What was it I said at the end of my previous post? -
"... all we now have to do is: 1. Export the DIVAS Contacts folder from Microsoft Outlook into a .csv file. 2. Use the csv file to batch invite the contacts in Ning which will allow us to select invitees from a csv file."
Well, you'd think it could not be simpler! Word of advice - never start a sentence with, " all we have to do now is..."!
NING did not like our csv file - it did not like it due to the strange content of the e-mail field and also the way in which the names/email addresses were exported, i.e. NAME (email address) - it wanted the NAME and brackets part removing. So, following a bit of editing, we eventually got NING to accept and use our csv file. However, this took some time as NING did not inform us that there was a problem - it actually looked like the mailing of the invitations had worked successfully. We became concerned when we noticed nobody was joining up and a couple of potential members had called to ask how they should sign up!
We have now sent out in excess of 300 invitations to academic and adminstrative staff, deans of faculties - basically anyone within the University who may have an interest and/or involvement in validation. The NING invitation is preceded by an email providing a brief explanation of what the community is for and why the recipient might wish to join. NING has a 200 character limit on invitation text so it was thought sensible to send a first email with explanation and instructions which also notifies the recipient that a NING invitation will be on its way.
We have had a good response to the invitations and now have 42 members (including ourselves). Many members have already contributed to the forums, introducing themselves to the Community (13 replies), some telling us about their validation experiences (4 replies) and their expectations of the community (3 replies).
It's early days yet, but people seem enthusiastic, and I have just sent out a second wave of 93 invitations).
