checking website out as public

Public

I'm interested to write about TBTT, and to get some more information about the organisers of this initiative. Like what it does, whether it has dodgy politics, whether it's northern based, who leads it, what kinds of work does it do etc (halfway through I started losing my 'external but interested persona', and started becoming TBTT mother-hen..sorry! so this is a mixed up review between what i'd like to see as a public, and as a project coordinator)

layout:

• front page - ICT champion & tech tip maybe to move up before news? i might miss it if I'm not so keen on news (which I wouldn't be, unless I know the organisation and the people -- otherwise news is just news like every other site, but tech tip and champions are cool features!)
• "members" - members tool kit, maybe can be at the top? a kind of funky button? it gets lost at the bottom, esp if after all the names come in.
• "members" - like the right side bar, with login options and links to community spaces (flickr, social tagging etc)
• throughout - something feels a little weird about dynamic boxes being underneath static content (e.g. GEM: what's new is beneath what GEM is about).
• the site feels a little lopsided throughout. with the dynamic boxes underneath, and the right nav column much longer than left. maybe it's my virgo tendencies!

content:

• i might get my judgmental suspicions about ICTs and the players behind it prematurely confirmed if the champion is see is heide (assuming i dont know who she is and why she rocks)!
• language: although there is the french and spanish option on the right top, i reckon it should also be a little clearer from the content in each section that reminds people about diversity in language and content. e.g. TBTT, if i am at the english site, it appears to be just an english-language campaign? would be good to know from the outset, no matter which language i go to, that there are multiple languages here, and we are not only comfortable with it, but are making effort to ensure it?

navigation:

• global - label for "APC WNSP" a little unclear. not even sure it's a link. thought it was connected to "members". maybe should rename it to "about APC WNSP"?
• regions (e.g. africa, LAC etc) - will the sections have local links at the top of the page? otherwise wont know there's stuff like news, projects, champion.
• regions (e.g. africa, LAC etc) interesting that the recent news changes with the regions, but only clear if i go through every region. maybe can change the local label to recent news in LAC? or too clunky?
• global - left navigation bar somehow seems very empty. doesn't demonstrate the amount and diversity of work that is being done? i am wondering if the tags that appears for "members" on right nav can also be featured either here, or in every right nav globally? or that there could be a drop down that shows these are metatags with quite a lot of stuff/projects/activities inside each work area?
• it's a little funny that the mini link at each page is separated by a comma instead of a > (e.g. gender and ICT policy advocacy in policy advocacy, genderIT). i just realised these are meant to be tags! not actually "where you are in terms of navigation". which could mean two things: 1) it's not clear that these are tags; 2) is there a missing navigational path thing from each page (i always like to know where i am in a website :))

misc desires:

• i guess what i'm missing is a way to get involved (except for joining in member space, and is this open for everyone? seems like it for now?). it would be good to have a prominent button at every section that enables someone to get involved. e.g. "TBTT", "participate!" that is either a mailto: tag that emails ideas@takebackthetech.net, or links directly to the campaign wiki space. or "have your say!" where people can submit comments to each page? or even polls! :)
• make the banner linkable to homepage?