SWOT Analysis of Open Source Ministry[]
What is a SWOT analysis?
Strengths:[]
a. Vision: there is a clear vision for this ministry and what could be accomplished here (a wikipedia of ministry resources)
b. Network resources: People passionate and experienced in ministry have years worth of materials they can donate
c. Network website experience: Even though I have little experience with websites, I know people who do
Weaknesses:[]
a. Lack of experience: I have no clue how to run a ‘real’ website
b. Time: I have limited time to contribute
c. Money: I have very little money to contribute
Opportunities:[]
a. Internet use: Hundreds of thousands of ministry volunteers/staff search the internet for resources, but nothing is free/quality/easy
b. Previous models: successful models have existed for yrs, free software
c. Preference: people love “free” and “quality”
Threats:[]
a. Vandelism and “content wars:” people wrecking entries for fun or to promote their own their personal bias. (esp. wrt to religion)
b. Accuracy of contributions: low quality resources
c. Credit: contributors not receiving credit for their hard work
How can we Use each Strength?[]
a. Network resources– get at least 20 friends to join the community and contribute resources they already have
b. Network internet experience – I will recruit friends with website experience
c. Personal – clearly spell out the vision, mission and policies
How can we Stop each Weakness?[]
a. Lack of experience: get friends who do have experience and use ‘ready made websites’ like wikia.com
b. Lack of Time: network of friends and clear vision/policy. Power to discipline/block abusers or highly contested information is shared among people who have proven reliability.
c. Lack of Money: use free, ready made website (wikia.com), and donate/get donations for marketing. Most growth will rely on word of mouth references based on quality of user experience
How can we Exploit each Opportunity?[]
a. Internet use: make sure we get on google and advertise on websites...
b. Previous models: huge success of wikipedia, google etc… provide a model to imitate as well as history to learn from
c. Preference: harness the power of crowds and collective knowledge to give people free, quality and easy resources
How can we Defend against each Threat?[]
a. Vandalism: we rely on “community surveillance.” Anybody can vandalize, but anybody can correct vandalism. All history archived incl user names.
b. Accuracy: we will rely on “community surveillance” and collective knowledge of the many instead of expert knowledge of the few.
c. Credit: all contributions give credit to original authors as well as all contributors. All the history is saved
Where can I see some examples?[]
a. Here is a great resource for free SWOT analysis reports: http://www.wikiswot.com
b. Here's another SWOT Analysis definition