About the Santa Cruz Community Calendar

UPDATE: Fall 2024

Major overhaul: Faster Code on a faster machine on a much faster network to better serve our diverse community!

As part of my project to make the Calendar more useful for the public and the groups posting activities, I've just moved the whole thing to a new setup. I've updated some of the code I wrote many years ago, and also updated the server software that executes my code. The new setup is running on a much faster machine located on the "big pipes" of the Internet - its measured responsiveness is 15 times what the previous server was capable of.

Now I can get back to adding a greater variety of listings, and making the calendar provide more ways to promote activities.

Read on to learn more, and please consider making a donation so I can afford to do this work. (Donate)

Coming Soon to the Community Calendar:

⇒ Here are some ways the new Calendar will be better:

More Activities: The new Calendar will include more groups and more types of listings. Santa Cruz is bubbling with activity, and I want to make sure the Calendar can let you know about what's happening in all parts of our community.
Show me - Richer Event Pages: Events in the Calendar will be able to show photos, art, and maps.
Learn More: Regular gatherings like classes, trainings, and reading groups can post their schedules, with links to background materials. You can see the whole schedule and zoom in on what's happening on a specific date.
Announcing: Announcements: A special scrolling section of the Calendar will highlight "Save the Date" reminders and important news not tied to specific dates or events.
What are you looking for?: Select which events to view by sponsor or theme.
All the Deets: Event displays will have more details relevant to the type of event.
Links for action:: View a new Member Groups Directory to learn how you can get involved.
Join the Calendar: The Calendar will be easier and quicker for groups to join (and it's still free for community groups). More instructions will be included, and we will hold occasional orientations for new members.

⇒ Easier for Groups to Promote Activities

Get the Word Out

Expanded promotion power: A simple button click will send an event out to the group's social networks

Group Branding

More ways for groups to customize their Calendar listings with icons, logos, and text formatting.

Technical Improvements

Better display of long web links
More default actions for quicker input
Clarified steps for adding events with multiple dates
Groups may designate more than one person to post events
"Save as Draft" to keep posts private until ready
Event holds to tentatively mark dates to avoid conflicts with other groups
Programmer interface to allow other sites to access event info

While I work, the space right below here will track progress. I'm part way through the fixes and basic improvements. Soon I want to focus on the items listed under Additions, and I'll be adding to that list as I hear suggestions from users.

Further below I've kept the original About description of the Calendar.

(signed) Bruce

P.S. Yes, I'm asking for donations to pay bills while I get this work done. I'm grateful for everyone's support, and I think you'll like the results! Donate

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What is the Santa Cruz Community Calendar?

The Santa Cruz Community Calendar publicizes local events and participatory opportunities, and enables groups to coordinate scheduling to avoid conflicts when events might appeal to similar audiences.

Encouraging Participation

The Calendar was started in September 2016, initially as a way to inform people around Santa Cruz County about the outpouring of activity leading up to the November elections. As participation grew after the election, the Calendar expanded its scope to include all kinds of activities in our region.

The Calendar is currently in use by about forty groups in the Santa Cruz County region. Participating groups are provided login access for posting their activities. This access may be obtained either by direct contact with the calendar administrator or by attending occasional demo/trainings in which the Calendar is explained and group representatives are enrolled for access.

A Unique Approach to Sharing Information

The Calendar works by having member organizations posting their own listings. Membership is open to community groups, non-profits, political groups, unions, educational & cultural organizations, and similar non-commercial organizations.

The Calendar is designed to be mostly self-running, with event postings done directly by member groups themselves. This design differs from many online calendars in that it does not depend on curation, through which someone seeks out and collects events to list, and it also doesn't require moderation of posts to ensure legitimacy and delete spam or attack postings.

Activities for an Engaged Community

Each Calendar listing provides the date, time, location, and description of the activity, along with details such as RSVP contact information, venue accessibility, any ticket or other admission charges and uses of funds raised, links to the sponsor group's own website, volunteer opportunities, and downloadable materials.

Besides including a rich set of details about each listing, the Calendar provides a growing set of informational categories tailored to specific types of listings; currently categories include general Events along with Government Agency meetings and Organizational meetings. Coming soon: categories for classes and cultural events, and more as we engage additional groups.

Recurring listings may be easily added in one step, so regular meetings, classes, and repeating activities are easy to post.

Coordination and Access

In addition to posting events to the public Calendar, member groups may also place holds on dates/times they are considering for events. Holds are visible only to member groups, and do not appear on the public view. This allows groups to coordinate with each other to avoid potential schedule conflicts before setting final dates and posting to the general public. Each group's contact person is listed with email and phone in a roster that the other groups may access to enable coordination.

The Calendar is accessible via any web browser, both for public viewing and for member group access. No other software or installation is required. Most representatives of participating groups have needed only brief demonstrations and instruction in how to post; the core team has provided additional assistance to those who need it to get up to speed.

While online resources are not restricted geographically, the intention of the Calendar is to feature activities of interest to people in the general region of Santa Cruz County; however, that does not restrict postings only to activities located in the County, and of course anyone with online access may see the public view of the Calendar.