by Bill Magargal

The International Servas Technology team led by Servas Canada member, Jim Leask, has been working since early 2021 to completely overhaul the Servas Online website. The goal of the version 2 project (SI-v2) is to make the system easier to use, more flexible, phone friendlier, and to overcome some of the clumsiness inherent in the current, version 1 system. The version-2 team expects to release the new system within the next four to six weeks. 

Many volunteers worldwide have been beta testing the system for more than six months using "real" data. Those of us who have been involved in testing can state that Jim and his team have exceeded even their own expectations. The system is much more intuitive, cleaner looking, easier to navigate, requires fewer clicks to get where you want to go. Not only that, but the basic design of the system makes more sense, i.e. it is based on locations (households) with people rather than people with houses.  

If the above sounds like semantics, let me explain. In the current system my wife, Marie Spodek, and I show up as two hosts, even though we live in the same household. In version 2 we appear as one household with two members in one hosting location. This design easily accommodates members with multiple hosting sites like a cabin or Winter vs. Summer locations. Another great feature of the system is that it now uses Google Maps to identify hosting locations. Here are a few additional features that should make using the site an improved experience. 

• Members can edit their profiles to offer or remove Hosting and/ or Day Hosting without intervention by Servas Administrators. 

• Every member’s profile can be edited by the other Members of the household. 

• Members can specify if they want different Overnight  or  Day Hosting  parameters for each of their hosting locations. 

• An LOI can now include multiple members of a household, and can be edited at any time, even while traveling. We recommend customizing your LOI for each region you visit. 

There are too many other system changes to list in this article, but they all lead to a much better Servas International Online system. Kudos to Jim Leask, his team, and the manyServas tech teams working on this project. 

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