Collection X: Help

Getting Started

Useful Terms

Collect: This is where you’ll find different media contained within the site, including images, videos and audio clips.
Connect: This is where you’ll find user profiles – as well as an array of stories being told and ideas being shared through online exhibitions and connections.
Create: This is where registered users can edit their profiles, upload content, manage their bookmarks and sets, and create exhibitions and connections.
Media: an image, video or audio file as well as the information used to identify and describe it.
Exhibition: a selection of media files presented in sequence to tell a story or share an idea.
Connection: a grouping of exhibitions linked together by a common theme.
Tag: keywords or phrases that users can add to media, exhibitions, connections – and even their own user profiles – to help other people find things of interest.

Anyone can explore Collection X without creating a user account. You can search, browse and discover a diversity of media, exhibitions, connections and users. As soon as you want to participate in the site, you need to become a registered user.

Becoming a Registered User

The registration page is reached by clicking the "sign in" link at the top of any page and then clicking "register" on the sign in page. From there you can create your user profile. Please note that the screen name and email address you choose must be unique on Collection X. If either of these fields is found to duplicate an existing user, you will be returned to this page and asked to enter different information.

Once you have registered, you will receive a message on the site letting you know that you will receive a verification email. Your account will not become active until you follow the link contained within the verification email. Once that is done, your account will be functional, but it will still need to be approved by the site administrators before you can begin to publish content.

Signing In

Once you have become a registered user, you can sign in to the site at any time by clicking "sign in" located at the top of every page. Alternatively, you will be prompted to sign in when you move from the browsing mode to the contributing mode. To sign in, simply enter your email and password and click "sign in.”

If you check "Remember me on this computer" when you sign in, your information will be stored on your computer so that you will be signed in automatically the next time you visit Collection X. You can always sign out at anytime by clicking "sign out" located at the top of every page.

In the event that you forget your password, you can use the "reset password" feature to request that a new password be generated and emailed to you.

Editing Your Profile

Your user profile includes information about you, such as your screen name, a personal description and your user icon. Once you sign in to the site, you can edit this profile at any time by clicking “create” and then clicking "your profile" and "edit your profile."

You can edit most of the information you submitted when you first became a registered user directly on the Your Profile page. You can also write a description of yourself that will appear on the site, upload a custom user icon and even “tag” your profile.

When editing your profile, any new screen name or email you attempt to use must be unique on the site. If you make a change to your screen name, description or custom icon, that change will have to be approved by a site administrator before it is visible to the public. In the meantime, your profile will continue to show the old information.

Using the Site

Language

Collection X can be viewed and used in either English or French. You can toggle between the two languages by clicking the "english/français" link located at the top of every page.

Content uploaded by users is accessible via the English or French interfaces, but language translation is only available when the user chooses to submit translations. To enter French and English text for any of your Collection X contributions, follow these steps:

Enter the text in one language and click “save.”
Toggle the language of the site.
Re-enter the text again in the other language and click “save.”

The site will automatically remember which version of the text to present when you toggle between the two languages.

Searching

Searching or browsing content is central to the experience of Collection X.

Search results are shown on the left-hand side of the page along with information about the results as well as ways to sort or filter your search results. Clicking on a thumbnail image or title for a search result opens up a detailed view of that search result. The search interface includes the following features on the left-hand side of the page:

A summary of the search, including the number of search results and the parameters that were used to get those results.
A link to an RSS feed for the search.
A drop-down menu for modifying how the results should be sorted and displayed.
Icons for toggling between a “thumbnail only” view and a “list” view, which contains more detailed information about each result.
Page links for moving between several pages of a multiple-page search result.

The right-hand side of the page contains tools called filters, which are used to limit the results. By default, all possible search results are listed, so filters can be used to narrow down the results as desired. The search interface includes the following features on the right-hand side of the page:

A keyword search field for searching by title, description, tags and other textual information.
A “tag” list that includes the top 10 tags used in the entire search results. Clicking a tag immediately narrows the search results to those that include that tag.
An "updates" filter that allows you to narrow search results based on the time the item was last updated.
A "new search" link that clears all of your search parameters.

