# Patent

## Title
Asynchronous, networked publication and collaborative communication system

## Abstract

Asynchronous, networked publication and collaborative communication system and method comprise a secure website managed by one organization to which authorized members of a team can connect using an Internet browser program. News content is developed on the website using selected webpage templates, which news content is then published to pre-established end points sponsored by another organization and broadcast to selected persons. Alternatively the news content can be developed within the sponsoring organization when at least one authorized member is not affiliated with the sponsoring organization. Preferably, at least one is connected to a database to archive news content.

## Background
RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/329,630, filed on Oct. 15, 2001, hereby incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. This application is also related to the co-pending patent application entitled Asynchronous, Leader Facilitated, Collaborative Networked Communication System, filed on Oct. 15, 2002 and assigned to the assignee of the present invention.


COMPACT DISC
A compact disc containing codes and information describing a preferred embodiment of the present invention is submitted herewith and is hereby incorporated by reference. The compact disc contains the following files and/or programs:












Title
Size in Bytes
Date of Creation

















UnityworksSource.txt
15,977
Oct. 14, 2002


D:\UWSource


UnityWorks_Database.sql
205,915
Oct. 14, 2002


UnityworksSource.txt
15,977
Oct. 14, 2002


D:\UWSource\Components
0 bytes


D:\UWSource\Components\Business


BroadcastList.cls
6,410
Sep. 19, 2002


BroadcastLists.cls
3,033
Sep. 19, 2002


CContent.cls
19,041
Oct. 1, 2002


CContentList.cls
11,369
May 23, 2002


CContentPool.cls
22,470
Sep. 20, 2002


CMRA.cls
21,546
Sep. 19, 2002


CNotes.cls
3,817
Sep. 19, 2002


Contact.cls
11,003
Sep. 19, 2002


Context.bas
5,246
Sep. 20, 2002


CSession.cls
3,688
Oct. 1, 2002


CSlideSet.cls
34,739
Oct. 8, 2002


CSlideSetList.cls
12,776
Sep. 19, 2002


CVisitor.cls
6,673
Jan. 15, 2002


DB.bas
6,568
Sep. 19, 2002


Encryption.bas
2,644
Dec. 7, 2001


ErrorCodes.bas
22,851
Jul. 16, 2002


Event.cls
26,385
Oct. 1, 2002


Events.cls
4,822
Sep. 19, 2002


FileSystem.bas
2,085
Aug. 1, 2002


Format.bas
10,640
Sep. 19, 2002


Group1.vbg
166
Dec. 21, 2001


IContent.cls
1,485
Apr. 27, 2002


Link.cls
6,284
Dec. 20, 2001


Links.cls
4,376
Dec. 20, 2001


Location.cls
15,182
Sep. 19, 2002


Locations.cls
3,570
Sep. 19, 2002


Mapping.bas
5,963
Sep. 19, 2002


Member.cls
25,175
Oct. 14, 2002


Members.cls
4,174
Sep. 19, 2002


Membership.cls
24,874
Oct. 14, 2002


Memberships.cls
5,120
Sep. 19, 2002


Message.cls
26,297
Oct. 01, 2002


Messages.cls
4,482
Sep. 19, 2002


mssccprj.scc
164
Oct. 11, 2002


Page.cls
9,010
Dec. 7, 2001


Pages.cls
4,179
Dec. 7, 2001


PublishQueue.cls
6,801
Jul. 16, 2002


Reminder.cls
9,078
Sep. 19, 2002


Reminders.cls
4,853
Sep. 19, 2002


SessionState.cls
902
Jun. 12, 2002


Team.cls
40,265
Sep. 20, 2002


Teams.cls
4,105
Sep. 19, 2002


Unity_Business.dll
372,736
Oct. 11, 2002


Unity_Business.vbp
3,384
Oct. 11, 2002


Validation.bas
4,564
Sep. 19, 2002


D:\UWSource\Components\DB


CCache.cls
6,166
Jan. 31, 2002


CDB_XML.cls
25,336
Sep. 26, 2002


CDBIO.cls
67,009
Oct. 11, 2002


Context.bas
5,246
Sep. 20, 2002


DB.bas
6,568
Sep. 19, 2002


Format.bas
10,640
Sep. 19, 2002


Group1.vbg
160
Jan. 16, 2002


mssccprj.scc
152
Oct. 11, 2002


Project1.vbp
698
Dec. 11, 2001


Project1.vbw
28
Dec. 11, 2001


Unity_DB.dll
131,072
Oct. 11, 2002


Unity_DB.vbp
1,798
Oct. 11, 2002


D:\UWSource\Components\Strings


CErrorMessages.cls
2,804
Dec. 7, 2001


Context.bas
5,246
Sep. 20, 2002


ErrorCodes.bas
22,851
Jul. 16, 2002


Group1.vbg
149
Dec. 20, 2001


mssccprj.scc
159
Oct. 11, 2002


Strings_English.bas
20,920
Sep. 19, 2002


Unity_Strings.dll
36,864
Oct. 3, 2002


Unity_Strings.vbp
1,187
Oct. 3, 2002


D:\UWSource\Components\Utils


CBase29.cls
1,748
Dec. 19, 2001


CBase34.cls
1,277
Dec. 7, 2001


CBase36.cls
1,277
Dec. 7, 2001


CBase62.cls
1,301
Dec. 7, 2001


CCollection.cls
2,202
Dec. 7, 2001


CEncrypt.cls
9,355
Dec. 7, 2001


CErrorMessages.cls
2,804
Jan. 21, 2002


Context.bas
5,246
Sep. 20, 2002


CRegistryTool.cls
10,819
Dec. 7, 2001


CStringBuilder.cls
13,753
Mar. 18, 2002


CTimer.cls
1,473
Dec. 7, 2001


ErrorCodes.bas
22,860
Jan. 21, 2002


mssccprj.scc
276
Oct. 11, 2002


Strings_English.bas
20,608
Jan. 21, 2002


Unity_Strings.vbp
1,324
Apr. 8, 2002


Unity_Strings.vbw
102
Mar. 6, 2002


Unity_Utils.dll
45,056
Oct. 9, 2002


Unity_Utils.vbp
1,503
Oct. 9, 2002


D:\UWSource\Components\Web2002—


03_11


CSlideViewer.cls
74,409
Mar. 11, 2002


Broadcast.cls
27,572
Oct. 8, 2002


BroadcastListDetail.cls
23,841
Oct. 4, 2002


CallStack.bas
2,616
Apr. 5, 2002


CallState.bas
52
Jun. 12, 2002


CareCast.cls
6,788
Jul. 16, 2002


CCallState.cls
26,962
Oct. 8, 2002


CCustomerService.cls
9,228
Oct. 11, 2002


CImage.cls
6,617
Jan. 7, 2002


CListView.cls
51,608
Oct. 11, 2002


CMRAForm.cls
35,140
Oct. 4, 2002


CNotes.cls
3,405
Mar. 28, 2002


Configuration.cls
33,007
Oct. 4, 2002


ContentSubmission.cls
12,101
Jan. 3, 2002


Context.bas
5,246
Sep. 20, 2002


CSlideViewer.cls
146,574
Oct. 11, 2002


CView.cls
29,319
Oct. 8, 2002


CViewContainer.cls
18,333
Oct. 4, 2002


CViews.cls
1,623
Sep. 19, 2002


EditorTool.cls
36,059
Oct. 8, 2002


Email.bas
24,467
Sep. 19, 2002


Encryption.bas
2,644
Dec. 7, 2001


ErrorCodes.bas
22,851
Jul. 16, 2002


EventCalendar.cls
24,302
Oct. 4, 2002


EventDetail.cls
31,286
Oct. 4, 2002


FileSystem.bas
2,085
Aug. 1, 2002


Folder.cls
25,161
Sep. 19, 2002


Format.bas
10,640
Sep. 19, 2002


HTMLFunctions.bas
61,967
Oct. 9, 2002


InvitationTool.cls
11,037
Sep. 26, 2002


IWebComponent.cls
1,138
Feb. 21, 2002


KO_Ministry.cls
4,199
May 10, 2002


KO_Portfolio.cls
7,083
Aug. 1, 2002


LocationDetail.cls
382
Dec. 19, 2001


MasterView.cls
21,595
Sep. 19, 2002


MembershipDetail.cls
55,892
Oct. 14, 2002


MessageBoard.cls
53,634
Oct. 4, 2002


MessageDetail.cls
93,667
