This major release includes compatibility with the latest WordPress and BuddyPress, as well as a host of other plugin updates.
On the OpenLab side, CBOX 1.3.0 introduces a number of new features, such as:
A new Attributions plugin, for creating bibliographies and inline citations in site content
A new Creative Commons widget for use on user sites
A new Creators feature, which gives group admins more control over how their group’s Acknowledgements are displayed on the group and shared with clones
A new Private Comments plugin for use on user sites
Commons In A Box 1.2.4 is now available. This release is focused on compatibility with the latest versions of WordPress, and also includes a number of fixes to functionality in the OpenLab package.
This is a major feature release for the CBOX team. We’ve taken number of important features built for the City Tech OpenLab and made them available for all users of the CBOX OpenLab package. Noteworthy new tools include:
A “badges” tool, allowing network administrators to define and grant badges for any group type. These badges will appear on group home pages and in directory listings, and users who are browsing the group-type directories will be able to filter based on specific badges.
New import/export tools for Portfolios. These tools improve on the default WordPress tools by allowing you to move uploaded files in addition to post content.
We’ve rebuilt the group search and group directories, making it easier to find and filter Courses, Clubs, and more.
Groups of any type may now be cloned, and group admins may opt to allow others to clone their groups (“shared cloning”). When groups are cloned, the system keeps track of the clone history and displays a ‘Credits’ section on the group home and/or site when applicable.
In addition to these new OpenLab features, we’ve fixed many bugs, and improved compatibility with the latest versions of WordPress and BuddyPress across OpenLab and Classic. See https://wordpress.org/plugins/commons-in-a-box/#developers for more details.
Commons In A Box 1.1.2 is now available! This maintenance release includes updates for a number of included plugins, along with the following package fixes:
Classic: Improved compatibility with BP Customizer settings when using the Nouveau template pack.
Classic: Fixed a bug with tab navigation in CBOX Theme options.
Classic: Fixed an issues with making searches on BuddyPress directory pages.
OpenLab: Hide “Group Home” link from site navs when the group is inaccessible to current user.
OpenLab: Fixed bug with BuddyPress Docs edit mode.
OpenLab: Improved appearance of single page/post content.
OpenLab: Fixed incorrect “Recent Docs” and “Recent Discussions” subheaders when WordPress is installed in a subdirectory.
OpenLab: Improved language regarding “Professor(s)” in group headers.
OpenLab: Fix bug that could prevent site admins from accessing Dashboard > Plugins in some cases.
Improvements to the behavior of network-activated CBOX plugins.
Fixed bug in WP-CLI tools that caused theme update to unzip to wrong location in some cases.
Improved compatibility with Multi-Network setups.
Updated plugins (Classic): BuddyPress 4.4.0, BuddyPress Docs 2.1.3, BuddyPress Group Email Subscription 3.9.4, BP Reply By Email 1.0-RC8
Updated plugins (OpenLab): BuddyPress 4.4.0, BuddyPress Docs 2.1.3, BuddyPress Docs In Group 1.0.2, BuddyPress Group Email Subscription 3.9.4, BP Group Documents 1.12.3, BP Reply By Email 1.0-RC8, PressForward 5.2.2, WP Grade Comments 1.3.1
To upgrade your installation, visit Dashboard > Plugins (via the Network Admin, if running Multisite) and click ‘Update’ under the row for Commons In A Box. Don’t forget to run the CBOX updater when prompted after the plugin update.
Commons In A Box 1.1.1 is available for immediate download! This maintenance release, our first since the OpenLab package was introduced in version 1.1.0, features improved compatibility with new versions of WP, BP, PHP; updates to CBOX plugins; and the following fixes:
OpenLab: Fixed problem with image and other upload paths after site cloning.
OpenLab: Fixed Google Maps API key integration in Event Organiser.
OpenLab: Fixed problems with category fetching when creating new events.
Improved compatibility with older version of PHP.
Improved compatibility with WordPress 5.0+.
Improved compatibility with non-standard multisite and multinetwork configuration.
Improvements to CLI update tools.
Improved compatibility with BuddyPress 4.0+ privacy and data export tools.
Commons In A Box introduces the concept of CBOX “packages”, a mechanism for site owners to select, at the time of installation, the kind of community setup they’d like. As part of this release, we’re introducing the OpenLab package, a package focused on teaching and learning, based on the OpenLab at City Tech. For more information on the CBOX OpenLab package, see our announcement post, or our CBOX OpenLab documentation.
The set of plugins and theme previously known as Commons In A Box continues to be available as the Classic package.
Version 1.1.0 also contains accessibility improvements for the Classic theme; improved compatibility with updated versions of WordPress, BuddyPress, and PHP; and a number of plugin updates.
The Commons In A Box team is delighted to announce the public release of Commons In A Box OpenLab, a free open-source software platform for teaching, learning, and collaboration.
Commons In A Box OpenLab homepage
Over the past two years, we have partnered with the OpenLab team at New York City College of Technology, CUNY (City Tech) to develop a teaching-focused version of Commons In A Box modeled on City Tech’s OpenLab, an open digital platform that has served more than 27,000 members of the City Tech community since its launch in Fall 2011.
With today’s release, Commons In A Box (CBOX) now includes a choice of two packages: CBOX Classic and CBOX OpenLab.
CBOX Classic, the original version of our software, provides a flexible platform designed for communities of all kinds. It powers sites for hundreds of groups and organizations worldwide, who use it to create social networks where members can collaborate on projects, build communities, publish research, and create repositories of knowledge.
The new package, CBOX OpenLab, is specifically designed to support teaching, learning, and collaboration. Unlike closed online teaching systems, it allows members to share their work openly with one another and the world. Like a lab, it provides a space where students, faculty, and staff can work together, experiment, and innovate.
We believe CBOX OpenLab provides a powerful and flexible open alternative to costly proprietary educational platforms, enabling faculty and staff members, departments, and entire institutions to create and customize community spaces for open learning.
The creation of CBOX OpenLab was made possible by generous funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities’ Office of Digital Humanities. The project seeks to enhance humanities education – and public understanding of humanities education – by enabling the work of students, and faculty, and staff to be more visible and connected to the outside world. It also seeks to deepen engagement between the digital humanities and pedagogy by incorporating software (plugins) developed by digital humanities practitioners.
“Humanities Commons is a trusted, nonprofit network where humanities scholars can create a professional profile, discuss common interests, develop new publications, and share their work. The Humanities Commons network is open to anyone.
Humanities Commons is a project of the office of scholarly communication at the Modern Language Association. Its development was generously funded by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Humanities Commons is based on the open-source Commons-in-a-Box project of the City University of New York and the CUNY Graduate Center and is an expansion of the MLA’s MLA Commons, which launched in January 2013. The founding partner societies of Humanities Commons are the Association for Jewish Studies; the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies; and the College Art Association. Each society has its own Commons hub.
Humanities Commons was designed by scholarly societies in the humanities to serve the needs of humanists as they engage in teaching and research that benefit the larger community. Unlike other social and academic communities, Humanities Commons is open-access, open-source, and nonprofit. It is focused on providing a space to discuss, share, and store cutting-edge research and innovative pedagogy—not on generating profits from users’ intellectual and personal data.
Commons In A Box 1.0.17 is now available! This release includes important updates to a number of plugins, including BuddyPress, BP Group Email Subscription, and BuddyPress Docs, as well as a number of under-the-hood compatibility fixes.
Update via your WordPress Dashboard, or read more about the update on wordpress.org. Questions or comments? Visit our Help & Support group.
