Commonwealth launches web portal to connect two billion citizens
The Commonwealth Secretariat has launched a social media portal to enable the two billion citizens of its 54 member states to collaborate on common issues.
Kathleen Hall is correspondent for Computer Weekly. She writes about technology issues in small to medium-sized enterprises, as well as specialising in the retail and services sectors.
Previously Kathleen worked as business reporter for Vitesse Media, covering SMEs and enterprise IT.
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The Commonwealth Secretariat has launched a social media portal to enable the two billion citizens of its 54 member states to collaborate on common issues.
The Commonwealth Connects networking portal was set up using enterprise content management company OpenText, which will provide the technology platform for three years. The portal will go live on 28 October.
Commonwealth Connects will aggregate around 200 Commonwealth sites across 90 organisations. One of the most challenging parts of the project, technically and from an institutional perspective, was bringing together all those sites and organisations, said Richard Simpson, the project executive for the Commonwealth Secretariat.
"The aim is to put all information resources under the gateway with web links to reach all the communities," he said.
Commonwealth secretary general Kamalesh Sharma said: "There are a whole range of important applications for Commonwealth Connects, including helping youth groups or government officials from across the Commonwealth collaborate; playing a role in election monitoring; or helping to fuel economic growth through digital business enablement."
The value of the contract was undisclosed, but OpenText said it took a modest fee to cover its professional services costs.
