|
|
Story: Introduction to CIRCA
|
Click on the image to enlarge
|
|
This article describes the basics of CIRCA that all users should know.
CIRCA is an Internet-based collaboration environment that is now launched by the GBIF.
|
| Released on: |
17 December 2002 |
| Contributor: |
Hannu Saarenmaa |
| Language: |
English |
Spatial coverage: |
Not applicable |
Keywords: |
|
| Source of information: |
Hannu Saarenmaa |
| Concerned URL: |
http://circa.gbif.net/gbif/ |
|
Introduction to CIRCA for end users
CIRCA is an Internet-based collaboration environment used by
the GBIF. It enables a user community, such as committee, working
group or project, geographically spread across the globe, to maintain a
space on the Internet where they can share documents and other information,
participate in discussions, reach each other via email lists, and benefit
from integration of these and other functionalities. In CIRCA, such a space
is called an ‘Interest Group’.
How to log in to CIRCA
GBIF CIRCA is available at http://circa.gbif.net/gbif/.
In this area, Interest Groups are available for the GBIF Governing
Board, Budget Committee, Executive Committee, Science Committee, each
of its subcommittees, and the NODES Committee.
In addition to knowing this addess, the user needs the following:
- Any web browser such as Netscape 4.7 or higher or Internet
Explorer 5 or higher
- An e-mail address
- In order to access some Interest Groups, like those of
the Governing Board and NODES, you would have to provide your user ID and
password. Login is available at the top right hand corner of the page
http://circa.gbif.net/gbif/.
- If a new user does not yet have a user ID, one can received automatically
via the 'Self-Registration' mechanism available from the above URL.
If a user ID or password has been lost or forgotten, contact helpdesk@gbif.org.
- When you login for the first time, you will be asked whether you
want to accept a certificate from GBIF. Accept the certificate until it
expires and it will be saved for subsequent logins.
How to access documents
Go to http://circa.gbif.net/gbif/
and click on any of the available Interest Groups. Then click the
Library icon at the top of the page and navigate in the folder structure
like you'd do on a personal computer.
However, the easiest way to access documents in CIRCA is just to click
on the URLs that should be sent to you on email by the authors of the
documents. Clicking on the URL downloads the document like opening
an email attachment. If the document is not publicly available, you
will have to provide your user ID and password when requested.
How to discuss and email
Discussions on documents and otherwise should preferrably happen on
an GBIF standard email lists. If your comments are short, just send
them back to the list from which you received them. If your comments
are extensive, mark them in the document using the word processor functions
and send the document to the author. Alternatively, you may do like
the original author and upload the document with revisions in CIRCA library
and send its URL to the list with summary of the main remarks.
Remember, there are many people on the lists. Should your comments
go to everyone, or just the authors? Be sure to review the To:
line in your email client before sending.
The mailing lists are archived in their respective Interest Groups
in the "Newsgroups" area, if you want to see the history.
GBIF standard email lists are given below. Members of the Govening
Board and all the Committees have been subscribed to them. Browse to CIRCA
to see who is included and contact the helpdesk if you see any need
for changes.
These lists are only available for GBIF-related discussions for users with
a CIRCA username and valid email address.
Help
GBIF
Helpdesk is available via email helpdesk@gbif.org or telephone +45-35321479.
Documentation, training material, and other helpful content
is available in the Library of the Interest Group
of the Helpdesk.
Best practices for Interest Group leaders, chairpersons, and other
authors are described in
a separate article.
Any changes in nominations to the various committees should be communicated
to the chairpersons and helpdesk@gbif.org.
The nominations are maintained in CIRCA and are reflected in the
above mailing lists. They can be seen on the GBIF website and CIRCA
Site Directory.
CIRCA services
Beyond the basic functions described above, a CIRCA Interest Group offers
several other services that can be used by its members. These can
be accessed through the icons at the top of the Interest Group home page
and are illustrated below. Once a service is entered, additional
functionalities appear on screen. The following services are available
(although your Interest Group Leader may have disabled some of them if
there is no data of a particular kind):
- Information: A website within an Interest Group where information
can be provided using multiple hyperlinked HTML pages
- Library: A document archive organised in sections and with
metadata for each document. This is the most popular CIRCA service.
- Directory: An address book tool for managing Interest Group
memberships
- Meetings: A calendar tool for management of meetings and
chat rooms
- Newsgroups: A forum for discussions among Interest Group
members, and an email list archive
- E-mail: A webmail interface for sending email to any Internet
email address and to members of the Interest Group
- Search: Multi-lingual full-text search on any content the
user has access to
- Help: On-line help documentation
|
Please note that this story expired on 2003/06/10
|
