The Enfusion Network site has been live for about a week, and its slowly coming to life.

A few members have already joined - but what is exciting is that with just a small membership - connections are already beginning to be made. Sarah is hosting a conference call early next week (26th/27th or 28th of March) to take forward more discussion about how we build on the connections already there, and expand the network, the conversations and the long-term vision it supports - to be a real hub for a cross-section of participation consultants and practioners. If you're interested in being in on that discussion, drop Sarah a note

I'll be trying to fit in a day next week to work on the technology behind the site. There are certainly a few bugs to iron out and how people are using the site already helps to highlight some ways in which it needs to develop. My targets for next week (posted here to help keep me accountable as the developer...) are:

• Sorting out the profiles so that if you don't enter an age, description or any other element it doesn't display something like 'Age: 0'
• Finding some way of fighting the massive amount of 'trackback spam' the site is getting already, so that we can make effective use of trackbacks.
• Getting 'project pages' to look better and to make more sense.
• Start getting the resource pages into better shape - including adding space to set a licence agreement on resources, and adding more categories to help organise resources

In the longer run, before the end of April I'd like to:

• Display brief member profiles next to the content that they have posted to the site (e.g. Blog posts / comments etc.) - to help the content build people-to-people connections
• Improve the messages around the site to make them more intuitive and user-friendly
• Really build up the resources section so that you can find useful resources quickly
• Create a lot more content that helps people understand how to use the site and the features it provides for creating conversations, getting support and building connections...

At the moment I'm thinking that we should continue to grow in a low-key way until the end of April, learning from the early network members about what needs tweaking and developing - and then, come May - we should really seek to build up membership and participation - so that everyone who has already joined, and those who joined us over April - really do get the benefits of a vibrant and effective network.

As ever - all feedback, ideas, suggestions etc - most welcome :)