If you think of my network and web resources as a library of "everything known about poverty and ways for volunteers and business to help kids to careers" then it would have something of value for almost anyone in the world.

For most of the past 15 years collecting this informatin h as been a one-way street, with me and T/MC doing the collecting. While we've had much of this on a web site since 1998, it was not easy to find information until a rebuild in 2006, and it's only been in the past year that people were able to add and update their own information about a tutor/mentor program in the Chicago region, or about a web site they operate or value.

As we built the T/MC we also had to advertise, or communicate regularly, to invite people to use the information, or to be a volunteer or donor at a different tutor/mentor program in Chicago, or at our own organization. The costs of communications includes researching and writing stories, creating publications, and printing and distributiing them. I managed to send a printed newsletter to a growing number of people (12,000 by 2000) three times a year up till 2001, whe my costs of space increased by about $75,000 and my revenue fell by $150,000. Since then most of my communications has been by email.

Getting people to visit a web site, or read a publication, is essential if we're to educate people about poverty and about ways they can be involved in tutor/mentor programs, so finding ways to increase traffic, without incresing costs, is one of the real values of network weaving.

However, even as we get more peple to our web sites (our traffic last month was over 9,000 visitors and 100,000 page views), we still need a way to help people find the information they want, help them understand it, and help them put it to action where they live or work. My vision for this is that we duplicate some of the success of eBay or wikipedia where many people volunteer time to help maintain the quality of the information, and help others find and use what they are looking for. I think network weaving can play a role in finding others who would want to take this role.

So far the T/MC site does not have a profile module like at Ned, or ning.com, but it does have a discussion board where people can introduce themselves. This feature has only been available for about a year so the number of people using it is growng slowly.

However, this does not need to be the only place where tutor/mentor stakeholders are meeting or introducing themselves. In fact there are several other places where I have a profile, such as here, to meet with people who come to other sites, rather than mine.

I think that you're extending your thinking beyond the SNA analysis which tells us who is part of the network and what their different skills are.

What type of database would enable us to code names so they sort in various fiels (which would enable us to analize the people already on our database) and which would enable new visitors to our web sites to build their own profile? At http://www.crossroadsoflearning. com/clc.htm they have a great tool for doing something like this. You need to register to see how it works.

I want to repeat something I've said in the past. I need to find an intern or someone who will spend time in my office working with the database if I'm going to be able to re-code information and put it into any SNA tool. I don't have the time to devote to that work and still keep my organization in business.