Advice on how to administrate newly formed group

EXAMPLE 1

Dear (New Administrator),

There will not be much activity in your group, initially, so administration will not be difficult.

You can see your options for managing the group by going to the Options menu at upper right when you are logged into the network and looking at the group page.

To navigate back to the group page, at any time, go to My page after logging in to our network, and then look at the list of groups you have joined in the left hand column on your page.

I can invite a other members to join the group, based on interestsstated in their profile pages. Please use the Invite tab on the journal page to invite more people who might like to join. You will need email addresses for this. The people you invite do not have to members of the Research Cooperative before you invite them. They can join the network at the same time as they join the group.

Best regards, [Research Co-op Admin.]

******

EXAMPLE 2

Dear (New Administrator),

Thanks very much accepting this role. As a group administrator, you can do the following:

- add, edit or remove any content on the group page, including messages by members

- contact members, or me, about messages or comments that are irrelevant, spam, or offensive. So far, such messages or comments have been very rare in our network.

- greet new members of the group, and thank them for joining (in English or another language, according to what is most appropriate).

Those are the main requirements. There is very little to do when the group is new and not yet active. To find new members for the group, and encourage activity among the members requires more effort, but this can be done according to your own interest and schedule. For some groups, we may need two or three administrators eventually, to encourage activity and provide moderation.

Activity can be encouraged by raising topics of possible interest to members of the group. For example:

1. Are there any professional associations for the group interest area?

2. Where are study or training opportunities for the group interest area?

3. Are there any especially good online guides or directories or publishers for the group interest area?

4. How can the Research Cooperative be promoted among people in your interest area? What are the costs for placing notices in newspapers, university newsletters, academic journals?

etc..

It is better not to raise too many discussion points too soon, before people begin looking at the page. These are just ideas that you can use occasionally when you have time.

Thank you.

[ends]