So today I was playing around with the “Groups” functionality in the beta version of the new WebJunction site that we are launching in just a few short weeks. I’m a big proponent of learning by working with things you think are fun, so I made a Group intended for Library Staff that play World of Warcraft** If you play WoW and are a library staffer, please join the group fun here when we launch!
And you know, once we launch the new site you’ll be able to make your own Groups and invite people to join them. As you can see in the larger version of the picture, each group will then have member (well, only one at first:), an overview tab (what you see in the image here), a documents tab (for you to upload docs and media to), and a discussions tab (where you can have message board types of themed conversations strings. WoW Library Staff would join the Group I made today, but I wonder… what kind of Group would YOU make for Libraryland?
** WoW is the largest video game on the internet that lets you play with other people. Wow is a MMORPG or a “Massive(ly) Multi-player Online Role Playing Game”. Yes, I know I am a nerd! 
When WJ relaunches, I’ll probably start a group for govdocs librarians if someone doesn’t beat me to it. Be a very nice tie in to the resources available through Government Information in the 21st Century on WJ.
Looking forward to the new release.
Will the ability to make groups semi-private (ala Google/Yahoo Groups) exist?
I was thinking that it might make sense for a library to setup invite only groups for their own staff and use WJ for both their own SharePoint like intranet as well as encourage staff to participate in the WJ community groups.
I see that Groups will have RSS feeds, but I was curious if they will also be email enabled (similar to Yahoo/Google groups) as well ?
Thank you both for the comments/feedback! It is encouraging and very welcome. My answers to your questions/points follow:
Daniel: Can’t wait for you to get in and see how your Group ideas fit into the adjusted structure we’ll have. I think you’ll like it. Happily, Groups allow us all a way to ultimately improve the taxonomy, nav and subject arrangement.
Eric: To start with, no private Groups. There has been a lot of discussion about it on our end though. On things about Groups is that you have to be a Group member to participate in the Group. but they are not private…yet.
At this point, my understanding is that unless you hack RSS to go to your email, then Group updates will not go to your email. There are a lot of deeper details like this though that will no doubt be getting both user, dev and WJ staff attention once we launch.
Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of posting content to the group via email. Like an email list.
I like that idea, but when I wear my Product Manager hat, I can imagine a series of challenges in doing this. However, there my be a tool out there that could help us do this. Any ideas? I really like the idea of being able to contribute and view in the way that is most useful and comfortable, but just don’t know how we could do it.
We will have “Bookmarks” fuctionality on the new WJ which you will manage and get to through your “MyWebJunction” Page once you are logged in to the new site. This will be an easy way to reconnect with the Groups you are interested in (even if you haven’t joined them). That “My WebJucntion” Page also has a Groups “portlet” that lets you manage the Groups you belong to. Of course, none of this is email, but, it may help.
[...] Michael has already created a parallel community in the new, forthcoming version of WebJunction, as well, which will make a nice complement to the Games and Gaming group that will live in ALAConnect. Gaming is all around us! These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]
Eric,
Just want to add here that yes, you can subscribe to the threads posted in a group’s discussion area. The basic functionality is there now, and we’ll continue to improve on it (like making sure the links in your email go right to the discussion on the site).
Daniel,
Yes, you should create a govdocs librarians group! This would be a good place to start it from: http://webjunction.org/information-services
Look forward to seeing you there