CORDIS Forums Service

Transcription

1 CORDIS Forums Service Short User Guide Version 040

2 Contents Contents... 2 Tables/Figures Introduction Access to the forums Registration as a CORDIS user Logging in to Forums Applying to join restricted forums Organisation of the forums service Users for CORDIS forums service Participating in Forums Forum topics Forum messages Replying to messages Message attachments Message editing Message formatting Private messages Searching notification subscription Starting new topics Starting a new Forum Forums calendar Personal profile... 15

3 Tables/Figures Figure 1: Forum welcome and log-in...5 Figure 2: Username and password form...5 Figure 3: Forum list of topics and participants list...6 Figure 4: Navigation header and functions...7 Figure 5: List of topics, notification status/selector, and details provided...9 Figure 6: Example of a message...10 Figure 7: Message reply form...10 Figure 8: Forum search facility...12 Figure 9: Form for starting a new topic...13 Figure 10: Form for requesting new forum...14 Figure 11: Forum calendar - example...15 Figure 12: Personal profile function...16

4 1 Introduction CORDIS is the Community Research and Development Information Service - a large information space devoted to technical research and development (R&D, sometimes called RTD). A public service, freely available to all R&D stakeholders in the widest sense, CORDIS aims to present a comprehensive range of up-to-date and accurate information and data. Recognising the vital importance of research in the economic development process, CORDIS also offers user-friendly interactive services that help foster a spirit of partnership and co-operation. This document gives a brief overview of the new CORDIS Forums facility, which allows groups of users with a common interest to work together in a variety of ways in order to share and exchange information and ideas. The aim of this document is to help newcomers begin using the Forums service; a more comprehensive User Guide is available for those individuals who will play a structural role, such as acting as moderator for a forum. This user guide is posted in the Forums service, and may be downloaded. 2 Access to the forums The CORDIS Forums service can be accessed directly from the main CORDIS Interact page ( You may also wish to bookmark the Forums service in your preferred browser ( To access the Forums, you must first be a registered CORDIS user; see below. Certain Forums are restricted to duly authorised individuals; for these, in addition to being a registered user, you need to: Have applied to join the restricted Forum(s) Have been accepted by the moderator. 2.1 Registration as a CORDIS user If you are already a registered CORDIS user, there is no need to re-register; simply log in with your existing CORDIS username and password to enter the service. Please note that your username will be visible to the other Forum users as your alias. If you would like to set up a specific user profile (e.g. with a username that allows others to recognise you) for access to the Forums, you can reregister with a second username and password. If you are not already a registered CORDIS user, you will need to register. Filling in the on-line registration form only takes a few minutes, and also allows access to other key CORDIS facilities, such as automatic notification. Click on the Register button in the footer menu of the main CORDIS home page, or go directly to: When you have completed and sent the registration form you will receive a message (at the address you provided in the registration form) confirming your registration; you must reply to this to activate your registration, otherwise it will be deleted after a short period.

5 2.2 Logging in to Forums On the Forums service home page ( click on the Log-in button in the header menu or go directly to: Figure 1: Forum welcome and log-in You will be asked to provide your username and password (the same as those you use for other CORDIS services). Figure 2: Username and password form Please note that even if you have already logged in to CORDIS for another service (e.g. the notification facility), access to the Forums is not automatic. For reasons of additional security, you will need to log in a second time to access the Forums service. Once you have logged in, you will be able to access all public Forums, and any restricted Forums for which you have been accepted by the moderator. (For more on this subject, please see Section 4.)

