Wiring Morrison Ranch

The Mister had a meeting yesterday to start formal negotiations with a company that has made several proposals to us in the past months. It looks as though a three-way agreement between Morrison Ranch, IntelliCommunities, and Qwest might be in place in the first quarter of 2006. They are offering us the ability to facilitate several things that we've been wanting to do in promoting community throughout Morrison Ranch using technology.

For a list of some of the services, go check out the website. Here is the applicable page. The first four items on the list are the key ones for me:

Email with domain name
This would provide email service for Morrison Ranch residents using a common domain name. One of the names that both The Mister and I like is morrisonranchlife.net, which seems long at first, but would be easily remembered, not to mention that most of us bookmark our URL addresses anyway.

Community News, Events, Photos
These types of entries would be overseen by the Morrison Ranch Community Council and would include everything from The Pecan Festival to the opening of a new store in one of the commercial centers. Obviously, some of this would overlap with the community section on the Morrison Ranch website, but that's okay; it's just more exposure.

Calendaring - Personal, Group, Community Integration
This would provide a resource for residents to see, for example, not only when the Pecan Festival is, but also when the planning meetings are for the Festival. Or, in a different but related place, the GYSO schedule for youth soccer, or the High School swim meet schedule. Or the HOA meetings. Or whatever calendar items would be useful to the Morrison Ranch community.

Groups - Interactive Collaboration and Management
I'm not exactly sure how this works in the technical sense, but this would provide for say, the coach of the soccer team, to have a place to post the team's schedule (and win-loss record?), as well as which family signed up to bring half-time snacks, where the team party is, and whatever other items would be helpful to the parents. Or perhaps a local bunco group could organize their schedule online. There are many possibilities for this function.

There are other services, including message boards and classified ads, and I'll share more when I have a better understanding of the big picture. This would be open to all Morrison Ranch residents, who would access the site via password, and would be maintained and run by IntelliCommunities. Quality control would be overseen by the Community Council, but there is much latitude for individual residents to relate with one another.

And because I am a resident of Higley Groves West, I have to point out that Higley Groves and Higley Groves West would not automatically fall under this agreement. The Mister is hoping to be able to work out some cross-agreements between our neighborhoods and the Community Council so that we, too, can reap the benefits of this system, which will require the approval of the residents. More on that as the opportunities arise.

So I can see this wiring up of Morrison Ranch as a way to get the community involved with each other's lives more deeply, and that's a great thing. I don't feel threatened at all, really. You'll still have to visit my Front Porch to get the inside scoop on the office goings-on. Really. I'm sure you'll want the latest news on the wallpaper or the paperless office or the pictures of the paving in the latest developments, or the history of the family; and you'll be at least as interested in those things as in the things that directly affect your own kids. Really.