Module 7: Manage Content in a Group
A Group is a feature of the Portal designed to support
members who have decided to work together on a mutual task or initiative.
Setting up a group enables portal members to easily post, exchange,
and manage folders, web pages, links, files (example:
Microsoft Word documents, Adobe Acrobat documents, Spreadsheets, PowerPoint
presentations, and other file types), images, flashmovies, news items, and
calendar events.
Group functionality also allows group members a mechanism
to communicate in a centralized, organized space online. A group and
all its respective members, share a common work folder with certain
privileges to the content posted inside. Logged in Members outside of
a private group do not have access to this private group folder or
the content inside unless the private group posted the content as
a public draft. Non-logged in members cannot access the private folder or
the content inside the private group unless the content has been published.
The Brasil Environment Team is an example of a group folder.
A portal member can belong to one or many different groups.
A group can be designated private or published. A private group
can contain private and published content. A published group can
contain public or private content.
- When a group is designated private only the portal members assigned to
this group will be able to see the group folder and the content that the
group members post privately.
- To assign a new member to a private group, email the portal administrator.
When requesting a new member, include the member's full name (first
and last), email address and group association.
- You can share private content through the sharing tab with Portal members
NOT in your group. NOTE: Using the sharing tab does not give the member
full privilege within your private group. See the discussion on sharing.
- A private group can post content for public view. There are two
ways of posting for public view: post as a Public Draft, for logged in
members to see, and for the greater portal community (non logged-in anonymous
users), the private group can publish the content for global visitor
viewing. In the RM Portal Conditions of Membership every Private
group is encouraged to Publish a viewable abstract describing the Group,
and share, where and when appropriate, content used during a Private group
work session or content resulting from the Private work session.
- In a private group all members will assume the manager role.
Published
Group
- When a group is designated published, all visitors, even
those labeled as "Anonymous Users" (users without a login and
password), will be able to see the folder and access the contents of the
group, as long as the content is not private.
- A published group can ‘hide’ or make specific
content ‘private’ inside its published group folder.
However, this private content must be shared with the group via
the sharing tab). See discussion / How To on sharing. When anyone
not invited to share content attempts to open private content in a Published
group they will get a message that tells them they do not have sufficient
privileges to view the content and if they believe they received the
privilege message in error, to please send an e-mail to info@rmportal.net.
- In a group designated published there can be three levels of
Roles: Member, Reviewer, and Manager.

The following steps demonstrate how members can use and collaborate
within a Group.
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To use a group, login to the portal.
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Click the group tab
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You will be taken to a group page
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You will see the groups that are published and / or groups that you
are a member.
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Click on the Group that you wish to enter. You will be taken to that
groups’ folder area
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Each group area may be organized differently depending on the needs
and decisions of the group.
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A very important point to note is that if your role for the group
is MANAGER you have the ability to add, edit, and DELETE content
in the group folder. Please be considerate of other member's activity
in your group.
A group can only be setup by a portal
administrator.
To request that a group be setup, email the portal administrator
with your request at info@rmportal.net.
Please provide the following:
- Name of the group requested,
- A description of the group,
- The full names and emails of each member you wish to include,
- If you want a private group calendar,
- If you want a private group news folder,
- The state of your group, private or published.
We strongly suggest that your group be set to private.
Additional group members can currently only be added by the portal administrator.
To request a new group member, email the portal administrator at info@rmportal.org
with your request.
Please include:
- The new members full name,
- The new members email address,
- The name of the group that the new member will be associated with,
- The member's role, if the group is published (member, reviewer or manager).
NOTE: if your group is private, all added members have the manager role
and privileges.
If you do not provide this information, we cannot add the member to
your group.
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