Current Strategic Partners and Founding Angels

The design of this brochure has been made financially possible by the kind support of our first Founding Angel CHSS - Cultural Heritage Systems & Strategies Pty Ltd.

c CommonSites, Amsterdam, 2011 / info@CommonSites.net

Introduction
All humans share a common ancestry. Over the past two hundred millennia we have evolved diverse cultural traditions across the planet. Every year thousands of archaeologists and heritage management specialists travel into the field, producing knowledge about the past and conserving heritage around the world. However, members of the various communities interested in heritage projects or those directly impacted by archaeological research struggle to gain access to this knowledge and rarely benefit from these research and conservation initiatives.

CommonSites is an international initiative that provides a unique web-based platform for the heritage sector. CommonSites is a business-to-business social venture, designed to unite funders and project partners to benefit the communities for which we work. Through our network of Trusted Partners we ensure sustainable research and heritage projects that meet the highest ethical and professional standards. Our innovative, yet proven technology allows projects to be easily brought online and updated from the field. This interactive format engages both funders and communities by allowing them to access up-to-date reports for projects they are interested in. Our webbased platform increases the visibility of heritage projects for all who are involved, whether they be funders, project partners, academic institutions or members of local communities.

Our open-source software can easily be integrated to any current web-page using widgets. Project partners will have individualized and corporate-branded project-pages. Through dedicated support and advice, CommonSites will assist project partners in putting their funding, reporting and monitoring processes online as seamlessly, easily and as transparent as possible. Through our open-source software partners can use CommonSites to find and share knowledge, raise funds and simplify reporting back to donors and community members. Experts and students can donate time to help projects they are interested in. Funders can follow projects online and search for novel support opportunities from our network of Trusted Partners.

Problems we solve
Information Exchange:
Knowledge and know-how in the field of archaeology and heritage management is available but is often widely dispersed and hidden away in consultancy reports and academic publications. Both experts and communities are often unable to gain access to these reports and keep up-to-date with the wealth of information that is available.

Reporting and Visibility:

Projects struggle to share and visualize results in an appealing way to funders and the general public. Projects are often long in duration with publications resulting only years after the initial data gathering phase. There is no direct line of communication between project managers, funders and community members. Presently there is no way to report on-going progress and discoveries from the field. Funding bodies and research institutions often wait months or years to see the results of their investments.

Funding:
Heritage funding is currently limited in its transparency and is not making full use of global public interest. The heritage and research community struggles to attract additional sources of money. Funding for their projects is very much a top-down approach with either the funding bodies or heritage specialists deciding where money is spent. Currently there is no way for local communities to organize and attract funds for demand-driven research projects directed at investigating their heritage.

Diversity of Approaches:
The heritage communities from each of the worlds major continents are approaching the idea of heritage management and funding schemes from a multitude of angles. There is often very little coordination of efforts to ensure ethical management principles and professional approaches to funding the research and conservation of sites around the world.

Our Solution:

Our Solution:

Our Solution:

Our Solution:

CommonPedia

Really Simple Reporting

CommonSites Marketplace

Trusted Partner Network

Our solutions
Using the proven technology and innovative software developed by our partner organization Akvo.org, CommonSites provides an elegant solution that builds on the strengths of the IT sector. With the support of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Aairs and the Rabobank, Akvo has developed an open-source software platform that is now being used by over 300 partners in the water and sanitation sectors throughout the world. Our strategic partnership with Akvo therefore guarantees that we can apply a sustainable and proven technology to the heritage field.

CommonSites is geared to a new generation of funders - donors can pick projects they like to support and watch progress unfold, as the community teams share updates, photos and movie clips online.

We provide four integrated solutions to support our community in sharing knowledge, simplifying reporting and raising funds while increasing cooperation in the heritage sector.

CommonPedia

CommonPedia ledge-sharing

is

an

online, It

open-source, provides

know-

information and reduce the costs of knowledgesharing. The quality of the information is being overseen by a group of professionals as well as a dedicated editor. We are looking to expand the online community of viewers, supporters and contributors.

database.

up-to-date

entries on all aspects of heritage management, archaeological research, and easy to implement, cost effective, capacity building, community outreach and conservation solutions. It works just like Wikipedia. In effect, CommonPedia will increase access to

Really Simple Reporting

By using Akvos RSR system we make it is easy for field teams to continuously report on projects with short text and image-based updates online or via a mobile phone. Through short text messages, pictures and YouTube-style movies project managers can keep donors, other specialists and interested members of the public up-to-date with in-the-field progress,

discoveries and results. Through the integration of the low-cost and convenient RSR technology with partner-branded project-pages, organizations can feature 100% of their projects online as opposed the select number of case studies typically featured in conventional reporting. The partner-branded project-pages are simultaneously available in the

CommonSites database, on Akvo.org and on any number of personal webpages, making projects from across the world easy to compare, opening the world of heritage management to the global public.

CommonSites Widgets
Anyone associated with a project can embed a RSR widget on their website or blog. Widgets provide a real-time window to the project information stored in the CommonSites database, effectively advertising and publishing all your projects and their progress. They let you and your visitors see what is going on as it happens. Our partners can even embed scrolling sets and map overviews of projects, bringing their site to life with field progress directly from all the projects they are funding or managing, while simplifying their online publishing workflow.

Through the integration of the low-cost and convenient RSR technology with partner-branded project-pages, organizations can feature, maintain and update 100% of their projects cheaply and easily.

