General What is Dgroups? What is the Dgroups vision? Who owns Dgroups? Who can use Dgroups? What is special about Dgroups? Where is Dgroups? How do I create a Dgroup? How do I create a new top-level Dgroup? How do I create a sub-group of a Dgroup in which I am a member? My organisation is interested in joining the Dgroups Partnership. Where can I find more information? I have a question that is not answered in this FAQ. Who do I contact for help? Technical Issues Membership How do I join a group? If you are currently not a member of any Dgroups on the platform: If you are currently a member of the platform: How do I leave a group? How do I see a full listing of all the groups of which I am a member? How do I see all the members in my community? Gaining Access to Dgroups How do I login to Dgroups? How do I recover my forgotten password? Messages How do I post a new message to a Dgroup or reply to a previous message? How can I receive group emails more/less often? How can I change the language of the Dgroups interface? Documents, Links, and News Items Is there are a file size limit for email attachments? How can I easily share links to group documents? Sharing Dgroups Information Outside of Dgroups How do I view information in Dgroups via RSS?

General

What is Dgroups?

Dgroups can be explained in different ways:

• As a place on the Internet where individuals and organisations in the development sector can come together and interact with one another
• As a place to find groups who are interested in the same topics in international development as you are
• As a starting point for fostering groups and communities in international development
• As an aggregation of online groups working in the development sector on various issues
• or, as just a web site - www.dgroups.org - that is a joint initiative of organisations such as DFID, ICCO, IICD, OneWorld and UNAIDS.

Simply think of Dgroups as an online platform offering tools and services that bring individuals and organisations together in the international development community.

In 2009, the Dgroups Foundation was established in the Netherlands to be a legal home of the Dgroups Partnership.

What is the Dgroups vision?

Dgroups was set up in 2002 as an online platform offering tools and services that bring individuals and organisations together in the international development community.

Today, Dgroups is a partnership of organizations committed to:

1. Provide open and accessible Internet spaces and services where members of the international development community can safely share information, collaborate and engage in dialogue and networking. 
2. Support the international development community to mobilize and apply its collective knowledge and expertise. 

Who owns Dgroups?

The organisations leading Dgroups have formed the Dgroups Partnership to guide and govern Dgroups.  See the current list of Dgroups members as of August 2009.

The system is currently hosted by WA Research for the Dgroups Partnership.

Who can use Dgroups?

Staff of member organisations; as well as people and organisations who request groups from a member organisation.

What is special about Dgroups?

Three things are very special about Dgroups:

• Dgroups attempts to bring international development groups together as an online community to facilitate dialogue among key stakeholders in international development.
• Dgroups offers tools and services for making this dialogue possible in a simple, non-commercial and private environment.
• By using email as the core of its operations, Dgroups is targeted specifically at non-profits and low bandwidth users in the South, making it easier for their voices to be heard.

Where is Dgroups?

Dgroups has its online home at http://www.dgroups.org. This web site houses all the Dgroups formed by its participating member organisations.

How do I create a Dgroup?

How do I create a new top-level Dgroup?

Top-level Dgroups are the most common community forms.

Dgroups are created and directly supported by Dgroups partner organisations.  Therefore, you first need to contact a partner organisation.  When contacting one of the organisations, please provide the following information:

• What is the topic of discussion?
• Is there a goal or set of objectives of the group?
• What is the status of the group formation (is it already formed or will it be built gradually)?
• Is there a facilitator identified?

Alternatively, if you are already a member of a group created by the partner organisation you intend to contact, you can complete a form to suggest a new community:

1. Click on the top-level name of the partner organisation in your left 'My Communities' menu.
2. Under the right and bottom menu 'Member Tools', click 'Suggest New Community'.
3. Complete the form as required, and click 'Next'.  Form tips:
   1. Community Email:  Add '@dgroups.org' to the end of what you enter.  As a matter of usability, the value you enter at the end of the Community URL should be the same as what you enter here, and should describe the group's topic.
   2. For further information on other form fields, consult What is the meaning of the settings under 'edit settings'/'Community Settings? in the administrative FAQ.
4. Review the information you have entered and click 'Previous' to make any corrections, otherwise click 'Finish'.
5. Your request/suggestion will then need to be approved by the Dgroup creator at the respective partner organisation, she/he will receive an email notification that your request has been placed, and you will receive an email confirmation that your request has been received.

How do I create a sub-group of a Dgroup in which I am a member?

Sub-level Dgroups are intended for a more focussed discussion of one or more subset topics of their 'parent' Dgroup.

