How to Post Meeting Minutes

Go to http://www.contracola.org and click on the link for "COTMD Board".

• If  "Sign In" appears in the upper right-hand corner, login by clicking on "Sign In".  Then click on the pencil icon for "COTMD Board". 
• If, on the other hand, "Sign out" appears in the upper right-hand corner, you are already logged in.  In this case, click on "New Post", and wait a little until the wysiwyg ("what you see is what you get") editor appears.

Add a title like "Minutes month/day/year".  Add your text.  You may find it easiest to paste in unformatted text, and then format it using the wysiwyg editor.  Using the "Preview" link, preview your work, make whatever changes are necessary, and repeat as often as necessary until you are satisfied with how it looks.  Important: be careful not to include email addresses in the minutes, to avoid having them being picked up by web bots and used for spamming.

Then add a label to the post so the these minutes are categorized with the other minutes: click on the label icon in the list of icons on the right, and add the label "minutes", and add another label that includes the year, e.g., "minutes 2012".

Finally, click on "Publish Post" (or "Update") and click on "View Blog" to see the final result.

How to Archive the CDSS Annual Report

We don't want the archived reports accidentally changed, so the first thing to do is to save the report (on your computer) as a pdf document, which can't be edited at Google Docs but which can be easily viewed in most browsers. Give the file a name like "2009-2010-cdss-report.pdf".

Then upload the document to Google Docs:  Log into http://gmail.com as "contracola" and click on "Documents" to get to Google Docs.  Find the "Upload Files" link and click on it.  Choose the file to upload from your computer, and make sure the "Conversion Options" are set to NOT convert.  Then choose the folder "CDSS Annual Reports" (this will be the destination folder), make sure "Private" is selected, and click the "Start Upload" button.

How to Post a NEW Schedule

1. Archive the current schedule.  Copy the current schedule into a new post on the COTMD Board website, giving it a title like "Schedule for 2009-2010".  Click "Post Options" and set the post date to a date in July or August preceding the date of the first date on the schedule.  Add a label to the post so the archived schedule can be easily found:  click on the "Show All" link, and add the label "Schedules Archive".

2.  Post the new schedule.  Copy the current schedule into a new post on the Columbia Traditional Music and Dance website, giving it a title like "Schedule for 2010-2010".   Click "Post Options" and set the post date to a date in July or August preceding the date of the first date on the schedule.  Add a label to the post so the archived schedule can be easily found:  click on the "Show All" link, and add the label "Schedule".

3.  Delete the old schedule from the Columbia Traditional Music and Dance website.  Get to the "back-end" of the Columbia Traditional Music and Dance website.  Under the "Posting" tab, click on "Edit Posts".  This will bring up a list of all posts you can edit or delete.  If the old schedule is not in this list, get someone who can login as the "contracola" user to delete the post.

How to Add Members to the ContraCola Mailing List

1. Log in at http://groups.google.com/ as the contracola user. (Or if you are already logged into http://gmail.com/, type "http://groups.google.com" in the address bar of your browser, and hit "Enter".)

2. Click on "My Groups", then click on the "Manage" link under "Columbia Traditional Music and Dance".

3. Under Members (on the left-hand side of the page), click on "Direct add members".

4. Enter the new email addresses in the "Enter email addresses to add as members" box.  Include each person's name (enclosed in double-quotes) and email address (enclosed in angle brackets). You can add several people at once (up to 10 at a time), one person per line, with a comma between each person:

"John Smith" <jsmith@hotmail.com>,
"Jane Doe" <jane.doe@yahoo.com>

5. In the "Write a welcome message" box enter text similar to "This is a general announcement list. You will normally get only one or two emails each month, one of which will be a reminder for the upcoming dance."

6. Make sure the radio button for "All email: send each message as it arrives" is checked.

7. Click the "Add members" button.

How to Make a Flier Available

We're assuming  that there is a post somewhere on the website that is tagged with the label "Fliers" and which includes a link to our "Fliers" folder at Google Docs.

We'll also assume that somewhere on your computer you have a flier, stored as a .pdf file, that you want to make available to people for distributing.  After you upload your flyer, it will be available from the afore-mentioned post tagged with "Fliers".

To upload your flier:

1. Log into http://docs.google.com using the contracola  google account.
2. Click on the "Upload" button (upper left-hand side of the page).
3. Select one or more files on your computer, using the "Select files to upload" link.
   
4. Select the publicly viewable "Fliers" folder: click on the "No folder" button, then select "Fliers".
5. Make the fliers themselves public: click on the "Private" button, then select "Public on the Web".
6. Click the "Start Upload" button.

If you need a link to the newly-uploaded file, do this:

1. When the upload is complete, click on the "Back to Google Docs" link.
2. Navigate to your newly-uploaded file, right-click on the file name, move your mouse to "Share", then to "Get the link to Share".

How to Send to the Mailing List

The general mailing list for dance announcements corresponds to the membership of the "contracola" google group, i.e., contracola@googlegroups.com.  We are careful to send to this group using the contracola gmail account (contracola@gmail.com), so that we can tell people what email address will be sending them reminders.

So, to send an announcement to the mailing list, simply log into the contracola account (contracola@gmail.com) at http://mail.google.com (or http://gmail.com) and compose an email to contracola@googlegroups.com.

An easy way to send a reminder for the next dance is to copy the dance announcement (including the picture, if any) from www.contracola.org and paste it into the email to be sent to the mailing list.  If you include the blog announcement title in the message body, it becomes a link to the website.  You can also use the title as the subject of the email.

