Monday 26 November 2012

Open Letter: Personal Profile Pages



Dear All,

I see that you are busy updating the new personal profiles. From the feedback I got everything is going smooth while some problems reoccur. Some of which I try to solve together with Katinka Bastin and Edward Peters. Please see the attached PDFfile for more information.

Two major inconveniences stand out from your feedback.

1.       Your information does not show up on your public profile page

Two major causes for this can be identified: 1. Every profile page exists in two language versions – one English and one Dutch version. In order for your personal profile page to be visible please make sure that your information is put into the text boxes of both language versions. You can switch between language versions using the text link on the upper right side of your browser window. 2. We take privacy serious! That’s why you can choose what information is visible to people who have no access to My UM. To do so you have a checkbox underneath each textbox. Check it on and the information contained in the textbox is visible on your public profile.

2.       My information is running over the whole page and looks not like it should.

Information is copied in the text field which cannot handle it. When you copy & past text you also copy invisible “rich information” with it. This “rich information” is responsible for the formatting. The text field however cannot handle this information which causes the problem mentioned by many of you. The only functional solution is to type in the information manually. There is no workaround. Please fill it out manually and use the formatting functions that comes with each text box.
On my blog you find a  Manual, FAQ and the DAI numbers in the hope to help you with managing your personal profile page.

For now there are only two more developments I would like to bring to your attention. Due to a general upgrade of the schools IT facilities the SBE webserver (www.fdewb.unimaas.nl) will be shut down and all necessary websites migrated to a new webserver. All websites whose owner I could identify have been contacted. The old webserver will be switched off by the end of this year. The new web server is already in place. If you have any websites or documents please secure them on your local hard disk or USB stick in time.

Another new development is My Talkinbusiness. It replaces SBE weekly which facilitated communication for students and employees. My Talkinbusiness builds upon it and wants to do the same in an improved way. It is far from finished and a work in process. It comes in three editions and is a well-integrated solution for the internal communication challenge. Ideas on how to improve it are very welcome! Have a look and drop me a line.

Please share your frustrations about the profile page system with me. Dialogue is the first step to any improvement. For faculty members who look for a way to maintain a personal website I recommend for years the two free services: Researchgate and Academia. Many researchers at UM have already their personal website hosted on these services. For any questions regarding websites and web server space please contact me. Attached you find a flyer I distributed half a year ago about the web services offered by the School of Business and Economics.

Kind regards,

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