6 2.3 Applying to join restricted forums Once logged in, if you would like to log on to a restricted Forum which you have not yet been accepted for, you will be asked to complete a short on-line request form giving reason(s) to the moderator why you want to participate. Access authorisation is not automatic, but is handled by the moderator (i.e. when he/she has the time!). You will receive a private message (see below) from the moderator informing you of your admission (or explaining why this is being refused). Once you are authorised, you will be able to access the Forum when you log on again. 3 Organisation of the forums service Within the overall CORDIS Forums Service, there is a number of distinct categories (sometimes called conferences ). Each of these corresponds to a particular group of users with common interest(s), and having requested the creation of a common Forum in the CORDIS service. Within each category, there can be any number of Forums, each one corresponding to a particular area of interest. Within each Forum, the forum users can create any number of topics each relating to a particular aspect of interest. The actual content of the topics is composed of messages (sometimes called posts ) contributed by the Forum users. These can be simple text messages, but can also include attachments such as MS-Word documents, MS-PowerPoint presentations, MS-Excel files, PDF files, etc. 4 Users for CORDIS forums service There are various categories of user in the CORDIS Forums system: Administrators: A small number of technical staff maintain and develop the Forums system under the control of the CORDIS Management Team. Moderators: More numerous, these people are responsible for the proper operation of the Forums. They may have rights to decide who can access a particular Forum (restricted access forums); they also act as managers to ensure the Forums are being used correctly. A particular moderator might manage one or several Forums. Users: The individuals who have registered as Forum service users, and who, where necessary (restricted Forum), have been accepted as a Forum participant by the moderator. An individual user might choose to participate in any number of Forums. Some open Forums are accessible to any registered CORDIS Forums user they are public. Other Forums are restricted in that only users that have applied for entry to the Forum, and been accepted by the relevant moderator, can see the Forum content and participate. When you enter a restricted forum, you will be able to see the list (usernames) of other members of this forum (by clicking on View all members of this forum ); on popular forums this may be quite a long list. Figure 3: Forum list of topics and participants list

7 To illustrate this theory, we can take the example of the NCP category (NCPs are National Contact Points ; organisations officially appointed to assist potential participants in FP7 EU R&D projects). The NCP staff members, who have registered as CORDIS users, can apply for access to the range of Forums that are reserved for their exclusive use. The NCP moderator(s) will grant access only to known NCP staff members, but will refuse access to any individual who is not a known member of staff of an NCP organisation. The general public will not be able to view the content of the restricted NCP Forums. The NCPs might decide to have one or more public Forums that can be used by any registered CORDIS user; the general public would thus be able to view and participate in such public Forums, without being able to access the restricted NCP Forums. The CORDIS Forums system is very flexible. Administrators and moderators can add on new Forums as needed, in response to the actual patterns of usage established by the users of the system. 5 Participating in Forums When you have access, you will see the main Forums navigation header, with the principal facilities/functions (see below for more detailed explanations): Figure 4: Navigation header and functions

8 Home: takes you back to the main Forums home page FAQs: a list of questions/answers that explain the service Search: e.g. to look for a particular message Profile: to view (or edit) YOUR user profile Member List: to view all members of forums that you have access to Recent Posts: see what has happened most recently Request a new forum: to ask the moderator/administrator to create a new Forum My Forums: list of all Forums to which you have access Private Messages: one-to-one messages from other Forum users to you Log-out: closes your Forum service session when you have finished [Moderators will see additional function buttons; they can request the more detailed user guide from the administrator.]

9 6 Forum topics When you enter a Forum, you will see a list of topics. Each topic has a title, and you can see who initiated the topic, the number of replies posted by users, the number of views (read but no reply), and the date and author for the most recently posted message. Click on one of the topics listed to view the messages posted in this topic. Figure 5: List of topics, notification status/selector, and details provided There is also a column indicating to which topics you are subscribed for alert (ticked); you can change this preference from this page. Do not confuse Forum messages (visible to all Forum users) with private messages which can only be seen by you.

10 7 Forum messages When you open a topic you will see a list of messages posted in this topic. If there are many messages, there may be several pages of them. You can sort the list of messages using the sort buttons provided. Figure 6: Example of a message For each message, you can see the author s username (see below for details), the message, and information about the message (e.g. when posted, if and when edited, etc.). There may be documents attached to the message; click on these to download / open them. 7.1 Replying to messages You can reply to any message/post by clicking on the corresponding post reply button. (Thereafter, the message form is similar to that encountered on many facilities.) You can use the Preview button to check the final appearance of your message before you send it. Figure 7: Message reply form 7.2 Message attachments To attach a file to the message, use the add attachment file button (paperclip symbol), and insert the filename where the attachment is stored on your PC (the browse button allows you to locate