How to Post an Announcement for the Next Dance

There is really no need to keep old announcements around, so the easiest way is to simply edit the previous dance announcement, changing the title, date, and details, as necessary.

Go to http://www.contracola.org.

• If  "Sign In" appears in the upper right-hand corner, login by clicking on "Sign In".  Then click on "Edit Posts" for "Columbia Traditional Music and Dance". 
• If, on the other hand, "Sign out" appears in the upper right-hand corner, you are already logged in.  In this case, click on "New Post", click on "Edit Posts", and click "OK" in response to the  "Are you sure you want to navigate away from this page?" popup.

Locate the "Announcements" link  in the list of labels on the left and click on it.   This will bring up a list of all posts that are tagged with the label "Announcements".  Click on the "Edit" link for the previous dance announcement, and wait a little until the wysiwyg ("what you see is what you get") editor appears.

Make the necessary changes to the title and body of the announcement.  Note that you can preview as often as you like by using the "Preview" link.

When you are satisfied with how the announcement looks, set the publishing date to the current date:  click "Post Options" and choose "Automatic" under "Post date and time".

Click "PUBLISH POST", then click "View Blog" to see the final result.

Responding to Mailing List Replies

Occasionally, an announcement sent to the mailing list may result in some recipients sending a reply.  The mailing list has been set up so that replies go to contracola gmail, where we have set up a filter to forward them to a COTMD board member, usually someone on the Community Outreach committee.  (This is similar the way we handle emails from the "Contact Us" form.  Usually the person handling the mailing list replies is the same person who handles the "Contact Us" emails.)

If you are the person assigned to respond to the mailing list replies, here's what you do:

1. Make sure your email client doesn't treat these messages as spam. Note that all these messages have a subject that begins with "[Contra Columbia] Re:".
   
2. When you receive an email message that is a reply to a mailing list announcement, don't reply directly from your own email account, as your reply may wind up being treated as spam.  Instead, log into the contracola gmail account to reply.
3. Each mailing list reply in the inbox will be starred to help you see which messages need a reply. After replying to each starred message, un-star it (by clicking on the star next to the message in the inbox) to indicate the message has been replied to.
4. Your replies will be received as having come from "Columbia Traditional Music & Dance", i.e., the contracola gmail account.

How to Contribute Photos to the Slideshow

The slideshow that appears in the sidebar of the website is comprised of the photos in the ContraCola Collection, one of the Picasa albums owned by the contracola google account.  These photos also appear across the top of the website.

All board members can contribute to the ContraCola Collection,  and should have received an invitation with the following links:

ContraCola Collection

created Aug 16, 2009
by contracola

View Album
Play slideshow
Contribute photos to this album

You may edit any photos you contribute, including adding captions.  When adding a caption, please do not include the last names of people.

If you are a board member and have a problem contributing photos, please add a comment to this post and explain the problem.

How to Update the Schedule

Go to http://www.contracola.org.

• If  "Sign In" appears in the upper right-hand corner, login by clicking on "Sign In".  Then click on "Edit Posts" for "Columbia Traditional Music and Dance". 
• If, on the other hand, "Sign out" appears in the upper right-hand corner, you are already logged in.  In this case, click on "New Post", click on "Edit Posts", and click "OK" in response to the  "Are you sure you want to navigate away from this page?" popup.

Locate the "Schedule" link  in the list of labels on the left and click on it.   This will bring up a list of all posts that are tagged with the label "Schedule", hopefully just one post.  Click on the "Edit" link for this post, and wait a little until the wysiwyg ("what you see is what you get") editor appears.

Make whatever changes are necessary, preview as often as you like (using the "Preview" link), and when you are satisfied with how it looks, click on "Publish Post".

Finally, click on "View Post" to see the final result.

Responding to Contact Us

The "Contact Us" form sends an email to contracola gmail, where we have set up a filter to forward all such emails to a COTMD board member, usually someone on the Community Outreach committee. If you are the person assigned to respond to the email from the "Contact Us" form, here's what you do:

1. Make sure your email client doesn't treat these messages as spam. Note that all these messages have a subject that begins with "Kontactr".
   
2. When you receive an email message generated by the contact form, don't reply directly from your own email account, as your reply may wind up being treated as spam.  Instead, log into the contracola gmail account to reply.
3. Each Kontactr message in the inbox will be starred to help you see which messages need a reply. After replying to each starred message, un-star it (by clicking on the star next to the message in the inbox) to indicate the message has been replied to.
4. Your replies will be received as having come from "Columbia Traditional Music & Dance".

Website Setup Overview

Our organization's domain is "contracola.org", and http://www.contracola.org/ links to our website.  In the interest of using free resources as much as possible while allowing the board members to easily contribute, we have reorganized our web setup, basing it mostly on a Google account, as outlined in this brief overview.

Our organization's Google account name is "contracola". The contracola password is not to be shared outside the COTMD Board and is changed periodically.

The Google account is used to access a number of services:

• GMail (email) - mail.google.com or http://www.google.com/
  
• Blogger (replacing former website) - contracola.blogspot.com (schedule, directions, dance info, dance announcements) and cotmdboard.blogspot.com (bylaws, minutes, board-related stuff) - these will eventually be named as subdomains of contracola.org
• Google Calendar (calendar) - accessible after logging into Google
• Google Docs (documents) - accessible after logging into Google
• Picasa Web Albums (photos) - accessible after logging into Google
• Google Groups (mailing list) - accessible after logging into Google

When another third-party service provider is involved, we set up a similarly-named account. And example is the service provider for our "Contact Us" form:

• Kontractr (contact form) - kontactr.com

There are/will be separate articles on how we use these various services.