If you have questions concerning the type of community and the privacy permissions, please contact Jessica Mueller via the NASCIO Community or at jmueller@NASCIO.org.
Once I've joined communities, how do I get to my communities?
What is the difference between a blog and a discussion?
Only discussion posts prompt an email notification to members. Discussion posts are meant for collaborative discussion among multiple members of a community. Blog posts are primarily one-way communication from one member to the rest of a community.
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What is the function of the libraries?
Each community has a library to house documents and resources that have been shared witin that particular community. These documents will remain in an archive in the NASCIO Community. Archived documents will remain available accoring to NASCIO records management policies. Library documents should be tagged with specific keywords to help them stay organized. Additionally, if you attach more than one document to any discussion post, you will be prompted to describe the "library entry." Please note that this description will be the title for all of the documents in the discussion post, but each document will appear individually in the community library.
What should I do if I have a listserv query?
Beginning January 1, 2012, NASCIO will stop using listservs and will transition fully to using the NASCIO Community as the primary form of communication for our members.
The state member community in the NASCIO Community provides an opportunity for state-to-state communication in a private forum. As part of their NASCIO membership, all state members are subscribed to these postings. State members are encouraged to pose questions, share experiences and seek advice of their fellow state members using the following procedure.
1) Prior to posting a question, please search the discussion posts by navigating to Find a Message via the Directories tab. Here, you can search terms that may have been covered already to see if any of the previous discussion threads have answered your question.
2) If your topic or question has not already been covered, you can create a discussion post in the state member community. This will allow all state members and NASCIO staff to provide you with input, in a manner similar to the original listserv. However, the collaborative nature of this new platform allows members to post and answer questions immediately, with no delays from a time consuming moderation process, to upload documents, and to keep an archive of conversations.
3) To start a new discussion thread, use the drop-down menu from the Communities and Resources tab to Post a Message. Be sure to select the state member community and create a subject that identifies the topic around which your thread will be based. All discussion posts and responses will prompt email notifications.
4) You also have the option to attach relevant documents to these posts. Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the post a message page to find the “Attach” button. You should tag your documents, either using the pre-populated list provided or by creating a new tag. These will be useful for organizing and categorizing all library posts.
5) If you’d like to answer a question that has already been posted, please be sure to reply to the entire discussion, rather than directly to the sender. The entire community will benefit from responses to questions.
6) To control the emails that you receive from the NASCIO Community, navigate to My Subscriptions from the My Profile tab. Note: it is recommended that you receive real time updates, especially from the state member community.
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How can I tell if my question has already been answered in the NASCIO Community?
Prior to posting a question, please search the discussion posts by navigating to Find a Message via the Directories tab. Here, you can search terms that may have been covered already to see if any of the previous discussion threads have answered your question. (Suggested topics may be cloud, annual conference, or security.)
You can also search for tagged library entries by navigating to Find a Resource via the Directories tab. Note: the tagging function only applies to library documents and blogs, not discussion posts.
Is the NASCIO Community visible to the public?
No. The NASCIO Community is a benefit of NASCIO membership, and only NASCIO members have full access. Small portions are viewable by the public, such as announcements, certain blogs, FAQs, and latest news. The discussions, libraries, and your profile information are private to NASCIO members.
Who can access the NASCIO Community?
The NASCIO Community is open to anyone who is eligible for NASCIO Membership, such as state employees with duties relevant to information technology, employees from corporate members, as well as associate members from local, federal, and international governments, academic institutions, or non-profits. To access the community, you must first be listed on your organization's NASCIO membership and receive log-in credentials. For assistance, please contact Shawn Vaughn at svaughn@NASCIO.org
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What do the tabs on the top of each page do?
- Home: This will take you back the homepage of the NASCIO Community.
- Profile: This will give you access to your profile and all other personal settings and options, such as the communities to which you belong, your blog, your email subscriptions, and your network of contacts within the community.
- Directories: From here, you can find a resource, message, or fellow NASCIO member using the directories.
- Communities and Resources: This will give you access to the communities, libraries, and discussions in the NASCIO Community.
- Events: This will show you upcoming NASCIO Events.
- Blogs: This will allow to either view or post blogs.
How are the Most Active Members determined?
The Most Active Members are those who are the most actively engaged on the NASCIO Community over the past 30 days. You can gain engagement points by posting a discussion, updating your profile, posting a blog, reading a discussion thread, responding to a query from another member, adding members to your contact list, or participating in committee work in the NASCIO Community. Members with the highest engagement points will be acknowledged on the NASCIO Community and in the NASCIO Connections newsletter.
Whenever I close my browser and then come back to the NASCIO Community, I am logged out. Is there a way to stay logged in?
No. Because of the privacy and security settings around the NASCIO Community's log in process, you will be required to log in each time you close out your browser.
Am I supposed to upload documents and write blogs, or is that just for NASCIO leaders and staff?
The NASCIO Community is meant to be a collaborative forum in which all NASCIO members are encouraged to participate. You have the ability to upload documents, blog, and start discussions posts in each community of which you are a member, and we encourage you to do so.
Do the libraries allow for live-collaboration on documents (such as wiki documents allow)?
At this time, the NASCIO Community does not have this capability, but it is on our list of requests for future updates.
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