Oct. 14, 2002


mssccprj.scc
154
Oct. 11, 2002


Notification.cls
378
Dec. 19, 2001


Page.cls
19,161
Oct. 11, 2002


PasswordRecovery.cls
11,211
Sep. 26, 2002


Publish.cls
19,624
Oct. 4, 2002


Publisher.cls
7,916
Jun. 18, 2002


Roster.cls
19,735
Sep. 26, 2002


Rotator.cls
3,482
Dec. 19, 2001


Search.cls
11,571
Sep. 19, 2002


Security.cls
8,415
Aug. 1, 2002


SubmissionDetail.cls
5,730
Dec. 19, 2001


TeamDetail.cls
25,358
Sep. 26, 2002


TeamHeader.cls
16,414
Sep. 19, 2002


TemplateSelector.cls
11,073
Oct. 4, 2002


Unity_Web.dll
962,560
Oct. 11, 2002


Unity_Web.vbp
4,704
Oct. 14, 2002


UnityConstants.bas
508
Feb. 21, 2002


UnityWorksTemplate.bas
478
Dec. 19, 2001


UserHTML.cls
9,312
Aug. 1, 2002


VerticalNav.cls
16,732
Sep. 26, 2002


Video.cls
7,119
May 10, 2002


WebComponents.cls
3,580
Dec. 19, 2001


WebModuleWrapper.cls
9,714
Sep. 26, 2002


D:\UWSource\Website


_Inc_Common.asp
5,663
Aug. 7, 2002


_Inc_FlowControl.asp
431
Aug. 2, 2002


about. asp
383
Aug. 2, 2002


commonFunctions.asp
1,028
Aug. 2, 2002


contact.asp
457
Aug. 2, 2002


default.asp
15,973
Oct. 11, 2002


default.css
12,496
Aug. 26, 2002


desktop.ini
114
Feb. 25, 2000


empty.htm
279
Aug. 2, 2002


help.htm
575
Aug. 2, 2002


intro.asp
1,262
Aug. 2, 2002


jesus.asp
1,682
Aug. 2, 2002


pageHeaders.asp
450
Aug. 2, 2002


PicView.asp
560
Aug. 2, 2002


press.asp
353
Aug. 2, 2002


privacy.asp
381
Aug. 2, 2002


services.asp
384
Aug. 2, 2002


team_legal.htm
3,704
Aug. 2, 2002


tempoffline.asp
343
Aug. 2, 2002


terms.asp
8,253
Oct. 8, 2002


visitorAdd.asp
5,044
Aug. 2, 2002


visitorAdopt.asp
3,473
Aug. 2, 2002


visitorList.asp
2,880
Aug. 2, 2002


vssver.scc
80
Aug. 26, 2002


WebListView.asp
8,956
Oct. 8, 2002


WebListView.htm
861
Oct. 7, 2002


WebPreview.asp
8,281
Aug. 19, 2002


WebPreview.htm
638
Aug. 27, 2002


welcome.htm
985
Aug. 2, 2002


D:\UWSource\Website\_private


charity.xml
2,174
Aug. 20, 2002


community.xml
1,515
Oct. 8, 2002


config_Ministry.xml
2,110
Jul. 8, 2002


config_ministry_newsOnly.xml
1,202
Oct. 8, 2002


config_WorkGroup.xml
2,817
Jul. 8, 2002


contentEditor.xml
1,463
Oct. 8, 2002


CustServ.xml
3,312
Sep. 17, 2002


propertyManager.xml
892
Jul. 8, 2002


sales.xml
1,200
Jul. 8, 2002


SeniorPastor.xml
2,204
Oct. 8, 2002


support.xml
1,253
Oct. 8, 2002


unityTeam.xml
2,562
Jul. 31, 2002


workGroup.xml
6,248
Sep. 10, 2002


D:\UWSource\Website\CustServ


_Inc_MRACommon.asp
1,367
Jul. 10, 2002


CSMain.asp
1,246
Jul. 10, 2002


MRACheckIn.asp
2,087
Jul. 10, 2002


MRADetail.asp
5,698
Sep. 10, 2002


MRAInstall.asp
2,889
Sep. 10, 2002


MRAQueue.asp
4,068
Sep. 10, 2002


D:\UWSource\Website\images


ball_sage.gif
113
Jun. 11, 2002


bold.gif
82
Oct. 8, 2002


btnAction_01.gif
718
Aug. 22, 2002


btnAction_02.gif
173
Aug. 22, 2002


btnAction_03.gif
115
Aug. 22, 2002


btnAction_04.gif
1,675
Aug. 22, 2002


btnAction_05.gif
159
Aug. 22, 2002


btnActionHi_01.gif
700
Aug. 28, 2002


btnActionHi_02.gif
147
Aug. 28, 2002


btnActionHi_03.gif
114
Aug. 28, 2002


btnActionHi_04.gif
1,766
Aug. 28, 2002


btnActionHi_05.gif
143
Aug. 28, 2002


bulletList.gif
85
Oct. 8, 2002


cannon_sm.gif
1,279
Oct. 8, 2002


cannon_x-sm.gif
356
Aug. 28, 2002


CareCast_logo.gif
5,029
Oct. 8, 2002


center.gif
73
Oct. 8, 2002


cleardot.gif
42
Oct. 8, 2002


ConTemp1.bmp
36,214
Apr. 29, 2002


ConTemp1.JPG
4,344
Apr. 29, 2002


ConTemp2.jpg
36,214
Apr. 29, 2002


ConTemp3.jpg
6,324
Apr. 29, 2002


ConTemp4.JPG
3,238
Apr. 29, 2002


CornerBeigeLeft.gif
864
Oct. 8, 2002


CornerBeigeRight.gif
864
Oct. 8, 2002


CornerWhiteLeft.gif
866
Oct. 8, 2002


CornerWhiteLeftOn.gif
865
Oct. 8, 2002


CornerWhiteRight.gif
864
Oct. 8, 2002


CornerWhiteRightOn.gif
864
Oct. 8, 2002


edit.gif
866
Oct. 8, 2002


filmstrip_btm.gif
899
Oct. 8, 2002


filmstrip_top.gif
879
Oct. 8, 2002


fraCaption_01.gif
947
Sep. 6, 2002


fraCaption_02.gif
728
Sep. 6, 2002


fraCaption_03.gif
949
Sep. 6, 2002


fraCaption_04.gif
134
Sep. 6, 2002


fraCaption_05.gif
294
Sep. 6, 2002


fraCaption_06.gif
135
Sep. 6, 2002


fraCaption_07.gif
934
Sep. 6, 2002


fraCaption_08.gif
723
Sep. 6, 2002


fraCaption_09.gif
981
Sep. 6, 2002


genFrame_01.gif
296
Oct. 8, 2002


genFrame_02.gif
187
Oct. 8, 2002


genFrame_03.gif
307
Oct. 8, 2002


genFrame_04.gif
253
Oct. 8, 2002


genFrame_05.gif
128
Oct. 8, 2002


genFrame_06.gif
249
Oct. 8, 2002


genFrame_07.gif
212
Oct. 8, 2002


genFrame_08.gif
211
Oct. 8, 2002


genFrame_09.gif
264
Oct. 8, 2002


genFrame_10.gif
264
Oct. 8, 2002


genFrame_11.gif
299
Oct. 8, 2002


genFrame_12.gif
187
Oct. 8, 2002


genFrame_13.gif
294
Oct. 8, 2002


glow.gif
2,279
Oct. 8, 2002


header_bg.jpg
503
Apr. 8, 2002


hex0.gif
85,109
Oct. 8, 2002


iconHelp.gif
1,351
Oct. 8, 2002


img1.jpg
8,709
Oct. 8, 2002


indent.gif
93
Oct. 8, 2002


italic.gif
83
Oct. 8, 2002


KingdomOil_logo.gif
6,360
Oct. 8, 2002


KingdomOil_logo.jpg
3,895
Oct. 8, 2002


kit.jpg
7,442
Oct. 8, 2002


left.gif
73
Oct. 8, 2002


magnify.gif
325
Oct. 8, 2002


minus.gif
336
Oct. 8, 2002


minus2.gif
861
Oct. 8, 2002


NextPage.gif
1,008
Oct. 8, 2002


node.gif
344
Oct. 8, 2002


node2.gif
838
Oct. 8, 2002


numberList.gif
86
Oct. 8, 2002


outdent.gif
93
Oct. 8, 2002


page_01.jpg
434
Oct. 8, 2002


page_02.jpg
412
Oct. 8, 2002


page_03.jpg
1,053
Oct. 8, 2002


page_04.jpg
429
Oct. 8, 2002


page_05.jpg
419
Oct. 8, 2002


page_06.jpg
2,231
Oct. 8, 2002


page_07.jpg
424
Oct. 8, 2002


page_08.jpg
503
Oct. 8, 2002


page_09.jpg
489
Oct. 8, 2002


page_10.jpg
531
Oct. 8, 2002


page_11.jpg
2,077
Oct. 8, 2002


page_12.jpg
455
Oct. 8, 2002


page_13.jpg
494
Oct. 8, 2002


page_14.jpg
4,863
Oct. 8, 2002


page_15.jpg
618
Oct. 8, 2002


page_16.jpg
570
Oct. 8, 2002


page_17.jpg
1,889
Oct. 8, 2002


page_18.jpg
1,651
Oct. 8, 2002


page_19.jpg
582
Oct. 8, 2002


page_20.jpg
587
Oct. 8, 2002


page_21.jpg
561
Oct. 8, 2002


page_22.jpg
633
Oct. 8, 2002


page_23.jpg
2,861
Oct. 8, 2002


page_24.jpg
528
Oct. 8, 2002


page_25.gif
223
Oct. 8, 2002


page_25.jpg
426
Oct. 8, 2002


photoframe.gif
2,143
Oct. 8, 2002


photoframe-1x1.gif
78
Oct. 8, 2002


photoframe-1x2.gif
668
Oct. 8, 2002


photoframe-2x1.gif
101
Oct. 8, 2002


photoframe-3x1.gif
564
Oct. 8, 2002


