- Why is there a dot in my name when I sign in?
- How do I register?
- Why can't I choose a screen name or pseudonym?
- What do I do if I've lost my password?
- Who is running CommunityCentral?
- What does it cost to join?
- What is RSS?
- How do I subscribe to receive e-newsletters by email?
- What is the difference between plain text emails and HTML emails?
- Why are email addresses in CommunityCentral unclickable and with the @ symbol changed with [at]?
- How do I enable my personal contact form?
- How do I set up a new Discussion Network or Private Workspace?
- What is the difference between a Discussion Network and Private Workspace?
- How much does it cost to have a Discussion Network or Private Workspace?
- I am a member of a Discussion Network or Private Workspace. How do I add files, write documents, add forum topics and make comments, or leave a group?
- I am the organiser of a Discussion Network or Private Workspace. How do I manage forums, manage members or edit the set up?
- How do I search for other members?
- Can a document in a private workspace or discussion network be locked?
- Can organisations join CommunityCentral as well as individuals?
- Is simultaneous editing of the one document possible?
CommunityCentral has to cater for thousands of people signing up. For the system to be able to recognise each and every member, we need to create unique user names. The simplest way of doing this is to have all names separated with dots, e.g. "firstname.lastname" or "firstname.middleinitial.lastname". So, always remember to put a dot between the first , (middleinitial) and last name of your name and the names of others when using CommunityCentral. .
Registration is free to anyone.
Follow these steps to register as CommunityCentral member:
- Start at the new member registration page and fill-in all the boxes.
- Click on "Create new member account".
- Check your email inbox. You'll be sent a message asking you to verify that you do own the email address you typed into the registration form.
- In the email message, click on the link asking you validate your email (or copy this into the address bar in your browser).
- Your registration is now complete.
If a validation email doesn't arrive: check your junk or spam folder, request a new email from your account settings page or Contact us.
Once registered you can add a profile and a thumbnail picture of yourself, and sign-up to receive e-newsletters by email. More features will be added soon.
To help everyone get to know each other, the name you sign-in as is your actual name. By using your name as the login name, no one can add comments anonymously. When you've got something to say we want people to be able to know who it said it.
No screen names or pseudonyms are permitted.
If you lose your password you can request a new password. Visit this page and enter your email address in the box. An email will be sent with instructions on how to sign in. You must create a new password once you've logged in.
CommunityCentral is run by five national organisations for the benefit of everyone working in tangata whenua, community and voluntary organisations in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Read about the partner organisations and why they've set up CommunityCentral.
CommunityCentral is free for individuals to join.
The partner organisations running the website are looking at ways to fund the ongoing maintenance and promotion of CommunityCentral. Asking organisations to contribute to the cost of running this community-owned service will be considered.
CommunityCentral offers RSS to help you manage how you receive updates and e-newsletters.
RSS stands for Rich Site Summary, or for Really Simple Syndication. Many websites and blogs offer readers a RSS news feed of their information. It's freely available for anyone to add to a "news reader" programme on your computer or in your web browser.
Think of RSS as news ticker that appears across the bottom of your TV screen. The ticker delivers information eliminating the need to go out and check other sources (eg newspaper, magazines, radio). CommunityCentral uses RSS so you don't have to visit this website or subscribe by email to receive updates or e-newsletters, because it can be delivered to your computer or browser.
Find out how to subscribe to RSS:
- RSS in Plain English, by CommonCraft
- What is RSS?, from ICT Hub Knowledgebase (UK)
Anyone can subscribe to receive to e-newsletters by email. Every time a new issue is prepared you will automatically be sent a copy. It is easy to unsubscribe permanently or just when you go on holiday or leave.
If you're already joined as a CommunityCentral member make sure you're signed in. After signing in visit the main page for the e-newsletter you want to subscribe to. Click on the subscribe button. Sign in here.
If you have not yet joined as a CommunityCentral member, to subscribe to e-newsletters you need to join first. Start the registration process.
Get in touch if you need help subscribing by email, Contact us.
A plain text email has very limited formatting. The same font is used for the whole email, usually 'Courier'. The headings and subheadings are all in the same font, size, and type as the rest of the text. There is no ability to make characters bold or italicised or insert pictures. To draw horizontal lines you would use dots, dashes or asterisks. As it says, it is PLAIN text. However, plain text format will usually display a web link with underlining and a different colour font.
