groups Archives

Groups on the Commons

What are the differences in permissions for the various group roles, i.e. Admins, Moderators, Members?

Administrators can do the following things that moderators cannot do:
1) Change group settings, eg turn group blog on or off, turn group forums on or off, change group status from public to private, etc
2) Post Annoucements
3) Change group avatar
4) Manage group members: ie kick/ban members, promote/demote members
5) Delete the group

Group moderators can do the following things that normal members cannot do:
1) Edit the Group Details, including the name of the group and group description
2) Edit, close, and delete forum topics/posts
3) Edit/delete group documents
4) Post Announcements

What’s the difference between public, private, and hidden groups?

All content in public groups (member listing, forum posts, activity stream posts) is available to be viewed by anyone, even viewers who aren’t logged into the site. Public groups are listed in the public directory of groups, and any member of the community can join the group without seeking approval from the group owners.

All content in private groups is hidden from the public and is viewable only by members of that group. Private groups are listed in the public directory of groups, but members of the community must request membership to the group and have that request approved before being able to view group content.

All content in hidden groups is hidden from the public and is viewable only by members of that group. Hidden groups are not listed in the public directory of groups. New members must be invited to join by existing group members.

I joined a hidden group and now can see it and all its members. Can everyone else?

No. When users create or become members of hidden groups, they will see them in the group listing on the homepage, but it will be visible only to members of the group, not to the general public or to members of the Commons who aren’t in the group.

Can I view a hidden group without being a member?

Hidden groups aren’t listed in the groups directory, however, those with access to the group URL can view the group name and description. Group content and member information can only be accessed by members of a hidden group.

How can groups create a group web site that automatically makes group members subscribers to the site?

We’ve enabled a pretty neat group blog function that makes it easy for group admins to attach a WordPress site to a group. Go to your group and click the “Admin” tab on the left-hand menu. Click ”enable group blog.” If you want to use an existing site, select ”Use one of my blogs.” Then select your web site. This will add all members of your group to your chosen site. You can also change the default permission level according to your needs.

How can I attach an existing Commons site to a Group?

To connect an existing site to a group, go to your group home page, and click “Admin” (yes, you need to be an administrator of the group to do this) > Click on Group Blog link > Check the box next to “enable group blog”. Type blog URL to connect the site to your group. That will add all members of your group to your chosen site.Currently, only one site can be attached to a group.

Why am I not receiving Group updates via email?

First, please check your notification settings to make sure that you have set your preferences correctly. Second, please check your account’s spam filter or spam folder, as we have received several reports of group activity stream posts being caught by spam filters. Commons emails are sent from the address “noreply@commons.gc.cuny.edu,” so you may need to add that address to your contacts or to your spam filter’s whitelist. If you are still having problems, please contact us.

How can I leave a group?

To unsubscribe from a group, go to the group’s page and click ”Leave Group.” The link is right under the group icon image. Click here for a screenshot showing the the process.

How do I reply to email notifications?

There are two ways to reply to email notifications. You can click on the link supplied in the notification, log into the Commons, and reply; OR you can Reply By Email, from the comfort of your inbox. For more information about Reply by Email, follow this link. You can use Reply by Email to reply to discussion threads on group forums, to personal messages and @mentions, and to group announcements.

mindmap_3122892780_8288951fd3_z Available to every member, our set of collaborative tools include:

Groups – you can join or start any number of groups and take advantage of the following functionality: (1) group forums – where members can start new topics, or participate in discussion threads; (2) group docs – a ways to collaborate on documents with group members – kind of like a private wiki; (3) file uploads – create repositories of data for members of your group to access; (4) group sites, which extend group functionality and provide a way to publicize group work, either privately or publicly.

WordPress Sites – the Commons members can create an unlimited number of WP sites (aka “blogs” or websites). We have over 100 themes and 300 plugins that will help you create a unique websites. Our new Hosting Partner Handbook outlines the various non-standard customizations available, and includes procedures and guidelines for domain mapping requests, customized themes, new plugins, and site migrations.

Domain Mapping – You can map your own domain to a WordPress site on the Commons and take advantage of our free website hosting. For example – The European Stages site on the Commons is https://europeanstages.commons.gc.cuny.edu/ but when clicked goes to its mapped URL – http://europeanstages.org/.

My Commons – a personal homepage that highlights the network of friends, groups, and sites you develop on the Commons. Explore content relevant to you and stay current with your connections by establishing friendships, joining groups, and following WordPress sites that you find interesting.

