Communities

Communities provide access to information specific to your specialty. Community Members can view any content associated with a community. Much of the content available in a community is also available for download and use by community members. In future releases, additional functionality will be added for Community Members.

1.	Go to the Communities tab in the menu to view a Communities directory. Browse for a community by title.

2.	After joining a community, your community will appear in the My Communities gadget on the home page.

3.	When viewing Presentations, a Related Communities tab will appear if the presentation has been shared with a community.

4.	When viewing other users' Profiles, you can see the communities they've joined on the Overview page.

5.	When viewing Resources on a user's Profile, Communities with which they've been shared appear as links next to the resource.

Community pages can have a variety of different configurations. These are the tabs that you might see on any given community page:

•	Overview - provides general information on the community, such as the name, the number of members, number of page views, and a description of the community. Summary information for content on each available tab is also available on the Overview tab.

•	News - If enabled, News items posted by community administrators will appear on this tab.

•	Blog - If active, the community blog will contain blog entries submitted by any one of the community bloggers. See also Blogs.

•	Resources - If active, the Resources tab will contain documents and urls shared by users who have contributor rights to the community. See also My Resources.

•	Shared Custom PPTs - If active, the Shared Custom PPTs tab will contain Custom PPTs shared by users who have contributor rights to the community. See also Custom PPT.

•	Presentations - If active, the Presentations tab will contain VoD presentations shared with the community by presenters with contributor rights or community administrators.

•	Members - The members tab shows you a list of users who have joined the community, as well as their privileges within the community.

•	Administration - The administration tab provides community admins.

To join a community, simply click the 'Join this Community' link on the Blog Directory page or on the Community Overview page. The community will appear in the My Communities gadget on the home page, as well as on your profile. In the future, you may receive additional benefits from joining a community, such as community notifications.

As a member, you do not have privileges to blog or share content with a community. To request additional permissions, click the Become a Contributor link that appears on the Overview page after you join a community.

•	Community Contributor - This access level allows you to share your own Resources, Custom PPTs, and presentations with a community.

•	Community Blogger - This access level allows you to participate in the group blog, as well as take advantage of all Community Contributor rights.

Include a message indicating why you'd like to receive permissions to share with the community.

After requesting your access, the Community Administrator will be notified. Subsequent visits to the Community will let you see whether or not your permissions were granted. On the Overview page, check the My Role field to see what privileges you've been granted.

Currently, communities must be set up by a vPortal administrator. To request a community, go to the Communities tab and click the 'Request New Community' button.

This will open an email addressed to the administrator. Include information about the community you wish to create, including a title, description, and intended audience. The administrator will contact you to complete the setup of the community.

Once your community is created, you will be a Community Administrator and have access to the Administration tab within the community.