We've been live now for five months...

...and we've been delighted at the initial response we've had to CommunityCentral. Since our launch back in November, interest has been fantastic. We've really appreciated this as we move to grow the site more and the features it offers.

To give you some idea, here's a brief shot of the activity so far.

There have been 3,300 visits by 1,800 visitors viewing over 16,000 pages in total. The number of members now stands at 280. The good news is that we've already had expressions of interest from 18 groups and organisations for private workspaces, and from 9 for networks. Currently, there are 5 e-newsletters being managed and distributed using the e-newsletter platform, with still more to come. We are also actively pursuing more cross-sector collaborative projects to sit alongside ComVoices and Workplace Wellbeing.

A good number people in the sector have made the important first move and joined up. They now receive their e-newsletters direct from the site. Many more have obviously browsed the site, with, we know, a view to joining when there are more features available.

And that's just what we want to tell you about now.

Workspaces and networks are well underway

Watch out for workspaces and networks - the nub of the site - towards the end of May. These features are currently under development, but are on track. The developers are working to a strict timetable to achieve this.

We're going to be in touch very soon with all groups who have registered their interest with us in workspaces and networks to ensure you and your plans for collaborative work online are ready to go.

Your questions answered

We've had some questions about whether there'll be a charge for CommunityCentral.

We can say at this stage that it will always be free for anyone to browse and for individuals to register as members. Charges for using some of the interactive facilities are likely to introduced. But only after we've talked with lots of people around the country, funding bodies, government departments and others interested in supporting community groups.

One of the things we'll be talking about later in the year is how we run the site in the long-term. What structure do we need? How do supporters get involved? Is a new organisation necessary or can we ran it under a partnership?

Back to charges: we will keep access to the site affordable. We realise we could easily deter potential groups and organisations from using CommunityCentral - when after all it's those groups and organisations we want to attract and retain. There will be more on pricing once we have examined some options.

We've had questions too about collaborative online tools. With web technology now enabling building of these platforms, it is inevitable there will be developments other than CommunityCentral on offer.

Across the many tools available there's a lot that is the same - a means to build a community and to share and discuss ideas, themes, files etc. using the web, for those in different organisations in different locations using different computers. All aim to reduce the barrage of emails we get and send and make it a lot easier to keep everything in one place when we work together.

Some the differences between CommunityCentral and other known alternatives include:

• CommunityCentral's sole aim is to build and strengthen the community, be community-owned and driven and be New Zealand-based.

• Any data will be located and remain on computers on NZ shores.

• Groups participating in CommunityCentral will own their own content - it is not owned by CommunityCentral.

For other online tools this is however not the case. Even some New Zealand online tools state the website will own the data - a concept from the US- and that data may not necessarily remain solely in NZ.

Our preference is to have NZ community organisations use a NZ community-driven platform - that is essentially why CommunityCentral has been created.

Stay tuned for more...

There'll be key developments in CommunityCentral over the next few weeks, so watch out for them.

And do remember get others in your organisation to join if they haven't already (it's free for individuals).

Did you know you can also register for e-newsletters? Go to: http://communitycentral.org.nz/e-newsletters to check out the list of available titles.