Groups have been overhauled
OfflineHello all, its been awhile since our last update -- this is because we have been working on a much-improved incarnation of groups on X2.
- ANY member can now create a group. Further, group members can have dicussions independent of signals. Got a particular scientific topic to talk about? Create a group and get started. Groups can be about areas / innovations in science, regions where the future or science is being invented, a big idea or question - really anything you want to get the x2 community talking about.
- How are groups different from forums? Groups let you link discussions to signals, so you can easily reference content that's been posted on X2 in your discussions. You can invite other members to join a group that you are a member of, and flag signals as "of interest" to a group. Finally, you can upload and share files (papers, graphics, pdfs, whatever) with your fellow group members.
- We have a new groups directory that lets you find and dive into groups that might interest you more easily:
http://sciencex2.org/en/iftf_group_directory
- Groups can be public or private; private groups require membership to view or post content. The group creator manages the level of access to the group, as well as a host of other group-level options.
We believe that this incarnation of groups will have many more opportunities for peer-to-peer interaction and discussion. As usual, please let us know if you encounter bugs or missing features in the groups implementation.
Comments
Suggestions
The new group directory looks good. However, there are a number of problems with the new format that makes it less functional than before.
1. Only signals are listed. Why not forecasts, feeds, etc?
2. The listing of signals and abstracts only fits about four items per page. The same is true for tags on the Explore page. Once a tag is selected, most of the fields under each title are empty anyway. This makes quick perusal of titles more cumbersome and adds to unnecessary clutter.
3. No real organization. There is less accessible content in a more visually cumbersome format. As a group manager, I would like to be able to categorize content so that I can eventually build up a resource page for readers covering every major research project in China.
4. Still no notification. I used to be notified by email when people replied to my posts. Has this function been disabled?
5. New signals not appearing on Explore page. Unregistered users are not able to see some new signals. They only appear in the specialized groups.
6. What is the point of the "promote to signal" option in a group page? Why not just make this a function from the Explore page? I used to do this directly from either the Home of Explore pages. Making it an option again under the Group page just adds a layer of redundancy and clutter.
a few responses
philip, with reference to the questions you have raised -
1. we are working on overhauling forecasts as well, and feeds are being phased out.
2. are you talking about the group home page or the explore page? we have not yet made live our new design for the explore page. if you are talking about the groups page, by clicking on more under each section you can get a view of each different type of content (signals, shares, discussions) which contains more than 4 items. the purpose of having the group page is to provide an overview of the most recent types of content published within the group, as with all kinds of home pages in general.
3. what kind of organization, exactly, are you referring to? the group's central purpose is to have a place where a subset of x2 members that is concerned with a particular set of topics or questions can discuss signals and other topics of interest without neccesarily becoming part of the larger site-wide discussion. thus, the discussions are supposed to be the crux of the groups. Creating a "sub-website", that can be organized by a manager is currently beyond the scope of the groups feature.
4. we are working on better notification currently.
5. we'll investigate this.
6. you're definitely right, and this is intended to be a feature on the explore page, along with several others that we are currently working on. Adding this to the explore page now would be a temporary fix; please be patient for a couple of weeks to let us roll out improved navigation and exploration options.
Description of Groups?
The China Science and Technology Group used to have a description of what it was about. The new page has deleted this introductory material. Would you please put it back? I will also soon be sending some interactive maps and webpage materials. Since this files are large, what would be the best way of sending them to you? Would MSN live messenger work for you?
Redesign of China Science and Technology
Abhay,
Greetings and Happy New Year!
I have redesigned the webpage for China Science and Technology and have added a couple new features such as interactive maps. How might I best send the files to you to incorporate into the X2 site?
Philip