When you post or reply to a question in a forum, your signature should be attached. You can create your signature and include any information that you want to be displayed so people that read your posts will know exactly who you are. This would be similar to a signature you use for your e-mails. If you wish to create or edit your signature, choose the "Discussion Forums" tab and select "My Signature" from the list. A box will appear with your signature information. If you are happy with your signature as it is, then you need to do nothing. But if you wish to make changes or update the information, you can just begin typing in the box. You can also copy and paste the signature you use for e-mails into your Community Connection profile signature. There may be default fields that are entered for your signature (ie. firstname, lastname). These fields pull from the MTA database. To update your information, please contact MTA. We will be happy to make the changes for you.
First, select the discussion forums tab, and on the dropdown select Post Message. This will bring up a window similar to an email. It will show your name in the From line, automatically. Next will be the To line which is where you will select which group (supervisors, clerks, treasurers, managers etc.) you want to respond to your inquiry. You will only be able to send to those groups that you are subscribed to. The next line will allow you to cross post your question to another group that you feel may be helpful with your question. After this you can enter the subject of your inquiry. And below this will be an open area where you can include the text of your question. Once you have completed the text, click on the Send button on the lower right, below the text box. What happens next is your question will appear in the Recent Forum Postings on the home page of Community Connection. Any person that is subscribed to the group or groups you posted your question to will be able to respond with information, personal experiences, best practices and sample documents that will provide you with valuable information.
Once you have logged in, you will now be able to subscribe to the forums that interest you. Because you need to use the email address on file with MTA to log in, and since you may not want to receive messages via this email address, there is an option when subscribing to forums that will allow you to change the email address which you will receive notices from Community Connection without changing the log in email address. Under the Discussion Forums tab select Subscriptions. On this page you will be able to determine which forum or forums you wish to subscribe to. Once you have subscribed to a forum a very faint line below the forum title will appear which reads "subscribed as tammie@michigantownships.org change ." (You may need to save your subscriptions by using the "Save" button at the bottom of the subscription page before this faint line appears). When you click on "Change" a small window with your current email address will appear. Insert the email address you wish to receive future correspondence at and select OK. Now scroll to the bottom of the Subscriptions page and select the "Save" button. You're done! You will now be able to log in to Community Connection with your email address on file with MTA, and begin receiving messages from the forum(s) you are subscribed to at the address which you just included in the field. Note that this can be done for the forum(s) you are subscribed to and will need to be changed for each forum separately.
The year is drawing to an end and Community Connection is having its first anniversary. We have made many changes to the site in the past year, which we are hopeful is beneficial to you as a user of the site. And there is still more to come. The newest control is a "Complete your profile" box that appears when you log in. It has a scale showing you to what extent your profile has been completed. It is an engagement tool only. It doesn't mean you have to complete your profile, it's just reminding you that you have areas of your profile that are not yet completed. What you provide in your profile is entirely up to you and can be controlled with the securities you set. Set your profile securities by clicking on the dropdown tab "My Network" and selecting "Preferences." The choices on this page allow you to display only the information you wish for others to see. If you select "My Contacts," only your contacts will be able to view your profile; if you select "Members Only," only those members that are logged in to the site will see your profile; if you select "Public," then anybody searching the web will be able to see your profile; and, by selecting "Nobody," then nobody, not even your contacts or members, can view the information for which you've set these preferences. I also wanted to share with you that on Tuesday, January 26, 2010, during the Annual Educational Conference in Grand Rapids, I will be in the Cyber Cafe to provide some mini tutorials for Community Connection users. I plan to be in there most of that day only. On Wednesday and Thursday, January 27-28, I will be busy with the MTA Bookstore that will be set up in the Expo, so it may be difficult to provide assistance with Community Connection on these two days. If you would like to see a demonstration of the site and learn more about what you can do, please join me. There is no set schedule. I am planning to offer as many sessions as necessary to provide guidance. I look forward to having you join me.
The new home page of Community Connection is very interactive. The “Recent Posts” column will display once a member has logged in. Click on any post from this column to view the thread. A thread is the original message and all consecutive responses to it (follow the instructions below to view all threads to a post). The “Who’s Talking” column is automatically populated from the most recent member blogs. To create a blog, click on the 'My Networks' tab and from the drop down select Blogs. To create a new blog, click on 'New Blog' next to the green + sign on the Blogs page. You will now be prompted to name/title your blog, fill in content and choose your security settings. When you create a blog you have a choice of who can view your blogs by implementing one of four security measures: Public, Authenticate, MichiganTownships Members or My Contacts. Each choice allows different levels of security.
