Frequently Asked Questions

General Web Terminology - Information about the Terms used on the Connection Café

What is the Connection Café?

It is an online network for members of CFMA and their staff. CFMA members can use the site to build relationships and network with others who share their interests, specialties or questions. You can also do research and find solutions to your day to day issues in the libraries.

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What is a Community?

A Community is a group of people organized around a common subject or theme which is defined by the community name and description. Communities are categorized by community types which include Advisory Groups, Board Committees, Task Forces, User Groups, Study Groups and Member Created Communities.

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What is a Network?

Networks link people to each other based on matching criteria. Networks are automatically built based on information you’ve specified in your profile, such as address, job history and education. A network is meant to be a quick way to find people that have something in common with you that you may want to connect with. It lets you know how many people share and lets you find these people.

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What is a Forum or Discussion Forum?

Forums are all of the discussion threads around a community where you can leave and expect to see responses to messages you have left. Forums can also be referred to as a discussion forum or a discussion group.

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What is an eGroup?

This term may be seen on the Connection Café. It simply means "Discussion Forum."

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What is a Discussion thread?

A Discussion thread is a chain of written ideas or opinions (exchanged among two or more participants in an online discussion) shown in the sequence in which they were written by the participants. Through the use of hypertext, discussion threads allow new or old participants to comment at any point and follow the entire discussion from its very beginning to its latest idea or opinion.

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What is a Blog?

A blog (a contraction of the term “web log”) is a Web site that allows users to reflect, share opinions and discuss various topics in the form of an online journal while readers may post comments. It is a more relaxed version of an opinion article that would appear in print media, and different from a forum, which is more of an online conversation than article.

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What is an RSS feed?

An RSS feed is an .xml file that contains the website’s newest content used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, forum discussions, audio and video—in a standardized format. They benefit readers who want to subscribe to timely updates from favored Web sites or to compile feeds from many sites into one place. Instead of visiting multiple Web pages to check for new content, a Web user can look at summaries and choose which sites to visit for the full versions.

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What does "authenticated" mean?

Authentication is the process of identifying an individual, usually based on a username and password. Any user that logs into the website is authenticated. Logging into the Connection Café allows the user to post, comment and rate site content including discussion forums, blog entries, and library entries.

Note: [Non-Member Chapter Administrators are provided logins upon CFMA member request]

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Communities & Subscriptions - How to Join Communities, & Edit e-mail Notifications Preferences

How do I find and join a Community?

To join a community navigate to the "All Communities" page and click the Join (3) button on the right of the one you wish to join. You will be prompted with a dialog box asking to verify your e-mail address (4) and how you would like to receive messages from that community (5). When finished, click the Yes Join the Community (6) button at the bottom of the dialog box.

Note: [Some groups are invitation only, and you will need an administrator of the group to add you]



1
Find a Community


2
Join the Community


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How do I invite others to a community?

As a member, inviting others to a community is a special permission the community administrator needs to configure. If setup, a member can invite others by following the steps below.



1
On the community page


On the community page, click the Settings (1) button on the right of its title and a dialog box will pop up with multiple options. Under the “Status” tab, click Add or Invite others (2) and you will be redirected you to the "Invite To Community" page.



2
On the "Invite To Community" page


On the "Invite To Community" page, you will need to construct your invitation message (3), and choose whom you would wish to invite (4). When finished, click Finished (5)



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How do I change the frequency at which I receive e-mail notifications from all or a specific community?



1
Change the frequency at which you receive e-mail notifications from a specific community.

Navigate to the community page which you wish to configure. There, click the Settings (1) button on the right of its title. A dialog box will pop up with multiple options. Under the “e-mail Notifications” tab, click the button (2) below your e-mail address and a list will pop up with multiple notification options (3) , there choose your preferred setting.



2
Change the frequency at which you receive e-mail notifications from all communities.

Navigate to your profile by clicking the user icon on the top of the chapter page. Once there, click the My Account (1) tab, then /Community Notifications/. (2) Under the "Notification Settings" tab at the bottom of the page, click the notification button on the right of the community title to choose your preferred setting.



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How do I leave or unsubscribe to a Community?