plus.gif
206
Oct. 8, 2002


plus2.gif
866
Oct. 8, 2002


poweredby_unityworks1.gif
2,470
Oct. 8, 2002


PreviousPage.gif
1,005
Oct. 8, 2002


publishIcon.gif
382
Aug. 28, 2002


publishIcon2.gif
377
Aug. 28, 2002


right.gif
73
Oct. 8, 2002


rt_arrow.gif
864
Oct. 8, 2002


Shortcut to images.lnk
598
Mar. 18, 2002


shortViewer_30.gif
1,169
Oct. 8, 2002


shortViewer_30.jpg
873
Apr. 8, 2002


shortViewer_31.gif
1,468
Oct. 8, 2002


shortViewer_31.jpg
796
Apr. 8, 2002


shortViewer_32.jpg
813
Oct. 8, 2002


shortViewer_33.gif
1,619
Oct. 8, 2002


shortViewer_33.jpg
836
Apr. 8, 2002


shortViewer_34.gif
2,844
Oct. 8, 2002


shortViewer_34.jpg
1,428
Apr. 8, 2002


spacer.gif
43
Oct. 8, 2002


tab_off.gif
1,019
Oct. 8, 2002


tab_on.gif
2,569
Oct. 8, 2002


thinFrame_01.gif
279
Aug. 23, 2002


thinFrame_02.gif
196
Aug. 23, 2002


thinFrame_03.gif
279
Aug. 23, 2002


thinFrame_04.gif
96
Aug. 23, 2002


thinFrame_05.gif
1,206
Aug. 23, 2002


thinFrame_06.gif
151
Aug. 23, 2002


thinFrame_07.gif
122
Aug. 23, 2002


thinFrame_08.gif
146
Aug. 23, 2002


thinFrame_09.gif
146
Aug. 23, 2002


thinFrame_10.gif
150
Aug. 23, 2002


thinFrame_11.gif
278
Aug. 23, 2002


thinFrame_12.gif
196
Aug. 23, 2002


thinFrame_13.gif
278
Aug. 23, 2002


under.gif
90
Oct. 8, 2002


underline.gif
827
Oct. 8, 2002


UnityWorks_BG.gif
31,786
Oct. 8, 2002


UnityWorks_logo.gif
5,961
Oct. 8, 2002


welcome_01.jpg
1,591
Oct. 1, 2002


welcome_02.jpg
8,909
Oct. 1, 2002


welcome_03.jpg
10,680
Oct. 1, 2002


welcome_04.gif
2,618
Oct. 1, 2002


welcome_05.jpg
4,609
Oct. 1, 2002


welcome_06.jpg
2,380
Oct. 1, 2002


welcome_07.jpg
6,059
Oct. 1, 2002


welcome_08.jpg
8,503
Oct. 1, 2002


welcome_09.jpg
959
Oct. 1, 2002


welcome_10.jpg
3,977
Oct. 1, 2002


welcome_11.jpg
4,513
Oct. 1, 2002


welcome_11-over.jpg
4,179
Oct. 1, 2002


welcome_12.jpg
935
Oct. 1, 2002


welcome_13.gif
3,747
Oct. 1, 2002


welcome_14.jpg
1,806
Oct. 1, 2002


welcome_15.jpg
787
Oct. 1, 2002


welcome_16.gif
3,487
Oct. 1, 2002


welcome_17.jpg
584
Oct. 1, 2002


welcome_18.jpg
420
Oct. 1, 2002


welcome_19.gif
1,463
Oct. 1, 2002


welcome_20.gif
2,574
Oct. 1, 2002


welcome_21.jpg
473
Oct. 1, 2002


welcome_22.jpg
470
Oct. 1, 2002


workZone.gif
1,281
Oct. 8, 2002


workZone_enter.gif
2,435
Oct. 8, 2002


workZone_enter2.gif
2,138
Oct. 8, 2002


D:\UWSource\Website\images\members


0 files; 0 bytes


D:\UWSource\Website\images\


messages


0 files; 0 bytes


D:\UWSource\Website\images\slides


0 files; 0 bytes


D:\UWSource\Website\images\tabs


0 files; 0 bytes


D:\UWSource\Website\images\template


0 files; 0 bytes


D:\UWSource\Website\jscripts


contentScript.js
4,380
Oct. 8, 2002


contentScript_old.js
3,808
Oct. 1, 2002


contentScript2.js
4,082
Oct. 8, 2002


vssver.scc
48
Oct. 8, 2002


D:\UWSource\Website\messages


Thumbs.db
84,480
Jan. 25, 2002


D:\UWSource\Website\treegen


genresize.js
3,984
Jun. 11, 2002


TgToc.js
17,186
Jun. 11, 2002


D:\UWSource\Website\treegen\images


back.gif
828
Jun. 11, 2002


bullets.mic
147,456
Jun. 11, 2002


demologo.gif
3,410
Jun. 11, 2002


empty.gif
135
Jun. 11, 2002


foldercol.gif
1,021
Jun. 11, 2002


folderexp.gif
1,022
Jun. 11, 2002


img.gif
35
Jun. 11, 2002


imgminus.gif
96
Jun. 11, 2002


imgplus.gif
98
Jun. 11, 2002


item.gif
926
Jun. 11, 2002


itemline.jpg
972
Jun. 11, 2002


line1.gif
846
Jun. 11, 2002


line2.gif
852
Jun. 11, 2002


line3.gif
846
Jun. 11, 2002


link.gif
97
Jun. 11, 2002


minus.gif
869
Jun. 11, 2002


minus1.gif
878
Jun. 11, 2002


minus2.gif
880
Jun. 11, 2002


plus.gif
873
Jun. 11, 2002


plus1.gif
878
Jun. 11, 2002


plus2.gif
881
Jun. 11, 2002


triangle.gif
1,218
Jun. 11, 2002


white.gif
89
Jun. 11, 2002









FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a process or apparatus for transferring data among a plurality of spatially distributed computers or digital data processing systems via one or more communications media. In particular, this invention relates to a system and method for asynchronous, networked, publication and collaborative communication from a secure website via the Internet.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
During the past fifty years, certain trends in our workforce have been continued with increased concern by many. First, as work skills have become more specialized and knowledge more important to worker performance, the workforce has by necessity become more mobile as workers often move great distances to accept the next job or position. Where once family, close friends, and colleagues were within walking distance, they now are often very spread out geographically. Second, the average number of hours per week that workers are working has increased so that workers often find it more and more difficult to maintain close connections with family, friends, and community. Third, as technology has been eliminating mundane, routine tasks from the workplace and dramatically decreasing the time required to complete other tasks, workers are working at a faster pace with less time to think about and make good decisions with a high degree of confidence. Finally, the focus of many successful companies is global, and these companies are controlling greater and greater amounts of human capital and other resources.
In recent years, the health profession has recognized these trends as leading towards higher job related stress and job dissatisfaction, as workers are having more difficulty balancing their job related demands with the demands and needs of their personal lives. In effect, the emotional and spiritual support network and feeling of belonging to or identity with a community that most workers once enjoyed is missing in many present day workers' lives. Often these workers are unaware of this until after an unmanageable personal problem or even a health crisis arises, or a tragedy or other disaster occurs in the community. This loss of community is what some religious groups might call an absence of fellowship. By staying in connection with one another and by coming together for one another when there is a need, a greater sense of security can be nurtured with its resulting health and productivity benefits. Moreover, by having corporate sponsorship for these kinds of activities, workers gain a greater appreciation for and increased commitment to the corporate sponsor in addition to a greater sense of personal fulfillment with respect to non-vocational or more spiritual aspects of their lives.
