Pachamama Alliance Global Commons Key Terms

Common definitions are helpful for building community, especially one online. Here are some definitions for terms within this online community to support you in using it.

Activity Stream

Activity Streams allow you to keep track of the activities of the entire online community, of a Group, and of individual community members. Activity Streams can be found in several areas:

• Home Stream shows the activities that are relevant to each user.
• Explore Stream shows the activity of the entire community.
• Profile Stream shows all activities of a member.
• Group Stream shows all activities of a group.

Group

Groups allow you to share ideas and organize events with other community members around a specific subject. They can be seen as smaller communities within the broader community.

There are three types of Groups in the online community. Public Group content is visible to anyone who visits the community, whether or not they log in. Open Group content is visible to anyone who logs in to the community, and anyone can join these Groups. Closed Group content is only visible to members of that Group, who must be added to the Group by Group Managers.

For more information, you can watch a video about using Groups.

Topic

Topics allow you to share information and organize discussions with other community members. Each Topic is associated with the Profile of the member who created it. Topics can also be associated with a Group. For more information, you can watch a video about using Topics.

Event

Events allow you to organize, enroll in, and discuss activities with other community members. Each Event is associated with the Profile of the member who created it. Events can also be associated with a Group. For more information, you can watch a video about using Events.

Profile

You have a public Profile where you can share a picture, contact details, a self description, and expertise and interests. Information in a Profile is used when searching for community members. For more information, you can watch a video about viewing and editing your Profile.

Account

Your Account contains the information that is used to communicate with the system such as your email address, log in information, and how you want to be notified by the system. For more information, you can watch a video about managing your Account.

Main Navigation Bar

The Main Navigation Bar is the green stripe at the top of each page in this online community. You can use it to quickly navigate to pages of interest. For more information, you can watch a video about using the Main Navigation Bar.

Secondary Navigation Bar

Some pages, such as Profiles and Groups, have a Secondary Navigation Bar that allows you to access a description and Topics and Events associated with that Profile or Group.

Notifications

When new activity in the community relates to your activity, you receive a Notification in the Main Navigation Bar. In your Account Settings, you can choose to receive email Notifications when you are not logged in to the community.

Comment

Share your thoughts about a Topic or Event by entering a Comment at the bottom of the page. You can also Reply to Comments that other people make.

Post

You can leave a message to the community, to another member, or to a Group by Posting to any Activity Stream.

@mention

You can notify another community member about your activity using @mention. Enter the @ symbol in a Comment, Post, or Reply, and then start typing their name. Select the community member from the dropdown list that appears and they will receive a Notification about your activity. For more information, you can read an article about using the @mention feature.

Like

You can indicate agreement and appreciation for a Topic, Event, Comment, Post, or Reply using the Like feature. Click any open heart icon to Like content, and the content creator will receive a Notification. For more information, you can read an article about using the Like feature.