Community NI and You with John McCormick

Name: John McCormick

Location: Based in Belfast, but deals with queries from across Northern Ireland and beyond.

Occupation: Information Officer for NICVA

Within your role, what do you use the web for?

"The web is essential for sourcing material for publications such as eNews and NICVAnews, for answering queries and quickly finding relevant sources of information."

"It helps me stay informed and is a great research tool. I also use it to evaluate different sites for accessibility - for example government sites are often not very user friendly."

What do you use Community NI for?

"I read the latest information posted by voluntary and community organisations to check out what's happening locally."

"I regularly moderate and add content to the website and particularly like the way the site acts like a 'virtual filing cabinet', making it easy for me to classify the articles I submit and to search for material submitted by other groups."

What do you see as the benefits of Community NI?

"It's a time-saving, one-stop shop. Rather than visiting ten other group sites, you can find information organised in easy to use sections."

"It's the ideal website for information people ... it has news, views, campaigns, initiatives, policy, events and helpful resources."

"It will give the sector a collective voice, while recognising and promoting the diversity of groups within it."

How would you like to see the Community NI website develop?

"I'd like it to become a shared platform for all community and voluntary organisations in Northern Ireland."

"To be a forum for debate - to get your viewpoint across to the sector and beyond and a place to find out what others are thinking."

"A place to share information and resources with other organisations in the sector."

"I'd like to see smaller organisations with limited resources develop their own mini-sites within Community NI to give them a web presence."