[Bhpbilliton] suggestions for the BHP Billiton Watch website

[Richard Solly]

Dear all,

My colleague here in London, Roger Moody, has made some helpful points 
about material on the BHP Billiton Watch website.

Because the material on the site so far is what was in last year's 
alternative report, there are areas which are not covered (such as 
Kalimantan and China) and others where information is sparse. Roger 
points out that Mines and Communities 
(http://www.minesandcommunities.org) and London Mining Network 
(http://londonminingnetwork.org) both carry regularly updated 
information about BHP Billiton and suggests links to specific articles 
as well as a Links page on the BHP Billiton Watch website.

Mines and Communities posts material from various sources on its own 
site. London Mining Network posts an introductory paragraph with a link 
to material on other sites, unless the material is not posted elsewhere. 
Which model should we use on BHP Billiton Watch? Should we copy material 
from other sites, or do as LMN does? My preference is the latter, 
because it avoids copyright problems and also increases use of existing 
helpful websites such as Mines and Communities.

I think that, by using material already existing on various sites that 
we are all already working with, we could increase the amount of 
material on the BHP Billiton Watch website quite quickly, and get it 
ready for launching.

We also need to make sure that we have community perspectives reflected 
on the site. Unfortunately, the communities with which I work need 
information in Spanish rather than English, but we may need to wait a 
while before we can make information available in more than one language.

If we install a links page, we can link to the websites of all the 
groups with which we are working. I think that would be good.

I would be interested to know whether others of you have thoughts on 
these matters.

All the best,

Richard Solly,
London Mining Network.