Community Weaver 2.0

Well, it is here. We have been using Community Weaver 2.0 for about 2 months now and I want to take a moment to address some of the changes that have occurred.

I think the new look is a good change. It seems that people are happy with the way the site is organized and that it functions pretty well for them. I would love more feedback from people, though. Not everyone has logged in to the new system. It would be very helpful if everyone would take a few moments to do so and look at the information that is listed in their profile.

Some of the changes that happened are not readily apparent to general users but are having a large effect on how Coordinators are using the system. We are having some difficulty because while we gained a number of great features, we actually lost some functions that were available to us in CW 1.0. The technical team is working on these problems, but in the interim I may be less efficient at helping you or taking care of what used to be routine tasks. I apologize in advance, and ask that you be patient as we work through the problems and come up with solutions.

Right now it would be very helpful to me to have everyone log in, take care of the housekeeping details outlined below, and (and this is most important to me) let me know what they think. Do you like it? Find it difficult? Think it looks pretty but functions poorly? Think it looks good and is a huge improvement over the previous version? Any comments or suggestions you have will be welcome, and I will share them with the developers as they continue to make changes to make it more functional for everyone. So: in a nutshell, I am asking you to PLEASE visit the new site and look around.

I sent the instructions via email but we are still experiencing some technical difficulties and many emails are being grabbed by spam filters. To avoid this, I have added a step right at the beginning. If you log in and follow the step-by-step directions below it should only take about 5 minutes for you to be up and running with all of the correct information available to other Time Traders. If you have more time, please look around at the Requests that are out there and see if there is anything you can do to help people get what they need.

First, add timetrader@community.timebanks.org to your address book or list of safe senders. Then follow the directions below.

This is long; I apologize, but it is important that you read the entire thing and follow the directions below. The new URL for Time Trader is www.timetrader.timebanks.org and you should be able to log in just as you did in the previous version.

Once you log in you will notice that there are a number of new features and some changes from the old version of the software. The appearance of the home page will continue to change over the next few weeks as I get acclimated to it and take advantage of some of the features the new platform allows. The general function of the site will remain the same. As I said, there are some known bugs, and we anticipate there will be others we discover as we use the new system. Please let me know of problems you encounter and I will either address them at this level, or, if necessary, I'll forward to the tech support team so they can address them. As far as the immediate changes you'll notice, I'll hit the high points here and point you to several methods for finding additional information or getting help at the end of this note.

Expiration Dates - All service ads (offers and requests) are automatically set to expire in 3 months from the day they are created in Community Weaver 2.0.  You can change the expiration date of an ad at any time. 

Member Roster - You may be accustomed to finding members through the Community Weaver 1.0 Member Directory or Member Search.  You can still find members by any of the search criteria you used in Community Weaver 1.0 in Community Weaver 2.0, but you may need to accustom yourself with how to perform these searches in Community Weaver 2.0.  The Member Roster in Community Weaver 2.0 automatically sorts by most recent members, not an "A-Z" directory.  You can still quickly find any member by their name, username, or email address. Learn how to find members here http://actionhub.timebanks.org/help/find-members.

Tabs - Even though they do not appear to be links, the titles in the tabs on the right ARE links. So, for example, as you move your mouse over the "My Account" tab, the words "My Account" will turn white and additional tabs will appear below. You may choose to click on any of the tabs OR on the words "My Account."

When you log in, there are a couple of housekeeping issues for you to take care of. For some reason, birthdates did not transfer from the old software, so you'll need to enter yours. To do so, login using the same email address and password you used in CW 1.0. Go to the "My Account" tab on the far right. Click on the words "My Account" in white. This will bring up your account page. Please look over the data on the left under your profile picture and use the "Edit User Account" link to make any necessary changes.

Next, scroll further down in that box on the left and click on "Edit Profile Details." Scroll down the page that comes up, making sure that information is correct, including neighborhood and affiliations. There are no options under "County" right now, so you can just ignore it. Continue scrolling down, again making sure that information is correct, and enter your birthdate in the box, month/day/year format.

As you scroll further there is an "About Me" box where you may enter things like your hobbies or interests, your education, or anything else you may want other Time Traders to know about you. This is a great place to give more detail about the services you offer. You can leave it blank if you prefer. Again, scroll down and make sure your availability calendar is accurate (a green box with a check mark indicates you are available at that time) and below that add any links you want to share, such as a personal website or blog, Facebook page, or Twitter account.

Once it all looks the way you want it to, click SAVE at the bottom. If you miss that step, it will all be lost.

You're almost ready to start exploring the new software! Go back to the tabs on the right and mouse over "My Account" until you see the menu pop up. Click on "My Services." This will bring up your current Service Offers and Requests, as well as your expired ads. Click on an ad to view it, then "Edit" to make changes. Make sure the ads you want displayed are correct and enter an expiration date (the default is 3 months). Click SAVE.

That's it! You are ready to start trading. To learn more about the changes and how to use CW 2.0, check out the Member Guide at http://actionhub.timebanks.org/node/713 , where you will find links to a video demonstration and a number of basic 'how-to' instructions.

Please share your feedback with me. It will be very helpful to hear how the software is working for everyday users. As always you can email me at jharveland@familyservicerochester.org. Use the subject line SOFTWARE ISSUES to help me address those quickly, please.

Thanks for your patience in the switchover, and as we all learn to use the new software. Change is not easy, but I think these changes will help us to make Time Trader a more vibrant community. I welcome your comments and suggestions.