Emailed to coed@lists.umbc.edu on 6/19/2014:
DPS IT has been researching Google+ Communities recently and we are interested in seeing if there might be some use for this platform in DPS. If you are not familiar Google+ it is Google's social networking platform and a Google+ Community is a place where a group of people can share ideas and hopefully have fruitful discussions. So similar to other social media tools you will be able to post statuses, comments and you can even vote "+1" to show your appreciation for posts! Here are examples of the questions/conversations that might take place in this community:
- Does anyone know what rooms the LifeSize unit can operate in?
- Did anybody see the game last night?
- Does anyone know what the name of the UC copier/printer?
- Here are some pics from the DPS Holiday Party.
- Anybody interested in going to lunch today?
To be a member of The DPS Google+ Community is a voluntary option. The only requirement in order to be an eligible DPS Google+ Community member is you have to be a current member of the coed@lists.umbc.edu email list. If for some reason you are removed from the coed@lists.umbc.edu email list then you will be removed from the DPS Google+ Community. Also you have the option of leaving the community at any time you wish.
As far as privacy this is how we have setup the community:
- Restricted community to our organization (UMBC)
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Type of community: Private in your domain - Hide community from searches
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Who can join: Only people in your organization who are invited
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Who can see posts and members: Community members
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Who can find community via search: Not shown in search results**
(This information was extracted from this link under the Community privacy options "If you restrict the community to your organization". Please see link for more detail and answers to your possible privacy concerns.)
So to be clear the original plan in trying the DPS Google+ Community is to increase communication upon DPS employees and to not take the place of any of the formal communication services DPS already has in place (i.e.coed@lists.umbc.edu). So if you are interested in communicating and sharing with your coworkers even more reply to this email that you want to join the DPS Google+ Community and we will add you in!!! Thanks for reading.
