Frequently Asked Questions

How to get started?

2008-07-02T05:37:00Z

There are two ways to "navigate" Public Minds, depending on your needs and goals:

If you are after Presentations or multimedia from IPAA National Conference, you can simply use the red header to go to the content area of your interest. For instance, if you are looking for a presentation from the Academic Day, you have to click on "Conference". A drop down menu will appear. If you select "Academic Day" another menu will pop up. If you click to "Presentation" the page containing all the presentations and papers from the Academic day will open:

Main screen:

Screenshot of Academic Day Presentations content:

If you want to take part in online discussion and share knowlege and ideas with other users, you just have to click on one of the four "Join in" link. This will direct you to the collaboration area for the topic. Here you can contribute to (or just read) the discussion forums, and you can share files (e.g. a paper or a presentation you have written). Alternatively you can access the forum session from the red header menu.

Example: how to access “Communities” collaboration area

Screenshot of one collaboration area: click on "forum" to share ideas on the topics, or on "media" to see users' submitted documents and to upload your own files

What do I find in Public Minds?

2008-07-02T05:15:00Z

Public Mind allows you to access three types of information and resources:

PRESENTATIONS:
Presentations, papers and outlines from IPAA NSW events. All the documents are in PDF format. You can download these files, and then read and print them using Adobe Acrobat reader. If you don't have this free software you can download it using this link. You can provide feedback to other users, leaving a comment and/or rating the quality of the document (clicking on the stars icon)

MULTIMEDIA
In this section you find pictures, videos and audio recordings. These files can be played online or downloaded on your computer. You can provide feedback to other users, leaving a comment and/or rating the quality of the document (clicking on the stars icon)

FORUMS:
You can post comments, ideas, and start online discussion on Public Service management topics using the forum facility. There is one forum per content area (e.g. "Communities" or "Partnerships"). Forums will be moderated by IPAA NSW.

Rating a Post

2008-07-02T04:09:00Z

As a community user, you have the opportunity of rating the value of forum, media and blog content. Community Server uses a star rating system, which looks like this: If you find a post that you particularly like or find valuable, you can give it a high rating by highlighting four or five stars; or you can mark fewer stars for a post that you did not find useful at all. The more stars you highlight, the higher the rating. These ratings can be useful to remind you of the value of the post or to alert...(read more)

Adding a Forum post

2008-06-24T06:01:00Z

If you have permission to write a forum post, you wil see a Write a New Post Link when you open a forum.

1. Click Write a New Post. The Post a Message page displays.

2. Specify the forum post settings on each tab.

Compose

Subject - Specifies the post subject.

Tags - Specifies tags used for the post. You can click Select Tags to find tags that have already been used with forum posts.

Email me replies to this post - Specifies whether you will receive notification when a user replies to the post.

Preview

Shows you what the post will look like before you publish the post.

3. Click Post.

Forums Overview

2008-06-24T05:44:00Z

You can access your community's forums by selecting the Forum option from any of the dropdown menus on the main menu when you are signed in.

The main Forum page looks like the below example. A list of the Discussions in the forum is displayed.

e.g. the Capacity Building Forum:

You can use the Sorting and Filtering link to change how the Discussions are displayed:

You can open a post by clicking on the post title.

The following table describes the functionality available from the forum post page:

If someone replies to the post, the reply is displayed below the post content so that it is visible to everyone in the community.

Changing your Password

2008-06-24T05:21:00Z

1. Open your public profile for editing (click Edit in the user menu area when signed in). The Edit Your Profile page displays.

2. Select the Sign-in Information tab.

3. Click Change Password.

A Change Password page will display:

4. Make your changes.

5. Click Change Password.

6. Click Save.

What are tags and how do I use them?

2008-06-24T05:13:00Z

A tag is a keyword of term associated with a post which provides a link to related information. Tags help you map information. They also make your information more accessible to users. You may see a tag cloud displayed in the left or right sidebar of the page. The tag cloud contains a list of tags that link to any post within a forum, or a media item that has tags.

Tags are ranked by the number of posts with which the tags are associated so that the most used tags have the largest font size.

When the user clicks a tag, a list of items that use the tag will be displayed.

A user can add Tags to their own forum posts to help identify the content to other users.

What are Favorites?

2008-06-24T05:06:00Z

The Favorites section of your user profile displays the list of forums, posts and media that you have specifically identified as favourites. When you find a discussion, post, or media file that you really like, you can identify it as favourite by clicking a link.

Editing your public profile

2008-06-24T04:58:00Z

You can edit the information which displays in your public profile.

1. After signing in, select Edit from the user menu area:

The Edit Your Profile page displays:

2. Edit your public profile properties. There are also two tabs which contain editable settings: Site Options and Sign-In Information.

3. Click the Save button to retain changes.

Viewing your User Home Page

2008-06-24T04:18:00Z

Your User Home page provides you with an overview of your activity within your Web community. When you have signed in you can access your User Home page by clicking on your name in the user menu area:

Below is an example of what you might see on your User Home page.

You can launch all of your community activity from your home page. You can also access each area of the web site from the menu at the top of the home page workspace.

Other users will be able to see some of this information when they view your public profile (by clicking on your name, e.g. as the author of a post).

Through Shared Favorites, you can indicate to visitors of your public profile sites you want to share with them.

The Shared Feeds section is similar to the Shared Favorites secion. It displays RSS fees that you want to share with your visitors.

The My Groups sections shows different areas of the web site you have access to.

The My Files section allows you to upload files to your profile that you want to share with your friends and viistors.

Finally, the My Activity section provides you with a summary of your community activity. It will note the date and time on which youpublished a post of comment and when you joined a group or added a friend. You can update your profile by clicking Edit your profile or Edit in the user menu area.

Signing Into Your account

2008-06-24T02:29:00Z

1. Click the Sign in hyperlink in the user menu area. If Sign in is not displayed, then you are already signed in.

You are shown the Sign in screen:

If you have forgotten your password click the (I forgot my password) link. You will be asked to supply your email address. Click Recover password. Instructions will be emailed to you. Otherwise enter your sign in names and your password and click the Sign in button. Note the user menu area is updated:

To sign out, click the Sign out link.