There is more to the community than you may realize! Take a look around. We're still just getting warmed up with content and some of the features, but it's ready for you to get involved. We've set it up to be the heart of the Alumni Connection, to provide support for the Training Center, and to give people who are just learning about AMIGOS a chance to see more.
Get Affiliated
Many of the features you'll see when you first look around are like the basic cable version of the Online Community. What we really want to do is help get you hooked up with the premium content, which you can help create. And to do that we need to know who you are. Once we have verified how you are affiliated with AMIGOS, we'll set you up with the proper credentials to do more than look around and participate in discussions.
You are first given the option to affiliate when you create your account for the first time. If you checked the box indicating you are an AMIGOS Alumni or current Volunteer and provided the additional information, then you are already affiliated. If you didn't do think when you first signed up, you can still get affiliated by clicking on the link called "Get Affiliated" when you are in your My Profile area.
What You Can Do
Forums - Join the discussions and stay connected or learn about what is going on. If you subscribe to a forum you can get the discussion delivered to your email inbox. If you would like to see a new forum be added, send a note to amigos@community.amigoslink.org. There are also special groups just for alumni and other affiliated users.
Blogs and Photos - If you want to personalize your space a bit more, go right ahead. We've got your own blog and photo gallery ready. And these are premium tools you'll love to use. You'll have full access to express yourself after we verify who you are. Posting photos and videos to your blog is easy, and it is a great way to attract people to your blog! When editing a post, there is a toolbar button called the "Content Selector'. It's next to the image button. Posting photos and videos to your blog is easy, and it is a great way to attract people to your blog!Select this and it lets you add a new image (dropping it in any folder you can edit -- for most this is just their gallery folder). In effect it is just like adding a new image to your gallery and then linking to it, but it does it in a more direct manner.
Files - Not quite as fun as the other sections, but very useful. We'll be using this section to get the right files to the right people in a convenient space. This section will be particularly useful for maintaining training materials and other important documents. And rather than overwhelm you with folders and folders of files you don't want (or shouldn't have), we've got a carefully crafted permissions structure so you only see what is relevant to you. This, too, is based on your affiliation with AMIGOS.
Search - You can search for friends or for content. In the search box at the top of every page you can search for content on the site. From the search link at the bottom of every page you can search for people who are members. Soon you will be able to search for alumni via the Alumni Connection, too.
Video - To post video you need to first upload it to YouTube (these instructions might be adaptable for other sources). Once it is uploaded, look for the “more info” link in the “About this Video” section. There is a field in there called “embed” and you want to click in that field and copy the content. It will look something like this:
<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/zl1OcKTTidw"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/zl1OcKTTidw" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>
Community Server
In Community Server you can add the video to a blog or forum posting. Create a new posting and you should see the content editor toolbar and at the end of it an ‘HTML’ button. Click on that and paste in the code copied from YouTube’s embed field. Save your posting and make sure it works as expected.
Personalize
Profile - There are two parts to the information that is provided in your community profile: the information you provide and, if you are an alumnus, the information from the alumni database. You'll even be able to use your profile to review and update your alumni information.
Friends and Favorites - Be sure to check out the options for marking discussions, people, photos, and other content as among your favorites. You'll be able to track changes in these items and other people will learn more about your particular interest.
Tags and More - Not all content fits together the same way, so the Online Community uses tags on content to link it across content type. When you are posting a message to the forums or adding a new blog entry, you'll have the chance to assign tags to that item. It then becomes possible to link items together and form a digest of related postings.
Those are the basic bones of the system, but each one of these sections is a small application unto itself with handy features. Be sure to take a close look as you are using the site -- often times features are subtle, but valuable.
More to Come
A bit further down the road, the updates to your profile in the Online Community will automatically be sent to AMIGOS so that we always have your most up-to-date information. This is part of a technology integration initiative that will allow us to reduce the duplication and mistakes in our records and be more effective and keeping in touch with you.
We will also be posting more content, helping to get discussions going in the forums, encouraging people to start blogging about their AMIGOS experience. Since this is a community space, we'll need the community to help build it.
If there are features or issues you'd like to discuss about the Online Community, we're all ears. You can email us at amigos@community.amigoslink.org.
We're looking forward to seeing you online!