Profile/Portfolio/CV – use the Commons to establish an online presence. We provide a sophisticated system to maintain member profiles, with easy-to-use widgets to list publications, education, positions, academic interests, RSS feeds, etc.

Notification settings – handle how you want to receive email notifications – right away, once a day, once a week, not at all… We have granular settings that help tailor the way you stay in touch with Commons groups and friends.

Reply by Email – When you receive an email notification from the Commons, you don’t have to log on to the Commons to reply. You can reply from the comfort of your email in-box.

Messaging – Write and receive private messages to and from any member of the Commons

CUNY.IS shortlinks – make an easy to remember short-link your site or group (example – cuny.is/omeka)

The Commons Events Calendar supports individual, group, and global calendars. Designed to publicize events created by the friends you’ve developed on the Commons or to the groups you belong to (and which you choose to notify), Events Calendar provides a convenient way to see all CUNY events or filter events that are pertinent to you.

An event can the following you to see want is going on delivers email notifications about events with vital information, including:

Event title
A rich description, that allows for links, images, etc.
Start and end times
Venue (including a map)
Whether or not this is a recurring event
Commons groups who have been invited

The information is also conveniently aggregated with other Commons events and displayed on individual, group, and global calendars. You can browse through your individual calendar, or look through your groups’ calendars to find events, and click to see details.

As an individual, you can check out your personal calendar to see all events targeted for the groups to which you belong, and the events that have been entered by your friends.
As a group member, you can access your group’s calendar to find events specifically targeted to your group.
As a member of the Commons, you can (soon) access the global calendar and see what events are happening in public groups.

Accessing Your Individual Calendar

There are several ways to access your individual calendar once you are logged into the Commons.

Hover over your avatar in the upper right hand corner of the screen. Here you will see a new option called “My Events” (pictured at the right).
You can also visit your “Commons Profile.” Here you will see a new tab called “My Events.”

When you click on “My Events>>Calendar” you will see events entered by you, your friends, or by members of groups to which you belong. The calendar grid provides a convenient way to plan your schedule.

If you click on the “Upcoming Events” tab you’ll see a more condensed view, displayed as a list. No matter which view you choose, you can click on each event for its metadata.

The “Manage” tab is useful when you have events that are in draft, and that you have not yet published.

Accessing Group Calendars

Group calendars can be accessed from a new tab in the group menu called “Events” (see image on the right). Group calendars are different from individual calendars in that they display events to which they are specifically targeted.

If you click on “ New Event” from inside your group, the event you enter will be automatically added to your group calendar. But don’t stop there. You can add other groups that you think will be interested in the event you are publicizing. You can add public, private and hidden groups, provided you belong to them. And as stated before, the members of these groups will be notified by email, and events will display on their individual and group calendars.

Understanding Privacy

Your personal calendar is discrete from everyone else’s and is private to you.
Events you enter from your personal calendar are visible to your friends on the Commons. They will be notified by email upon publication.
When creating an individual event, you can target the groups you belong to.
If the only group your choose is private or hidden, only those members will be notified.
If you post from a private or hidden group, no trace of the event will display except on the calendars of those belonging to those private or hidden groups.
If you include a public group, those members will be notified, and the event will be added to the group.
All “Public” group events will be viewable on the global calendar, but notification emails will not be sent to everyone on the Commons.

Adding Events to Your Commons Personal or Group Calendar via the iCalendar API

The Commons Events Calendar is compatible with other iCalendar APIs. This means that you can either:

bring specific events into your group’s calendar via an “ics” file,
subscribe to another compatible calendar and add all its current and future events.

If using a group calendar only group admins can add events via this interface.

Adding To Your Personal Calendar

In your Commons Portfolio, click on Events:

Click on “Manage.”

Adding To Your Group Calendar

This option is only available to admins of the group. Click on the Events tab on the group sidebar.

Then click on “Manage.”

Managing Your Calendar

From this point, interface for personal calendars and group calendars is the same. You have the option to either import a specific event from a downloaded “.ics”file or to subscribe to a calendar “feed.” See below:

Adding Events to your personal iCal, Google, MS Outlook, or similar third party iCalendar APIs

If you use Apple iCal, Google Calendar, MS Outlook, or a similar iCalendar API, you can automatically add an individual event from your Commons calendars. Click on the event to add it by clicking the “Download iCal file” hyperlink (highlighted below). It will be added to your third party calendar.

Alternatively, if you would like to synchronize your third party calendar with your Commons calendar or your group’s Commons calendar, you can “Subscribe.” Scroll down to the bottom of the calendar and find the Subscribe section, pictured below:

This example is from an individual member who belongs to both public and private groups. If it was a group calendar, only one link would be available.

