Discussion of issues

Contributors & roles

15 April 2025 (discussion meeting)

Summary

• Who is going to fill out the information?
• Monitoring and updating content is a heavy workload for one person.
• A shared model would reduce workload and bring diverse perspectives.
• A group of volunteers could help fill in the initial content across pages.
• Where to find volunteers?

Paul: "Maybe I'll be the one doing 90% of the work putting things on."

Kelly: "If we recruited the people to initially put this together and had that be a really broad group because you don't have one person doing everything. I mean, there's so many pages. And we get volunteers"

Paul: "Do you know any volunteers who can do that?"

Kelly: "Oh, I feel like we could find people. I mean, I had chatted with Mary about this and she's... She'd do some. She would be happy to. I think that there's other people that would too. I just think if we can kind of get a good base."

Tessa: "Maybe we could have people who are responsible for certain pages or groups of people responsible for certain pages?"

5 May 2025

No volunteers have been found, http://guidetogirona.com/Special:RecentChanges confirms Paul (as user name Gironabuddies) is making most of the edits

12 May 2025 (Kelly)

>> I'm not aware that we have tried to find volunteers to help with this. Before we do we need to get organized so we can be clear with people of what we are requesting, provide basic guidelines about how the work should be completed and determine which pages to prioritize first.

Preventing commercial exploitation or other inappropriate uses of the site

15 April 2025 (discussion meeting)

• Many categories (e.g. gyms, financial services) will naturally involve businesses.
• Is it acceptable for the guide to include mostly commercial entities?
  • This raises questions of balance, fairness, and over-commercialization.
• Policies may be needed to define acceptable listing criteria.
• Clear editorial guidelines and monitoring tools could help maintain the integrity of the site.

Kelly: "I think it would be good to know if there's certain things that needed to be locked down. Like the doctors. Mental health."

Paul: "There's that big problem that anybody can put their details on a doctor's page and say they're a doctor."

28 April 2025

Paul set the Healthcare page and Mental health page to semi-protected, meaning only admins and registered users can edit them.

Paul made Tessa and Kelly admins.

Which pages to work on first?

15 April 2025 (discussion meeting)

Tessa: Instead of starting with a huge amount of pages that we've got, that we think about what are the key things when people first move and start there. People always want to know about driving licences. People always want to know about registering. People want doctors. People want to figure out getting around. Those kinds of... Transportation.

Kelly: Is there anything really obvious that you needed when you first got here.

13 May 2025 (Kelly)

Are we agreed that the categories we want to complete first to have a "minimally viable guide" are:

• Airport transportation
• Accomodoations
• empadronamiento
• NIE Cards
• Driver License
• Transportation
• Healthcare - completed
• Mental Health - completed

Content standards and consistency

15 April 2025 (discussion meeting)

• Pages that aren't locked will require careful monitoring, as they may be prone to misuse or commercial overreach
• How can we maintain high-quality, accurate, and consistent information across all pages?
  • Possible solutions:
    • Create a contributor style guide.
    • Implement a review or moderation process.
    • Provide templates and formatting standards.

Proposal Initial Content Generation and Community-Sourced Additiona or Corrections

13 May 2025 (Kelly)

First, I think it is important to agree that for this guide to be successful and used by Girona Buddies and other newcomers to Girona, (and eventually become the definitive resource) the information must be:

• Fully accurate (for fact-based content within the categories we cover)
• clearly presented (sources cited for fact based content and for selected provider lists, the rationale for inclusion is clear)

Put another way, maintaining the accuracy and trustworthiness of the content needs to take priority over allowing unchecked contributions from the community.

So how do we get started:

Original creation of the content

Authors and editors – Let’s solicit volunteers to create the pages we are prioritizing for Version 1 of the Guide. At a minimum, there should to be 2 people: an author and an editor. Really, the “editor” is just a second set of eyes that can do fact-checking and help the author consider if the piece is complete. For large sections, like transportation, we might want to consider having two or more authors split the work.

Everyplace where specific commercial service providers appear, we must disclose the rationale for including the provider(s), examples of that could be:

• Restaurants and bars listed here were added by Girona Buddies or may have been added by the restaurant or bar themselves.
• Doctors included in this list were proposed for inclusion by Girona Buddies based on past positive personal experiences.
• These are service providers who requested to be added to the Guide to Girona in order to make guide users aware of their services.

