Ready access to information by all members has been shown to be critical to community cohesion and effective decision making. CDC has designed an internet based system to help facilitate effective communication and information storage for groups that use collaborative decision making processes. This system can easily evolve over time and can be used after move-in just as readily as during the development phase.

The system can be purchased for a fixed fee, which includes installation to the client’s server and training. The system is simple and requires only a minimal knowledge of the computer to manage the information and upload documents

Interested parties may contact cdc@cohousingconsulting.ca to get a user name and password to view a sample system.The system includes the following elements:

Information about the system
An overview of the system, scope of installation, training services and a link to the PMWiki basic editing page.

Calendar
The calendar is very simple and easy to use. Information about upcoming meetings and other events can be added for current and future months for up to five years. Rescheduling and updating information for posted events is easily done through the edit function.

Group Forum
This provides an opportunity for members to discuss issues without using email and provides an archival record of discussions by topic.

Contact List
This list can be easily added to or revised by simply using the edit function.

Photo Gallery
A way to easily upload, organize and view photos. Groups of photos are conveniently displayed as pages of thumbnails, where clicking on the desired photo thumbnail opens the full sized photo.

DOCUMENTS
The document storage and retrieval provides an easy way to organize information that can be accessible to all members. The table of contents can be set up in whatever way is desired. The sample gives an example of what is possible.