6. CONFERENCES
A Conference is the area for group discussion, an electronic meeting room. To participate in a conference type ++ to return to HOMEBASE. Select Conferences. You are now at a screen called CONFERENCE SELECTION. It looks like this:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONFERENCE SELECTION (301) Page 1 out of 1
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number Name Waiting
C 1 Welcome 2
C 1240.1 Pet Lovers 4
C 1240.2 Poetry 0
C 275.3 CIM discussion 3
C 834.1 Our Global Environment 2
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Next Back Enter View/read Compose/write Scan All Group Find Drop
Personal Moderator
Enter conference ( ? help, - escape, ++ homebase )
ACTION CHOICE> E
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The conference selection screen lists the name and number of all the conferences that you are a member of. It also lists how many new comments are waiting for you in each conference.
If you are not a member of any conference it is probably a temporary oversight. Contact your group coordinator or account manager to find out which conferences you should join.
6.1 HOW TO FIND A CONFERENCE
EIES® has many conferences open to new members. To see a list of these conferences, type ++ to go to HOMEBASE, and then select Conferences. Then type A to select list All conferences. Every conference, including conferences to which you do not currently belong, is listed here.
All conferences have descriptions written by the conference moderator. To see a conference description, select View conference description.
Descriptions indicate whether a conference is public or private. Public conferences are open to all EIES® members. To join any public conference, select Enter conference. When you join a public conference for the first time, EIES® will send you a notification when you are added to the conference.
There are public and private conferences. The membership of private conferences is controlled by the moderator. Some are open by invitation only. Their existence is known only to its members.
Some private conferences are open for others to join. They are listed under list All conferences. To join one of these, you must ask the moderator for admission. The moderator’s EIES® name and number is provided in the conference description so that you can send a message requesting to be added to that conference.
6.2 Entering a Conference
You are probably a member of at least one conference. Enter one of your conferences by selecting Enter conference.
EIES® asks: Enter conference number
(Return) for Next Conference with Waiting Items>
Type the number of the conference you wish to enter, or you may refer to the conference by name. Be sure to only type the number or name of the conference.
For example: 1240.1 or Pet Lovers .
You are now at a screen called COMMENTS WAITING LIST. Here you see a list of waiting conference comments on the screen, it will look like this:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMENTS WAITING LIST (300) Page 1 out of 1
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
C 1240.1 CC 12 Sreenivas Reddy (srini,2231) 1/ 8/92 21 lines the day
C 1240.1 CC 12.1 Shoba Iyer (shoba,2640) 1/ 8/92 16 lines spot to the
C 1240.1 CC 12.2 Bob Michie (Bob,994) 1/9/92 9 lines fluffer the amaz
C 1240.1 CC 12.3 Heidi Harting (Heidi,1270) 1/10/92 5 lines my maggie
C 1240.1: Pet Lovers
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Next Back Scan View/read Compose/write Reply Accepted Thread Find
Drop Intake Preview Write Use Enter Group Keys activitY Zip
View full text ( ? help, - escape, ++ homebase )
ACTION CHOICE> V
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Comments Waiting List displays the one line headers of all your waiting items in this particular conference. The name and number of the conference you are in is displayed at the lower right part of the screen. Notice that the menu choices are similar to the choices at the Mail Waiting Screen.
Conference comments with decimal points are replies. For instance, in the screen illustration above, C12 was created with Compose while C12.1, C12.2, and C12.3 were created with the Reply command. EIES® numbers them in this manner to indicate that they are responses to the original comment.
Some conferences have items with many replies. EIES® refers to these as threads of a conversation. You can read through a single conversation with the scan Thread choice.
6.3 Reading Comments
To read your waiting conference comments select View full text. When EIES® asks: items to view (#,#-#,m#/c#cc#)(<CR> for all)> type the number of the particular item you want to see. You may answer with a string of comment numbers, separated by commas. For example:
C14,C19.1,C24,C25.2
This will display the full text for:
C14;
C19.1, which is a reply to C19;
C24;
C25.2, which is a reply to C25.
Typing a <CR> by itself will display the text of all currently waiting items.
Once you View/read a conference comment it is automatically moved to your accepted list. If you want to read that item again in the future you will need to select comments Accepted list. Then select View/read and enter the number of the comment you wish to view.
6.4 Scanning Comments
If you do not wish to view the full text of your waiting conference comments you may quickly scan the titles of the items instead. A title displays up to four lines of information about an item.
Select Scan title. EIES® asks: Items to scan info for (#,#,#)> Type the numbers of the items you want to scan the titles of. More than one number must be separated by commas as shown in the EIES® prompt. For more information about scanning items see section 5.3.
6.5 Writing Comments
When you wish to add a comment to a particular conference first enter the conference as explained in section 6.2. Then select Compose. EIES® takes you to your scratchpad. Use Compose if you are starting a new topic or conversation. If you want to respond to a comment which already exists, use Reply. The Reply option will automatically link your comment with the comment you are responding to.
Type your comment. When you are done, type a + on a line by itself. EIES will ask a series of questions. If you want to leave the answer blank, just press <CR>.
EIES® Questions: Type in Response:
Attachments (Y/N) > Y if you have an attachment. See
section 9 for information about
attachments.
Subject: > The title or subject matter.
Associated Items: (n#,m#,c#cc#) > The number of a previous comment.
For example, if the moderator
entered a comment requesting
members to submit introductions.
Key Words (/phrase/phrase/) > Words or phrases that might make it
easier to find this particular
comment later.
Use Normal Signature (Y/N) > Y if you wish to have your name
appear in the mail item header. N
will send the item anonymously.