It is important to note that if you click on the subscribe hyperlink, you will only get the events that are currently in the calendar.

Depending on your needs, it might be better to synchronize your third-party calendar.

Synchronizing Your Third Party Calendar

Instead of clicking on the hyperlink, hover over the link and copy the URL and then paste it in the appropriate place in your third-party’s calendar. Each API is different.

Apple iCal

Open Calendar API
click on File>>New Calendar Subscription
paste in URL
Adjust settings as needed

Google Calendar

Open Google Calendar
Click on Other calendars
Click on From URL and paste in the URL

Please Note that Google Calendar sometimes takes up to 24 hours to refresh

Site-Wide Calendar

The Commons site-wide calendar is a great way to see what’s happening all over CUNY. It shows events added to public groups, but will not display events only associated to private or hidden groups. You can access from the Commons home page, on the “Events” tab or at https://commons.gc.cuny.edu/events/

There are hundreds of groups on the Commons, and you’ll probably want to join a bunch. For public groups, when you click the join button, membership is immediate. For private groups, you’ll need to ask to join, and the admins of the group will need to approve your membership. There are also hidden groups on the Commons, and to join these, you’ll need to receive and accept an invitation.

So What Next?

If you are new to the Commons, you might wonder about groups and their purposes. Some are very very casual, and have sporadic activity. Other “working” groups are very active, and many members share information and collaborate on projects. Here are some examples of how groups are used on the Commons:

Department or program administration. For example, The College of Staten Island English Department has a private group with a private blog that facilitates communication between faculty, students, and staff members.
Committees. Groups on the Commons provide fantastic ways to share files, minutes, organize meetings, discuss plans, and collaborate on projects.
Conduct graduate classes. Group forums are a great place to bounce around ideas, discuss issues, and post class announcements. Private group blogs can be used to publish syllabi and post writing assignments and course reflections. Class members can work collaboratively on projects using Docs feature. Check out the Digital Praxis Seminar for an example.
Projects. ePortfolios @SPS – a private working group and group blog for the “Connect to Learning at SPS” project)
Conferences/events/seminars. Plan, organize and advertise upcoming group events.

Group Tools

There is a lot more to groups than the group forum. Here is a quick review of all the tools that are available to group members:

On your group’s Home page, below its summary statement and avatar is the group activity stream, a rich log with links to everything that’s happened in the group – new members, new forum topics, replies to discussion threads, announcements, etc. Browse the group’s Activity Stream to stay current with your groups news. (If your group subscribes to any external RSS feeds, that content will appear here as well.)
The Announcements page lists all the announcements posted by the group’s admins and moderators.
If your group has a group blog, you can access it via the Blog tab. Read and post to the Group Blog. (This option will not appear if your group does not have a blog.) For more info, see Groups and Groups Blogs.
The Files page lets you upload and share files. Members can upload files to the group site, and make them available to everyone. By default, group members are notified when a file is uploaded, but you can choose “Silent Upload” and not disturb your colleagues if you are making some small changes to a file or if it is not ready to be reviewed by the whole group. For more info, see Working with Group Files.
Read and contribute to the forum. As a member, you can start new topics and comment on existing threads. By default, you are notified by email when other members post to the forum, and you can either reply by email to the thread, or click on the link embedded in the email, and log into the Commons to reply. These two options make it extremely easy to participate in a discussion. You also have the option to start new topics in one of two ways. You can log into the Commons or you can send and email to the Commons.
Collaborate with other members using Docs. You can think of Docs as your group’s private wiki. It has granular privacy settings which allow subgroups to work together and collaborate confidentially, and keeps a record of changes. Docs can be tagged and grouped hierarchically. (Docs can be enabled or disabled by your group admin – if you want this functionality and don’t see it, ask your group admin to enable it.)
Find out who is in your group by clicking the Members tab.
Send Invites to your colleagues to join your group. (Invited members need to be members of the Commons.)
Configure your email notifications with Email Options page. tab provides access to your notification settings. For more see Managing Privacy on the Commons.

The Commons’ powerful email notification system lets members of a group know when other members post content. Used in conjunction with a group blog, it lets you set up a nice place to share content and get feedback.

Read More About Group Email Notification Settings

Each time a member does something in a group, such as join the group, add an item to the Group Library or the add a topic or reply to a topic in the Discussion Forum, the action is added to the Group Activity stream and an email notification is generated.

Individual members of the group can choose how to “read” the particular group, that is, when should they be notified (if at all) when some activity takes place. Some settings are available on the group level, others pertain to all the groups a member belongs.

