Comments on: Let My Group Sing! http://missioncommunicate.com/blog/2007/05/15/let-my-group-sing/ strategies and tools that work Fri, 05 Sep 2008 20:26:41 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: Katja http://missioncommunicate.com/blog/2007/05/15/let-my-group-sing/#comment-1983 Katja Thu, 11 Oct 2007 21:40:17 +0000 http://missioncommunicate.com/2007/05/15/let-my-group-sing/#comment-1983 I am currently managing a choral website using both WordPress and AirSet. My eventual vision is that the WordPress side (http://cantabilesingers.org/) will be the public face of the choir and AirSet will be used for internal, member-related information. Here are some of my experiences so far with AirSet. This is a ~40 member community choir in Boulder, Colorado. The good: AirSet allows you to assign roles to members, and roles determine group email addresses. So the group address is [groupname]@airset.com, the altos are [groupname]/altos@airset.com, the board of directors is [groupname]/board@airset.com, and so on. This has been fantastic and you can create groups quickly and easily just by assigning new roles (which you are entirely free to make up; you don't have to pick them from a pre-determined list. Airset allows members who do not have AirSet accounts. We used Yahoo Groups before, and some of the less computer-savvy members had great difficulty figuring out how to opt-in to the group. Some AirSet components can easily be embedded into a website. Calendars are pretty easy (see http://cantabilesingers.org/member-information/rehearsal-schedule/). AirSet supports playlists (collections of MP3s or other music formats drawn from the group's AirSet files). This has enabled me to easily set up playlists for each voice part containing practice recordings. The bad: AirSet does not permit the use of HTML forms in blog entries or announcements. I wanted to set up online dues payments through PayPal on AirSet, but wound up having to do it on the public website instead (http://cantabilesingers.org/handbook/pay-dues-online/), because AirSet wouldn't allow forms. As we found with Yahoo Groups, some members are reluctant to sign up with AirSet. As the group organizer, I either have to make AirSet files and playlists public (and go to the trouble of maintaining links to them from somewhere else), or these folks aren't able to use all the resources that I've been accumulating on AirSet. I am currently managing a choral website using both WordPress and AirSet. My eventual vision is that the WordPress side (http://cantabilesingers.org/) will be the public face of the choir and AirSet will be used for internal, member-related information.

Here are some of my experiences so far with AirSet. This is a ~40 member community choir in Boulder, Colorado.

The good:

AirSet allows you to assign roles to members, and roles determine group email addresses. So the group address is [groupname]@airset.com, the altos are [groupname]/altos@airset.com, the board of directors is [groupname]/board@airset.com, and so on. This has been fantastic and you can create groups quickly and easily just by assigning new roles (which you are entirely free to make up; you don’t have to pick them from a pre-determined list.

Airset allows members who do not have AirSet accounts. We used Yahoo Groups before, and some of the less computer-savvy members had great difficulty figuring out how to opt-in to the group.

Some AirSet components can easily be embedded into a website. Calendars are pretty easy (see http://cantabilesingers.org/member-information/rehearsal-schedule/).

AirSet supports playlists (collections of MP3s or other music formats drawn from the group’s AirSet files). This has enabled me to easily set up playlists for each voice part containing practice recordings.

The bad:

AirSet does not permit the use of HTML forms in blog entries or announcements. I wanted to set up online dues payments through PayPal on AirSet, but wound up having to do it on the public website instead (http://cantabilesingers.org/handbook/pay-dues-online/), because AirSet wouldn’t allow forms.

As we found with Yahoo Groups, some members are reluctant to sign up with AirSet. As the group organizer, I either have to make AirSet files and playlists public (and go to the trouble of maintaining links to them from somewhere else), or these folks aren’t able to use all the resources that I’ve been accumulating on AirSet.

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