BCCDIY September 24, 2009

You are cordially invited to join in a day building an alternative community-generated version of the Birmingham City Council website.

You can drop in at any time from 9am to 8pm (drinks after at the Cross bar next door) for as long as you want, or you can collaborate online if you can't be there physically.

Why?

There has been much discussion around the merits and problems associated with the new website that was launched a week or so ago here: http://birmingham.gov.uk

In response a group of people have been collaborating on our own version: http://bccdiy.com

What's the aim?

We want to produce a useful resource for the city of Birmingham by making the site we should have had.

What's the plan?

Now that we have a framework in place for a new site, we need to do lots of work testing it, deciding what goes where, writing useful pages, rewriting confusing stuff, removing incorrect information.

Who can help?

Anyone who can use a computer can contribute.

We need:

* People who know nothing about the web to test it
* People who are good at planning and organising
* Copy writers to write pages
* Photographers to source nice photos from Flickr
* Web designers to think about what's under the hood (particularly if you know Ruby on Rails, JQuery, etc.)
* Usability experts
* Pretty much anyone...

We start at 9am, and by 9pm we will have a fully-functional, tested website (we hope!) You can drop in at any time. There's free tea and coffee, it's light and airy and there are nice cafes nearby.



Directions

By car: Moseley is on the A435 Moseley Road, South Birmingham. From the city centre follow the ring road round and come off at the A435 junction. From the M42 take the A435 junction, 1 junction from the M40.

By bus:Take the 35 or 50 from the city centre and ask for Moseley Crossroads.

By train: Take the train to Birmingham New Street, walk out of the station, through the Bullring and catch the 50 at the back of the Pavillions shopping centre.

Join us - it should be fun, and you'll be part of a world first!

Official Website: http://bccdiy.eventbrite.com