On your profile page click the My Account (1) tab, then /Community Notifications/ (2)



1
Unsubscribe From Notifications

If you wish to stay but no longer want to receive e-mail notifications, select the No e-mails (3) button under the “Discussion e-mail” section.



2
Leave a Community

To leave the community, navigate to its home page by clicking the /community name/ (4) under the “community” section then Settings (5) , /Leave Community/. (6)



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What does "Legacy” Subscription mean?

This is a discussion forum subscription option presented in plain text format which allows you to reply from your e-mail client using the standard e-mail message functions "Reply" and "Reply All".

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I received an e-mail stating my subscription was put on "hold."

Your subscription has been held because at least 3 recent discussion forum messages have either bounced by your e-mail system or could not be delivered at all. Your membership can be restored to "normal", by sending the command "unhold" to admin@cfma.org. You can also add noreply@egroups.cfma.org and noreply@notifications.cfma.org to your safe sender list.

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Best Practices for Posting to the Café - Follow These Guidelines

Be Aware

Like any other social media channel, the Connection Café allows you to control your privacy settings (how your contact information is presented and who sees what) and your e-mail preferences (how and when you receive updates from the Café). To tailor your preferences, login to the Connection Café, select PROFILE from the very top right dropdown menu, and then click on MY ACCOUNT to review and change your account settings.

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Be Respectful

The Connection Café is a place for connecting both people and knowledge. Connection Café conversations work best when these connections are conducted in the spirit of helping each other build professional success. Your knowledge, your expertise, your opinion, and your ideas are the hook – not product and service promotions. Build your Connection Café relationships by answering questions and sharing your experiences and know-how. Respect that the time and place for a sales pitch is at the discretion of the customer, who will communicate that openness at the appropriate time.
Carefully consider what you post on the Café and how it may be perceived. If you are not sure, ask us!

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Be Relevant & Add Value

Get the most out of your Connection Café activity by contributing information of value to CFMA members. Build the community by helping CFMA members improve knowledge or skills, solve problems, or understand a particular topic better.

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Be Conversational

Bring your personality to your Café posts! Craft content that is open-ended and invites responses and comments. Broaden the conversation by referring to others who are commenting about the same topic.

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Discussions & Blogging - Information about Viewing & Interacting with Blogs

How do I read more about a conversation I saw in the General Inquiries Digest?

The messages in the e-mail Digests are arranged in a chronological order. If you would like to read more about any topics, you could do so by clicking the /Discussion Title/ or the /View Thread/ link at the bottom of every discussion as shown in the screenshots below.



1
Discussion Title


2
View Thread


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How can I rate or comment on a library or blog post?

Blogs and library items can be rated by clicking the Recommend (1) button on the right of their title. To comment on a blog post or library, scroll to the bottom of the page under the comment section, click Add (2) , and type your comment in the pop up box. Click Save (3) when finished.



1
Rate


2
Comment


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How do I post to a Discussion Forum?

On the community home page, click the Post to this Discussion (1) button located below the “Latest Discussion Posts” tab. You will be redirected to the "Post a Message" page where you will need to construct your message body (4) and Subject (3). When finished, click Send (5)

Note: [Please be aware that only community members are allowed to post to its forum]



1
On the Community home page


2
Post a Message


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How do I delete a blog entry posted by me?

To delete a blog post, navigate to the blog you wish to delete. There, click the Edit (1) button below its title then Delete Blog Post (2)



1
Delete a Blog


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Libraries & Files - Information about using Libraries and Storing Documents

What types of files can I upload?

When uploading a file you will be prompted to select one of the following Entry Types:

Standard File Upload: Use this option when posting any file that falls under the CFMA Intellectual Property Policy Agreement

Copyright Licensed File(s): Use this option when you want to identify terms of use that differ from the standard CFMA Intellectual Property Policy Agreement

Hyperlink: Use when all you want to post is a hyperlink

Webinar: use when posting a link to a webinar posted elsewhere (when uploading a webinar/video file use the Standard File Upload option)

You Tube Video: use to embed a video link hosted on YouTube.com

The following file types are now supported:



.3G2

Mobile Video

.AI

Illustrator Vector Graphic

.AVI

Video File

.BMP

Bitmap Image

.DOC

MS Word Document

.DocWRI

Windows Write Doc

.DOCX

MS Word Document

.EPS

Encapsulated Postscript

.F4V

Flash Video File

.FLV

Flash Video File

.FLV

Flash Video File

.GIF

GIF Image

.GZ

GNU Zip Archive

.HTM

HTML Page

.HTML

HTML Page

.JPE

JPEG Image

.JPEG

JPEG Image

.JPG

JPEG Image

.M4A

Flash Audio File

.M4V

M4V Video

.MOV

QuickTime Movie

.MP3

MP3 Audio

.MP4

MPEG Video File

.MP4V

MPEG Video File

.MPE

MPEG Movie

.MPEG

MPEG Movie

.MPG

MPEG Movie

.MPP

MS Project Plan

.MPT

MS Project Template

.MPV

MS Project View

.MOV

QuickTime Movie

.MP3

MP3 Audio

.MP4

MPEG Video File

.MP4V

MPEG Video File

.MPE

MPEG Movie

.MPEG

MPEG Movie

.MPG

MPEG Movie

.MPP

MS Project Plan

.MPT

MS Project Template

.MPV

MS Project View

.MPX

MS Project Exchange

.MSG

MS Outlook Message

.PDF

Adobe PDF File

.PJPEG

JPEG Image

.PNG

PNG Image

.PPS

MS PowerPoint

.PPSX

MS PowerPoint

.PPT

MS PowerPoint

.PPTX

MS PowerPoint

.PSD

Photoshop Format

.RA

Real Audio

.RAM

Real Audio

.RTF

RTF (Rich Text Format)

.SWF

Flash Movie

.TIF

TIFF Image

.TIFF

TIFF Image

.TXT

Text File

.WAV

WAV Audio File

.WMA

Windows Media Audio

.WMV

Windows Media Video

.WPD

Word Perfect

.XLS

MS Excel Spreadsheet

.XLSX

MS Excel Spreadsheet

.X-PNG

PNG Image

.ZIP

WINZIP Archive



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How do I upload a file?



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On the community/Chapter library page


On the community/Chapter "library" page, click the Create New Library Entry (1) button. You will be redirected to a new page where you will need to configure the library title (2), description (2) and type (2), when finished click Next (3) and you will be redirected to the "Upload Your File" page.



2
Upload Your Files


On the "Upload Your Files" page click Choose and Upload (4) , to upload your file then Finish (8)



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How can I share a library?



1
On the library home page


To share a library via e-mail, navigate to the library then click Actions (1), Share (1). You will be prompted with a dialog box asking to configure the e-mail (2) address you wish to send the invitation to. When finished, click Send (3).



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I updated one of my files, should I just upload it?

You can add a file to one previously uploaded and delete the older version, you do not have to go through the whole process of giving it a title or picking a folder again.



1
Remove the Original


Navigate to the library in which you file is located, click Edit (1) then Next (2). You will be redirected to the library directory.



2
Upload New File


Cick the Delete (3) icon on the right of the file to delete the current version, then Choose and Upload (4) to upload the new version.

Note: [ We recommend keeping the original file name in case it is linked anywhere on the website ]



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Profile - How to Update your Profile & Manage Contacts

How can I add / delete contacts?



1
Delete Contact

Contacts can be managed from the “Contact” page located on your profile under the My Connections (1) section, Contacts (2). To delete a contact, simply click the Remove Contact (3) button on the right of the contact info.



2
Add Contacts

To find a member/user to add to your contact list, you will need to search for them using the Find Member (6) form located on "Member Directory" (5) page, then click the Add as Contact (7) button on the right of the contact info.



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How can I update my profile and contact information?



1
Edit Contact Info

On your profile page under the My Profile (1) section click the /Edit Your Profile/ (2) link to be redirected to the “Contact Information” page, then Edit (3).



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How to update your profile picture/avatar



1
Upload Profile Image
  • Navigate to café.cfma.org, then click the [Sign In] button to log into your account.
  • On café.cfma.org, click the drop-down (1) button at the top right corner, then click the [ Profile ] (2) button.
  • On the profile page, click [ Action ] (3), then the [ Change Picture ] (4) button to upload a new profile image.


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