We've had to disable the CAPTCHA function as of today since it was causing a comment error - we're now looking into what happened and what can be done in future to cut down on spam postings.
I'll keep you updated.
Alan suggested we implement a CAPTCHA feature (the confirmation boxes with letters and numbers in that appear when you're commenting on a website to make sure you're not a spambot!) - this is now live. I've certainly noticed less spam getting through - anyone else?
There does seem to be some residual issue with submitting and moderating comments attached to this which we're working to fix now.
As I'm sure you can see we have gone through the upgrade process successfully! There are of course lots of little points to iron out and some cosmetic changes to apply and we will be working on this during the next ten days or so.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at communicationcfe@kent.gov.uk. I'm on leave for the next few days but any urgent queries can be referred to my team.
Now confirmed: we will be upgrading the blog software on the above dates, 25th and 26th of March.
The blogs will be unavailable during this period while we complete installation and testing. I will post again to confirm that all has gone well!
You can also visit Community Server's site to read about the blogging features available to Community Server 2007.
To all bloggers here on Kent Trust Web Blog:
We're now ready to upgrade to the new version of the blog software, which should add functionality and improve your blogging experience - but to make sure all goes smoothly we'll need to take the blogs offline for a maximum of two days to perform the upgrade.
Are there any days in the next fortnight that you would prefer we avoided? You might be planning to showcase your blog, or make an important post on a particular date. Please let me know if this is the case.
If I don't hear anything, I will post again soon to let you know when the upgrade will take place.
"The requirement to establish children's trust arrangements, arising from the Children Act 2004, has provided the opportunity for Kent to strengthen already well developed partnership arrangements at county and local levels. The Kent Children's Trust (KCT) was established in September 2006 and local pathfinders were introduced in October 2006 with the aim of introducing Local Children's Service Partnerships across Kent from September 2008."
From 25 February 2008 the ClusterWeb web site will become Kent Trust Web (www.kenttrustweb.org.uk ) to illustrate that the work of this website is fully in line with plans to develop the trust and support multi-agency working across Kent.
Both the www.clusterweb.org.uk and the www.kenttrustweb.org.uk URLs will work to access all pages and documents in the site.
Please Note: Not everything will change immediately. We will slowly change over to the new address for older pages as we roll out the change across the site. The graphics on the site will appear very similar as we accommodate the name change.
Actions: If you publish your web address on your publications you will need to alter the web address in future reprints of materials. We will be producing new publicity materials for staff and customers shortly.
Please contact us if you want to understand more about this change. You can call us on 01622 221201 or e-mail us at communicationcfe@kent.gov.uk.
Mandy has written a very useful post on how to subscribe to our blogs using RSS feeds.
Her post raised the question of receiving e-mail notifications when blogs are updated.
As you may know, the only way you can "subscribe to" or be notified when new posts are made to a ClusterBlog is to have a registered ClusterBlog account and to sign up for notification. Currently, the only registered users on this site are the bloggers themselves.
We disabled ordinary user registration when we originally set up the blogs, as it was designed as a small pilot project for Kent users only and any new users would need to be checked and verified for their suitability to post and comment on our blogs without being moderated. Most bloggers on this site, I know, have the "anonymous comments" turned off to prevent a variety of unsuitable spam, and have any comments made to their blogs moderated before publishing them.
Another simple issue with user registration is that it requires a large amount of staff resource to verify all would-be users and then to approve their accounts. We already manage over 5000 ordinary ClusterWeb registered user accounts, which being in a different software would not have automatically linked into the blog user registration system. It's not something we could have managed effectively when we started, and so it's currently not available.
I'm hoping to review how the registration system on ClusterWeb as a whole (including web 2.0 applications like the blogs) works this year, and would value your opinions. In the meantime, subscribe to us using RSS! As Mandy has said, it's quite simple.
Also: we're trying to upgrade to the next version of Community Server soon. I'll keep you updated.
Further to my previous post about this and Mandy's query - this issue has now been fixed. If you come across any examples of URLs not working in unregistered user comments, let me know.
At a request from Mandy I'm looking into why the websites some unregistered users are adding when they comment aren't redirecting properly when clicked. So far it's the URLs of two Kent School websites which are not displaying.
If anyone else has examples of this issue in action let me know - it may help!
I am currently investigating why the blog tags on individual blogs don't seem to be working. As soon as I have the solution I will let you know.
If you have any other queries about the blog software upgrade, please let me know. Mandy tells me that she's had some problems logging in to the blogs this weekend - has anyone else experienced this?