Controlling Changes

In my opinion, there are only a few pages where there is risk associated with bad information. I’ve listed those below.

• Establishing residency (Padron, NIE, visas, etc.)
• Accommodation
• Healthcare
• Money and taxes
• Work
• Driving (driving test, etc.)
• Information for parents
• Neurodiversity

These are pages where the information may be used to make consequential decisions and it needs to be accurate and any service provider listings need to be based on someone’s recommendation of that provider based on personal experience. We should not allow service providers to add themselves to these pages.

For this subset of pages, once the author(s) and editor(s) deem them complete, these pages should be locked where only admins can make changes.

For all other pages we can take a more open approach, although I would suggest that all other pages be set so only registered users and admins can make changes. Allowing unregistered users to make changes feels too lax and opens the pages up for problematic edits which only create more work.

12 May 2025: Proposed Updated Index for Pages (Kelly)

I think this will be easier to use if we have an index page where like items are grouped under subheads. This is a proposal that also includes new papes (or breaks existing pages into smaller chunks of inforation). Let me know what you think:

(Click Expand to see content)

==== Before You Arrive

• Visa and residency requirements
• Transport options from nearest airports/train stations

==== Housing

• Neighborhoods guide
• Rental market overview
• Typical rental costs and expectations
• Short-term accommodation options
• Finding a place to live (websites, agencies, Facebook groups)
• Understanding rental contracts
• Utilities setup guide (electricity, water, internet)
• Tenant rights and responsibilities

==== Administrative Procedures

• Residence registration (local requirements)
• Identity documents and permits
• Opening a bank account
• Tax system overview
• Vehicle registration and driving licenses

==== Healthcare

• Healthcare system overview
• List of hospitals and emergency centers
• English-speaking doctorss
• Health insurance options
• Pharmacies and prescriptions
• Mental health resources

==== Work & Business

• Job search platforms and resources
• CV/Resume expectations
• Work permits and regulations
• Starting a business/Self-employment
• Co-working spaces
• Networking events and professional groups
• Labor rights and work culture

==== Education

• School system overview
• International and bilingual schools
• University programs
• Language schools
• Adult education opportunities
• Recognition of foreign qualifications
• School enrollment procedures
• Education costs and financial support

==== Daily Life

• Public transportation guide
• Shopping (supermarkets, markets, specialty stores)
• Banking and payment systems
• Mobile phones and internet providers
• Postal services
• Public toilets
• Public waterpoints
• Sustainability
• Recycling and waste disposal
• Local media
• Public holidays and business hours
• Business and service listings

==== Language & Integration

• Local language resources
• Free and paid language courses
• Language exchange meetups
• Cultural integration programs
• Cultural norms and etiquette
• Girona customs and traditions
• Religious services in different languages

==== Family Life

• Childcare options
• Activities for children
• Playgrounds and parks
• Pediatric healthcare
• Pregnancy and birth services
• Support for single parents
• Pet registration and veterinary services

==== Social Life & Community

• Making friends
• Girona Buddies Events
• Over 50
• Volunteering opportunities
• Cultural centers
• Places of worship
• LGBTQ+ resources
• Sports clubs and fitness options

=== Culture and Leisure

• Arts and entertainment
• Museums and galleries
• Libraries
• Parks and green spaces
• Restaurants and cafés guide
• Nightlife
• Day trips and nearby attractions
• Local festivals and celebrations
• Sport and recreation facilities

==== Practical Information

• Useful phone numbers
• Dealing with emergencies
• Legal assistance
• Translation services
• Consumer rights
• Lost and found procedures

==== Support Services

• Neurodiversity
• Women's resources
• Mental health and wellbeing
• Crisis support
• LGBTQ+ support
• Disability services
• Elderly care
• Anti-discrimination resources
• Financial assistance programs

==== Moving on or Settling Permanently

• Permanent residency options
• Citizenship path
• Pension and social security considerations
• Property purchase guide
• Long-term integration resources

Paul on 14 May 2025: Looks good, I added this to the home page just now.