Commons In A Box 1.0-beta3
I’ve just released Commons In A Box 1.0-beta3. This release fixes a bug in 1.0-beta2 that caused fatal errors on PHP 5.2.x installations.
I’ve just released Commons In A Box 1.0-beta3. This release fixes a bug in 1.0-beta2 that caused fatal errors on PHP 5.2.x installations.
We’re pleased to announce the second public beta of the Commons In A Box software, version 1.0-beta2. This version addresses a number of bugs unearthed in the first beta period, and adds some notable features. Here’s a brief summary of what you can expect in version 1.0-beta2:
Many thanks go out to those who tested Commons In A Box during the first beta period, and special thanks to those who reported bugs.
Current users of Commons In A Box should receive an update notification in the WordPress Dashboard that a new version is available. And, as usual, you can download the latest version of Commons In A Box from wordpress.org/extend/plugins/commons-in-a-box. Questions or comments about version 1.0-beta2? Visit our community pages.
Spearheaded by Tim Owens, instructional technology specialist in the Division of Teaching and Learning Technologies at the University of Mary Washington, Maker Commons is using Commons In A Box to grow a community of open individuals anxious to share “experiences, wisdom, failures, and successes surrounding maker culture and the DIY ethos.”
Designed along the lines of his “Makerspace,” which fosters a community “hackers, makers, and tinkerers” by providing a physical space on campus, Maker Commons provides a virtual space for a “maker” community to grow, collaborate, and share.
The site is just getting started and is open to everyone “passionate about bringing hands-on learning to our schools and communities across the world.”
Here is a screenshot of the site’s homepage:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
New York, NY — November 19, 2012 2:00 PM EST
Contact Information:
Matthew K. Gold, Ph.D.
Director, CUNY Academic Commons
commons@gc.cuny.edu
CUNY ACADEMIC COMMONS LAUNCHES COMMONS IN A BOX & COMMONSINABOX.ORG
The CUNY Academic Commons, an initiative of the City University of New York, is proud to release:
Commons In A Box – A free, open-source platform for community connection, collaboration, and communication.
With support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the CUNY Academic Commons team has produced a stand-alone version of its award-winning open-source social media platform that connects faculty, staff and graduate students across CUNY’s 24 campuses. The Commons In A Box software package makes it easy for institutions and groups to download, install, and customize community spaces for their communities. The Modern Language Association, the premier international organization for scholars of literature and language, has already adopted the Commons In A Box as the platform for a new MLA Commons that will serve the organization’s 30,000+ members beginning in January 2013.
Commons In A Box, or CBOX, offers a suite of features designed to give users of all skill levels the ability to create and host vibrant online communities with complete user control. Built upon the WordPress and BuddyPress platforms, CBOX allows the members of a community to create personal profiles, join or create public groups to facilitate collaboration, and set up blogs to promote work, events, and conferences. CBOX also provides:
CBOX will be useful to any organization that is looking for a shared space in which to build an engaged community of users and developers. Find out more about Commons In A Box here: https://commonsinabox.org
– The Commons In A Box Team
About CUNY Academic Commons
The Academic Commons of The City University of New York is a social networking platform designed to facilitate connections and collaboration across the 24-campus City University of New York system. Built by the community for the community, the site has fostered a membership body that seeks to use the Academic Commons as a means of fulfilling its highest aspirations for integrating technology into its academic missions of teaching, research, and service. The CUNY Academic Commons seeks to support the public educational mission of the City University of New York through the active development of free and open source software released and broadly disseminated for the public good.
In her October, 2012 Library Journal article, MLA to Launch Scholarly Communication Network, Meredith Schwartz describes how the Modern Language Association, under the directorship of Kathleen Fitzpatrick, is building its MLA Commons based on “Commons in a Box” software.
CBox, as @kfitz notes:
“… is working toward a federated commons-of-commonses … developing greater connections across scholarly societies as well as with universities and other higher education organizations.
The MLA Commons is set to launch in January, 2013.