Purpose of Portland NETwiki: Difference between revisions
Created page with "Portland NET is not a typical CERT program. NET's large membership base and commitment to community learning mean that NET can grow into areas of disaster preparedness, response, and recovery that many CERT programs do not find the opportunity to explore. That also means NET has become a relatively complicated program with branching and specialized areas of expertise. The strength of Portland NET is its people: their knowledge and diversity of experience. By using a col..." |
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* '''Preservation and accessibility of institutional knowledge:''' Portland NET is the product of over 30 years of volunteer and PBEM staff expertise. Prior to NETwiki, much of this institutional knowledge was locked up in the heads of volunteers or under countless layers of nearly forgotten electronic files stored on PBEM drives and inaccessible to the wider NET community. Today, PBEM and NET can use NETwiki as a platform to establish, expand, and refine expertise and knowledge. | * '''Preservation and accessibility of institutional knowledge:''' Portland NET is the product of over 30 years of volunteer and PBEM staff expertise. Prior to NETwiki, much of this institutional knowledge was locked up in the heads of volunteers or under countless layers of nearly forgotten electronic files stored on PBEM drives and inaccessible to the wider NET community. Today, PBEM and NET can use NETwiki as a platform to establish, expand, and refine expertise and knowledge. | ||
* '''Saved PBEM staff time:''' An inordinate amount of PBEM staff time has been spent writing emails to volunteers with narrow questions about program protocols or best practices for response. Today, PBEM staff can publish much of that information to NETwiki and send volunteers links to comprehensive articles instead of calling up all the information or research needed in order to complete a response. With that time saved, PBEM staff has increased capacity to respond to other volunteer requests and program needs. | * '''Saved PBEM staff time:''' An inordinate amount of PBEM staff time has been spent writing emails to volunteers with narrow questions about program protocols or best practices for response. Today, PBEM staff can publish much of that information to NETwiki and send volunteers links to comprehensive articles instead of calling up all the information or research needed in order to complete a response. With that time saved, PBEM staff has increased capacity to respond to other volunteer requests and program needs. | ||
* - Make changes quickly and easily - Interface that is approachable for a wide audience (e.g. not like WebEOC) - Can be migrated for offline access, which is what we're attempting with AREDN Net) - Formatting for multimedia (text, video, hyperlinks, document uploads, images) | |||
Revision as of 22:27, 23 July 2025
Portland NET is not a typical CERT program. NET's large membership base and commitment to community learning mean that NET can grow into areas of disaster preparedness, response, and recovery that many CERT programs do not find the opportunity to explore. That also means NET has become a relatively complicated program with branching and specialized areas of expertise.
The strength of Portland NET is its people: their knowledge and diversity of experience. By using a collaborative platform, a Wiki preserves institutional knowledge long after key PBEM staffers come and go. The Wiki does not supplement PBEM's community engagement; it is a part of PBEM's community engagement. It also saves staff and volunteer time by organizing collective knowledge into easy-to-find and send articles.
Add to that a Wiki's interlinking capabilities, ease of use and familiar formatting, automated revision tracking, capacity to present information that engages with multiple learning styles, and scalability, and it's easy to see why a Wiki would evolve into a critical part of the NET ecosystem.
To summarize the most important reasons PBEM manages and grows this resource:
- Preservation and accessibility of institutional knowledge: Portland NET is the product of over 30 years of volunteer and PBEM staff expertise. Prior to NETwiki, much of this institutional knowledge was locked up in the heads of volunteers or under countless layers of nearly forgotten electronic files stored on PBEM drives and inaccessible to the wider NET community. Today, PBEM and NET can use NETwiki as a platform to establish, expand, and refine expertise and knowledge.
- Saved PBEM staff time: An inordinate amount of PBEM staff time has been spent writing emails to volunteers with narrow questions about program protocols or best practices for response. Today, PBEM staff can publish much of that information to NETwiki and send volunteers links to comprehensive articles instead of calling up all the information or research needed in order to complete a response. With that time saved, PBEM staff has increased capacity to respond to other volunteer requests and program needs.
- - Make changes quickly and easily - Interface that is approachable for a wide audience (e.g. not like WebEOC) - Can be migrated for offline access, which is what we're attempting with AREDN Net) - Formatting for multimedia (text, video, hyperlinks, document uploads, images)