National Yes Registry coordinator Jason Baird explains the IndyApp, a new tool for campaigners set to launch on 18 September, the second anniversary of the Scottish independence referendum
HELLO everyone and many thanks to CommonSpace for giving us this great opportunity to explain just exactly what the National Yes Registry's IndyApp project is all about before it is Launched for public download on 18 September.
The IndyApp is a bespoke networking tool for the Yes movement. It is free to all participating groups and designed to allow those autonomous grassroots groups to work effectively together, share resources, experience and campaigning ideas.
It will allow mentoring and mutual support among pro-indy activists, encourage new community groups to form and dormant groups to reform. Our aim is to encourage activism and community participation in the indy movement through increased membership of each of the local groups, as it is these local groups that make up the backbone of our non-party political Yes movement.
The creation of the IndyApp has been the culmination of a long term process of discussion and negotiation with active grassroots pro-indy groups located all around Scotland.
To support the development and running of the app, a voluntary micro donation is all that will be required by individual members.
At this point I would like to underline that the creation of the IndyApp has been the culmination of a long term process of discussion and negotiation with active grassroots pro-indy groups located all around Scotland.
More importantly, once the app is launched to the public on 18 September that development process will not stop, it will continue and intensify as every participating community group grows their own collective capabilities.
All this will be achieved through five key IndyApp functions. In explaining those functions, the grassroots capabilities of the IndyApp become clear.
1. The 'Front Doors'
Each group will have a public 'Front Door' on the App. This will display information such as, Group name, Google map location, meeting times, venue, events, campaigns, donate button and contact button.
So, on free download of the IndyApp, interested members of the public with no previous experience or contact with the movement can simply type in their postcode and the app will direct them to a selection of their nearest indy group 'Front Doors', to peruse, contact and be warmly welcomed into the grassroots.
2. The 'Local Forum'
This allows an entire group membership to network with one another easily, 24 hours a day. Each group member can also read what’s going on in the 'National Forum'.
This means folk can dip in and out of local activism as and when they can. If that means picking up messages and sharing local or national campaigning ideas after work or late into the night then the app is there to facilitate things.
3. 'Resource Buttons'
These allow each group to archive their local resources, such as membership skill sets, equipment, suppliers, venues, media contacts etc. In this way the groups give their entire membership easy access to campaigning information.
4. The 'National Forum'
This allows each local group (collectively) to post campaigning ideas, and network as a group just as effectively as an individual member can on their own 'Local Forums'.
The 'National Forum' also has its equivalent national 'Resource Buttons' to allow groups to share any of their own local resources that they feel are suitable for country-wide applications.
5. 'Committee Rooms'
These are used for developing and practically enacting new campaign ideas, once they have been identified by or proposed in the Forums. They allow individuals locally and groups nationally to organise themselves across the country
For more details on the importance of the committee room function, click here.
Please remember, this is an app and it has been carefully designed for simplicity and ease of use. Five-point articles trying to explain it in any detail are by their very nature much, much more complex than the IndyApp is itself!
I hope this outline of the basic functions of the IndyApp has made clear the ambition and scope of the NYR project. Using the capabilities of the IndyApp, each individual local group, and group member, becomes networked nationally, fully aware of where that national grassroots movement is flowing and able in their turn to influence and help that movement with their own practical ideas, skills and enthusiasms.
We are currently crowdfunding for this project and are standing at 24 per cent funded with only a few days remaining so if you want to see this two-year long grassroots network building project reach fruition on 18 September, please give what you can.
All word of mouth recommendations to encourage support would also be greatly appreciated. Many thanks from all at the NYR.
Picture courtesy of the National Yes Registry
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