HTML (HyperText Mark-up Language) e-mails, are designed to have much more visual appeal. Content can be laid out in various ways. Headings and words can be emphasised. Bullets and numbering can be inserted. Use of graphics next to the text make it especially attractive.
If you need to track statistics, such as if the newsletter was opened or forwarded to colleagues, the HTML version is allows for monitoring codes to be inserted.
You should be aware that HTML e-mails are used by unscrupulous people to transmit malicious computer code. Organisations with a cautious approach to security will convert all HTML emails they get into plain text. So, if you are sending out HTML emails, be aware that your newsletter may be converted to plain text for some of your subscribers!
On that note, whenever you subscribe to newsletters online, be confident that you trust the publisher.
The main thing distinguishing plain text and HTML e-mails is the look-and-feel. A good newsletter provider will provide you with both options, and a handy link to the newsletter online. If a subscriber finds their email software does not display the newsletter correctly, they can click on the link to see the web version in their browser.
We do not want online marketers to harvest emails off CommunityCentral for spamming. The most readily-identifiable symbol in an email address is the @ sign, and so we have changed this to [at].
We are still testing different methods on how to hide email addresses from spammers and at the same time make it convenient for you to use these, but currently you will have to copy the e-mail address into your email application and change [at] to @.
Any other member can contact you by simply clicking on your profile name from the member directory, a comment or recently joined list (eg suzie.sue) then clicking the Contact tab. Fill in the form that appears and a message will be sent to your inbox.
- Login to CommunityCentral
- Click on MyPage
- Choose My account details tab
- Scroll down and tick the box - Personal contact form
- Click Submit
- Any member can now send you a message.
Other members cannot see your email address or any other contact details.
Discussion Networks are virtual roundtables for learning and connecting. People who join-in share an interest or identity and come online to talk about common issues. There could dozens of people joining from across a town, region or even the whole of New Zealand.
Each Discussion Network is set up to either allow any CommunityCentral member to automatically join, or you must first request membership. Membership rules are decided by the members of each Discussion Network.
Private Workspaces
Private Workspaces are a great way for people small groups of people to work together online in a secure, friendly and professional environment. Use a workspace to run a project, stay in touch and work together within an organisation, project team or committee. Organisers control who joins your Private Workspace. Only people invited by an organiser can participate.
Introducing fees and other ways of raising money to keep CommunityCentral going are being discussed with anyone interested in CommunityCentral in the second half of 2009. There will be lots of notice of any changes. If affordable fees are introduced you can decide if you wish to continue using CommunityCentral.
At the moment this feature is not available.
A workaround would be to copy and paste the text into a word processor (such as Microsoft Word), convert it into a PDF file and lock the PDF so that no one (other than perhaps the author) can change it. The locked PDF could then be uploaded to the workspace or network in CommunityCentral.
We will be looking into how CommunityCentral itself could perform this process. We have addded it to the wishlist.
CommunityCentral is about people working together online and communicating. Individuals can join and use the site. Groups don't 'join' like a person does, but they definitely use the site to support their work.
For Individuals: If you do not belong to a particular group or organisation you can still belong to the community sector through CommunityCentral. On the other hand, others hold specific roles in an organisation, or be part of several groups! On CommunityCentral you can choose to communicate as say, the Chair or Treasurer of a group, or simply as an individual who is part of the sector. If you resign or leave a group, your CommunityCentral membership can continue. (If your email address changes please update it on your 'Mypage'!). If you had access to a private workspace it may not be appropriate for you to have the same access as before.
For groups: CommunityCentral has tools for groups and organisations to keep in touch between meetings and hui, manage group pocesses like committee meetings and topical discussions, manage lists of members, and create and distribute newsletters.
Feedback from the roadshows is that people would like to clearly identify their memberships of groups and organisations on CommunityCentral. In reponse to that we will look at some innovative ways to highlight that info to help people see the groups present on the site.
No. What happens is the group member who clicks on 'submit' first will get all their changes saved. When the other person clicks 'submit' they get a warning that changes have been made since they began editing the document. This warning tells you that clicking on 'submit' will overwrite the changes made by the other user and do you want to do this? If you should ever see this warning, the etiquette is don't overwite, exit without saving your changes and try again later.
For a group of people planning to work on the same CommunityCentral document it would be a good idea to agree who needs to edit it and when. A handy tip is use the Comment field to manage the process. As each member does their bit, they add another comment to tell everyone where they are up to.