How to invite others

Welcome to the eleventh issue of  Tips   for   Networking

Date: 2nd September, 2012.
Publisher: The Research Cooperative. Circulation: c. 4,200.
Previous issue: 23rd May, 2012 (Inviters and greeters).
Tips  top page.

Hi.

For  our network to become really useful, all members need to know how to invite others to join.

Our network does not automatically take your email address book information and send messages to all your contacts.

The process is very manual and is under your control.

I like this. It means our network can grow organically through invitations that people definitely want to send to others. Any member can invite friend and colleagues to join the network, using a variety of methods.

This week, I wrote a FAQ item to explain this: "How to invite others".

To summarise, there are two main ways to invite others, a fter signing in  to the network with your login details (email address and password).

1. By using your address book to select contacts, or by using the Research Cooperative email form. You can see how this works by signing in, and going to the Invite tab in the main menu (see "How to invite others"  for more details).

2. By sending a link with your usual email account.

After signing in, and going to the Invite tab in the main menu, you will see the following option at the bottom of the page (NB the image below does not have an active link; there is no need to click on the image):

If the person you send it to clicks on the link, the following  Sign Up page  should appear (see below).

In this case it says "Peter Matthews invited you to join... etc." in the second line.

You have to sign in to get a link that has your name attached to it (y our friends won't know who I am, so please do not use the example link in the image above!)

Thanks  for  your patience. It takes time to get familiar with how to use a network. You can experiment by sending an invitation to yourself, like I did.

When you are happy with a method, please send invitations to anyone who you think might like to join the Research Cooperative!

We welcome students, researchers, teachers, companies, publishers, and all professionals involved in scientific publishing and the production of educational literature.

Sincerely, Dr Peter Matthews (Admin., Kyoto, Japan)

Groups and invite links

Welcome to the tenth issue of  Tips   for   Networking

Date: 23rd May, 2012.
Publisher: The Research Cooperative. Circulation: c. 4,100.
Previous issue: Jan. 18th, 2012 (Inviters and greeters).
Tips  top page.

Hi.

Our network is gradually developing a definite shape or form.

Unlike most social networks, such as LinkedIn or FaceBook, the different groups in our network have all been created with the same goal of helping people meet each other  for  a common purpose, the communication of research.

There is a method in our madness :-)

Individual groups are all placed within a limited number of larger categories, to make exploration of the network easy and intuitive. Any member can join groups within these categories, and any member can invite others to join groups that he or she has joined.

You can invite anyone  for  whom you have an email address, or in other ways that are explained when you click on the +Invite button.

For  several months, our main categories have been as below (click on the links to explore):

Research topics

Issues in publishing and production

Member occupations

Member languages

Member countries

to these we have recently added an important new category:

Member universities

This last and least may be the most important. So far just one university has been added.

Many university researchers and students may prefer to spend time with friends and colleagues and experts in their own university .. people they can meet in person, as well as through our network.

But I personally cannot make a group  for  every university represented by members in our network.

If you want, please  apply here to start a university focus group . You can help me to help you by making a start.

The university  for  which you want a group page can be where you work or study now, or it can be any university that you have a close connection with.

All that I require as Administrator is that you have an interest in the university, and can help us get a group started.  For  this, we need to first create the page, and then invite people to join.

It's your university, so please invite the people you know, if you think they might find our network useful or interesting.

Please look at this screenshot, below!

Ignore my name, that can be your name, after you have signed in to the network, and have opened the page of a group you belong to.

The Options button, if you see it, shows you what kind of actions you can do in the group. If you created the group (e.g.  for  the University of Zanzibar) then you will see options available to a group creator.

The big  +Invite button lets you invite anyone, from inside or outside the Research Cooperative, to join the group. Someone who is not already a Co-op member will automatically be led through the process to join the Research Cooperative, while joining the group.

Finally, notice the tab  Colleagues -  Invite, at right.

That's a tab you can always see, when you have signed into The Research Cooperative. The Invite link will take you to a standard form  for  inviting friends and colleagues to join the network.

Various options are shown  for  how to send invitations, but I usually use the option to  "Enter E-mail addresses and a personal invitation message".

It's direct and personal! Please try it sometime.

Thanks, Peter (Admin., Kyoto)

ps.

A moment of peace under the night sky in Auckland (NZ, April 2012)...

What does our network look like?

Welcome to the seventh issue of  Tips   for   Networking

Date: November 13th, 2011.
Publisher: The Research Cooperative. Circulation: c. 3,500.
Previous issue: September 3, 2011 (Adding value to our network).
Tips  top page.

This rough sketch (below) shows shows most of the people involved in research communication, making connections with each other in all directions. I would like our network to look like this.

Please imagine your own place in the network, and then consider how to make the connections that are most useful  for  you. By using the network, you can help make it look more like this sketch.

A single member can be located in more than one place.  For  example, a researcher can join a discussion group  for  his or her own research topic, while using a separate forum to offer help as a reviewer.

If you can show yourself in all the places where you have a genuine interest, this will make it easier  for  you and others to make useful connections. The main forums  for  offers and requests are where very specific connections can be made, according to the needs and skills of our members.

If you would like to comment on this picture, see 'our network in a sketch'.

Functional improvements on our top page

Date: June 22nd, 2011.
Publisher: The Research Cooperative. Circulation: c. 3,500.
Previous issue: April 8th, 2011 (bloggers and blogging at the Research Cooperative).
Tips top page.

Good news! Our network home page has been upgraded to make it more interactive.

What’s new? We can now:

• Post status updates directly from the home page.
• Comment and “Like” photos, videos, blogs, or status updates while on the home page.
• See larger photo thumbnails
• Play videos directly on the home page.

It's now even easier to see what's going on and for everyone to participate. Please give it a whirl.

Email settings, I

Welcome to the first issue of  Tips   for   Networking
Date: Nov. 13th 2010. Publisher: The Research Cooperative, Kyoto & Auckland. Circulation: c. 3,100.

We have a large network, so it is good to become familiar with the various functions of our website, in order to communicate effectively in a way that suits your own needs and interests.

Our tip today is technical , and concerns control of email messages from the network to your personal email account. The personal email of each registered member is recorded in our member database, out of public view, and messages sent to you from within the network are forwarded to your personal email address, without showing your address to the sender.

(If you change your email address without registering a new email address at the Research Cooperative, you will receive no further messages from us).

Controlling email messages  might be a priority  for  many of our members. First of all, find your own page within the network. This page is called ' My Page'  and becomes active after you have signed in. 

The My Page tab looks like this on the main menu (this is a static screenshot, do not click):

Clicking no your My Page tab will display your profile page. At the top right, under your name, you can see the following menu:

To reach the controls  for  email, click on the ' Settings ' tab. The icon shows two cogs. On the Settings page, you can control many aspects of your profile and activity within the Research Cooperative. Look  for  the ' Email ' tab under 'My Settings':

Clicking on the 'Email' tab will display a page with options  for  all the different kinds of email message that might be sent to you from within the Research Cooperative. I will discuss these options in the next issue of ' Tips   for   Networking '. 

If you have tried changing your email settings, and would like to ask any questions about them, please contact Peter (  http://researchcooperative . org/profile/PeterMatthews). 

Topic suggestions  for  future  tips  are welcome. Thank you.

PS. Hosting, content development, and promotion  for  our network all cost something. The Research Cooperative is an NPO, but we do need funds to operate. If members would like to help in some way, please visit any of the following pages: Donate, The Advertising Page, a note on 'Sponsorship and the Research Cooperative'. We also wish to acknowledge all help received so far. See: Our supporters