7 Communities

Community folders enable the autonomous organization of semi-open communities with similar interests. Every user registered with a BSCW server may start the community building process by creating a community folder along with its initial contents. Other users may learn about the existence of such community folders and join them directly or ask the community managers to be invited (if access to a community is thus restricted). Once a member, they may actively participate in the community by contributing to discussions or generating new contents.

Community folders differ from private folders, shared folders and public folders in the way that these folders may be accessed.

A private folder may only be accessed by the user who has created the folder and has not invited any other users to this folder.

A shared folder or workspace may be accessed by all users who are members of the folder because they have created the folder or have been invited to it.

A public folder may be accessed by everyone over the Internet without any authentication. Access rights are normally restricted to read access.

A community folder is visible for everyone, but only registered users may become members of the community and thus may access the contents of the community folder. Concerning membership management there are two kinds of communities: either the community may be joined by registered users on their own or membership is managed by the managers of the community via personal invitation.

You become a member of an existing community as follows:

Select GoTo Communities in the top menu to view a list of all communities that exist on your BSCW server. The info page of a community shows its members, managers and eventual keywords.
Select Join Community in the action menu of a community of interest to you to become a member. This is only possible if the community is open to subscription by any registered user. The community folder will appear in your home folder.
Select Contact Managers in the action menu of a community where membership is only possible via invitation by a manager. This leads to an email form where you may apply for community membership. After invitation the respective community folder will appear in your home folder.

You may create a new community as follows:

Select File New Community in the top menu of your home folder; this is the only place where you can create new communities.
In the ‘New Community’ form you enter the name of the new community and optionally a description and keywords. You also have to specify whether the membership in the community is controlled by its managers or whether the community is to be open to subscription by any registered user. These specifications may be later changed using Edit Keywords and Allow Subscription or Deny Subscription in the action menu of the community folder.

After creation you would normally install the initial content of the community folder (documents, notes, subfolders etc.). Additionally you may also invite other users explicitly as community members. You may also invite other users as managers of the community what could make sense if community membership is controlled by its managers.

Community folders where you are a member are always part of your home folder, they may not be moved to other private folders or shared workspaces.

Membership management in community folders works the same way as in shared workspaces (see 4.5), but the respective actions are by default reserved for community managers. As ordinary member you may leave a community also without manager intervention by deleting the community and destroying it thereafter in your trash.

By default, community members have restricted access to other members’ documents (and other data) — editing, replacing or deleting is not permitted. This helps protect the community’s knowledge and takes into account the relative anonymity within a community.

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Contents Index

7 Communities Community folders enable the autonomous organization of semi-open communities with similar interests. Every user registered with a BSCW server may start the community building process by creating a community folder along with its initial contents. Other users may learn about the existence of such community folders and join them directly or ask the community managers to be invited (if access to a community is thus restricted). Once a member, they may actively participate in the community by contributing to discussions or generating new contents. Community folders differ from private folders, shared folders and public folders in the way that these folders may be accessed. A private folder may only be accessed by the user who has created the folder and has not invited any other users to this folder. A shared folder or workspace may be accessed by all users who are members of the folder because they have created the folder or have been invited to it. A public folder may be accessed by everyone over the Internet without any authentication. Access rights are normally restricted to read access. A community folder is visible for everyone, but only registered users may become members of the community and thus may access the contents of the community folder. Concerning membership management there are two kinds of communities: either the community may be joined by registered users on their own or membership is managed by the managers of the community via personal invitation. You become a member of an existing community as follows: Select GoTo Communities in the top menu to view a list of all communities that exist on your BSCW server. The info page of a community shows its members, managers and eventual keywords. Select Join Community in the action menu of a community of interest to you to become a member. This is only possible if the community is open to subscription by any registered user. The community folder will appear in your home folder. Select Contact Managers in the action menu of a community where membership is only possible via invitation by a manager. This leads to an email form where you may apply for community membership. After invitation the respective community folder will appear in your home folder. You may create a new community as follows: Select File New Community in the top menu of your home folder; this is the only place where you can create new communities. In the ‘New Community’ form you enter the name of the new community and optionally a description and keywords. You also have to specify whether the membership in the community is controlled by its managers or whether the community is to be open to subscription by any registered user. These specifications may be later changed using Edit Keywords and Allow Subscription or Deny Subscription in the action menu of the community folder. After creation you would normally install the initial content of the community folder (documents, notes, subfolders etc.). Additionally you may also invite other users explicitly as community members. You may also invite other users as managers of the community what could make sense if community membership is controlled by its managers. Community folders where you are a member are always part of your home folder, they may not be moved to other private folders or shared workspaces. Membership management in community folders works the same way as in shared workspaces (see 4.5), but the respective actions are by default reserved for community managers. As ordinary member you may leave a community also without manager intervention by deleting the community and destroying it thereafter in your trash. By default, community members have restricted access to other members’ documents (and other data) — editing, replacing or deleting is not permitted. This helps protect the community’s knowledge and takes into account the relative anonymity within a community.

Contents Index