Although the Internet is a tool that allows people to work further apart from one another, it is also a tool that can bring people together when they are apart. The Internet has been an important network resource for people to obtain information and solicit help that is located at a distance or otherwise not conveniently located. For example, workers can get company data or advice located at another physical site or send someone an email correspondence to convey news or motivate participation and involvement. Technology has now advanced far enough so that users can talk to one another and transmit still pictures or video. Moreover, with the ever-increasing prevalence of the Internet, more and more people communicate via this medium.
The vast majority of communications over the Internet take the form of emails sent between individuals and individuals seeking news from websites. It is well known that emails also can be broadcast from one person to any number of recipients by including all of the necessary addresses in the email. Almost all email programs allow for groups of recipients to be identified by collecting a series of emails under a single group name such that the email program automatically includes all of the individual group addresses whenever the group name is used in the email address. While email has improved the ability for groups of people to stay in touch with one another, the logistics for organizing and communicating among larger groups is often cumbersome with conventional email programs. Employee portals are also very popular, as can be other company websites having end points of particular interest. The downfall of these is that the communication is usually top-down instead of bottom-up, as the employee portal is intended to fulfill needs of the company rather than non-vocational needs of the workers. In addition, because of the nature of competitive marketplaces, companies are cautious about enabling outside parties to publish non-company related content or otherwise communicate to others inside or outside the organization using the company's website and/or other resources.
Examples of web content publishing for workers and customers are employee portals and company website frameworks developed by Zope Corporation, employee portals developed by Workscape, and an illustration of an employee portal at contractsxml.org/c3pol/fianl/cr. Each of these, however, is intended to satisfy the business and/or human resources objectives of the sponsoring organization and is internally controlled and maintained. Access to content by someone outside the organization may be possible but publishing to the end points is generally not permitted. Two examples of patented networked community communication systems are Marks, U.S. Pat. No. 5,956,491, Group Communications Multiplexing System, and Yokobori et al., U.S. application Pub. No. 2001/0029501 A1, Network Community Supporting Method and System. Marks discloses a complex computer system and related software that allows for Internet based synchronous, multimedia communication without using an Internet service provider. Yokobori also discloses complex software, for analyzing group or community communications to better understand the characteristics, intentions, and needs of the members of the community for managing the community. Neither provides a simple system based on commonly available or commonplace Internet technology to publicize non-vocational activities into the work environment of the workers and thereby encourage workers to participate and keep the workers and their organizations interested and involved in these non-vocational activities.
It would be advantageous to have a simple Internet based system to publish non-vocational activities into work environments whereby organizations sponsor Internet website end points for workers to stay informed about non-vocational activities and communicate to others about such activities and events.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Asynchronous, networked publication and collaborative communication system and method comprise a secure website managed by one organization to which authorized members of a team can connect using an Internet browser program. News content is developed on the website using selected webpage templates, which news content is then published to pre-established end points sponsored by another organization and broadcast to selected persons. Alternatively the news content can be developed within the sponsoring organization when at least one authorized member is not affiliated with the sponsoring organization. Preferably, at least one is connected to a database to archive news content.
An asynchronous, networked publication and collaborative communication system is intended for use by people who may be spread out among several organization, geographically, or otherwise, but have a common non-vocational interest and need a communication tool to help bring themselves together as a functional team, group, or community, and to develop further interest and support for their cause. Communication is generally team member initiated and in the form of news content published to website end points or broadcast to email address holders via the Internet. End points may include a location on a company website, a location on an employee portal, or a location on a nonprofit organization website.
By moving non-vocational news content development outside of companies sponsoring the website end points, an environment arises in which this news content is more likely to shared among organizations. Preferred embodiments may include utilizing a publishing interface and toolkit on a website managed by an independent organization. Alternatively, preferred embodiments may allow a team member who is not affiliated with the sponsoring organization but rather another, preferably non-sponsoring and non-affiliated, organization to publish news content to a sponsoring company website location from an interface and toolkit at an unspecified location, including one within a sponsoring company.