When viewing the homepage of the group in which you are a member and for which you would like to request a new sub-group:

1. Under the left and bottom menu 'Member Tools', click 'Suggest New Community'.
2. Complete the form as required, and click 'Next'.  Form tips:
   1. Community Email:  Add '@dgroups.org' to the end of what you enter.  As a matter of usability, the value you enter at the end of the Community URL should be similar to what you enter here, and should describe the sub-group's topic.  Example:  If you wish to create a sub-group to discuss drug patents to your top-level group discussing malaria, then:
      1. Enter 'drug-patents' as the value at the end of Community URL and
      2. Enter 'malaria-drug-patents@dgroups.org' as the Community Email.
   2. For further information on other form fields, consult What is the meaning of the settings under 'edit settings'/'Community Settings? in the administrative FAQ page.
3. Review the information you have entered and click 'Previous' to make any corrections, otherwise click 'Finish'.
4. Your request/suggestion will then need to be approved by the 'parent' Dgroup's administrator, she/he will receive an email notification that your request has been placed, and you will receive an email confirmation that your request has been received.

Note:  Sub-groups function identically to top-level Dgroups, with a few exceptions:

• Community URL - will display all higher-level shortnames, i.e. in the format of http://www.dgroups.org/<dgroups/top-level-creating-org>/<top-level-shortname>/<sub-group-shortname>/<sub-sub-group-shortname>... etc.
• Community Membership - if this is set to "Invisible to users of the system; by invitation only." for any top-level group, then this setting must be inherited by the sub-group.
• Will display as sub-groups of top-level groups (indented under their 'parent' group).

Because of these exceptions, you may wish to consider requesting a new top-level Dgroup instead of a sub-group.

My organisation is interested in joining the Dgroups Partnership. Where can I find more information?

See FAQ:  Joining Dgroups.

I have a question that is not answered in this FAQ. Who do I contact for help?

• If you are experiencing problems related to your membership of a specific group or have questions related to specific content or postings of your Dgroup, please contact your Dgroup administrator at listname.owner@dgroups.org (replace 'listname' by the name of your mailing list -- example: if your Dgroup's mailing list address is education-india@dgroups.org, then the listname is 'education-india' and to contact the administrator send an email to education-india.owner@dgroups.org).

• If you are experiencing a technical problem and only a technical problem with the Dgroups system or a specific Dgroup, please contact support@dgroups.org. To help us troubleshoot your problem, we would welcome the following information:
  • the date/time you encountered error (so we can check the error log)
  • the URL you were at when you encountered the error
  • what you were doing when you encountered the error
  • if you inputted any form values, what were they?
  • what operating system and browser were you using

Technical Issues

Membership

How do I join a group?

If you are currently not a member of any Dgroups on the platform:

If you don't have an account on Dgroups, you can join a group by either discovering a group and placing a request to join it, or by receving a request to join a group from a group administrator:

1. Discover a group and place a request to join:
   1. View the listing of all groups which aren't set to be invisible to non-members.  Currently, it is only a very basic listing, and in future it will be searcheable to browse groups more easily by subject and/or region.
   2. If the group's security settings allow for group content to be readable by non-members, then you may click on the group to learn more about it.
   3. Click 'Join'.
   4. You will then see a form to complete your profile information.  Complete and click 'Next'.
   5. Then complete your password and other preferences, and click 'Next'.
   6. Review your information, then click 'Finish' if is correct, otherwise click 'Previous' to change it.
   7. If the group is open to all registered users, then you will now be a member of the group.  If the group requires administrator approval for new members, you will receive an email confirmation when your membership has been accepted or rejected.
2. Receive a request to join from a group administrator:
   1. You will receive an email invitation to join.
   2. Click on the link in the email as instructed.
   3. You will then see a form to complete your profile information.  Complete and click 'Next'.
   4. Then complete your password and other preferences, and click 'Next'.
   5. Review your information, then click 'Finish' if is correct, otherwise click 'Previous' to change it.
   6. You will then see the message 'You have successfully accepted invitation to Name of Group.  You are now a member of the group.  Should you wish to take advantage of the web features directly, you will then need to login to the system.

If you are currently a member of the platform:

If you are already a member of one or more groups, you can join a group in one of three ways:

1. If you know the name of the group, send a blank email to join.groupname@dgroups.org (replace 'groupname' by the name of the group).  Your membership may require approval, in which you will be notified that your membership is awaiting approval, then you will be notified once your membership has been approved.
2. If you discover a group through the web interface, such as through the Search or 'Discover More Communities', click on 'about', then click on the 'add to my communities' button.  (Be aware some groups may not be visible to you, so you may need to ask the group owner directly for an invitation to join if you have a specific group in mind.)
3. You can receive an email invitation to join directly from a group's administrator.  Simply follow the directions contained in the email.

How do I leave a group?

In one of two ways:

1.  By email:  Send a blank email to leave.groupname@dgroups.org (replace 'groupname' by the name of the group).

2.  Through the web interface:

• Log in to http://www.dgroups.org/
• Click on the name of the group you want to leave under 'My Communities'
• Click on 'about' tab at the top right.
• Click on the link: 'terminate membership'

How do I see a full listing of all the groups of which I am a member?

In one of the following ways:

1. You can receive a list by email by sending a blank email to info@dgroups.org.
2. You can login to the Dgroups web interface, and view a listing in the left menu.