OK to send (Y/N)> Y if you want to go ahead and send
the mail. N if you do not.
EIES® tells you that the item is being submitted into the conference. Note that you are not asked to name a person as recipient. All the members of this particular conference can see this comment.
6.6 ACCESSING ACCEPTED (OLD) ITEMS
If you wish to see items that you have accepted or authored first enter the conference where the item was submitted. Then select list Accepted comments. The screen looks like this:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMENTS ACCEPTED LIST (350) Page 1 out of 3
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
C 1240.1 CC 13 Eileen Michie (I,1240) 4/ 9/92 3 lines greetings
C 1240.1 CC 12.3 Heidi Harting (Heidi,1270) 4/9/92 5 lines my maggie
C 1240.1 CC 12.2 Bob Michie (Bob,994) 4/8/92 9 lines fluffer the amaz
C 1240.1 CC 12.1 Shoba Iyer (shoba,2640) 4/8/92 16 lines spot to the
C 1240.1 CC 12 Sreenivas Reddy (srini,2231) 4/ 8/92 21 lines the day
1240.1: Pet Lovers
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Next Back Scan View/read Compose/write Reply Waiting Thread Find
Drop Modify Use Enter Group Personal Keys activitY Zip
Next page ( ? help, - escape, ++ homebase)
ACTION CHOICE> N
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The comments are listed with the most recent items first.
If the moderator of the conference added you to an ongoing discussion, you may be looking at a very long list. As the conference continues and members add new remarks, the list will get longer.
You can perform the same actions on accepted comments as you do with waiting comments, such as view and scan.
A conference usually has a number of different ongoing conversations. You may wish to read through an entire conversation. To do so, select scan Thread (all related items). EIES® will ask Enter item number (#/m#/c#cc#)> Type the number of the item that began the discussion.
For example, if you know that one item in the discussion was CC45.5, the parent item of that discussion was CC45. Type 45 to see the entire conversation that began with comment 45.
6.7 Modifying and Deleting Comments
You may need to change or update some information you have submitted into a conference, or you may want to completely remove it. To change or remove a comment, you first need to know the item number. Then select Modify or delete. EIES® will ask: Enter modify item (#/m#/c#cc#)>. Type the number of the item you wish to modify. A screen like this will be displayed:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ITEMS MODIFY (830) Page 1 out of 1
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
c1cc77 Eivind Kristiansen (Eivind,3188) 7/29/92 1:20 pm 6 li terriers
C1240.1: Pet Lovers
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Text Subject Association Keys Attachment Delete Move activitY
modify Text ( ? help, - escape, ++ homebase)
ACTION CHOICE>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Select the part of the item you wish to modify. You may modify the text, subject, associations, and keywords of an item. If you modify Text you will be taken into the scratchpad where the text of your will appear. When you’re finished with your changes, type a + on a line by itself. EIES® will then ask OK to send (Y/N)>. If you want to make the changes type Y. The item will be modified.
If you want to remove the item, select Delete item.
Note that only the author of a comment and the conference moderator may modify or delete that comment.
6.8 Searching for Items
If you wish to locate a particular item you will need to use the Find comment choice. Find comment locates an item based upon a criterion that you set. You can search for items by a particular author, keyword, date, or text phrase.
Select Find comment. The screen will look like this:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ITEMS FIND (270) Page 1 out of 5
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Key Number of Items
accounts 3
airdale 1
american kennel assn. 6
bath time 4
beagle 2
dog stories 5
fluffer 1
my dog 1
obedience school 2
schnauzer 1
yappy 2
C 1240.1: Pet Lovers
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Next Back Keyword Author Date Related Text
Next page ( ? help, - escape, ++ homebase )
Action Choice> N
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The ITEMS FIND screen displays an alphabetical list of all the keywords that have been used in that particular conference. Select the criterion you wish to search by from the menu. For example, if you wish to find all the items written by a particular person select by Author. EIES® will then ask: Enter author nickname or number> Type the nickname or number of the author whose items you want to find. A list of headers of all the matches will be displayed. The screen will look like this:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ITEMS FOUND LIST (880) Page 1 out of 1
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
C 1240.1 CC 2.1 John von Neuman (JV,1010) 7/12/92 12 lines schnauzers
C 1240.1: Pet Lovers
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Next Back Scan View/read Compose/write Reply Thread Find Drop
Modify Use Additional Items Keys
Next page ( ? help, - escape, ++ homebase)
ACTION CHOICE>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
If no items are found that meet the criterion you selected, EIES will display No items found.
6.9 YOUR CONFERENCE COLLEAGUES
If you wish to see a list of the members in a particular conference, select list member Group. The screen will look like this:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONFERENCE MEMBERSHIP VIEW [306] Page 1 out of 4
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Members Waiting
Sreenivas Reddy (srini,2231) 4
Eileen Michie (I,1240) 0
Daniel Berry (Coty,322) 1
Heidi Harting (Heidi,1270) 2
Bob Michie (Bob,994) 1
Shoba Iyer (shoba,2040) 2
Murray Turoff (Murray,103) 3
Roxanne Hiltz (Roxanne,120) 0
Bill Worrell (wildbill,2237) 4
Rana Ajaz-ur-Rehman (Rana,2134) 1
C 1240.1: Pet Lovers
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Next Back Scan View/read Compose/write Enter Your All Find Drop
Personal Moderator List View
Next page ( ? help, - escape, ++ homebase)
ACTION CHOICE> N
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your name should be on this list. If you do not see your name, page down by selecting Next until you do. Note that EIES® keeps track of the number of waiting comments each member has yet to read.