Creating an online community of practice was identified as one of the DIVAS project deliverables. It is aimed to provide an architecture of participation to build a cross-university Community-of-Practice with flexible and convenient access to user-contributed validation support information for re-use and further exploitation.
In the past I have joined several social networks like Facebook, MySpace and others , they were general with no specific interest other than people connecting with people while I have found Ning network is a DIY social space - anyone can create a little social network (like a website) without coding. I have created a DIVAS network, gave it a tagline, description, keywords and network icon. I have customised the theme and its settings (Body & Content area) to get the intuitive and user-friendly interface. Ning allows Network creators & Adminstrators to alter the appearnce of the theme to a certain extent by modifing the code of the Cascading Style Sheets. I have configured CSS to remove the "Invite" tab from the interface which was a bit confusing to some users (sorry SK I did not mean you ;-)
See the code below
/* Try to remove Invite Links */
div#xg_module_account small,div.members_module div.xg_module_foot li.left,div.xg_widget_profiles_friend_list div.xg_module p.left a.add,div.success p,html[xmlns] .xg_module_friends,div.xg_module_friends div.xg_module_body p a.button,div.xg_module_friends div.xg_module_foot li.left,form#xg_member_form a.add,#xg_tab_invite,div#xg.xg_widget_profiles_friend div#xg_body div.xg_colgroup div.xg_3col div.xg_module div.xg_module_body p.right strong a.add { display: none; }div#xg_module_account small.nobr { display: block; }
The adverts that run in the right column of the network were a bit irritating, it would look nice without them. They can be removed once we purchase the "Control the Ads" premium service for $19.95 per month. ( Horray! Sue L. agreed to purchase the service :-)
"Invite more" is visible for members and Admin, so members can invite other people. I have put a control on this, so when member sends an invitation to a friend, a notification email will be sent to me to accept or decline this member. I have invited all team members to DIVAS to share with them the experience and identify issues before luanching it live in September.
Group - members can create their private groups within DIVAS network e.g. Faculty/Dept-based groups.
Ning comprhends useful collection of features e.g. creating events, forums, blogs, notes, text boxs, RSS, etc.... It will also allow members to upload documents, photo, audio and Video. Worth knowing that Ning provides a quota of 10GB of storage and 100GB of bandwidth. For more storage we have to purchase additional units of 10GB of storage and 100GB of bandwidth which will cost $9.95 per month, per unit.
I have set up a Flickr Import facility to enable DIVAS members to import photos from Flickr. I have incorporated a Frabbr map which will allow members to plot specific points and collaboration with the community of practice.
