eGroups are a powerful way for chapter, divisions and members-at-large to stay connected. Within the IAAP Web Community dozens of online eGroups exist, allowing members to discuss various topics with other members within their chapter, region or around the world. Each chapter or division that subscribes to the web community has access to its own eGroup, which can only be accessed by members of that chapter or division. The eGroups are an often misunderstood component of the web community, so please make sure your chapter/division members are familiar with how they work. This guide will hopefully help you do that.
Managing subscriptions
Learning how to properly manage your eGroup subscriptions is the most important thing for members to understand in regards to IAAP's discussion groups.
When a new chapter/division site is created, each member of that group has ACCESS to the eGroup, meaning if they login to the web community and go to the eGroups home page, they will be able to read all discussions within that eGroup. However, this does NOT mean they will automatically receive email notifications when a new message is posted to the eGroup. In order for members to receive email updates, they will need to choose a subscription option.
The fastest way to manage your subscriptions is to choose the "My Subscriptions" link from the eGroups drop-down menu (Note: you will need to be logged in first).
Here's an overview of what a subscriptions page might look like:
In this example, the eGroups listed in bold are the eGroups that the member is currently subscribed to. To the right, you can see that 6 eGroups have been set to Real Time and another has been set to Daily Digest.
The unbolded eGroups listed below are eGroups the member has access to but is not currently subscribed to. In order for the member to receive email notifications for those groups, the member would need to choose a subscription option.
Let's describe what each subscription option does:
Real Time: When a subscription is set to real-time, the member will receive an email any time a new message is posted to that eGroup. We encourage members to subscribe to their chapter, division and the IAAP General Discussion eGroups in real time so that members can stay informed with all discussions going on within their IAAP communities.
Daily Digest: This option compiles all eGroup messages for a 24-hour period into one email, so that instead of getting multiple emails a day, you only get one. This is useful for popular eGroups with frequent messaging.
PDA: The title of this one is a bit misleading because it indicates this is a subscription for only a mobile device. That actually is not the case and it will likely have a new name in the future. The PDA option will allow you to receive updates on a mobile device but you can also receive real-time emails with it. The advantage to this option is that it also allows you to respond via email (rather than logging into the web community and responding that way).
No Emails: While you automatically will not receive emails, in order to post a message to an eGroup, you do need to choose a subscription option. If you would like to be able to post messages to an eGroup but you do NOT want to receive emails of any kind, you can select No Emails.
Unsubscribe: If you no longer want to participate in an eGroup, you can choose Unsubscribe.
eGroups vs. blogs: Which one should I use?
- If you have a comment or question or would like to initiate a discussion about a particular topic, usually the eGroups are going to be the best place to post your thoughts. Because many members subscribe to various eGroups and therefore receive email notifications about new messages, you're more likely to reach a larger audience with an eGroup posting.
- Blogs should typically be used when you want to share a story or experience you've had, whether it be a personal matter, IAAP-related or work-related. For example, IAAP Northeast Director Bianca Constance recently travelled to Africa and shared many of her experiences through her IAAP blog. Or if you attend an IAAP event and want to share your thoughts with the membership, the blogs are a great place to do that.
- When replying to a member's message, you should always reply via the same channel as the original message. If it's a blog post, leave a comment at the bottom of the blog (the author will receive an email message that someone commented). If it's an eGroup posting, reply to the entire eGroup when possible or choose reply to sender (if you don't wish to share your response publically). Creating a new blog post or eGroup thread to respond to someone else's message is not recommended because the discussion becomes fragmented and difficult for other members to follow.
- In some cases, it may be appropriate to post your message as a blog and as an eGroup message, but generally one or the other is preferred.
- When using the eGroups, try to target a group specific to your subject matter. For example, if you want ideas for your chapter newsletter, post your message in the Newsletter Editors group, not the General Discussion. While you may be reaching fewer members, you'll be reaching members who have a direct interest in your message.
Posting messages
To post a message to an eGroup, select "Post Message" from the drop-down menu to bring up the message editor.
First, select the eGroup in which you would like your message to appear. The dropdown menu will show you all of the eGroups you are subscribed to. If your message relates to more than one eGroup, you also select to "Cross Post To" another eGroup, but that is optional. You'll also need to enter a subject and the body of your message. If you have a document or other file to attach, you add an attachment in the lower-left corner. When you are ready to submit your message, you can click "Send."
Other options
In addition to managing your eGroup subscriptions, you can also review all messages you've posted and can also customize your eGroups signature, which appears automatically at the end of any message you submit.
There is also an "Advanced Search" function in case you are looking for eGroup messages on a particular topic.
Learning to effectively navigate IAAP's eGroups is a powerful way to utilize the IAAP Web Community, and we encourage all members to take some time to get familiar with them and how they work.
Creating an eGroup
IAAP members can also create their own eGroups to start their own discussion threads, either within their chapter or among the entire IAAP membership. For example, a chapter might want to have a separate discussion group for just its board members, or an individual member might want to start an eGroup to discuss current web trends.
Before you create a new eGroup, it's important to understand the difference between a community and an eGroup. Each chapter/division site on the IAAP Web Community is technically its own community, which consists of three primary things: 1) a website, 2) an eGroup and 3) a document or resource library.
When you create a new eGroup, you are actually creating a new community. The only difference is that the new community will NOT have its own website. So what you've actually done is create a community that includes an eGroup and a library (if you choose to create a library). This is important to understand as you create the new community and select different options.
To create a community, you need to access the "Groups and Networks" link from the "Network" drop-down menu.
Select the "Create a Group" link.
The first three fields are very straightforward, so fill in the title and description (You cannot change the type of community).
The last two options -- "Who Can Join the Community?" and "Who Can View Your Community?" -- are the two trickiest options to understand.
It is important to remember that you are setting access rights for the community, NOT the eGroup. So let's say we set our new community to be both public for people to join and to view. Your community is public but the eGroup is not going to be visible yet from the eGroups page.
So even though the eGroup is not accessible from the eGroups page, the community is available from the Groups and Networks page. You can either search for it, or find it in the "All" or "Recently Added" tabs below the search bar.
After searching for the group, I can access it by clicking on the group title. Or I could also go straight to the eGroup or Library from there as well.
When I click on the group's title, I can see all the details for this group, who created it, when it was created, a description, etc. I can also see who the admins are for the community, and since this is a public group, I can also choose to join the community. Again, I can also simply view the eGroup or Library.
In order for this eGroup or library to appear in the list of eGroups and libraries that are available to me (on the eGroups and Resources pages, respectively) I have to join the community.
If you create a new community and would like to have the eGroup visible from the eGroups page without a member needing to join the community first, you will need to send a request to HQ to have the eGroup listed as a public group.