How do I see all the members in my community?

A full list of members is available by clicking the 'members' link in the green menu bar in your group.

Gaining Access to Dgroups

How do I login to Dgroups?

To login to dgroups, go to http://www.dgroups.org and enter your username (your email address) and your password.

How do I recover my forgotten password?

If you forget your password, you can get a new one by clicking the 'forgot password?' link under the login entry area.  Enter your email address, then follow the directions found in your email from the system.

Messages

How do I post a new message to a Dgroup or reply to a previous message?

As with Dgroups 1, you view and post messages either through email or by logging onto the website and accessing the 'discussions' area for a community.

• To post a new message, either send an email to the group's email address (listed under 'about' or previously communicated), or through the web interface it is possible to start a new message thread - under Discussions, click 'start discussion'.

• To reply to a message, simply reply to the email through your email client, or through the web interface you will see a 'reply' button for each message thread where you can respond to a message.  This will then be sent to the list as normal.

How can I receive group emails more/less often?

It is possible to change your email delivery preferences through either sending Dgroups email commands, or changing your delivery preferences through the web interface.

Change Preferences Through Email Commands:

(In the following, replace 'groupname' by the name of the group.  Example, if your Dgroup's mailing list address is education-india@dgroups.org, then the groupname is 'education-india'.)

To change your delivery preferences for individual groups, send a blank email to:

dailydigest.groupname@dgroups.org: receive a daily digest (all emails sent to the group over the course of the day in one email)

weeklydigest.groupname@dgroups.org: receive a weekly digest (all emails sent to the group over the course of the week in one email)

monthlydigest.groupname@dgroups.org: receive a monthly digest (all emails sent to the group over the course of the month in one email)

mail.groupname@dgroups.org: receive messages as they are sent

nomail.groupname@dgroups.org: receive no mail (stop email delivery)

Change Preferences Through the Web Interface:

It is possible to customize your email delivery preferences while viewing your account.  To so:

• Click on 'my account' at the top of the page (left of the Search) to go to your profile.
• Under 'contact details' select 'I would like to change this'.
• There is a setting 'Default email preferences' where you can choose how regularly you want to receive emails, this will apply to all groups of which you are a member.
• To change preferences for individual groups, edit the 'Notification preference' found below your profile view.

How can I change the language of the Dgroups interface?

Documents, Links, and News Items

Is there are a file size limit for email attachments?

While there is no limit on the size of email attachments, only attachments which are less than 500 Kb will arrive to group members as email attachments.  For those greater than 500 Kb, a link will be provided in the email message to download the attachment from the group's web interface.  This feature prevents the potentially lengthy email download times for those working in low bandwidth environments.

How can I easily share links to group documents?

Links appearing in the URL for viewing document information and downloading documents can be quite lengthy.  Dgroups provides a feature found in the bottom right hand corner when viewing a document's information:  '+share'.  By clicking this, you will see the options 'permalink' and 'email'.  Permalink provides a shortened URL to the document's information view, while email will open your email client's compose email command and insert the permalink.  Note that if you wish to share a link to directly download the document (and not to the information view), simply remove the '/view' found at the end of the URL.  For example:  http://www.dgroups.org/?wygn2ya7/view will display the information view of a document, while http://www.dgroups.org/?wygn2ya7 will download a document directly.  (Note that permissions to view the content will still apply, depending on the group's settings, the document may only be viewable to group members.)

Sharing Dgroups Information Outside of Dgroups

How do I view information in Dgroups via RSS?

RSS feeds are available for each Dgroup, most recent messages and content contributions will appear in the feed. 

Most RSS readers will simply detect the feed if you provide the URL of any of the pages while visiting the Dgroup.  For example, providing the URL

http://www.dgroups.org/dgroups/administrators-en or http://www.dgroups.org/Community.aspx?c=5b36edad-6e15-487b-98f3-5fe6253c5eee (both homepage URLs for the Administrators Peer Support Dgroup), yields the automatic detection of the RSS feed http://www.dgroups.org/rss/index.ashx?c=5b36edad-6e15-487b-98f3-5fe6253c5eee

If your RSS reader does not detect the RSS feed automatically, you can locate it yourself by viewing the webpage's source html (found in different places based on your browser, such as under View->Page Source), and looking for the following at the top of the page:

<link id="ctl00_linkRss" rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" href="rss/index.ashx?c=5b36edad-6e15-487b-98f3-5fe6253c5eee" />

From locating this, simply append the value in 'href' to http://www.dgroups.org to produce your RSS feed.  From this example, the RSS feed is the following:  http://www.dgroups.org/rss/index.ashx?c=5b36edad-6e15-487b-98f3-5fe6253c5eee

In future, we hope to have an RSS button available to ease the process.

RSS feeds are available for both open groups, which are accessible to non-members, and closed groups, which has content only available to authenticated members.  Depending on your RSS reader, feeds for closed groups will prompt for a username (your email address) and password (your Dgroups password).