Keeping the Family
Together
Kristi Florence
July 2, 2008
Education Technology
541
Need
The Bruce family is made up of approximately 30 people who live on all sides of the United States and Canada. For the past 50 years these 30 people have been tied together by the patriarch of the family, Grandpa Gill. He diligently planned holidays and events that pulled the relatives, from far away places, to his home in Santa Barbara. The family bond was the most important thing in his eyes and he had a knack of creating happy, joyful and very healthy family gatherings.
Recently Gill passed away and the Bruce family is floundering, searching for a new leader to keep that bond alive. Having them all live in different places, the job of bringing the family physically together is proving to be quite difficult.
I am proposing a site which will allow the Bruce family to stay connected and even possibly learn more about each other and their history. This type of multimedia will provide the tools for each family member to connect with the whole group and offer updates on children, trips, anniversaries and birthdays. They can communicate about weddings and baby showers, plan trips together and even just keep up with daily lives. It will enhance their ability to stay connected.
Audience
The family is composed of 2 major layers: the children and the grandchildren of Gill Bruce. There are many levels of computer competency but overall everyone has access to a computer with internet and every member has an email address. There are members of the group that have a large body of knowledge on the history of the Bruce family and there are others that would love to learn more. There are others that are very social and enjoy planning vacations and others that would love to join them. I think, as a whole, the Bruce family would be eager to utilize a tool that would help them stay connected and would be driven to learn those skills that might be lacking in order for them to use this site to its fullest.
UserŐs Needs
I have polled a good portion of the family members and the following are the results of my research. This is a list of the aspects they would most like to see on the site.
á History of the Bruce Family
o Some would like to see the family tree with names and pictures of each individual.
á Information and Demographics About the Individuals
o Each name on the family tree to be linked to an information pop up telling birthday, anniversary and what city and state they live in.
o Another suggestion is to have a map with an icon for each family member in the place they live. This will give a sweeping picture of the distribution of the group.
á A Way to Communicate
o They would like to have a way to talk to each other and post ideas. I would like to see if I can add a link to a listserve or blog that will allow the members to post information that the whole family can see.
o There will also be a page that I can post information about events, trips, major milestonesÉ
o On that page as well, I would like to be able to post a video or picture that shows something I have done with a family member or a dedication to a specific event or person.
Environment
The individual user will most likely be accessing the site from home or office. There will be video and digital images so the cable connection will need to be fairly fast and users might need to download a plug in or software to have full functions of the website. They will need speakers to be able to hear possible audio associated with the video. There will be a link to this site from my Education Technology 540 homepage. Those who will want to save my posted photos will have to have the storage space on their computer and if they want to have physical copies will need to have access to a printer. Most of the skills needed to utilize a majority of the website will be basic internet knowledge. Some may have to seek information on their own or contact me to be able to see the videos or save the pictures. This site will most likely be used privately and only shown to non-members or groups of people as a point of conversation or to show off a photo or video.
Resources and
Limitations
The actual information and text for the site can be created by me and researched through other members of the family. There is already a family tree created and history compiled of which I would have access to. Pictures and video are easily obtained through email and media I already have in my possession.
The most time consuming aspect of the site will be the links to each personŐs personal information which will be easy to collect but tedious to apply to the site. This information will be general to the area they live and basic statistics. There will be no contact information of any kind. The blog or listserve could be the most complicated part of this project but I would be linking to a site that already has the service in place. Originally I would like to keep the information on the actual page fairly static, only having to update when addresses change or a major event occurs. I hope that the blog will be the meat of the information exchange and the site will be used to display that information. An obtainable goal is to have a main page with description of the use of the site. A page with the family tree uploaded and the individual information posted. If the linking of the information shows to be too much, another way is to provide the information in table form until all the links are completed. I have confidence I can also have the video or photo poster board up and completed in basic form.
General Solution
Having a site that will support each member in the family to stay connected to their relatives is a wonderful resource. It will strengthen that bond which is challenged everyday by the distance that lies between us all. This is an environment where each person can gain knowledge and support from others within the family group. It will be a site that can be used at the basic level of just learning more about the family and reading updates. Or it can be used as a tool to connect and expand the opportunities of each member that desires to do so.