Signed in users will see additional tools to help fine-tune their searches:

A filter that allows you to narrow results based on items you have already bookmarked, collected or created.
A filter that allows you to distinguish between media you have uploaded or bookmarked in your private workspace. (Note: this filter only appears in the “create/your media" section).
"Your sets," a way to create categorized groups of items you have bookmarked or created. (Note: this filter only appears in the “create” section.)

Comments

Users can post short comments in relation to media, exhibitions and connections. The comment interface always appears on the right-hand side of the screen. Comments are not threaded or presented in their relation to one another; they are displayed in a simple sequential list with the newest comments at the top.

To add a comment, type your text in the text area and then click "add your comment.” The comment will be submitted to the site administrators for moderation before it appears on the site.

RSS

An RSS feed (Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary) is a way to keep track of content that is frequently changing, such as the content on the Collection X site. You can use programs called feed readers or aggregators to subscribe to and monitor many feeds in one convenient place. Collection X offers a number of RSS feeds to which you can subscribe.

From the Collection X homepage, you can subscribe to an RSS feed that includes featured content. This is content that the site administrators have found especially interesting and have decided to feature on the homepage.
Also from the homepage, you can subscribe to the Collection X Podcast. This is similar to the RSS feed discussed above, but only includes video and audio clips.
You can also create custom RSS feeds in the Collect, Connect and Create sections of Collection X. To do this, simply perform a keyword or tag search, then click on the RSS link to subscribe to an RSS feed for the most recent updates matching your search.

Subscribing to RSS

You can subscribe to an RSS feed anywhere that you see the orange RSS icon by righ-clicking on the icon and copying the feed URL. Next, paste the feed URL into your favourite feed reader and you are subscribed. You can now check all your subscribed feeds in one place to see if there is any new content since the last time checked.

To subscribe, you need to do the following:

Windows

Right-click on the RSS icon and select “copy shortcut” or "copy link location" to copy the feed link.
Once it’s copied, paste the link location into your favourite RSS reader.

Macintosh

Hold Control while clicking the RSS icon and select "copy link location" to copy the feed link.
Once it’s copied, paste the link location into your favourite RSS reader.

Publishing Your Content

Most content that users create on Collection X goes through a review process before it becomes public. What follows is a brief summary of the steps involved when publishing content on the site.

When you create a new piece of content, it appears only in your private workspace in the Create section of the site until it is published for other users to see. Before the content is published, you can make as many changes as necessary to the content, including deleting it. These changes can be made in a single session or over several sessions on the site.
Once you finish creating and editing the content, you can publish it by clicking “publish.” At this point, the content enters the approval system and cannot be changed in any way until a site administrator has reviewed it.
The review process is necessary to determine the appropriateness of the content. If content is found to be inappropriate, a site administrator can reject the content. Alternatively, a site administrator can approve the content, at which point it will get published and become visible to all users.
Once content has been published, you can still make edits and changes. However, these changes are tracked separately and do not become visible until they have been submitted and approved once again.

Status Box

Whenever you are viewing the content that you have created or have control over, a shaded box labelled "status" appears on the right-hand side of the page. The status box incorporates three steps and indicates the status of the content in relation to the publication process described above. The three steps are:

“Unpublished” (or “published content with unpublished changes”). When content is in this state, you can choose to edit it or submit it for publication. In addition, if the content has never been published, you can choose to delete it completely.
“Waiting for Approval.” When content is in this state, you can do nothing but wait until a site administrator has reviewed and approved the content.
“Published.” This means that the content is viewable by the public. At this point, you can choose to make changes to the content with the understanding that the publishing process begins again.

Text Formatting

In most places where you can input text on Collection X, you can also do basic text formatting using a simple text formatting syntax. For bold text, surround a word or phrase with asterisks like this: *this text will be bold*. For italicized text, surround a word or phrase with underscores like this: _this text will be italicized_. To include a link to another page or website, type in the full URL, starting with http://, and it will automatically be converted into a hyperlink.

