[URBANTH-L] AnthroCommons available for AAA 2004 Annual Meeting Program Participants

[Angela Jancius]

----- Original Message -----
From: "AAA" <members at aaanet.org>
Sent: Friday, November 12, 2004 1:12 PM
Subject: AnthroCommons available for AAA 2004 Annual Meeting Program
Participants


November 12, 2004
Memorandum

To:         AAA 2004 Annual Meeting Program Participants
From:     Bill Davis, Executive Director
Subject: AnthroCommons available for AAA 2004 Annual Meeting Program
Participants to Access and Post Content to AnthroCommons

I. Overview and Organization of AnthroCommons
This is a follow-up to AAA's announcement of the AnthroCommons initiative,
and to give you, as AAA 2004 Annual Meeting Program Participants,
information on how to access and post content to AnthroCommons.  If you wish
to view the initial announcement of the AnthroCommons initiative, it is
posted on the AAA website and in AnthroCommons.

The basic idea of AnthroCommons is to provide: (1) a single place where
Section Presidents can post announcements and information related to the
Annual Meeting and other events throughout the year; and (2) a place where
Session Organizers can post papers and related scholarly content; and (3) a
place for an ongoing digital discussion forum among members to follow
discussion threads on the scholarly program, as well as to allow comments by
others.
AnthroCommons will not provide a real-time discussion forum to replace
face-to-face meetings, but will enhance the meeting by allowing posting of
comments on papers and sessions. All postings are viewable by AAA members
and the public-at-large.

Dr. Michael Ashley, Dr. Eric Kansa, and Dr. Jeanne Lopiparo, Affiliates of
the Alexandria Archive Institute and Cultural Heritage International in San
Francisco, and the Class of 1960 Multimedia Authoring Center for Teaching in
Anthropology (MACTIA) have generously donated their services to develop this
online forum, including all programming, interface design, required
software, server space, volunteer organization and on-line help.

Given the urgency and need of the AAA and Section Presidents to communicate
with members about the 2004 Annual Meeting, our first step was to set up the
system and provide a location for AAA and Section Business Announcements.
The Scientific Program area is now available for posting of papers and
related scholarly content by Session Organizers at their convenience (see
below).
Please recognize that AnthroCommons is a "work-in-progress" which began 12
days ago. All of its features are in a continual state of development.

Organization of, and Individuals Eligible to Post, to AnthroCommons
As AnthroCommons is presently organized, there will be the following types
of content:
1. - AnthroCommons news, FAQ's, copyright policy, terms of service, privacy
policy, and Q & A's
2. - AAA Announcements - Postings by the AAA Executive Board, Management,
and Committees
3. - Association Section Business - Postings by Section Presidents about the
2004 Annual Meeting
4. - Scientific Program - All program abstracts will be pre-loaded into
AnthroCommons.

Session content will include abstracts, papers and related scholarly
content, organized by session titles. Session organizers are responsible for
posting papers and related scholarly content under the appropriate session
title. Session organizers can also authorize individuals (e.g., session
organizer, paper presenters, discussants) who can post to a session digital
discussion forum.  Other individuals will have a vehicle by which they can
provide questions to the "authorized discussants" so that their questions
and issues can be addressed.

II. Instructions for Registering and Posting Content to AnthroCommons
Michael Ashley, Ph.D., Class of 1960 Multimedia Authoring Center for
Teaching in Anthropology (MACTIA), Project Coordinator and Developer of
AnthroCommons, has provided the following instructions for All Section
Presidents and Session Organizers to use in posting to
AnthroCommons:

A. To REGISTER for AnthroCommons, please go to:
<<http://culturalheritageinternational.org/forums/register.php?site=anthroco
mmons&bn=>>

NOTES ON REGISTRATION FIELDS:

Please follow these guidelines so we may best assist your registration.

* Userid: Required. Suggest a short and easy to remember login, such as
first initial and last name (Mashley)
* Full Name: Required. Your First and Last Name
* email address: Required. Your email is necessary for all correspondence.
Your email address will be kept confidential and not shared with the general
community without your permission.
Home Page: A URL link to your Section homepage, if you have one.
Signature: Please write in your affiliation to the AAA. For example:
Archeology Division President
Description: Leave blank

You need NOT apply to any forum at this time. When we receive your
registration information, we will set up your forum and contact you
directly.

B. To POST to the AnthroCommons:

Section Presidents have posting rights to your news section in the
Association Section Business forums. Simply click on the forum name (it will
highlight) to move into the forum. From there, click post from the top-right
corner of the screen.  Session Organizers have posting rights of scholarly
content related to your respective sessions in the AAA 2004 Annual Meeting
Program, including individual discussion forums.

NOTES ON POSTING:

Please follow these guidelines so that your posting shows up properly:

Browser Support: AnthroCommons works on PC and MAC platforms. We are testing
all browsers, and at the moment recommend:

PC: Internet Explorer (the default)
MAC: Netscape. Safari and IE do NOT post messages properly, so please use
Netscape, available at <<http://www.netscape.com/>>

Subject: Make sure to write a short but clear subject for your post.
Icon: For now, please use ONLY the default icon. These icons will soon be
attached to licensing information. The default icon will establish our
recommended license as per the Terms of Service - some rights reserved.

Message: You can use any of the formatting options available in the window -
color, font, style. You can paste HTML directly into the form. Just be sure
to enclose your HTML in between <BODY> tags.

Attachments: You can attach documents. We suggest for now that you keep them
small and only attach items if necessary. You CAN attach pictures in JPEG
format, either as attachments on inline in the message.

Please Preview your message before sending it. The window will change to
show you your post. Make sure all is well, then hit Submit.

Iterations: We will be constantly updating and improving the site over the
course of its life. The content you submit, however, is backed up and will
be maintained. You can feel confident that your submissions are safe and
that the site will be sustained.