After months of hard work the CUNY Academic Commons team is happy to release the CUNY Academic Commons Version 1.2.0. This latest upgrade has some of our most ambitious new features to date with many developed in response to the community’s insight and suggestions. This post will introduce you to Commons 1.2.0, walk you through some of the changes to the Commons, and help you get acquainted with your new features.

The biggest new feature of 1.2.0 is BuddyPress Docs. Developed by the Commons’ own Boone Gorges, BuddyPress Docs is a powerful new tool for the Commons and BuddyPress community that allows groups to collaboratively write and edit documents. BuddyPress Docs is a simple way for groups to work together on creating documents and store them on the Commons. The collaborative documents can be tagged, commented on, and and searched through by keywords. The Development team has also built in steps for overwrite protection to avoid losing data that you do not wish to have altered. Because only one person can edit a BuddyPress Doc at a time, an automatic timer logs out inactive editors to prevent inaccessibility. We are especially proud to bring this feature to you as it has been our most requested development project by the community. You may have already discovered that this new feature is highlighted by a yellow tag describing the changes made and indicating where to go to explore these changes. This notice will remain until you dismiss it by selecting ‘Dismiss this notice.’ More information about the feature and testing feedback can be found here.

Bringing BuddyPress Docs to the Commons has necessitated changes to how we previously referred to some group features. What were previously called ‘Documents’ are now referred to as ‘Files.’ The change to the sidebar is pictured below:

We have also strengthened the features available in the ‘Group Blog’ function. Going forward you can now uncouple your group blog from your group should you decide to take your blog in a different direction. This option is found under the admin tools of the group in ‘Group Blog.’ Other updates to the group blog feature include better integrated privacy settings and information about your group’s connections will now be displayed on the group blog’s dashboard. We have also streamlined the process for changing your group’s URL/slug should you wish to do so.

The member directory, found by selecting the ‘People‘ tab, has been improved as well. The directory now lists each member’s school affiliation, title, and interests. This change makes locating colleagues by school and interests easier than ever.

These are just a few of the many changes you’ll find in Version 1.2.0. Commons 1.2.0 also includes many bug-fixes and minor feature updates that we expect will make your time on the Commons easier and more productive. In the coming weeks the Community Team will be uploading instructional videos to walk you through some of our latest features as well updated blog posts highlighting other changes to the Commons. We encourage your feedback and hope you enjoy these additions to the Commons. Should you experience any problem with the Commons through the upgrade be sure and reach out to us by either selecting the ‘feedback’ tab on the right hand side of the page or emailing us at commons@gc.cuny.edu.

This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.