igf-online.net, the new community site for remote and intersessional participation in the activities of the Internet Governance Forum, has just been launched, as the first tangible output of the IGF's Online Collaboration Dynamic Coalition. So far it features:

• Sympa mailing lists
• WordPress blog
• IRC chat
• RSS aggregation
• MediaWiki wiki
• PHPiCalendar calendar

all linked together with a custom-developed menu that sits at the top of (most of) these pages, and which also links to the official IGF Web sites and those of the dynamic coalitions.

igf-online.net is the successor to the Drupal-based igf2006.info site that was launched by myself and Kieren McCarthy a few weeks prior to the Athens meeting, once it had become apparent that the Secretariat wasn't going to provide adequate facilities for remote participation off its own bat. Although Drupal performed well enough in most respects (chat being a notable exception), this year we've decided to spread the site across a range of "best of breed" applications instead.

The old site at igf2006.info itself is currently broken, and until Kieren fixes it or reinstates my access to the hosting account so that I can do so, it looks like it's staying that way. But the same predicament won't recur this time, since igf-online.net is hosted on a dedicated (albeit virtual) server rather than a private hosting account, and I am planning to share administrative access with any willing and responsible volunteers.

There is still quite a bit of work to be done on the site before it will be ready for Rio; and not much of it is going to be able to be done by me, since I'm leaving Australia next Monday. Some of the most pressing tasks for which volunteers are needed are:

• adding content to the site, including more blog postings, wiki entries and event listings (which are entered as blog posts in the "Event" category);
• creating a uniform set of templates so that each of the above applications has a common look and feel;
• translating blog posts and the menu that sits at the top of the page into the official UN languages; and
• publicising the site so that people actually use it!


If you are interested in helping out, please either contact me, join the Online Collaboration Dynamic Coalition mailing list, or join the new sysadmin mailing list for those who would like to help to administer the new IGF community server. Many hands make light work, and at the moment mine are aching!