The asynchronous, networked publication and collaborative communication system is related to the patent application entitled Asynchronous, Leader Facilitated, Collaborative Networked Communication System, filed on Oct. 15, 2002 and hereby incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. The inventions in this and the above named application can be used in conjunction with one another. As an example, if someone wants to broadcast news content to members of their team or group or community, this may be done by posting the news content as a member initiated message on a website location designated for use by the team, to begin a communication session among the team's members or as a reply message in an ongoing communication session.
A preferred embodiment of a system for member initiated, asynchronous publication and collaborative communication using the Internet comprises a team having a plurality of members from a plurality of organizations including at least one nonprofit organization; a news content website sponsored by at least one of the organizations, wherein the news content website is operatively connected to the Internet and has at least one end point dedicated to at least one non-vocational interest of the team; and a secure applications website operatively connected to the Internet and managed by a non-sponsoring and non-affiliated nonprofit organization, wherein the applications website has a publishing interface and toolkit including at least one pre-established link to the at least one news content website end point and at least one webpage template constructed and configured for use by team members to develop news content about the at least one non-vocational interest, wherein only selected team members have access to the applications website, and wherein the news content is selectively downloaded to the at least one news content website end point via the at least one pre-established link and selectively broadcast to selected team members. A relational database may be operatively connected to the interface and toolkit, whereby news content that is published or broadcasted is selectively saved in the database. For example, the database may be located at a preferred end point, such as when news content is automatically published to the end point or the end point is expressly or conspicuously listed among a selection of end points to which to publish.
An alternative preferred embodiment of a system for member initiated, asynchronous publication and collaborative communication using the Internet comprises a team having a plurality of members from a plurality of organizations, a website sponsored by at least one of the organizations, wherein the website is operatively connected to the Internet and has at least one end point dedicated to at least one non-vocational interest of the team, and a publishing interface and toolkit operatively connected to the Internet and having at least one pre-established link to the at least one website end point, wherein the interface and toolkit has at least one webpage template constructed and configured for use by at least one team member belonging to a non-sponsoring organization, to develop news content about the at least one non-vocational interest, and wherein the news content is selectively downloaded to the at least one website end point via the at least one pre-established link and selectively broadcast to selected team members.
In operation, a method for member initiated, asynchronous publication and collaborative communication among a team of members using the Internet comprises (a) forming a team having a plurality of members from a plurality of organizations; (b) providing a news content website sponsored by at least one of the organizations, wherein the news content website is operatively connected to the Internet and has at least one end point dedicated to at least one non-vocational interest of the team; (c) providing a secure applications program website managed by a non-sponsoring and non-affiliated nonprofit organization, and having a publishing interface and toolkit including at least one pre-established link to the at least one website end point and at least one webpage template constructed and configured for use by team members to develop news content about the at least one non-vocational interest; (d) providing access to the applications program website only to selected team members; (e) accessing the applications program website using an Internet browser software program; (f) developing news content about the at least one non-vocational interest on the at least one webpage template; (g) selectively downloading the news content selectively to the at least one news content website end point via the at least one pre-established link; and (h) selectively broadcasting the news content to selected team members.
The present invention has several advantages that permit both charitable organizations and corporations, for example, to each benefit from the collaborative communication and publication system. In the case of charitable organizations, the present inventions permits such organizations to seek out corporations or teams within corporations that may have an affinity for that organization and be able to provide assistance and/or resources to the benefit of the charitable organization. In the case of the corporations or other for-profit organizations, the present invention enables these entities to maximize on the opportunity for community branding by promoting involvement of their organization with recognized and/or local charitable organizations. The ability of the present invention to enable effective and efficient publication of news content throughout the system allows charitable organizations to better get their story out and permits corporations and similar for-profit entities to have a body of relevant news content about organizations they support ready for marketing delivery in a variety of Internet contexts such as web page links, e-mail notifications, web broadcasts or the like.



BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is an overview of an asynchronous, networked publication and collaborative communication system in accordance with the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an example of the first page of the system in FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 is an example of the proof or story create page of the system in FIG. 1.
FIG. 4 is an example of the article format selection page of the system in FIG. 1.
FIG. 5 is an example of the web page template of the system in FIG. 1 for a text only article.
FIG. 6 is an example of a web page of the system in FIG. 1 including an article ready for publication or broadcast.
FIG. 7 is an example of a preview web page of the system in FIG. 1 for broadcasting an article.
FIG. 8 is an example of an email list creation web page of the system in FIG. 1.
FIG. 9 is an example of a preview web page of the system in FIG. 1 for publishing an article.
FIG. 10 is an example of the web page template of the system in FIG. 1 for an article including a picture.
FIG. 11 is a second example of a web page of the system in FIG. 1 including an article ready for publication or broadcast.
FIG. 12 is an example of a production page of the system in FIG. 1 for an article having multiple pictures or slides.
FIG. 13 is a second example of a production page of the system of FIG. 1 for an article having multiple pictures or slides.
FIG. 14 is an example of an editing tool page of the system of FIG. 1 for use by a managing editor.
FIG. 14A is an example of a drop down status menu of the system of FIG. 14.
FIG. 14B is an example of a drop down team pool menu of the system of FIG. 14.



DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The preferred embodiment relates to an asynchronous, networked publication and collaborative communication system in accordance with the present invention. The system is intended for use by people who may be spread out among several organizations, geographically, or otherwise but have a common non-vocational interest and need a communication tool to help bring themselves together as a functional team, group, or community and to develop further interest and support for their cause. Communication is generally team member initiated and in the form of news content published to website end points or broadcast to email address holders via the Internet. End points may include a location on a company website, a location on an employee portal, or a location on a nonprofit website. Because the preferred embodiment focuses on charitable or faith-based works, at least one of the organizations is a nonprofit organization.
The preferred embodiment comprises a team having a plurality of members from a plurality of organizations, a news content website, and a secure applications website. The news content website is sponsored by at least one of the organizations, which may be a for-profit business, a church, or another type of nonprofit organization. The website is operatively connected to the Internet and has at least one end point dedicated to a non-vocational interest of the team, often the primary interest for which the members have come together.
The applications website is also operatively connected to the Internet, and it is managed by a non-sponsoring and non-affiliated organization. In the context of the present invention, the term non-sponsoring is defined to mean that the managing organization is not a sponsor of the news content website, and the term non-affiliated is defined to mean that the managing organization is not controlled by a sponsoring organization of the news content website or a controlling owner of a sponsoring organization. FIG. 1 is an overview of these relationships.
In operation, a member or other individual having authorized access to the applications website first connects via the Internet to the website's Internet address and then signs in using a standard Internet browser program. Preferably, the member must provide a proper, pre-arranged identifying characteristic, such as a password, answer to a question, or scan of a personal feature, to gain access to the applications website. As shown in FIG. 2, upon successfully signing in, a page 20 will appear to the member showing the member of which teams, groups, or communities he or she is a member 22 and which have locations on the applications website. The member is also given an option to search or explore for other teams 24 having locations on the applications website and that might interest the member, based on a name or team attribute. The result of the search is a list of teams that fit the search term along with a description of each team. The search option will not allow a member to enter the location of a team to which he or she does not belong.
By choosing a team to which the member belongs, as shown in FIG. 3, the team page 30 will open and the member will see an interface with several tabs 32. These tabs provide options to the member for publishing news content, reading previously published news content, and the like. By clicking on the “Publishing Tools” tab, if it is not already the front tab on the page, the member will gain access to the publishing interface and toolkit. The front page of the interface, called the proof or story creation page, has a “Create a Story” button 34, a menu 36 for selecting to work on a story previously started, and five editing buttons 38. The “Enter Work Zone” button opens story editing tools for the news content or story selected, the “Delete Story” button deletes a selected story from the menu, the “Preview On Webpage” button shows the member what the news content will look like when it is published on a webpage, the “Publish This” button initiates a process to publish a story to selected pre-arranged end points, and the “Broadcast This” button initiates a process to broadcast a story to selected email addresses.
If the member chooses to create a new story by selecting the “Create a Story” button, a “Select Article Format” window 40 appears as shown in FIG. 4, giving the member a choice of three formats or webpage templates, a text-only format 42, a text with photo format 44, and a slide viewer format 46. The text-only format 42 and text with photo format 44 are used for news content with and without a photograph, respectively. Alternatively, the formats could include presentations of audio, video, text, photographs, or any combination thereof. The slide viewer format 46 is used to create an interactive article with more than one page of text and photos or videos. The slide viewer format 46 is designed to allow a member to read an article much like a book, page by page. As shown in FIG. 13, a preferred feature of the slide viewer format 46 is that the slides and/or videos are simultaneously displayed in separate, side-by-side miniature window-in-windows, no matter where a reader is in the story. Users can page through the story by clicking on arrow buttons on either side of the windows or by clicking directly on a window.
If the text-only format is selected, a “post a new message” window 50 appears as shown in FIG. 5. In this window are boxes for selecting the level of privacy 52 for a published article, a box to insert the subject matter of the news content or story 54, and a box to insert the body of the story 56. The story may be written directly into the story body box 56 or pasted from text written in any text editor, for example Microsoft WordTM. The member then clicks on the “Save This” button 58 to prepare the article for publication and/or broadcasting and a publishing options menu 60 appears as shown in FIG. 6. There are two publishing options for text-only format: a story may be broadcast or emailed to groups and/or individuals by selecting the “broadcast this” button 62 and/or the story may be published to various pre-arranged website end points by selecting the “publish this” button 64.
As shown in FIGS. 7 through 9, when a story is being broadcast, a broadcast preview page 70 appears. This page includes a box that previews the story being broadcast 72 and a box for selecting the recipients for this broadcast 74. The box for selecting the recipients 74 has a master list of email groups and/or individuals. By clicking on the check box next to a name, that group or individual will be designated as a recipient and receive the email. Clicking on the “Continue” button 78 will instantly broadcast the news content to everyone selected. To add names to or delete names from the master list, the member clicks on the “click here to set up a new broadcast list” button 76, which brings up a list creator page 80. The member enters the group or list name in the “List Name” box 82 and the email addresses of the individuals in the group, one per line, in the “Email Addresses” box 86. An “Access Level” box 84 can also be used, to designate which users can use the list. Any number of recipient lists or groups can be created for groups of 1000 persons or less.
When a story is being published, by selecting the “publish this” button 64 on the publishing menu 60, a publish preview page 90 appears. This page too previews the story, this time in a “publish preview” box 92, and includes a box for selecting where to publish the story 94. This “select where to publish to” box 94 contains a list of publishing end points with links thereto, pre-established by the manager of the applications website specifically for the group or community and divided into two categories, “My Publishing Endpoints” and “Authorized Contributor Publishing Endpoints”. “My Publishing Endpoints” includes a link to a database, such as City Pool in Minneapolis, Minn., for archiving stories from various groups or teams. This database is a significant development for uniting persons interested in charitable work and companies with human capital and other resources that are interested in helping. Because most communication tools are internally managed by a company, information about charitable activities and other non-vocational interests often is not shared. This database acts as a repository for submitted stories. The database can then be used for organizations having a connection pages to the database to browse for and post news content for their members to read and for charitable organization to find corporate partners. In addition, the database serves as a repository for the organization to use for community branding preferably in the form of Internet communications, such as web page links, e-mail notifications, adjuncts or links in unrelated e-mails that promote the news content or even web broadcasts. An authorized contributor is an author of an organization, often a ministry or charitable organization, that is authorized to publish news content to any company having a company connection page, so that their employees can connect to causes important to them. The company may have an editor that will approve all news content sent to the company connection page or to any other Internet communication channel before it is posted. Selecting whom to publish the news content to follows a process using check boxes next to names of end points similar to that for broadcasting. Clicking on the “Continue” button 96 will instantly publish the news content to everyone selected and a publishing confirmation page will appear, displaying the status of the story at each end point.
As shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, when the text with photo format is selected, a “post a new message” window 100 appears similar to that for the text-only format, with the additional feature that a box appears in the window for accepting a photograph 108. The window 100 includes a “Message Privacy” box 102, a “Subject” box 104, a story body box 106, and the picture box 108. A photograph is incorporated into a story by browsing for the photo and clicking on the photo to create a path from the photo to the story window 100. Clicking on the “Save This” button 110 prepares the article for publication and/or broadcasting and a publishing options menu 112 appears. The process of publishing and/or broadcasting a story in text with photo format is similar to that for the text-only format.
As shown in FIGS. 12 and 13, when the slide viewer format is selected, a slide viewer production tool will open and a proof or slide viewer production window 120 will appear. The editing buttons 38 stay on the page when the slide viewer production window 120 appears. The editing buttons, once again, are “Enter Work Zone”, “Delete Story”, “Preview On Webpage”, “Publish This”, and “Broadcast This”, having the same functions as described above.
To create a story in slide viewer format, the member may create a project folder on his or her computer, such as in Microsoft Word Tm Desktop or in My Documents and copy or paste all the pictures for the story into the folder. The headline or title of the story is entered in the “Edit Slideset Title” box 131 on the slide viewer production tool. This title does not change throughout the story and will appear in the Current Stories list after the story is saved. Next, the member clicks on the browse button 132 to browse the project folder for the first photo being inserted into the story. The path to the photo appears in the browse box 133. A video stream may be inserted into the story in place of a still photograph by clicking on the “Request Video” button 135 and submitting a video to the applications website manager for special processing. The caption or title of a slide, or video, is entered in the “Edit Slide Title” 134 box for each photo. The caption generally reflects what a corresponding photo is about or how it pertains to the story. The story body is entered in the story body box 136 as described above for the text-only and text with photo formats. Text formatting tools 137 such as bold, italics, font size, and color are available to edit the text for highlighting important information in the story. A page is completed by clicking on the “Save” button 138. Clicking on the “Create Next Slide” button 139 allows the member to repeat the above process for additional story pages and slides. Slides and story pages can also be removed by clicking on the “Remove Slide” button 141. As this process continues a series of side-by-side window-in-windows 140 appears, as described above. Viewers can page through a slide viewer formatted story by clicking on the arrow buttons 142 appearing on either side of the series or by clicking directly on any window in the series. The position of a story page and slide may be moved by clicking on the “Move Slide Back” button 143 or “Move Slide Forward” button 144. This feature is available only when there are two or more story pages and allows a page to be repositioned one position in the series per click. When the story is complete, the member clicks on the “Finished” button 145 to prepare the article for publication and/or broadcasting and a publishing options menu appears. The process of publishing and/or broadcasting a story in slide viewer format is similar to that for the other formats.
As shown in FIG. 14, the interface and toolkit offer additional editing tools 150 to groups or teams that have more than one author contributing stories to a website. The additional editing tools allow a managing editor to review content before it is posted to a website. When a story is published by an author, it is placed in an editing pool. An authorized manager/editor can review the pool of stories and approve for publication, decline for publication, or archive any story in the pool. Each story in the pool is color coded for quick reference. For example, yellow indicates a story that is pending, red a story that has been declined for publication, green a story that has been approved for publication, and gray a story that has been archived. Stories entering the pool and requesting publication are given yellow or pending status.
To change the status of a story, the editor clicks on the status bar of the story and a drop down status menu 152 for that story appears, as shown in FIG. 14A. The appropriate status for the story is then selected and the color of the color coding for the article changes to match the new status. If the story is approved, it is also posted or broadcast to the previously selected destinations. If the story is declined, the author is notified by email, and may be requested to make changes and resubmit the story. Archived stories stay in the pool and their status can be changed at any time.
Editors who need to edit stories from more than one pool, each pool corresponding to a group or team or community, can switch between pools using a “Selected View” drop down menu 154, as shown in FIG. 14B, and selecting the desired pool from among those pools listed. The “Selected View” menu 154 also indicates the number of stories pending approval in each pool.
Another feature of the system is that potential external authors (charities, etc.) can search for teams and/or companies (potential sponsors) and then find an organization or company that has a common interest and request to become an authorized contributing author. This then sets up filtering/editing by the company's editor. The editor then selects an end point, which could either be the company's website or one of the company's upsell libraries, e.g., sales persons, investor relation persons, and customer service persons libraries, etc. That filtered content is then made available to the world through either inclusion in e-mails, publishing to the company websites, etc.
For a more detailed understanding of the overall structure, architecture and operation of a preferred embodiment, persons of skill in the art are referred to the commented source code that is included with the application, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
The attachments and source code accompanying this application are copyrighted and no license or other relinquishment of copyrights in these materials is granted by virtue of the inclusion of these materials in this patent application, other than a limited license to copy these materials as part of the patent application process or as part of and for the limited purpose of obtaining a copy of the wrapper history.
Although the preferred embodiment of the asynchronous, networked publication and collaborative communication system has been described herein, it should be recognized that numerous changes and variations can be made and that the scope of the present invention is to be defined by the claims.

## Claims

1. A system for member initiated, asynchronous publication and collaborative communication using the Internet, the system comprising:
a team having a plurality of members from a plurality of organizations;
a website sponsored by at least one of the organizations, wherein the website is operatively connected to the Internet and has at least one end point dedicated to at least one non-vocational interest of the team that facilitates collaborative communication among the plurality of the members of the team; and
a publishing interface and toolkit operatively connected to the Internet and having at least one pre-established link to the at least one website end point, wherein the interface and toolkit has at least one webpage template constructed and configured for use by multiple members of the team belonging to a non-sponsoring organization, to develop news content about the at least one non-vocational interest that includes news content about events and others outside the team, and wherein the news content is developed remotely from the website and is selectively downloaded to the at least one website end point via the at least one pre-established link and selectively broadcast to email addresses of selected members of the team.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one end point is selected from a group of end points consisting of a location on a company website, a location on an employee portal, and a location on a nonprofit organization website.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a relational database operatively connected to the interface and toolkit, whereby news content that is published or broadcasted is selectively saved in the database.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the news content has a format selected from a group of formats consisting of text-only, text with photo, video, audio, slide viewer, and any combination thereof.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein news content in slide viewer format includes at least one video stream.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein news content is in the slide viewer format and includes a plurality of slides and the slide viewer format simultaneously displays the slides in a series of side-by-side, window-in-window frames.