Creating and Editing Media

On Collection X, media includes images, videos and audio clips. Any user can upload media in order to share it with other users of the site.

Uploading Media

You can start the process of uploading media in a couple of ways:

Within Collect, you will find links on the right-hand side of the page that will prompt you to "add images," "add videos," or "add audio."
Within Create on the Your Media page, you will find a link also on the right-hand side of the page that will prompt you to "add media."

Once you have clicked on one of these links, you can follow these steps to upload your media. Please note: there are a number of restrictions on the kinds of media you can upload, but these restrictions are explained in detail on the right-hand side of the Upload page.

Click "browse..." to navigate to the media file you want to upload from your own computer.
Once you have selected a file, another media file box will appear. You can select and upload up to five media files at a time. When you are ready to upload, click "upload now."
When the upload is complete, you will have a chance to enter descriptive text for all the media you have uploaded. It is important to enter this information if you want other users to find your media:
1. Title: this text is used to identify the media throughout the site.
2. Description: this text is shown when the media is viewed in more detail.
3. Tags: These are keywords used to find the media when searching.
4. Add this media to this set: If you have already created sets, you can choose to add your new media to any of your sets by selecting the appropriate set from the menu that comes up.
If all of the items you have uploaded are similar, you might want to use the same or similar values for the various fields on all of them. You can easily do this by using the "apply to all" links on the first media item. The value you have entered in the field for the first media item will be automatically applied to all of the other media items.
When you are satisfied with your choices, click "save all" to save your media files.

Remember: If you want your media files to be visible to other users, you must publish it before it can be seen.

Editing Your Media

Find the page for the media you want to edit. If the media is published, you can do this by searching for it while on the Collect section of the site. If not, then you will have to find it in the Create section under Your Media.
In the status box, click "edit this media item."
The title and description become form fields which you can then edit. In addition, if the media is a video or audio file, you will be able to add and/or edit a transcript that provides a text-based description of the content contained within the file. Click "save" to save your changes and to view what your edits will look like once published.
When you are satisfied with the changes you have made, select "publish" from the status box to submit your work for approval and publication.

Using Bookmarks and Sets

Bookmarks

To bookmark a media item or exhibition, or to join a connection, go to the item you want to bookmark and click “add to your collection” on the right-hand side of the page. The item will now show up in the appropriate section of Create.
To remove an item you previously bookmarked, search for the item in the appropriate section in the Create area of the site, and then click the small, grey “x” link next to the item.

Sets

The content found within Create under Your Media contains different media from two sources: media you upload and media you bookmark. Media in Your Media can be organized into named sets to make it easier to find – both here and within the exhibition editor. Sets are found in the set toolbox located lower down on the right-hand side of the page. If you find that you need more room to work with your sets, you can hide the filter controls using the “hide filters” link located on the right-hand side of the page toward the top.

To change the current set:

Select the set name from the drop-down menu at the top of the set toolbox. The selected set will show immediately.
Six items are shown at a time in the set toolbox. To see all of the items in the set, use the “next” and “previous” buttons at the bottom of the set toolbox.

To add a new set:

Select “create a new set...” from the drop-down menu at the top of the set toolbox. The new set will be created immediately.
Type the name of your new set in the text box that reads “new set” immediately below the drop-down menu.
Click the “save” button to save the new name.

To delete a set:

Select the set you would like to delete and click “delete set.”

To change the name of a set:

Type the new name for your set in the text box immediately below the drop down menu.
Click the “save” button to save the new name.

To add items to a set:

Select the set you would like to add to by following the directions above.
Find the item(s) you would like to add to the set from within “your media.”
Click on the small checkbox to the left of the title of each item you would like to add.
Click the “add” button next to the text “add selected media to current set” at the bottom of your media.

To remove items from a set:

Find the item you would like to remove from the set and click “remove” just below the item’s title.

