The long-awaited improvements and upgrade of Intercom are finally scheduled to take place this Thursday. More details will be published as the new version goes live, but these are the highlights:
Return of Comments
One of the important features of Intercom as a community information center is the ability of readers to make comments on stories. This function had to be turned off because it was at the center of the security problems we needed to address. With the upgrade, logged in visitors to the website will be able to make comments once again.
Changes to Contributing Stories
The most apparent changes will be in the way stories are submitted for publication. First, the link to "contribute a story" will no longer be in the top row of menu items. Because only logged in users can contribute to Intercom, the link to this function will become part of the "user functions" menu on the top of the left column, visible only once the user has logged in. The contributing function itself has also been completely rewritten. Our hope is that the new procedure will be very obvious and easy to follow -- but detailed instructions will be available on the very first screen. One thing worth noting: the person credited in the "Contributed by" line will be the person who actually entered the story.
Bulletins Become Alerts
What used to be Intercom "bulletins" will now be called "alerts." The nature and process of sending bulletins was confusing to many people -- beginning with the name. So, we have replaced it with a new process and a new name. Sending an alert (an e-mail message that goes to all staff and faculty members at IC) will be appropriate only when there is news of extraordinary importance and/or urgency that must be conveyed to all members of the IC community. The procedure for sending an alert will be to first submit the news as a story to Intercom and then follow instructions detailed under "alerts" in the top menu of the website. In other words, there will no longer be a checkbox for bulletins/alerts on the main story-submission page.
Log In More, Log In Often
As Intercom develops, there are ever more reasons for requiring that readers log in on the website. We have several topics that are visible only to logged in visitors -- Among Friends, Community Connections, Carpooling. Only logged in users can contribute stories or make comments on stories. We anticipate that there will be even more need for logging in in the future as Intercom takes on new functions. Therefore, we again urge everyone to get in the habit of visiting the Intercom website first thing every day and logging in when they do so.
This version of the software is much more powerful and flexible than previous ones. There are new ideas in the works for developing Intercom as an Ithaca College information center. As you check out this revised site, let us know what you think of the changes and don't hesitate to make suggestions. It's your information center -- and, now you can make comments directly on the site again!
Contributed by Andrejs Ozolins
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20050206201011876