11 it). There is an attached file size limit of 5Mb. For security reasons, only a limited range of file formats are accepted:.doc,.xls,.ppt,.pps,.zip,.txt and.pdf You can attach or delete files after posting your message using the edit button. Only moderators and administrators have the rights to edit or delete all messages. 7.3 Message editing If you make a mistake which you only see after posting your message, you will need to ask your moderator (in a moderated forum) to edit or delete your entry. Only moderators and administrators have the rights to edit (or delete) all messages. 7.4 Message formatting The appearance of your message can be edited (e.g. font, bold, italics, bullet points, etc.) by using the available buttons this is similar to many standard systems. There is a preview function that allows you to check the appearance of your message before you send it. In the personal profile function (in the header menu) you can also set your preferences for messages, and even create a standard footer for all your posted messages (e.g. with your job title, postal address, telephone number, etc.). 7.5 Private messages You can contact any other Forums user on a one-to-one basis through the relevant section in the main Forums navigation header.

12 8 Searching If you are not following any particular topic, but want to find out if a particular idea is being discussed somewhere in the CORDIS Forums, you can search using keywords. Figure 8: Forum search facility The Forums search tool searches only in the Forums service. You can search in the text of messages, or in the name of a Forum or topic, or by file-name. The default is to look for all words (implicit AND ), but you can change this to any word (implicit OR) or to exact phrase ( ). Boolean operators can be used; wildcard is * You can also limit the search to a single author username. You can limit your search to a specific time period; either to a specific period in the last (1,2,3,7,10,14,21,30,60, 90) days, or in a specified time period in the past. You can also limit the search to one or more specific forums (hold down Shift key for multiple selection or Ctrl key for group selection of adjacent lines). Click the Search button to run your search.

13 9 notification subscription You can subscribe to individual topics in order to receive an notification when new messages are posted in a given topic; just tick the box when you post a new message or reply. You can also subscribe to topics/threads from the main menu of each Forum. Please note that the notification is activated ONLY if you have previously ticked the box Send me an when I receive private messages in your Profile (button in the main Forum header area). 10 Starting new topics Any user (with access to the Forum) can initiate a new topic; just click the button New Topic on the top of the forum menu, and complete ALL the form fields. Figure 9: Form for starting a new topic By creating a new topic, you will be asked to post the first message in that topic. The subject field in the form refers to your proposed new topic, and the title field is to describe your (first) message. Always think carefully when posting a message; is this still relevant to the topic, or should I start a new topic with a different subject/title? The naming of topics is important because it helps all users to know what is being discussed.

14 11 Starting a new Forum To start a new Forum, click on the button in the header menu, and complete the on-line form to ask the administrator to do this on your behalf. Figure 10: Form for requesting new forum

15 12 Forums calendar Each forum has its own calendar where Forum users can post brief messages concerning activities such as seminars, events, meetings etc. The calendar allows Forum users to see a common timetable of posted activities this could be useful, for example, if looking for a free date to organise a meeting. Only the title and username of the author appear in the calendar, but other users can click on this to view a brief message about the event. Figure 11: Forum calendar - example 13 Personal profile When you register as a CORDIS user, you provide certain information about yourself (this is not generally visible to other CORDIS users).

16 In the CORDIS Forums, the stored profile is used to identify users to each other. In this way you may be aware of who the other users of a forum are, and who is/are the moderator(s) for that forum. For example, in each message posted you can see the user name of the author, as well as the real name, organisation and country of activity (if these are provided by that user). You can also see the number of messages posted by the particular user in this forum (so you can see who are the most active users), and the date when the user first joined the Forums service. Similar information can bee seen in the Member List (in the header menu) and in the list of Forum members on the main menu page of the Forum topics. The Forum is a transparent service, in that you can easily see which members of the Forum are able to view, or reply to, your message. Apart from the technical administrator, no one can see the content of a Forum without revealing their stated identity. If you want to check and/or change any of this visible information about yourself, click on the Profile button in the main Forum header area. Figure 12: Personal profile function You may choose whether to make your address visible to other users; the default setting is that it is not visible. You can add a standard signature that will appear in all your own message posts. You may request notification when you have a private message waiting (e.g. when you have applied to join a restricted Forum, and you are waiting for the moderator to reply). Please note that the Forums notification facility is activated ONLY if you have ticked the box Send me an when I receive private messages in your Profile (button in the main Forum header area). End of document