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  • jarbenne 10:46 pm on June 12, 2013 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: analytics, piwik, stats   

    Wow, Stats from @piwik OR What Happened to my Stats 

    We have recently enabled piwik to provision site stats to our users. This will allow all users to see the traffic their site is receiving. Previously this service was provided by the Jetpack plugin for the select users who took advantage of that plugin. If you have Jetpack activated, the stats from Jetpack still exist under your dashboard if you click on Jetpack/Site Stats. This new analytics infrastructure allows all members of the HWDSB Commons to see the traffic their site is garnering (Jetpack requires the user to be 13 years, which excluded a large number of our young bloggers).

    Piwik is an open source company, like WordPress, which aligns with our mission to leverage the open source community whenever possible in deference to commercial tools. We believe that Open Source software, and the spirit of community that is developed within its user base, is a powerful force, allowing users to contribute to a community, rather than merely existing as a product to be advertised at.

    As always, report any problems of glitches you encounter either by commenting on this post, or by @mentioning @jarbenne on the Commons.

    Thanks as always to @rfowler, who takes the vision and makes it a reality for our users.

     

  • jarbenne 10:55 am on June 12, 2013 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: D2L   

    Is that Desire2Learn integrated with the Commons? 2013-06-11_221123

    function fist_pump
    {echo: “Yes”;
    }

     

  • jarbenne 4:22 pm on May 28, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

    …and we’re back 

    Thanks to the tireless efforts of @rfowler and @sranalli we are back and running on a new speedy server. As will any update like this, bug reports are welcome. Please kick the tires and let us know if we’ve missed anything.

     

  • jarbenne 10:09 am on May 26, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

    500 Errors 

    We continue to work on the server to improve overall performance. You may experience 500 errors throughout the day. Hoping to get it sorted by tomorrow. Thanks for your understanding.

     

  • jarbenne 1:37 am on May 22, 2013 Permalink | Reply
    Tags:   

    New WPTouch Pro (Version 3) 

    I’ve enabled the new version of WPTouch Pro on the Commons. those of you still using Version 2.8 should visit the Plugin page, deactivate that older version and activate the new version, which comes with a host of cool new features, including the ability to select from a few different themes for your mobile readers.

     

  • jarbenne 9:29 am on May 9, 2013 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: flag,   

    Flag this as Inappropriate 

    You’ll notice a new button on the Activity Stream, and on your blogs. This button has been created to help you to help us to maintain a safe and caring space for learning here on the Commons. For this to work effectively, we need you to understand what kind of content should be flagged and what kind of content probably doesn’t need to be flagged.

    Flag content that is offensive, that is hurtful, or that is considered bullying. Flag racist, hateful, or inappropriate language.

    Flag content to draw attention to something that you think needs to be seen by a teacher. If you think someone needs help though, go talk to your teacher as well, who can contact the right person for more assistance.

    DO NOT flag content if you don’t agree with someone’s opinion, but their opinion is not offensive. Comment on their post instead, to create a friendly dialogue. We can’t all agree on everything all the time. You may feel it is inappropriate for me to say “I don’t care for Bustin Jieber’s Music” (the famous accordion player), but that isn’t something you should flag. Instead you can tell me what it is about the accordion that makes it such a powerful instrument, and what makes Bustin such an adept practitioner.

    If you have any comments, or additional feedback, add it to the comments field below.

     

  • jarbenne 8:05 pm on April 24, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

    MP6… 

    Plugins

    MP6

    Activate

    Bask in new car smell.

    Report any headaches to management @jarbenne

     

  • jarbenne 4:04 pm on April 7, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

    A Few Updates 

    I’m going to attempt to use this space to chart our progress as we integrate HWDSB Commons with the Desire2Learn Learning Management System provisioned to Ontario School Boards by the Ministry of Ed. This isn’t that post, but I am trying to mark a line in the sand in which we will be much more transparent about what we are up to, what plugins we are running, what custom code we have had created (that we are willing to share) and how you can re-create this type of community in your own context.

    Today I’ve updated all of the plugins to their latest version, fixed the Login Logo issue we were having (you should now see the Commons logo again instead of the WP logo. I’ve fixed the BeBop functionality no one knows exists ;) Check it out on your profile, especially those of you who host sites elsewhere (blogspot for example) or have a YouTube channel you would like to pull onto your activity feed.

    I closed a number of tickets at http://tickets.commons.hwdsb.on.ca, and created a new Milestone to work towards (2.0). I will admit here that I don’t understand how the milestone numbers that developers use actually work, but I feel like the integration between the Commons and D2L deserves a Commons 2.0 version code.

    I’ve set up a badging infrastructure on http://badges.commons.hwdsb.on.ca: thanks to all of the teachers who reached out on Twitter interested in experimenting with Open Badges. I’ll be in touch soon with more info.

    It may be just me, but I’m getting tired of a number of themes we have running on the Commons. I won’t delete anything, but expect a refresh of the choices in the Themes area shortly.

    It’s been mentioned that the WP Dashboard is confusing to the new user. I’m thinking about that too, especially for our youngest users (we need to give them something easy so it’s not as difficult for them to teach the rest of us).

     

  • jarbenne 1:05 pm on March 15, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

    Re-Activate Author Avatars on Your Site 

    The biggest change so far requires users who are using the Author Avatars functionality to Visit their Dashboard/Plugins menu and activate Author Avatars. This plugin was previously Network Activated, meaning we had it activated on every site: due to some performance issues we have switched this to make it accessible as an option, rather than a default.

     

  • jarbenne 9:54 am on March 4, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

    Down for March Break 

    We will be taking the Commons offline for maintenance and upgrades over the March break. Please plan accordingly. Sorry for any issues this may cause. The site has seen an influx of new users and needs to be upgraded to preserve and enhance the user experience. March break seemed like the best time to do this with minimal impact.

     

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