they don't just want to change the bulb, they want to change the way energy is generated and the way it's converted into lighting. How much does my website hosting cost? How to avoid Transition becoming a club of like-minded people, who feel relatively comfortable with each other, and pursue projects which they enjoy, rather than continuing to focus on how to attract people who are threatened by the green agenda? Exchanging experiences and developing resources which focus explicitly on the psychology of denial. How to keep up the enthusiasm in the face of doubters all around! Answer: meet up regularly for mutual support and a laugh! I am a non-active "encourager" of TT. After discussing it with a few people a new group is starting in Freiburg, Germany (where I live). But I encourage local government staff everywhere to support the TT initiatives. There are not too many in Europe - but they are growing. I am exhausted..cant think at the moment..will ask separately! I am more interested in helping build a moodle site (for learning the theory part of transition skills and the Great Re-skilling) and as an (optional) support for face to face workshops. If that resonates with you guys, please count me in bruno.vernier… I am subscribed to transitionculture.org, that's is how I read transition news. So i don't need to use transition network website to know about transition I even found this questionnaire hard to answer I use the site so rarely, but it is obviously important I get overwhelmed by the length of the email, and the number of things I want to read, and end up reading none. I think generally a bit shorter, or less links, would make the newsletter a lot more readable. I haven't had time to fully explore the new Transition Network website. I liked how it was before - a good place to send new people. I work with a number of communities and would like to know about how communities link together. I have not been using the site much, but will use it more as a result of this questionnaire. I would be very curious to see the general "mood" of the movement. There is a lot of both positive and negative "vibes" our there now and it would be interesting to see if most are keeping their chins up. I've rather lost touch with the forum since you relaunched. Some forums offer an individual or daily digest or forum postings. I'd definitely sign up for this as it would keep me more closely linked to what's going on and part of the online community. If TransitionNetwork.org is to be an international website, how can we make it more useful for those outside the UK? I don't know yet, but I do think this is a great question to ask! I'll think about it... If your transition initiative is dormant, how can you still stay connected, because someday your community may want to embrace an initiative quite actively -- and we'd want to build on the work of others In what year/s will TT network surpass facebook and twitter to become the defacto community chatterating system? 2012-15 when people need each others meaningful collaboration more (mirror it up somewhere!) interested in having an encouraging TT update talk in April on a saturday if possible at a spring fair we are organising Is our content focussed to your needs ? No. But I am really happy to speak to someone there. my numbers are Is there any interest for an occasional combined campaign/initiative for which groups nationally could be asked for their support and present the issue to government? Is this helpful to what you are doing locally? How long did this actually take you to complete (a lot longer than 5 minutes)? Needs to be some 'other' answers. Importance is not an adequate response if it is something we aren't doing because we hadn't thought of it or understood it. Question 7 begs the answer. What about 'Not considering using' Is this survey relevant to you at this stage - this should not be regarded as me being tetchy - i'm not its no probs It is far far better to have questions than to think we have all the answers - Here is a brain teaser - If the answer is 3 pounds - what is the question? It seems that there currently is no local initiative, but for a city with over 400.000 inhabitants and there should be at least one! It seems there is support once you are officially going.. but where is the support to to tell you, you are ready to take the step? Answer: It is up to you... How do you get round the seeming contradiction of internationally labelling a local network of environmental issue initatives? I know it makes sense, we are all individual and unique responses, but in isolation we have no voice..? At what point can you confess Transition is really revolutionary? Depends who you are pitching too Just a comment on web advertising...a real success...tripled my site traffic and getting 4-5 new email subscription every day...mostly from people who aren't the 'green crowd'. Pass it on! Just a comment, I put myself as "competent" with PC matters but after this survey I think I must be a novice! It was too techy for me. Major interaction via internet is not as appealing as direct involvement with local activities. Of course everyone has to have a website these days but I don't have time to pay it much attention if any - but local events, notified by email would be more likely to get my interest! None None None None its very comprehensive Keep up the good work Davie None... I have to get more involved. Not a question but I feel it would be really helpful to get a central set of resources set up. Not a question but I've only recently become involved in TT so couldn't answer most of the questions. Not feeling creative at the moment, sorry. Not sure if this is available already but it would be good to have a link about ethical web hosts, open source software etc, it has created some debate! Other comments! :-) Just wanted to express my gratitude for the work you are doing. I love being on the email list - it's a source of connection and hope even when I don't actually read them very often (guess I caught the survey one, eh?) Figure that my taking the time to respond represents many other folks that are also encouraged by your work, but who, like me, may not be actively involved in a Transition Town Initiative. Other suggestions to spend the technical support money - I think you could use the money to improve the search functions e.g. the directories on the website and the design of the website itself, rather than those other things. Our website manager isn't me. Gary Plant at yragtnalp…is the chap to talk to. He has only just started this job and I'm sure he would welcome all the help you can offer. Pet peeve. Any reference to post or low carbon. Time to get rid of that reference. Conflictual: i.e. post-carbon, carbon farming, etc. Please focus on direct, practical, serious solutions -- less