We would like to build an online resource for the local community under the domain kinsale.ie, some of which can be open to visitors and some which would need to be password protected. The proposed Kinsale Community Databank will combine feeds from existing sources of local information (eg Golden Pages, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google Maps, MeetUp, etc) and new content. In order to build this, we will need to commission some software development work and recruit a ‘Data Ambassador’ to encourage supply, collate and upload content – especially local directory content. It should include:
- An historic archive – structured to allow browsing, and including images and text. Volunteer historians are sought to develop the content for this.
- A ‘living archive’ based on contributions from residents and those with a special relationship to Kinsale. This will be based on the My Kinsale book content with updates and adding video and audio files. We would like to extend this project along the lines of An Duchas https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes, and will apply for Creative Ireland funding to support this work. Volunteer researchers and recorders and sought to help capture content locally.
- A skills database driven by referrals to allow users to look up and rate people’s skills/refer friends – this will build on the ‘Recommendations’ section of Kinsale Noticeboard and establish an ongoing reference source – specific skills (eg plumbing) and past experience (eg worked in traffic management). To avoid GDPR concerns, this will need careful planning and systems architecture. In order to populate this in the first instance, a survey will be carried out to collect skills information.
- A portal to The Kinsale Co-operative Society online ‘banking’ services – more on this to come.
- A Community Groups section which profiles each of the established Kinsale groups, of which there are about 20-30, and allows for news to be added. A volunteer is sought to contact all groups with a standard form for content provision and to collate this section.
In order to move this project forward, IBK would like to engage with potential sponsors/donors in the region to help fund the work and those who could access corporate support (eg in providing CRM and project management). We would also like to engage with school and college students to set up projects to collect local stories, podcasts/videos and to digitise/annotate photo collections.
Future Kinsale 