· If you select Public, your recent post will display on the home page of Community Connection whether you’re logged in or not and anyone including search engines can find/view your blogs.
· If you select Authenticate, all members of the Community can view your blog once they're logged in.
· If you select MichiganTownships Members, the elected officials only, Supervisor, Clerk, Treasurer & Trustee, will be able to view you blogs.
· If you select My Contacts, only contacts in your profile will be able to view your blogs.
Your profile has the same structure for securities. If your profile is set to Public, everybody on the Internet will be able to see your profile and so on. To view your profile securities, click on the “My Network” tab and from the drop down select “Preferences.” A list of areas in your profile will be displayed. You have the option of choosing different preferences for each area of your profile. Here you have My Contacts, Members Only, Public and Nobody.
· If you select Members Only, only logged in members can see your profile.
· If you select Public, anyone including search engines can see your profile.
· If you select Nobody, no members, contacts or the public will be able to view your profile, or parts of your profile.
Viewing Threads:
To view all responses to any posted question, click on the post itself (the post might be the original or it might be a response to the original – it doesn’t matter). When the message opens click on the “View Threads” link in the right column of the post. The original posting followed by any replies will be displayed. This step will eliminate the need to ‘sift’ through everything in order to see only the threads (responses) you’re interested in.
Community Connection has come a long way since its introduction at the 2009 Annual Educational Conference in Detroit. MTA members are beginning to embrace this new idea of electronic social networking which provides a platform to share ideas, best practices and sample documents, among other things, from the comforts of home or work.
MTA has strived to make Community Connection an approachable and user-friendly atmosphere where members can enjoy 'conversation.' But when a person logs in to the site for the first time it can be somewhat intimidating; I urge you to contact me with questions on the functionality of the site and how you can take advantage of what it has to offer.
Of course, I've always suggested that members join the eGroup "MTA Community" which is a melting pot of questions on many interesting subjects. But that is only one of many groups that can be of use to you. And if you would like to create a group specific to a subject, it is doable by contacting one of the volunteer site administrators.
By creating a special interest group you can produce an environment conducive to your mission. For instance, if you are a clerk and wish to create a group to discuss best practices and share information on elections only, a security measure can be set in place so only the administrator of that group (usually the person that created the group) or existing members can invite others to join in on the discussion. And so it goes that treasurers can create a group for tax collecting, supervisors can create a group for assessing, BOR members can create a group to discuss tax rolls, and so on. Groups are only limited by the imagination of the creator. Or the groups can be opened to the membership as a whole and anybody within the Community will be able to join the group.
Another very important aspect of Community Connection is your security preferences. On your profile page in the left column select Preferences. When this page comes up you can choose who sees the information on your profile page. When 'public' is listed, everybody on the web, not just those in the Community, will be able to see your information. A very important factor we considered when we started this project was the privacy this site offers. We recommend that you not display any information to the public, however, it is up to you, the individual user, to determine who sees your profile information.
We would love to hear what you think about Community Connection and how it might help you with your day-to-day duties as a public officer, so send me an email: tammie@michigantownships.org.
Community Connection is a hit! It's been almost three month since it launched and has quite a bit of activity. The log-in rate has been exceptional. This is fantastic news to MTA.
Now that you're in the Community, join a group or groups, especially "MTA Community," and subscribe to forums of interest to you. You don't have to become involved in the "conversations," but you can follow along. And, you never know, a question you've been asking may just appear with an answer you've been looking for.
I suggest "MTA Community" because it is the melting pot for general questions from members. The group as a whole is very similar to a listserv. Everybody in the group will get the posted message and the posting is open to replies from anybody in the group. More members in the group means more opportunities for a response.
If you would like to create your own group, please contact a site administrator with your request. As an example, “Ingham County Township Clerks” might be created with securities in place that allow only those “invited” by the group administrator to join that group. Or share your ideas with the whole community. You have control over who can or cannot “join the conversation.” It’s your choice!
Let’s say you love ‘quilting’ and you would like to bring together others in Community Connection with the same interest (it doesn’t have to be township related – this is your community). If you complete your profile when you first log-in and include ‘quilting’ in your “Interests,” Community Connection will automatically generate a list of others in the community with the same interest or interests. These lists will begin to form on your profile page in the lower left corner under “Networks.”
This site has unlimited opportunities for networking with a few members, or many. I've mentioned a very small sampling of what Community Connection can do for you. I just wanted to throw out some seeds to help make the Community grow.
Welcome! I hope you enjoy your new Community!
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