How Do You Want To “Read” This Group

Members can easily control how they get group email notifications. Go to your group, and click on Email options tab, highlighted below.

This same setting can be changed from the Group Page – you will see the current way you are reading the group and you can simply click on the “Change” button to switch to another of the five options.

Additionally, you can select what kind of activity you want to be notified about. This applies to all groups to which you belong.

To do this, go to your Commons Profile, and click on Settings, or simply hover over profile photo and select My Settings>>Notifications. Here you can also set Email Subscription Options (see above), on a group level.

Since the model presented below involves group blogs, here’s a quick look at what they are.

Group sites are not appropriate for every group, but for many, they can provide a platform for members to post ideas, embed media, announce events, and aggregate category and tag based content.

The Group and Group Site Model

So here’s how a group admin might use a group site to make a space where members can create content, and read and comment on each other’s work:

The group admin creates a group and attaches group blog
When members join the group, they are automatically signed up as authors on the group blog
They write and publish posts
Each time a post is published, an email notification is sent out to the group
Members click on the link, read the post, and can comment

Members of course still use the discussion forum, and each time they post to the forum, a notification is sent out. For these they can reply by email, without even logging into the Commons. (See “Reply by Email.”) Members can use BP Docs to collaborate on projects, and similarly, when a major edit occurs, members are notified by email.

This pedagogical model is often used on the Commons to teach courses: students join a group with their classmates. The group has a private site attached to it, and they are automatically added as users to the site. They do their assignments as blog posts. Whenever a student publishes a post, an excerpt automatically shows up on the group’s activity stream, and each group member is notified by email (depending upon their notification settings), that one of their peers has posted some content. If the content is a site post, they can click on the link, read the rest of the post, and comment. If the content is a forum post, they can read it in its entirety, and reply by email, from the comfort of their inbox.

We automatically invite all new group administrators and moderators to ‘The Group for Group for Admins.’ While joining the group is optional, we encourage you to come aboard and take part in the discussion. If you decline the invitation and decide at a later date that you would like to join you can always find ‘The Group for Group Admins’ by searching for it under the ‘Groups’ tab or following this link.

Using Groups on the Commons

There are over 900 groups on the Commons. A quick glance shows the varied ways members use groups. Groups are great for teaching on the Commons, and many professors activate an associated group WordPress site to complement their courses. Groups are also great for managing committees, programs, and departments. Files such as minutes, forms, and policies can be uploaded to a group site and accessed by all members. Group forums enable lively discussion on topics and our wiki-like “Docs” allow members to collaborate on documents. Groups often form around a common interest and bring together members from different campuses.

Participation can take place either on the Commons site itself or from the comfort of your email client. You can create new forum posts or reply to forum posts via email.

You can customize the way you want to be notified of group activity. You can get an email immediately, or you can get daily or weekly digests of activity. And you can configure these notifications according to type. This is a very powerful feature for groups. For more information, see Receiving Notifications.

Example Of A Public Group

Initial Setup – for Group Admins

Admins are the primary organizers of a group, and are responsible for setting it up and getting members to join. For more information, see “How to Create, Join and Maintain Groups.” Listed below are some suggestions that might help you get your group up and running.

Join the Group for Group Admins, a meta-group for group administrators and moderators to meet and discuss group management, share tips on different tools, and stay up to date with the Commons team on current and future changes on the site.
Find an avatar for your group.
Write a succinct statement of purpose.
Decide whether your group will be public, private or hidden.

Public, Private, or Hidden
- Public Groups – With a public group everything the group creates is visible on the Commons: the group page, member list, and forum posts. No permission is required to join a public group. Public groups can also enable group sites and set different roles for members.
- Private Groups – In a private group certain elements of the group are not visible to those who are not members. Only members can see the member list and forum posts. The group does appear in the list on the Commons Groups page, but non-members can only view a simplified version of the group page. You must request membership to join a private group.
- Hidden Groups – A hidden group is invisible on the Commons to everyone except for group members. The group page, member list, and forum posts are all hidden from the public.
Swamped? Delegate… Add additional admins to your group. Or add some group moderators. Admins will have the same permissions as you. Group moderators will be able to do a subset of the things you are allowed to do, including the ability to send announcements to the rest of the group.

