THL Toolbox> Workflow Issues > Sakai Collaborative Worksite Technology > Welcome Message
Welcome Message To Send To New Collab Participants
Contributor(s): THL Staff.
Hi,
This email concerns your participation in COLLAB, an online worksite system hosted at the University of Virginia.
1. You should have got an email with a URL for Collab and your password. 2. Go to the URL, and login - using the non-UVa login. Your password is the ID, and use your password from the email. 3. Once in, there is a top blue bar that lists the worksites you are subscribed to. On the far left is "My Workspace". Click on it, and then on the far left, click on "Account". Enter your first and last name there, and change your password if you want. The importance of entering your name is then that all changes you make to the WIKI and elsewhere will be properly credited to your name, rather than just to an obscure email ID that others won't recognize. Thus its important to do this from the start. 4. Then on the blue bar all worksites you participate in are listed. Just choose the one you want and start exploring. Each worksite has its tools listed on the left hand side column - Home, Announcements, Chat Room, etc.
We especially use the WIKI tool, which is essentially an electronic white board that all collaborators for this worksite can write on and jointly build documents. In addition, you can easily create browsable ways of organizing the indivdiual pages, which are called WIKI pages.
The great thing about WIKIs is their ease of use, which faciliaites a distributed production of knowledge. The weak thing is you can't do automated manipulatoins like you can with a database. But look at WIKIPEDIA - these can be used to great effect and they eliminate the techno-middleman with his/her need for being funded.
