The NYR IndyApp appeal
So, what is the NYR IndyApp?
The IndyApp is a bespoke networking tool for the Yes movement. It is designed to first locate all the non-party political campaigning experience, enthusiasm, creativity and organisational talent developed since Indyref1and then allow easy connections to be formed between those activists and network together their campaigning community groups. Go here to support the project.
The IndyApp is FREE to all participating groups and designed to allow those autonomous grass-root groups to work effectively together, share resources, experience and campaigning ideas. It will allow mentoring and mutual support among pro-Indy activists, encourage new community groups to form and dormant groups to reform. Our aim is to encourage activism and community participation in the Indy movement through increased membership of each of the local groups. It is these local groups that make up the backbone of our non-party political Yes movement. To support the development and running of the App, a voluntary micro donation is all that will be required by individual members.
How have we gone about achieving this?
Firstly, it is important to recognise that the creation of the IndyApp networking tool has been a long term process of discussion and negotiation with active grass-root pro Indy Groups located all around Scotland. More importantly, once the App is launched to the public on September the 18th that networking development will not stop, it will continue and intensify as every group grows their collective capabilities. This will be done through IndyApp’s key functions. By explaining those functions, the grass-root capabilities of the IndyApp become obvious.
Function 1: The ‘Front Door’
Each group will have a public ‘Front Door’ on the App. This will display information such as, Group name, google map location, meeting times, venue, events and group campaigns. It will also have a group profile page with the option of a paypal ‘donate direct to this local group’ button. All information on this ‘Front Door’ will be the responsibility of the Group. Most importantly of all, each ‘front door’ will have a Contact/Join button.
So, on FREE download of the IndyApp, interested members of the public with no previous experience or contact with the movement can simply type in their postcode and the App will direct them to their nearest Indy group ‘Front Doors’, to peruse, contact and be warmly welcomed into the grass-roots. In this way, previously difficult to find local groups become visible and making contact is simple. This is key to encouraging early participation in the Yes movement, as it makes easy access available just as soon as any individual shows an interest in getting involved.
Function2: ‘Local Forums’
This allows an entire Group membership to network with one another easily, 24hrs a day. Each group member can also read what’s going on in the ‘National Forum’. This means folk can dip in and out of local activism as and when they can. If that means picking up messages and discussing local or national campaigning ideas after work or late into the night then that is possible.
Function3: ‘Resource Button’
These allow each group to list their local resources, such as Membership skill sets, Equipment, Suppliers, Venues, Media contacts etc. In this way the groups give their entire membership easy access to local campaigning information. This will in turn practically encourage and simplify self-starting ideas for campaigns within each group, no matter how big they become or busy things get during the heat of Indyref2.
Function4: The ‘National Forum’
This allows each local Group (collectively) to post campaigning ideas, and network as a group just as effectively as individual members can on their own ‘Local Forums’. Again, this is a 24hr capability, allowing Indy work to be done ‘as and when’ it becomes possible for the activist. The ‘National Forum’ also has its equivalent national ‘Resource button’ to allow groups to share any of their own local resources that they feel are suitable for regional or country wide applications.
In this way, each individual local group and group member is networked nationally, fully aware of where the national grass-root movement is flowing, and able, in their turn, to influence and help that movement with their own practical ideas, skills and enthusiasms.
Function5: The ‘Committee Rooms’
Once new campaign ideas have been identified or proposed in the Forums, the ‘Committee rooms’ are used for developing those ideas and practically enacting them . They allow individuals locally and Groups nationally to organise themselves across the country. A good practical example of this IndyApp function is how Yes merchandise ordering by the grass-roots could be achieved nationally.
A ‘committee room’ is set up at national level, where each group puts forward a ‘merchandise member’ responsible for both, their own group’s Yes merchandise needs and for coordinating orders with their fellow ‘committee room’ members from all around the country. That mass order, made up of all the local orders, is paid for by the individual groups and the order is placed by ayeMail (or a similar pro indy organisation) in order to take full financial advantage of the resultant economies of scale. Then, once the order has been filled, It is divided back into the original constituent group orders ready for distribution locally by each group’s own equivalent ‘local merchandise’ committee room.
This is the relatively straightforward mechanism through which Yes merchandise can be ordered, paid for and distributed nationwide by the grass-roots themselves. No need to rely solely on a central Yes HQ again, which would inevitably become another over centralised supply ‘pinch point’ during the heat of Indyref2.
Other Committee Room examples.
As with merchandise, this organisational tool will work just as well for Wee Blue Book distribution as it will for setting up national tours among interested local groups to effectively share Pro Indy Speakers, musicians, Films, fundraising events etc. etc. It can easily bring together specialist knowledge, skills or experience previously locked away in local group memberships spread throughout Scotland, and bring that knowledge to bear on difficult campaigning issues deemed important to the grass-roots. Those ‘committee room’ deliberations can then be posted on the ‘national forum’ for any group to discuss, consider and if desired, act upon locally.
This is how even relatively complex issues can start to be tackled by the grass-root movement. Each local group is then free to select and adapt whichever ideas and campaign strategies are best suited to bringing their own communities toward a Yes vote. This natural community link is at the root of the incredible campaigning power of the autonomous local groups and why the IndyApp has been built around that foundational principle of the grass-root Yes movement.
I hope this outline of the basic functions of the IndyApp has made clear the ambition and scope of the National Yes Registry (NYR) project. Please remember however, this is an App and it has been carefully designed for simplicity and ease of use, so articles trying to explain it in any detail are by their very nature much, much more complex than the IndyApp is itself!
And so… if you want to see the formation of a powerfully networked non-party political Scottish grass-roots and help this 2year long project reach fruition (ready to scare the bjeesus out of our Unionist opposition 🙂 then please donate whatever you can https://igg.me/at/nyr-indyapp We are currently standing at 24% funded with only 5 days remaining so any help would be very welcome. Word of mouth recommendations to encourage support would be greatly appreciated too.
Many thanks from all at the NYR (and to Bella for all their strong support throughout this project 🙂
Well done! You reached your goal.
I’m sure that it will be a great asset to the Independence Movement.
“FANTASTIC”