on frivolous chat methodologies! There's too much noise, more real CONTENT!!! Pretty well covered. Q How can we make the TTN website prettier? A use more bright colour esp fotos :-) ... but don't forget us visually impaired lot, thanks for using high contrast (not all sites do it). Q how easy is the whole online presence stuff for our group, Q what would make it easier, A: it's really difficult, time consuming, draining, hard work and often not joyful, so it seems in our group! A: need training/some fool proof suggestions for doing this stuff with minimum effort! Q: Does the website help you with your iniciative? A: Only in the begging, the 'dreaming part'. Not when it goes to the hard part, of problem solving.. Q: How computer/web literate are your members? A: Not very, and they need to be. We all do. Q:do you think there is a conspiracy to make alt energy things bloody hard to understand for the average person ? A: Yes Q. Do you have any clue what you are doing? A. I haven't the faintest, but it sure beats the day job. Q. HOw can we make you realise what the website can do for you and therefore get you to go to it more often A Have a support person phone me... kinda hello welcome to the transition network, now you are here this is what you can do....( this feels logistically impossible,,, but in respect to permaculture principle - no limits, is there a way to design that need if not by a person phoning and talking me through it.... Q= How do you find fund raising A= extremely difficult. Successful bidders rarely make their applications visible to others to learn from. Question : Do you feel that there may be more specific support useful for transition initiatives about to start up ? My response : Yes, as the webpage seems to be oriented towards groups which are up & running. Re "Enable Transitioners to share their stories around the world" - video (c.f. YouTube) might be more effective than written stories Re Q 22--I'm just not the right person to be the link, as I'm no longer on the steering group. I'm sure someone would be who is. 'How are you getting on in view of the massive government cuts? How is your transition initiative beginning to answer the social needs of your area- -not just to make friends, but to solve 'social' issues like caring for elders & disabled people, mental health, medicine etc'? re Q22, I'm ok with being contacted but am really the IT specialist for TF and TCN rather than general contact - email for that purpose should go to info Relation with the initiatives outside UK. It would be great to support projects on mainland Europe too. Should we be spending valuable money on technology such as webs sites when the one we have is perfectly fine as it is. This is a typical example of the perpetual growth model wherein people don't know when to leave well enough alone and get on with other things. Could the money be used elsewhere to better use? ( a fund to buy allotment land might be more useful perhaps) Should we have a sitemap? Yes! Definitely! (unless I haven't found it, which means it not on the bottom of the home page, which is current common practice. A sitemap is one of the most useful tools I find in getting directly to what you want in a large website) something about chocolate and my answer is violet crumble today. Sorry - too many questions just no time to do them all. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful! Sorry, run out of time! Success stories - get some idea of what is working and what is fun. Cartoons we could use would be good Support for Regional networks. Do Transition Scotland/US/Australia etc need their own site or can it be integrated ? survey is a bit long for an inactive user - should be organized so you can streamline or jump ahead with q & a that's tricky.. Well I would like to ask Why don't you sell the books in pdf/ebook format? That's useful for people living abroad... wishing to learn from you. My answer would be, yes we will offer you online content through ExactEdition (please check this service, they sell permaculture magazine and resurgence) There's something I'm missing around how people manage to fit it all in. What are the efffective/efficient ways of interacting with all this? I spend far too much time on my PC, I get more emails and summaries from forums and newsletters than I can read, other people point to me as someone who keeps track of what's happening, and I haven't a clue ... there's stuff out there I'm keen to know about and it passes me by. There are websites I like that I don't get round to visiting ... It's like what is it that I don't know I don't know but need to know ... Meanwhile - I'll carry on carrying on and you're doing a great job! This is not really for newcomers or people whose involvement is well intended but minimal. I am uncertain about what an initistive is and what has been done so far. This questionaire is tremendous .. having done Survey Monkey surveys the amount of time just to put this lot together is amazing ... incredibly well done to all of you .. This questionnaire appears to be aimed at a mixture of full members, non-affiliated group members like me and 'mullers'. You appear not to be differentiating between them. Should you be? Answer: No. Jolly good. uhh, you already answered it in question 22. youve got a project support coordination, which i sort of recommended earlier in the survey when i ased for a people care person. i know its not exactly the same, but it fits the need. We are a really small group, I get tired trying to get people motivated. We hope to start a new website soon, and have a Spring Fayre to re boost our energies and re launch us to the people of Weymouth & Portland. So the question is, do we see the things that are happening around us as a direct response to thew work that the whole of teh TT movement is doing? Answer Yes? we are not good at asking for help and tend to battle on, be good to speak to the support co-ordinator We are visiting San Diego and I would like to get in touch with the group there but have to join their web site to do that - is there an easier way? What about accessibility for blind persons ? Shure, if you have money to spend, it could be the first priority. What are the most important objectives for an inititative and how are the groups going in achieving them.after 4 or 5 years? We decided after 9 months that educating the community was not a primary goal but teaching skills was important but most important was giving people useful things to do was most important and that this requires a context which we decided was a draft EDAP. What are you doing when you are not congratulating yourselves? When are you going to start having a rudimentary understanding of what politics means and how it works? Do you find juvenile hero worship compelling? My answers are too long. what