Administrators can do the following things that moderators cannot do:

- Change group settings, eg turn group site on or off, turn group forums on or off, change group status from public to private, etc.
- Change group avatar
- Manage group members: ie kick/ban members, promote/demote members
- Delete the group

Group moderators can do the following things that normal members cannot do:

- Edit the Group Details, including the name of the group and group description
- Edit, close, and delete forum topics/posts
- Edit/delete group documents
Think about ways to attract members. Do you want to invite people to join? You might want to check out who belongs to a related group, or who is on the same campus, etc.
If appropriate, consider creating a Twitter or Facebook account for your group. If you have a group site, consider using a plugin such as Twitter Tools to automatically tweet group site posts.

Understand Your Tool Options

Groups feature the following collaborative tools:

Home – every group has a home page that can be used to describe its focus. In addition, every group has an customizable email address, a customizable quick link, and a an activity stream that can be filtered by specific activities.
Group Forums (if activated) – probably the most used and easiest to understand. Any member can start a forum thread. On public groups, non-group members may comment on a thread. Files and images may be attached to either the thread, or the comment.
Group Library – a convenient way to manage files uploads, editable docs, and externals links (including Google Docs, Dropbox files, Zoom meetings, etc. ).
Send Invites – know someone who would be interested in your group and is a member of the Commons? It’s easy to invite that person to join.
Group Sites (if activated) – Group sites are a great way to extend group functionality and share what your group is doing. A group site is basically a WordPress site in which all members of your group are also either subscribers, contributors, editors, or admins of the site. Group sites can be public or private.
External Sites (if activated) – Are there external sites that are of interest to your group? If so, you can include their RSS feeds in your group’s activity stream. Each time a post is published, you will get notified (depending upon your notification settings).
Group Event Calendar – A convenient way to establish milestones, schedule activities, events, and due dates

Getting Your Voice Heard

So with all the tools available, there’s probably no one “best way” to get your point across, but here are some things to consider when you stack related functionality up against each other in search of the magic bullet.

Forum posts vs. Group Blog posts. Forum posts are perhaps better at soliciting member feedback. Posts on blogs have more embedded functionality, and you can style and revise them better.
Upload Files vs. BP Docs. Files are static. BP Docs are collaborative, living documents that change. Both are extremely useful, but their functionality doesn’t really overlap.

Other Resources

A group’s “arsenal” of Tools

The connection between groups and group sites on the Commons may not be that intuitive. Groups already come with an arsenal of tools, each of which may be configured to generate email notifications when activity occurs, or batched into daily or weekly digests. To review, here’s a summary:

Group Library – a repository for uploaded files (docxs, pdfs, spreadsheets, images, etc.), editable group doc, group attachments, and external links (Google Docs, DropBox, OneDrive, external resources, etc.)
Forums – discussion threads, where members investigate topics, form opinions, post attachments, and tag content.

Group admins can also set up a group blog, but it may not always be clear how that group blog fits into things. The “Visit Site” option appears in the sidebar once a blog is attached to a group. Admins control the look and feel of the site, and are in charge of setting up a group permissions. In the Admin Tab, under Group Blogs, an admin of a group can determine the role code for their members. Here are the options:

Administrator – Somebody who has access to all the administration features.
Editor – Somebody who can publish posts, manage posts as well as manage other people’s posts, etc.
Author – Somebody who can publish and manage their own posts.
Contributor – Somebody who can write and manage their posts but not publish posts.
Subscriber – Somebody who can read comments/comment/receive news letters, etc.

Admins can also control site privacy by selecting one of the following:

I would like my site to be visible to everyone, including search engines (like Google, Bing, Technorati) and archivers
I would like to block search engines, but allow normal visitors
I would like my site to be visible only to registered users of CUNY Academic Commons
I would like my site to be visible only to members of my group
I would like my site to be visible only to Admins.

But group members may not be aware they can create posts on the site, and be unsure of the site’s privacy level.

It may make sense to note these settings in your site’s “About” page.

Using Your Site to Bring Group Content Together

A successful group site often acts as a hub, linking out and annotating content from its forums, BP Docs, Files, and Announcements, as well as soliciting contributions in the form of posts, pages, and comments from its members.

The hub and spoke model – one option

Each group is different, and group admins need to decide how best to control site content.

WordPress now has custom menus, and these can be used to create navigation that links out to the group content. Each discussion thread, each doc, each file, and each announcement has a permalink which may be used in a group blog’s post, page, or sidebar. Custom menus are a great way for admins to bring group content together (see tutorial at the end on this page).

Both admins and members can take advantage of the built-in WP presentation tools, and available plug-ins to embellish content on the site. This can bring a cool dimension to a group site.

Experiment with Google Calendar, Contact Form 7, Twitter Tools, and many other plug-ins to see how your group can benefit from a group blog!

And check out Wiki Inc plug-in which lets you include content from any MediaWiki based site, like Wikipedia.