CommonSites Marketplace

The CommonSites marketplace is a matchmaking system making it possible to attract additional funds for community outreach, capacity building and conservation efforts which operate alongside, but are not traditionally funded by, scientific and heritage projects, increasing the benefit for local communi-

ties. By using the system designed by Akvo, and their partners including Rabobank, we ensure a reliable, international and online payment system which is completely transparent from donor to recipient.

CommonSites Marketplace helps funding bodies source the best projects to support and find cofunders to partner with. It also simplifies the process of running campaigns involving lots of organizations from around the world.

Network of Trusted Partners

Our network of Trusted Partners assists in carefully selecting the Field partners which are allowed to post heritage projects online. Working with these Trusted Partners ensures we meet the highest quality standards and practices for both scientific and heritage based projects. Our system also ensures the coordination of efforts from Trusted Partners from across the globe impacting funding and policy for future heritage projects. Our project-branded RSR and project-pages make it easy for partner institutions to increase their visibility without having to increase their web-based efforts.

Through our network of Trusted Partners we ensure sustainable research and heritage projects that meet the highest quality and most up-todate professional standards.

Why support CommonSites?

Share our belief that the use of modern technology in the heritage field can help the communities for which we work.

Join the Founding Family and:

be at the forefront of an initiative that seeks to revolutionize the way information technology is used in the archaeological and heritage field get a place-at-the-table with some of the leading heritage organizations and academic institutions around the world be mentioned as a Founding Angel in our first news cycle gain the rights to further broadcast our shared vision, and use the innovative brand of CommonSites for your commercial and/or PR purposes choose a transparent support package as a Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum investor.

As a Founding Angel active in the field of archaeology and heritage management, you can become a Trusted Partner. This guarantees you two projects put online for free for one year and allows you access to the

projects of other partners involved in CommonSites. Our parter-branded project-pages will increase your visibility among others in the field and the global community at large.

What do we need?
We are approaching leading experts from around the world, each with proven records of ethical and quality standards to join our Founding Family. Initial funding will be used to further design and maintain all systems of CommonSites, put projects online and ensure the quality and standards of all projects on CommonSites.net.

After one year we will have:

a fully functioning web-platform with at least 10 Trusted Partners and 20 projects online raised a sizable amount from additional donors and funding bodies a professional business model for when the platform is fully operational (Phase 02)
The CommonSites business model will be based upon the proven business model of Akvo.org, but suitably adapted to the archaeological and heritage field. Under supervision of our Board of Advisors and in collaboration with a graduate from the Global Entrepreneurship Program (Babson College, USA; EMLYON, France; Zhejiang University, China), we are working on a business model containing a detailed break-down of monthly fees for projects, percentage fees for programs and external donations.

Budget Phase 01 (ca. 1 year operation)

Staff 40.000e 10.000 General Director 10.000 Scientific Director 10.000 Creative Director 5.000 Project Assistant 5.000 Technical Assistant Web Platform 17.500e 12.500 Web-platform 2.500 Web- and Corporate Design 2.500 Domain-names and Hosting Total 75.000e Operating Costs 10.000e 2.500 Corporate Identity and PR 5.000 Travel 2.500 Representation Costs Infrastructure 7.500e 5.000 IT Hardware 2.500 Offices and admin equipment

Become a Founding Angel. Pick and choose a transparent support package as a Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum investor.

Bronze Package 2.500e

Silver Package 5.000e

Gold Package 10.000e

Platinum Package 50.000e

Management

Sjoerd van der Linde

Sjoerd van der Linde is General Director and CoFounder of CommonSites. He combines his field experience and network in archaeology and heritage management with his background in web-design and heritage presentation. Sjoerd is responsible for the overall strategy and management of CommonSites, and in charge of partnerships. Besides this, he currently is a researcher and lecturer at the Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University in the field of Archaeological Heritage Management. Previously, he worked as Head of Site Management and Interpretation at the Centre for Applied Archaeology of University College London, and as Interpretation Officer Stonehenge at English Heritage. He has undertaken projects in the UK, Palestine, Turkmenistan, Mali, Jordan, Syria and the Dutch Antilles.

Adam Jagich
Adam Jagich is Scientific Director and Co-Founder of CommonSites. He combines his knowledge of archaeology and his general love for science with his field experience and contacts in the archaeological and scientific communities to bring knowledge and information to the general public. He is responsible for project management and web-based content of CommonPedia. Besides this he is currently a researcher and lecturer at Leiden University in the department of Human Origins. His previous research has taken him around the world with excavations in Belize, Guatemala, Ethiopia, Kenya, Germany and the United Kingdom.

David de Bruijne
David de Bruijne is Creative Director and Co-Founder of CommonSites. He has broad experience in the field of multi-media and design and is passionate about making a difference through new media. He is responsible for the realization and optimization of the design, front- and back-end of CommonSites.net. David currently works as a Creative Producer for Taxi, an internationally renowned advertising agency. He has been involved with setting up the studio for Taxi Netherlands, and has worked for MTV. His educational background is a combination of Industrial Design at TU Delft and Image & Media Technology at Utrecht Arts Academy. His love for surfing has taken him around the world.

Board of advisors
Prof. Dr. Willem Willems
Prof. Dr. Willem Willems, Dean, Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, The Netherlands Co-President International Committee on Archaeological Heritage Management (ICAHM)

Dr. Steven Engelsman

Director General, Museum Volkenkunde, The Netherlands

Mr. Bram Ellens

Partner, Harvest Online Business Development, The Netherlands

Contact
Mr. Thomas Bjelkeman-Pettersson
Co-founder and Co-director, Akvo.org, The Netherlands/Sweden

Online demo

Visit the demo:

www.commonsites.net/test/ demo.htm