colour gorrilla should we have on our website? what could we do to better coordinate groups. there needs to be a melding of co-coordination of collapsenet zeitgeist, etc. if these could be all melded together, then it could be more efficient because each group at each website has different things to bring to the table. what do you miss, with transition towns ? work together (coabolation?) i know the omstillningen in sweeden is kickin of, and allmost all eco villages.. yet it seams to me that noe one speaks toghether cause "you are bio dynamic, and you are permaculture.." so on... transition movment must be that glue!! between teh differenties of making a better place. and i , personal belive , the venus project is worth looking into! (allthough just a project) What do you most need to know to help your Transition initiative, and how could the Transition Network website help with that? Answer: Conflict resolution. The Transition Network website could have a list of resources and people willing to help on that. What initiatives turn you on? Transition healthcare - using self- healing 1. as part of preparation for downturns 2. reducing medication need/use 3. reducing medication and drug residue pollution See http://www.wholistichealingresearch.com/transition_healthcare What is best about having a state-wide website? Communicating about resources available within the region - especially forums for discussing projects and providing contact info to learn more/visit if appropriate; sharing learning about what's working/what's not What is my role as webmaster? What is the best form for a city initiative...hub of neighbourhood initiatives, or try to do it district wide? (I don't know the answer, but I suspect it is the former) What is your favourite colour? Green What is your role in Transition in the past / now? I was a founder member and served on steering group. Stepped down when working groups began to form. Since then have been active supporter online. Still meet Transition friends around town, but don't go to many events now since I'm into other things. What kind of support would you like to have to spread locally your intitative through our web site. ;) What other online groups support and parallel the initiatives purpose and how can transitions support them as well as get support back. The goal is to take already baked goods and put them all on the table together such as using LocalHarvest.org to bring in buyers for food, growers, use craigslist to be places of bartering and transactions of goods, connecting with sustainable farmers and aligning their goals with local food production. ------Be The Force for the Future! ----- What other website sare you using to get transition-related information? Answers: project dirt, fresh ideas, food coops, making local food work, for some... what time is love? now What's missing? Putting personal development, leadership on the top of the list to help with the social challenges involved in this tremendous transition work. I know there are some tools, but it's a very important factor in determining success, it would help if this part of transition received more attention. When is my book published in english? Well, I do not know, but it would be great to translate, because it is very good:) Where are you in your TT initiative? 0-6 months, 1-2 years, over 3 years... How has the information you needed been available on the TT site as you have progressed in your initiative? In my own research, I am finding that people use the TT resources to get started, but then they are not getting too much from it as they go along. Maybe that is ok, but I suspect the Transition is a broader thing than just the Towns. who is the IT support person for my group and what is his email?? Why are you not more involved in Transition Network? Because I know of no examples close to me, have not ever had a phone call, nor personal email, nor know of a local "head" chapter I can go to, to see how it is working. Why are you so quick to panic when faced with a technical problem? A. Hard drive meltdown trauma at a formative stage of development... Why do you make so little use of this fantastic free resource? Because I'm too busy, and it doesn't feel friendly or easy to use. Ideally (without having any idea of the volume of global traffic) I'd like a human spider at the centre of web to respond to requests. Why does Ben travel by Pumpkin?..... because noone else has got one why don't more surveys ask this question? because this survey rocks more than anything that has ever rocked before. Why has no one contacted us, to show some kind of interest/support before? Why have we used multiple choice answers which do not reflect the real choices people make? Is it because we arrogate to ourselves the right to be flippant and controlling about other people's views? Why isn't your initiative linked with Transition? Will you ever resign from your involvement with Transition? NO Are you frustrated that others could be doing more and choose not to ? Yes VERY Will Transition ever be more than an 'alternative' lifestyle and if not will it be enough to turn the climate change tide? With 52% of the country denying climate change, and with a House full of Republican troglodytes (sorry if i offend), I am discouraged about the chance of these efforts taking hold. I am traveling to Finland in 2 weeks on a grant from a local science museum (The Wild Center) to see how the Finns are adapting. I will be meeting with a Transition effort while there and meeting with the Sec. of Agriculture. Would you be interested in having a "twin city" transition town? Answer: Yes I think it would be great to erase the lines of national groups and learn internationally. Would you be wiling to give talks on peak oil & energy/climate to Transition groups? Yes! would you follow Transition Network on twitter yes - but I've already looked and can't find you on twitter Would you like a fab simple off the peg website useable by agreed users and easily understandable by those who prefer to be under the sky rather than in front of a screen? Yes we would! Would you like face to face training on using the transition network website? Yes please Would you like it to replace your own initiative website, i.e. so that you could post local events, have a local forum and ezine distribution facilities? Yes, please. Would you like the same for county level communication? Yes please. Would you like to see an option to sign up for an initiative in your area - then if enough people sign up the initiative would be viable? Yes, bigtime! Would you like us to offer free hosting for your initiative? Would you prefer to hand over this questionnaire to some-one more proficient in e-communication? Would you use an online Transition exchange accounting system, such as a LETS or timebank? Yes.