SWOT Analysis

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