Information Exchange
The Information Exchange is a service that enables a query, related to arts development in Victoria, Australia, to be directed to the best ‘advisors’ on a network to provide a near real-time response to questions and problems. The ‘Castanet Exchange’ is made up of a many ‘experts’ in their field and across the spectrum of arts activities. You can join as an advisor or post a question to the advisors. It is a free service.
Information Exchange
The Castanet arts Information Exchange provides answers to the many questions that can occur when planning or running an arts activity or when planning your own arts development. There are two groups of people who go to the Exchange.
The first are Seekers
These are people with a question that needs an answer or a problem that needs discussion and advice. The ‘seeker’ remains anonymous and only the system knows the verified email address of the person posting the query. All people using the Castanet-Exchange are required to register with a verifiable e-mail address. The questions can come from the general public or from artists, bureaucrats and community workers. From the mundane to the complex all questions are posted into the Castanet-Exchange with user ‘zones of activity’ that will help direct the query to the right people in the second group, the Castanet-Exchange ‘advisors’.
The second are Advisors
These are individuals who have knowledge and experience that they wish to share with others. This experience will be in arts and arts development. When Castanet advisors register with the system they provide more information than the Seekers. They need to provide formal contact details that will remain on the system, and is not public, but is a requirement for tracking and verification. In addition, the advisors complete a short selection of keyword boxes or ‘zones of expertise’ that creates a knowledge profile on the Castanet-Exchange system. This profile is the initial data that the system uses to direct the seeker’s question to the most appropriate Advisor on the system. As more Advisors join the system then the greater the diversity of Advisors, the higher chance of accurate advice and a more equitable sharing of the load.
How it works
The Seeker’s question is posted into the Information Exchange and according to the selected ‘zone’ it is emailed to the best match of advisors. Advisors then nominate to assist by responding to the Seeker. The Seeker receives the answer in an email with a link to the exchange and considers whether the query is answered or not. If ‘not’ then they can respond and the thread of the exchange is kept for easy reference. Once the Advisor’s advice is deemed to satisfy the Seeker’s objectives then the Seeker can nominate that the question is resolved. The Seeker then rates the advisor’s response out of a score (i.e. 1 to 5). All response threads with a score of 4 or above are stored in the knowledge-base of Castanet Information Exchange. When a Seeker posts a question then the system also searches the knowledgebase of previous questions and answers and the user is given the option to search those as well as waiting for a response from an Advisor. Only those previously resolved questions that scored high will be available to the Seekers from the ‘knowledgebase’.
How do I get started?
The Information Exchange is still in beta-testing and will be on-line soon.