To convert a set to an exhibition automatically:

Select the set you would like to convert using the directions above.
Click “create and exhibition from this set” located at the bottom of the set toolbox. The set currently displayed will then be turned into an exhibition that features one media file per page along with the space needed to add a description. For more options in terms of page layout it is necessary to create an exhibition using the exhibition editor rather than using a predefined set.

Creating and Editing Exhibitions

An exhibition gathers together media along with descriptive text in order to create a story or share an idea. Once an exhibition has been created, any user can then view it page by page and experience the media and text together as a complete unit within a prescribed sequence.

Please note that if you do not have JavaScript in your browser, you will not be able to use all of the functionality of the exhibition editor. Instead, you will only be able to create a basic exhibition with one image per page using the "create an exhibition from this set" feature.

Creating an Exhibition

Sign in, click “create” and then click "your exhibitions" or "your profile."
Once there, click "create an exhibition" on the right-hand side of the page.
Begin by dragging a representative image from your sets over to the media frame to serve as the title image for your exhibition. A title image can only be an image; it cannot be a video or audio clip.
Enter a title and an introductory description for your exhibition. This introductory description will appear along the right-hand side of each individual page of your exhibition and should provide a general summary of its content.
Click “save” to save any additions or changes before proceeding. When you click “save,” the content window will flash yellow for a moment. Once that has happened, you will then see a "next" link appear at the bottom of the page and a "preview your saved changes" link will appear in the status box. This means that you have now created your exhibition and it will appear under "your exhibitions."
At this point, you can begin to create your new exhibition within the "edit" mode. This means that you can add new pages, edit pages freely and preview your saved changes as you keep working.

Editing an Exhibition

Sign in and find the exhibition you would like to edit either by clicking “connect” and searching “exhibitions” or by clicking “create” and “your recent exhibitions” or “access all your exhibitions.”
On the exhibition page, click "edit this exhibition" on the right-hand side of the page. This will launch the exhibition editor needed to edit your exhibition
If you have just created a new exhibition, the first page will contain the page template selection box, where you can choose from six different layouts for your first page. Click one of the templates to select it and then begin editing. Each page layout offers a different combination of media and text, making it possible to use a variety of different presentation modes.
Within each exhibition page, media can be dragged using the mouse from the sets toolbox onto the grey media frames. (These grey media frames will say "drag media here" when they are empty). Text can then be entered into the adjacent text boxes. (These say “enter text here” when they are empty.
Remember to click “save” to save the changes you have made to each page before continuing. When the save finishes, the page will flash yellow for a moment to let you know it was saved successfully. If you would like to remove a page form your exhibition, click “remove” at the bottom of the page. You will be taken to the previous page.
While editing, you may move freely between each page of your exhibition. There are two ways to move between pages: you can click "next" to go to the next page, or you can click on the page number at the bottom of the page.
When you are on the last page of the exhibition, you will see a button that says "add another page" instead of the "next" link. If you would like to add another page, clicking this button will bring up the page template selection box, which allows you to choose the layout of the new page. A new, empty page to which you can add media and text will display immediately. This new page then becomes the last page of your exhibition, unless you decide to add another page.
In order to see what your exhibition page will look like to other users, save the page you are creating and click “preview your saved changes." This will display what your published page will look like. To go back to editing your exhibition from the preview page, click "edit this exhibition."
When you are finished editing, you can “preview your exhibition” and then publish it when you are ready.

Creating and Editing Connections

A connection is a way to connect users and content to inspire conversation and cooperation. Connections generally centre on a common theme or idea, such as "city" or “sculpture.” They contain a series of exhibitions related to that theme. Users may join a connection, and any user can also add exhibitions to a connection. However, the originator of the connection owns it and may add, remove or reorder exhibitions within the connection at his/her discretion.

