Facebook

[M S G Benning]

Following my joining Facebook(2010/1?), I 'grouped' all my Jowett owning friends, without fully realizing, as it were, the impact. I see there is also a link called Jowett. I would like to open the discussion through this medium as to whether the club should consider a specific Facebook page. I appreciate that Facebook is not for everyone, but a lot of the global population use it everyday. I will send Hon Ed a missive to put in Jowetteer (signed Stiffy Byng - to those in the know!!)

[Jack]

I believe there are a couple which have been set up, they are a great way of friends and members staying in touch and finding potential new members.

The struggle seems to have been critical mass. In order for a page to become regularly visited, and a place that friends know others will be there, it needs a certain number of active members. The other pages set up don't seem to have got to that point, but if you have a large group already connected together that might be just what is required.

Amy is the expert on the mighty Facebook, and hopefully can drop in with a link or two to help - have you two found each other on there already?

Jack.

[M S G Benning]

My 'group' is currently set to 'secret group' at the moment. There are 19 members. I'll look Amy up. It was more a question of whether there is any mileage in having a 'proper' page.

[Jack]

My 'group' is currently set to 'secret group' at the moment. There are 19 members. I'll look Amy up. It was more a question of whether there is any mileage in having a 'proper' page.

I think there is definite mileage in it. It will almost certainly be a place to find a younger demographic, which is something the club clearly needs. It might be that the group will be a public version of what you have got already, probably worth making sure the group is linked up with other Jowett people who can invite more Jowett people to get to critical mass.

Interested on what others view is on Facebook - it is probably alien to many of us (me included, though it seems like an increasingly uphill struggle not to get drawn into it!) and the potential of what it could do has been considered but not yet really explored.

Jack.

[Forumadmin]

It is important that Jowett people do not have to, or feel obliged to, visit many forums to keep in touch with things Jowett. We should first ask what can be achieved on Facebook that cannot be done on JowettTalk. Then concentrate on those aspects on Facebook and not subtract from the JowettTalk community.

You have very little control of what happens on Facebook or what information Facebook and its users can glean from what you put on there. You may not feel this is an issue at present but intrusion and privacy violations will become more prevalent. Radio 4 gave some alarming revelations this morning which even alarmed me.

I am fully aware of what data mining software can do. Currently it is used to collect information about every page a user visits and builds up a profile of activity, not only across a website but across many websites. What alarmed me is how gullible people are and how blatant apps designers are in gathering your personal information. Many 'apps' extract information from your PC or phone unless you have been very diligent in setting your PC and browser up, and you have not clicked yes when it asks if the app can access information in your device. Most people do click yes and so all your contact information, your friends, your likes and anything else on you phone, tablet or pc is then made available to all and sundry. What is worse is that much of that information is not yours to give away, it is somebody else's personal data.

Data given away may not be personal in the Data Protection Act definition but it may be sensitive for many reasons. Facebook users in the Jowett group might be targeted by insurance companies, they might be encouraged to download an app and just one in the group might do it and then give even more information about his 'friends' to the world of advertising and crime.

It happened previously with email contact lists which were hacked. It is now happening with phone contact lists and Facebook friends.

JowettTalk makes it difficult for people and automated systems to extract information from JowettTalk unless they are a registered user.

If you are still with me , I am not trying to stop use of Facebook which is a valuable social networking facility. But beware, it can also be an unsociable tool.

[Nick Webster]

I have been able to use this forum to search out Questions & Answers on specific subjects. Some of them written years ago. Archiving may sound a bit stuffy but it is really useful. I have a Facebook account and I know that kind of facility is impossible. It is a completely different animal, not intended for any kind of historical record and recall. Further, while I can see the attraction of setting up a Facebook page in terms of "being where the action is" I think it would just serve to spread out the membership when what a club needs is concentration!

I have to say though that compared with some others this forum is really clunky to use and the frustration caused by having to sign into individual bits separately is really annoying. I may stand to be corrected but I think this is "Free" software and hence hardly likely to be cutting edge. Perhaps if some updated software could be found this Forum might be made a little more active? Why so little use by the Area Sections, one wonders.

Nick

[Forumadmin]

Thanks for your comments Nick.
The 'clunkiness' as you call it is something I have been working on and has been discussed a number of times on this forum and in person. The issue comes back to security and the three or more types of user the website needs to cater for. It also is caused by the desire to provide a forum and an archive as well as other internet services.
The data on the site is mostly public, but some may consider certain images or text to be sensitive and not something to share with potential criminals or employers or others. Thus the site has various areas that allow protection from prying eyes. Certain data is sensitive or valuable enough to be either private to members of a specific club or to club officials. Thus the site allows users to put this data into more protected areas.

The types of users are in order of privileges
1. the public,
2. those interested in Jowetts,
3. paid up members of the Jowett affiliated clubs,
4. administrators, moderators and club officials.
Currently users on JowettTalk are vetted to make sure they are interested in Jowetts and users on JowettGallery are vetted to make sure they are a club member. Users of Jowett Internet Services are vetted to check if they are a current member of the JCC and then given additional privileges allowing them to access membership lists, registers and other data private to the club. The good news is that there is a plan to provide single sign on but this will be using the strict Jowett Internet Services logon. This insists on a strong password and users are strongly vetted by checking email addresses and credentials.
From this information a JIS user is given privileges allowing them to do what they are allowed to do but nothing more. Jowett Internet Services do cater for the public user, that is non-member access, but their email address is verified and they need to give a telephone number (although it currently is not checked).

Clearly this is quite an overhead in administration. This could be solved if all affiliated clubs agreed to maintain their membership list on the site. Users can currently maintain their JCC membership details.

Do not forget this administration overhead when setting up any group. You will need to vet and eject members. I can guarantee it.


The software used was chosen many years ago based on a number of criteria one of which was longevity. Choosing software to last 20 years was not easy. This one criteria almost excluded proprietary software. Portability was also needed so that it could run on any platform. The software also needed to be transportable and able to be maintained. The PHP language was chosen as it is fairly easy to learn and is known by many. Languages such as Java and Visual Basic were tried and some parts of the website did at times use these.

The packages chosen were considered by the majority as the best at the time and also were chosen based on various criteria. Data protection and security was high on the list as we wanted something to store the club archive. The packages chosen were/are maintained by an active community so were able to take advantage of advancing technology such as integration with smart phones and software such as Picassa and Windows. Cutting edge is precisely that...you bleed a lot! But also most Jowett users do not want such things. Indeed I was asked a number of times to maintain compatibility with old systems and slower links. Obviously a compromise, so a few years ago Jowett.net was launched which used some newer programming techniques and this allows Jowett Internet Services to function well. Still not bleeding edge but if you have any suggestions or examples of better sites then feel free to share.