WECHANGE
WECHANGE — is an open-source project management and networking tool developed by the Wechange cooperative:[1], which is now used by over 35,000 people[2].
History
The networking platform for activists originally arose from an idea of the association Wachstumswende in 2012.[2]. Together with partner organisations such as Brabbl, GreenNetProject, platform cooperativism, and Kombüse, a functional prototype was brought into the world with wechange.de, which is now used by numerous organisations and is continually further developed in close cooperation with the users[1]
The WECHANGE as a tool was created in 2014 to support the change-makers, developers, visionaries and many committed volunteers[2] to cooperate and co-create together online. WECHANGE was an in-house development at first, created by the Berlin media agency Sinnwerkstatt[1].
The prototype of the platform was created in 2015[2], while the cooperative, that organises platforms was founded later in 2016[3].
There are three core functions of the platform:
1. making the actors visible to each other, as projects can present themselves with a microsite;
2. providing networking possibilities through direct messages and common forum;
3. empowering collaboration by offering various tools to support project groups in their work[1].
Reception
The WECHANGE software offers a set of tools for project management. WECHANGE is one of the online collaboration platforms using the wechange software to bring a eco-social change initiatives together. Change-makers register there and make themselves known to the public and each other. The platform also offers practical functions for joint work on projects. Various project groups (e.g., local food-sharing, transition-town, non-formal education, and community economy groups) are already organising themselves through WECHANGE. The entire networks also use WECHANGE. Some of the projects which actively use a WECHANGE portal are Wachstumswende, Unternehmensgrün, MokWi, Suniversum, Netzwerk N, Deutsch-Polnischen Jugendwerk (DPJW) and others.
The overarching theme is eco-social change[4].The website functions with the highest data protection requirements[3]. The project is CO2 neutral and operates entirely on green energy sources[3]. The server is based in Germany. All the user data is protected regarding the EU General Data Protection Regulation [3].
The platform is available in several languages: English, German, Ukrainian, Russian, Belarusian, French, Polish.
Features
WECHANGE provides a free mobile app for Android on Google Play[5] in addition to its free web browser client wechange.eco.
The platform is implemented with Python and Django. An independent WECHANGE instance can be created for each portal and the source code can be found on GitHub[6]. Currently, all platforms except the project world DRJA[7] share a standard login and database service[1]. The code is located on the GitLab server of the Sinnwerkstatt. But so far, there is no process to involve external open source developers in the programming.
The platform also integrates some existing tools, e.g., Etherpad. Within the projects, there are the following functional areas such as[8]
- Events — can be entered in a calendar;
- Surveys — support in the area of decision-making, scheduling;
- Tasks — can be created, and project members can be assigned and documented;
- Documents — any number of EtherPads and EtherCalcs can be created and organized in a folder structure;
- Files — can be uploaded and arranged in a folder structure.
There are also some cross-project functions offered for the users of wechange.eco:
- Messages — messages can be sent to one or more people or projects;
- Map — there is a map where you can filter by people, events, groups, and events;
- Search — a search function searches all contents visible to a user;
- Feedback — here users can give feedback on the application, suggestions for improvement, praise, and criticism[8].
Websites using wechange software
WECHANGE as a cooperative helps physical organizations to achieve orderly digitization and provides resources to create an own portal that may be used for the project management and networking. Among the websites that were created by WECHANGE is trilateral youth exchange platform TRIYOU, Civil Society for Cooperation.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Kollotzek, Markus (2018-01-03). "WECHANGE - Online-Kollaboration für den gesellschaftlichen Wandel". green net project (in Deutsch). Retrieved 2020-04-17.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Wechange". bis201908.contraste.org. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "wechange eG". genossenschaftsgruendung.de. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
- ↑ "Hier verbinden sich Lüneburger Initiativen - LZonline". landeszeitung.de (in Deutsch). 2019-10-30. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
- ↑ "WECHANGE - Apps on Google Play". play.google.com. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
- ↑ "WECHANGE eG". GitHub. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
- ↑ "Projektwelt DRJA" (in Deutsch). Retrieved 2020-04-17.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Features". WECHANGE. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
WECHANGE
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