Creating a Connection

Sign in, go to the Create section of the site and then click "your connections" or "your profile."
Once there, click "create a connection" on the right-hand side of the page
Begin by giving your connection a title and then adding a short description. Generally, the title should reflect the kind of exhibitions you would want to include. The description should provide an explanation that encourages other users to contribute to your connection. In addition, you can tag your connection using keywords to help others find and understand your connection
Click "save" to create your connection. This will provide you with a preview of your connection. It will now remain available to you alone until you decide the connection is ready to publish.
Once you are satisfied with your title and description, and would like to make your connection public so that you can begin adding exhibitions to it, click "publish" on the right-hand side of the page.

Managing a Connection You Own

Sign in and go to your published connection either by clicking “connect” and searching “connections” or by clicking “create” and then clicking “your connections.”
Click "edit this connection" on the right-hand side of the page.
If you would like to change the title or description of the connection, you can make those changes at the top of this screen. Click "save" to save your changes. You must publish the connection again for your changes to become public.
You can add an exhibition from "your exhibitions" (exhibitions that you have created or added to your collection) to your connection. To do so, find the "add an exhibition to this connection” link, select the exhibition you would like to add from the drop-down menu and click "add this exhibition." The exhibition will be added to the connection immediately. Note: The connection will automatically use the image of the first exhibition added as its title image.
You may change the title image for your connection by finding the exhibition you would like to feature and clicking the "image for this connection" link above it. This change will take place immediately.
You can also remove exhibitions from your connection by clicking "remove" above the exhibition you want to remove. This change will take place immediately.
You can also re-order the exhibitions in the connection. The top four exhibitions are shown on the main page of the connection. To move an exhibition up or down in the list, click either the "move up" or "move down" links above the exhibition. This change will take place immediately.
When you add a new exhibition to a connection, the user who created the exhibition automatically becomes an "active member" of the connection.

Adding an Exhibition to a Connection You Do Not Own

Sign in.
Go to the connection to which you would like to add an exhibition.
You can add an exhibition from "your exhibition" (exhibitions that you have created or added to your collection) to this connection by clicking "add an exhibition to this connection" on the right-hand side of the page. Select the exhibition you would like to add from the drop-down menu and click "add this exhibition." The exhibition will be added to the connection immediately.
When you add a new exhibition to a connection, the user who created the exhibition automatically becomes an "active member" of the connection.

Inviting a User to Contribute to a Connection

You can send email invitations to other Collection X users as a way to let them know that you think they should contribute to a connection.

Go to the connection and find the "invite others to add to this connection" link on the right-hand side of the page.
Type the screen name of the Collection X user you would like to invite in the text box, and click “invite your friend." If the user has indicated that he/she agrees to receive emails generated through the Collection X site, he/she will receive an invitation.

Technical Help

Here are some helpful tips to make uploading your work a breeze. Read the directions carefully and follow the steps.

Images

Your images need to be resized in order to fit the specifications defined for Collection X.

File type: JPG
File size: 80 KB or less
Resolution: 72 dpi
Image Size: 600 pixels maximum for either height or width

If you don’t have access to a software package like Adobe PhotoShop, you can use GIMP. GIMP is an image manipulation program available as freeware that can be downloaded for both Windows and Mac platforms at www.gimp.org. Tutorials are available on the GIMP site in the Tutorial section.

Video

Videos can only be uploaded to Collection X as .mov (QuickTime) files. They need to adhere to the following specifications.

File Types: mov (QuickTime)
File Size: 5 MB or less
Video Dimensions: 240 x 180 pixels
Maximum Bit rate: 256 kbps or less
Frame Rate: 15 or less
Length: 4 minutes or less

Audio

Audio clips can only be uploaded to Collection X as .mp3 files. They need to adhere to the following specifications.

File type: mp3
File size: 3 MB or less
Recommended Bitrate: 64 kbps or less
Recommended Sample Rate: 22 kHz
Length: 5 minutes or less

If you don’t have access to audio editing software, you can try using a program like Audacity. Audacity is available online as freeware at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/. It is available for both Windows and Mac platforms, and tutorials can be found on the Audacity site under the Help section.