You can brainstorm here.

What features would you consider to be very useful to have on this web site that would you would actually visit and use it? Think about what sites you use when trying to find out information about North Andover and what you find useful about them. If you could prioritize your list it would be useful to me. I haven't had the time to set up a formal survey. I also want to know what are 'useless' features. The focus of the site is information distribution and discussion but it can have other features... hopefully enough to become your 'North Andover Home Page'.

One feature is that we will require people to register to use the site and post content. There are two reasons for this:

1) Unfortunately it is proven that abuse will happen. By having registered people (not anonymous) we are hoping to promote more civilized discussions. It is similar to our town meeting where you have to introduce yourself (not be anonymous) when participating.

2) It allows people to maintain their own calendar entries and content. You need to be able to identify yourself to our system so that you have the ability to manage your own things and make sure that others cannot.

Here is my list:

Community calendar where registered users can submit and maintain their own events.

Community forums that allow registered users to post and respond to information. Postings need to be able to allow file attachments to share.

Defined sections of the web site. My proposed sections would be "Politics", "Youth" and "Seniors" with content being able to be published to the appropriate sections by any registered user. Content would need to be approved by a moderator first. The site is not intended to be a 'news' site. It is intended for announcements and discussion. Any other content section ideas?

Commenting on submitted content

Attempt to get participation by key local individuals (Selectmen, School Committee Members, etc) to participate in blogs and answer questions.

Support video and integration with North Andover CAM for video on demand

Web links to local organizations to their individual web sites

Web links to 'North Andover specific' areas on other sites such as newspapers

Directories of local business and 'things to do' with reviews and voting

Ability to subscribe to various newsletters (and automatically opt out whenever you want) to be updated on important local information.

Potentially allow local organizations to have their own web page on this site

Links for local weather/traffic/school closings/driving directions/Google search

Section for online games with rankings for some fun online competition

Classified advertising (like Craig's List but only local)

The above items are features. Common to each feature is 'quality' of those features which will be considered based on cost and availability:

Rich text formatting (like a word processor)

Ability to subscribe to a topic in a forum/blog or comments and be automatically notified of updates. Possibly RSS feed.

Capabilities for the content submitted to have links to videos such as YouTube, PayPal and other 'widgets' to make the content more interesting and useful

Section on this site for 'how to' do things and ask questions so that everyone can feel comfortable using the site.