WalterMcGinnis.com :Help

Topic: Donations to Kete

Topic type:
Topic

The Kete Project needs to cash donations to thrive. Find out why ...

The Dream

I would love every community in New Zealand to have a Kete they can contribute theirs stories to. I would love these Kete to be part of a nationwide Kete.net system, whereby searchers can select which Kete to search on. Imagine if you knew your family hailed from the West Coast gold fields, but then farmed at Foxton, and how with one search you could select to run your search over Kete Kapiti and Kete West Coast, and the results would all appear in one list.

This is possible with Kete, it is possible with New Zealand, and It is possible anywhere else in the world you cared to set up a Kete network.

What we have done so far

We have just about got this Kete where we want it; still a small handful of bugs to fix but all core functionality and proof of concept work is done now. We seriously underestimated our development budget for Kete (being a bunch of wildly optimistic Kiwi's) and have been finishing the product off with voluntary labour and no budget.

The Library Trust has taken a huge financial hit getting Kete this far - because they love it - but we'll need help to get it out to the world.

What next

The next step is getting the code ready to release - and for this we will have to pay the developer!

We propose to do the following:

1. Build a release of the code (minus all the Horowhenua customizations) that can be downloaded, installed and configured using a web based wizard to step newbies through the process, thus allowing a unique Kete installation.
2. Develop a prototype for skins or themes to allow a customized installation reflecting an organisations culture or style.
3. Establishing a kete.net community site for developers and users.
4. Pay a Kete.net coordinator to promote, advise, guide and develop the project.

How much

We need another $NZ 100k for the next round of development work. This will achieve 1-3 above. Then we need about $30k a year.

We have an application in to our original funders, NZ National Digital Strategy : Community Partnership Fund, for a second chunk of cash to make Kete available for all who want it, and we should hear back late June. We have also applied to Te Paerangi National Services at Te Papa for some help.

How to help

You can make personal or institutional donations by credit card from anywhere using the Paypal donation onthe Kete homepage; even just $20 from many people will get us where we need to be.
If you want a Kete for your community, no matter where you are in the world, then you may need to consider helping us out financially so we can get the code ready and a support community established.