Athens Dialogues Network
Welcome to the Athens Dialogues Network!
This is a social network for those interested in all aspects and periods of Greek culture. More specifically, it offers members a chance to interact with others in the context of the Athens Dialogues, an initiative sponsored by the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation, that will feature a conference this November in Athens. Please take a few minutes to read through this page and familiarize yourself with the features of the network, so you can take full advantage of engaging with the other members. The next time you log into the AD Network, you will go directly to the groups page. (The information on this page along with instructions on how to use each of the features in the AD Network and even instructional videos will be available by clicking on the “Help” item in the menu bar to the left.) We will begin with answers to a few basic questions.
Who are we?
In the process of joining the network, you saw a menu that listed the broad categories within the AD Network. They include contributors to the Athens Dialogues Conference, who come primarily from academia and will present their views first in an e-journal and then in presentations during the conference. A second group consists of Onassis Scholars, who have participated in the Foundation"s scholarship programs. Some of us are affiliated with the Foundation is some way, for example, as part of the team that is developing this website. Others are simply people from a variety of backgrounds, nationalities, and walks of life, who are interested in conversations about Greece and Greek culture. All are welcome to share their views on any number of topics, including those our contributors will address at the upcoming conference.
Why a social network?
The Foundation recognizes the importance of the Internet as a medium of communication. It is building a number of online resources that will enable users to interact with each other and the Foundation in different ways. For example, it publishes an e-journal where users can engage with discourses on topics ranging from identity and difference to quality of life and actually participate in the online conversations. This network is for exchanging a wider range of ideas in a less structured context. So, if you have specific views on, for example, the lives and deaths of Greek heroes, we invite you to go to the e-journal and share your ideas in the form of comments on Richard Buxton"s contribution. If you want to offer ideas about potential topics for Athens Dialogues Conferences beyond the event this fall, about places to go and things to see while visiting Athens for this or other conferences, about articles you read in the newspapers, about movies or art exhibits that concern Greek culture, or about events or opportunities in your area that might be of interest to others, this network is for you.
How do I participate?
First, let me introduce some features of the AD Network. Across the top of the window you will see a blue menu bar with “Athens Dialogues Network” at the far left. When this menu bar is visible, you are logged into the AD Network.
Next to “Athens Dialogues Network” is the “My Account” menu item. Under this item you will find options to view activity in the network, see and edit your profile, read and compose messages and notices, see a list of your friends and respond to requests from other AD Network members who wish to become your friends, see your groups and respond to invitations to join others, and manage the settings for your account, which include your password. Here are a few words about the main elements of the AD Network.
You have already created your profile as part of the registration process. The information in your profile will help others in the AD Network get to know you. Consequently, you should provide details that will be of interest and significance for others in the network, you can learn more about the other members by clicking on the “Members” link in the menu bar to the left. You will then see a list of all the other members in the AD Network, and you can read the information in their profiles by clicking on their names.
Groups consist of one or more members of the AD Network who want to communicate with each other about a particular topic. You may belong to as many groups as you wish, and you can even create your own and invite others to join.
We have already invited you to join the “Sandbox” group, which is a place where you can become more familiar with how use and participate in the AD Network by experimenting and playing with the various features. By following the “Groups” link in the left-hand menu bar, you will find a list of all the groups. When you navigate to the “Groups” page, take a moment to check the announcements which will appear at the top of the column next to the list of groups to the right. Below that will be updated information about activity in the e-journal.
The two most important features of each group are the documents and the forum. You can use the groups as a way of sharing materials with other members of the group by uploading documents. You can upload four types of documents: text documents (with the .odt, .rtf, .txt, .doc, .docx suffixes), spreadsheets (with the .xls and .xlsx suffixes), presentations (files ending with .ppt, pps. pptx), images (in the .pdf, .jpg, .jpeg, .gif, .png formats), and compressed documents in archival formats (with the .zip, .tar, and .gz suffixes).
The forum associated with each group is where the conversations take place. We invite you to post your views on the topic of the group, post questions to the rest of the group, share things you discover on the Internet, or news about events–whatever you wish. As a member of the AD Network, it is your space.
