There are many people in an aging population in Port Alberni. A number of them have mobility issues, medical problems, or other difficulties which keep them either housebound or somewhat isolated.
A number of agencies or people do attempt to address this with phone trees, or other systems that provide for a daily or weekly check on those who are housebound or otherwise physically isolated. An important example is the "Friendly Phone Service" of the Sunshine Club. However, these checks do not provide very much in the way of socialization, and, in particular, socialization between those who are isolated and have concerns in common. There is a need, and a desire, for these people to socialize with each other.
There is a possibility of creating social spaces using systems like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or Google Meet. A system can be created, where a meeting, or space, is set up, and the isolated can join with smartphones, tablets, laptops, computers, or sometimes even telephone bridges. Multiple parties can participate in such a meeting.
The creation of such a system will need the assistance of technically competent people, both to determine the most appropriate system to use, and to create the initial accounts necessary to provide for it, and to provide at least basic training for those housebound and isolated individuals who would be participating, if they are not already familiar with how to use such systems. However, the systems themselves, once established, would likely the subject to fairly minimal maintenance, and minimal technical knowledge requirements, and, therefore, could be run by the participants themselves once established. Thus, technically competent people would be needed for the startup, but probably would not be required on an ongoing basis, after about six months' involvement.
The intent of creating the social spaces is allow the shut-in, housebound, and otherwise mobility challenged, manage their own communications and socialization. There would not seem to be a major requirement for oversight of such spaces, on an intense basis, over the long term. However, in the initial setup there is likely to be a need for some oversight and assistance to nascent moderators or co-moderators for the social spaces, recruited from the isolated themselves.
There will be some need for such oversight, and training in moderation, for those who will become the eventual moderators for the space on a permanent or rotating basis. The pandemic, particularly in the initial stages, when people were learning how to use Zoom and other platforms, was subject to such phenomena as Zoom bombing, where online vandals (if you will), would find meetings and socialization spaces, and would deliberately attend and make provocative statements. Therefore, it is likely that these social spaces should be password protected, and provide facilities for the blocking of such Zoom bombing attacks. It is unlikely that such zoom bombing attacks would be extensive, as the phenomena has reduced as various forms of protection have arisen, and as people have become more used to meeting in protected spaces. However, training in the use of such protections would definitely need to be a part of the setup, and recruitment and training of moderators.
In any social space there is a risk of various types of predatory behaviour. It is not reasonable to insist that such spaces be entirely risk free. The socially isolated are more susceptible to such attacks and predation, and the moderators should be trained to recognize such, and attempt to deal with it. The target audience for this activity is definitely a vulnerable population. There should be provision, in addition to the training for the moderators, for some kind of on call assistance for the moderators in the case of particularly difficult predators attacking the social space. However, policies and "constitutions" for the social management of such spaces should probably come from the more permanent moderators of the social spaces themselves, once they have been recruited and trained.
The choice of platform will likely be an issue to be decided fairly early. Microsoft teams is unlikely to be a candidate, as it is rather expensive, and tends to require a fairly sophisticated technical support in order to maintain and use it. Zoom is widely known, and tends to be much more robust in terms of maintaining a stable platform for discussion, but is additionally somewhat costly. There are of course free accounts, but these are subject to limits in terms of number of attendees, and the length of time that a meeting can take place. The party line platform concept will initially use short meetings at specific times, for initial setup and familiarization, but the intent in the long-term is to have open meetings, that attendees can drop into and out of on an ad hoc basis, as long as moderators or co-moderators are available to keep the space open. Eventually the idea might be him open out of possibly sixteen hours a day, or even twenty-four, if moderators or co-moderators with sleep disturbance issues or insomnia are recruited. Therefore, time limits on meetings on the platform of choice are the avoided if possible.
Possibly the preferred medium would be Google Meet. Google Meet is widely accessible, and does not require additional software to be downloaded. It is accessible on cell phones, tablets, laptops, and computers. I am not aware of phone bridges: it might be that phone bridges could be available on commercial Google accounts. In any case, the wide availability and lack of restrictions on Google Meet would probably make it the first choice for testing as an appropriate platform for the socialization of the party line idea.
The Jit.si system is an open source platform that may be suitable for such purposes. There are, of course, no commercial restrictions on the use of Jit.si, however there is, similarly, no support for it, and a general expectation that those who are using it are technically competent themselves. Therefore, it may be technically demanding to use Jit.si as the platform for the party line idea.
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