7. The system of claim 1, further including a managing editor tool which can be used by a managing editor other than a member that develops a news content to edit the news content before being published and broadcast and to selectively approve publication and broadcasting of selective news content.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein email addresses of selected members of the team are assembled under a group name to which to selectively broadcast news content.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the publishing interface and toolkit are hosted by a nonprofit website separate from the website sponsored by at least one of the organizations, the nonprofit website being managed by a non-sponsoring and non-affiliated nonprofit organization.

10. A system for member initiated, asynchronous publication and collaborative communication using the Internet, the system comprising:
a team having a plurality of members from a plurality of organizations including at least one nonprofit organization;
a news content website sponsored by at least one of the organizations, wherein the news content website is operatively connected to the Internet and has at least one end point dedicated to at least one non-vocational interest of the team that facilitates collaborative communication among the plurality of the members of the team; and
a secure applications website operatively connected to the Internet and managed by a non-affiliated nonprofit organization separate from the at least one of the organizations sponsoring the news content website, wherein the applications website has a publishing interface and toolkit including at least one pre-established link to the at least one news content website end point and at least one webpage template constructed and configured for use by members of the team to develop news content about the at least one non-vocational interest, wherein only selected members of the team have access to the applications website, and wherein the news content is selectively downloaded to the at least one news content website end point via the at least one pre-established link and selectively broadcast to email addresses of selected members of the team.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising a relational database operatively connected to the interface and toolkit, whereby news content that is published or broadcasted is selectively saved in the database.

12. A system for member initiated, asynchronous publication and collaborative communication using the Internet, the system comprising:
a team having a plurality of members from a plurality of organizations;
a news content website sponsored by at least one of the organizations, wherein the news content website is operatively connected to the Internet and has at least one end point dedicated to at least one non-vocational interest of the team that facilitates collaborative communication among the plurality of the members of the team; and
a secure applications website operatively connected to the Internet and managed by a non-affiliated organization other than the at least one of the organizations that sponsor the news content website, the secure applications website having
a publishing interface and toolkit including at least one pre-established link to the at least one news content end point and at least one webpage template constructed and configured for use by members of the team to develop news content about the at least one non-vocational interest that includes news content about events and others outside the team, wherein only selected members of the team have access to the applications website, and wherein the news content is selectively downloaded to the at least one news content website end point via the at least one pre-established link and selectively broadcast to email addresses of selected members of the team; and
a relational database operatively connected to the interface and toolkit, whereby news content that is published or broadcasted is selectively saved in the database.

13. A system for member initiated, asynchronous publication and collaborative communication using the Internet, the system comprising:
a team having a plurality of members from a plurality of organizations;
news content viewing means operatively connected to the Internet for viewing news content dedicated to at least one non-vocational interest of the team; and
publishing means separate from the news content viewing mean for developing news content about the at least one non-vocational interest that includes news content about events and others outside the team, wherein the news content is selectively downloaded to the news content viewing means and selectively broadcast to email addresses of selected team members.

14. A method for member initiated, asynchronous publication and collaborative communication among a team of members using the Internet, the method comprising:
(a) forming a team having a plurality of team members from a plurality of organizations;
(b) providing a news content website sponsored by at least one of the organizations, wherein the news content website is operatively connected to the Internet and has at least one end point dedicated to at least one non-vocational interest of the team;
(c) providing a secure applications program website managed by a non-affiliated nonprofit organization other than the at least one of the organizations that sponsor the news content website, and having a publishing interface and toolkit including at least one pre-established link to the at least one website end point and at least one webpage template constructed and configured for use by team members to develop news content about the at least one non-vocational interest that includes news content about events and others outside the team;
(d) providing access to the applications program website only to selected team members;
(e) accessing the applications program website using an Internet browser software program;
(f) developing news content about the at least one non-vocational interest on the at least one webpage template;
(g) selectively downloading the news content to the at least one news content website end point via the at least one pre-established link; and
(h) selectively broadcasting the news content to email addresses of selected team members.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of developing news content includes creating a new story and working on a story previously started.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of developing news content includes selecting a format from a group of formats consisting of text-only, text with photo, video, audio, slide viewer, and any combination thereof.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein news content in slide viewer format includes at least one video stream.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the at least one end point is selected from a group of end points consisting of a location on a company website, a location on an employee portal, and a location on a nonprofit organization website.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the nonprofit website location is operatively connected to a database to archive the news content downloaded thereon.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein a team member is from an unaffiliated nonprofit organization, an end point is a location on a company website, and the team member is authorized to publish to the end point on the company website.

21. The method of claim 14, wherein a team member is from an unaffiliated nonprofit organization, an end point is a location on an employee portal, and the member is authorized to publish to the end point on the employee portal.

22. The method of claim 14, further including the step of using a managing editor tool to enable a managing editor other than a team member who developed a news content to edit the news content before being published and broadcast and to selectively approve publication and broadcasting of news content.

23. The method of claim 14, wherein email addresses of selected team members are assembled under a group name to which to selectively broadcast news content.

24. The method of claim 14, wherein a team member can search the applications website for a team using a name or team attribute.

25. A system for member initiated, asynchronous publication and collaborative communication using the Internet, the system comprising:
a team having a plurality of members from a plurality of organizations;
a website sponsored by at least one of the organizations, wherein the website is operatively connected to the Internet and has at least one end point that facilitates collaborative communication among the plurality of the members of the team; and
a publishing interface and toolkit operatively connected to the Internet and having at least one pre-established link to the at least one website end point, wherein the interface and toolkit has at least one webpage template constructed and configured for use by multiple members of the team belonging to a non-sponsoring organization, to develop news content that includes news content about events and others outside the team, and wherein the news content is developed remotely from the website and is selectively downloaded to the at least one website end point via the at least one pre-established link and selectively broadcast to email addresses of selected members of the team team.

26. The system of claim 25, further comprising a relational database operatively connected to the interface and toolkit, whereby news content that is published or broadcasted is selectively saved in the database.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the news content has a slide viewer format and includes a plurality of slides and the slide viewer format simultaneously displays the slides in a series of side-by-side, window-in-window frames.

28. The system of claim 25, further including a managing editor tool which can be used by a managing editor other than a member that develops a news content to edit the news content before being published and broadcast and to selectively approve publication and broadcasting of selective news content.