Safest Way to Maintain "Electronic" Information Board in COVID Times

[Paradise-Lover]

Just wondering how you friends are doing it. Opinions are mixed here as to whether it's safe, appropriate and acceptable for a *congregation* to create a WhatsApp group where information relating to student assignments schedules & field service arrangements can be posted for easy access. Does that also fall under *sensitive* information that must not be circulated through the social media?

[Shawnster]

We have a congregation drop box for this purpose and all the publishers were given read only access to the Dropbox.  All the announcements and schedules are posted on this electronic information board. 

 

We are also testing a new scheduling program called JW Scheduler. It's currently only available for Android.  One of the advantages is that there is an app that gives read only access to the information board, plus sends push notification reminders of parts and assignments. 

[Paradise-Lover]

5 minutes ago, Shawnster said:

We have a congregation drop box for this purpose and all the publishers were given read only access to the Dropbox.  All the announcements and schedules are posted on this electronic information board. 

 

We are also testing a new scheduling program called JW Scheduler. It's currently only available for Android.  One of the advantages is that there is an app that gives read only access to the information board, plus sends push notification reminders of parts and assignments. 

That's a wonderful option.

[Paradise-Lover]

13 minutes ago, Shawnster said:

We have a congregation drop box for this purpose and all the publishers were given read only access to the Dropbox.  All the announcements and schedules are posted on this electronic information board. 

 

We are also testing a new scheduling program called JW Scheduler. It's currently only available for Android.  One of the advantages is that there is an app that gives read only access to the information board, plus sends push notification reminders of parts and assignments. 

Is there any reason why you didn't look into Whatsapp?

[Shawnster]

Some of our field service group overseers use Whatsapp to keep in touch with their field service groups.

 

I don't know what decisions were made by the elders in regards an "official" information board.  My first thought would be that Whatsapp is a messaging software and isn't as useful a tool for an information board.  If I share the Public Talk schedule on Whatsapp, for example, it can get lost pretty quickly if the whatsapp chat stream is active.  A dropbox or some other means to access a schedule anytime you want without having to scroll back and find it seems more practical.

[carlos]

2 hours ago, Shawnster said:

We have a congregation drop box for this purpose and all the publishers were given read only access to the Dropbox.  All the announcements and schedules are posted on this electronic information board. 

We do exactly the same but with a Google Drive folder. It's set to read only, and the documents cannot be downloaded, just opened from there.

[pgwenlan]

2 hours ago, Shawnster said:

We are also testing a new scheduling program called JW Scheduler. It's currently only available for Android.

Jwscheduler is available on iOS...

[Brandon]

3 hours ago, Paradise-Lover said:

whether it's safe, appropriate and acceptable for a *congregation* to create a WhatsApp group where information relating to student assignments schedules & field service arrangements can be posted for easy access.

That sounds like a really bad idea. But if you use Signal instead then I think that would be okay, although ideally you would delete the old data each week. (Does signal allow that?)

[On the huh]

Our congregation Whatsapp group is just for a information board.  Not used for chatting.  Only the CoBE posts, mostly in PDF.  The rest of us not on Whatsapp gets the info via email.  In effect, I have no electronic information board, and don't need one, just my email app.  Info for elders only is sent via the congregations jwpub email account.

The field service groups and individual whatsapps accounts are for chatting and sending messages.

[carlos]

4 hours ago, Paradise-Lover said:

Is there any reason why you didn't look into Whatsapp?

We use Whatsapp a lot. In fact the COBE sends the monthly schedule for all meetings to elders and MSs by Whatsapp. But it doesn't seem the best tool for an information board. An online folder with all the relevant files is perfect.

[BPelder]

We're using Padlet and it seems to be working well.  

[Shawnster]

3 hours ago, pgwenlan said:

Jwscheduler is available on iOS...

Thanks 

 I was told otherwise. Good to know 

[Jmystro]

We've been using Google Drive for the past 4 year.  It's been great and really useful now with our current situation.

 

Also testing JW Schedule, l don't like the way it prints out the CLM schedule.  Wish it would print out 1 week per page.

As far as everything else, it works great.

[Sheep]

4 hours ago, Jmystro said:

We've been using Google Drive for the past 4 year.  It's been great and really useful now with our current situation.

Google Drive is what my congregation uses too. I've never tried anything else, so I don't know what's good and what isn't. But our information board contains info for the next CO visit, a map of our territory boundaries, several letters about COVID, Saturday service groups and who's in them, photos of locations for setting up carts (not used at the moment), etc.

 

Edited January 19, 2021 by Sheep

[Qapla]

We had a WhatsApp group that only the Elders could post to. This was used for some reminders and the daily theme for Meeting for Service. Schedules and assignments were emailed directly to those involved.

 

However, we are discontinuing the WhatsApp group and on Jan 31the long existing "conversation" will be deleted - this is due to security concerns and the sharing between WhatsApp and Facebook.

 

We are now using JWScheduler (that was mentioned above) for an "Information Board" since it has features for meeting schedules, assignments, duties and you can even report your service for the month with the app.

 

We are also now using Signals to replace the group activity we used to do on WhatsApp

 

So far the migration has gone well and the Congregation has been quick to accept the changes and all appreciate the reason for the changes.

 

 

[Jarred]

We set up a zoom breakout room called "information board" where we have a google slide show running with slides of the schedules and various announcements we normally post.

Since zoom is now our virtual kingdom hall, it allows anybody attending the meeting to see it.

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

[On the huh]

What I learned from this is that congregations need to find a way that works for them.  The way one congregation handles an electronic information board may not work for another.  Each method has its merits, and each has its faults.  

 

I like this idea

21 hours ago, Jarred said:

We set up a zoom breakout room called "information board" where we have a google slide show running with slides of the schedules and various announcements we normally post.

 

[Floyd]

On 1/19/2021 at 12:24 PM, BPelder said:

We're using Padlet and it seems to be working well.  

Us too. There is an app for Android and IOS. Our CO said it was ok based on what is said in the instructions for the elders regarding online storage. Its set to read only. The publishers can look at it at any time using the browser or app.