Some of you may have noticed that recently Clusterblog has been a little slow to load, or perhaps has displayed an error message when you try to log in and update.
This is partly because the blog has become a victim of its own success - you have been posting so many entries and uploading so many images that our current server has become critically low on free space. As part of ClusterWeb's upgrade, we are in the process of arranging to move to a higher-specification server, which should stop this happening.
Until then, we need your help to make sure the blogs do not tax the remaining server space. Please go through your blogs and remove any posts, images or documents that you no longer require.
The main issue is likely to be with images. Photographs uploaded directly from your digital camera without being cropped or resized are usually huge files (This also applies to scanned images). Please make sure you crop and resize all your images in future uploads, and if you are aware that you have uploaded images without re-sizing them in the past, please delete them from your Gallery, re-size them on your computer, and then re-upload them.
For more information and some step-by-step information on image re-sizing, read our team File Optimisation factsheet.
I appreciate that these tasks are time-consuming but it is vital to the continued operation of the blogs and the site as a whole that we practice good file management.
Thankyou for your help in this matter and I hope that you continue to enjoy using ClusterBlog. If you have any queries regarding this, contact me on 01622 221201 or e-mail communicationcfe@kent.gov.uk.
Thankyou to Alan, Robert and Rebecca for their ClusterBlog feedback.
Just a brief update to say that the new ClusterWeb User Manual is now available from the help pages at the following link:
www.clusterweb.org.uk?help
Anyone who has an old version of the manual needs to download the new version as there have been several major alterations.
I'm writing with a request for all users of ClusterBlog - whether you're a blog owner yourself or you simply enjoy reading our blogs. It's been roughly a year since we implemented the blogs on our ClusterWeb site and I'd be very grateful for any comments and feedback from you all as to how you've experienced the blogs in the past year. Also, if you think there are any improvements or additions you'd like to make, I'd be more than happy for you to leave me your suggestions as to what you'd like more of or what you'd like to see happen with the blogs in 2007.
Leave any comments here or you can always e-mail me.
I hope you've enjoyed blogging at ClusterBlog so far!
I am aware that yesterday saw a higher than usual amount of attempted spam postings here at the blogs.
If you are a blog owner, please make sure you go in regularly and Review Comments to your blog to delete all the unwanted posts. Do not allow unwanted comments to simply continue building up as it will have an adverse effect on the server and will also make it more difficult for you to find and approve genuine comments in a long list of spam.
As I'm sure many of you have noticed, today has seen a selection of offensive spam postings bouncing off our blog spam buffer. Please see below the reply I sent to one concerned blogger who forwarded me an e-mail notification she'd recieved:
"[This] is one of many identical notifications of spam postings that have cropped up all over the blogs today. Don't worry, you're not being singled out!
Spam is unfortunately almost unavoidable if you use an internet site which encourages user posting and comment (like blogs), and it can often be offensive in nature. I have set the spam filters to screen as many offensive words as I can but it's practically impossible to catch them all.
As you may note from the e-mail notification below, this comment was not published (see Status: Not Published) as it was detected as spam. You can go into your blog settings and into the Review Comments section to delete unpublished comments."
A quick update to let you know that the problems we've been experiencing with comments being posted on blogs and galleries seem to have been resolved.
As far as we can tell this was due to an error in some of the settings being used to block spam postings.
If any user is still having problems posting comments, please let me know.
Attached to this post is my first draft of advice for new blog owners and users to help them get started using and editing their blogs and galleries.
As always with these user manuals, it is very much a work in progress and will be added to and updated as the blogs develop. (it may also start looking a little prettier!) My apologies to experienced bloggers here who may feel that so far this manual only covers the very basics: I will be expanding into the more advanced sections in future.
I hope, despite the first-draft status, it may prove to be of some use to new bloggers here. I am always open to feedback and constructive comments on my user guides so please either e-mail me or leave your comments here.
In response to a recent flurry of offensive "spam" postings in several blogs here (mine included!) I offer Clusterbloggers the following advice (below) and please rest assured I'm still working to improve the security settings. This is new software to me and I'm still learning all the bells and whistles. 
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I have attempted to reset the overall blog spam blocking settings to cut off posts like this and this should hopefully have an immediate effect: unfortunately, as any blogger will tell you, having an "open" internet journal where anyone is able to find it, read it and post a message attracts spam and offensive messages as a matter of course. It is the pay-off for being able to share your valuable opinions and information with the world and inviting the world to share back!
These new spam settings may also mean that perfectly inoffensive posts you make that by chance contain some banned word or combination of words may be removed or moderated. Please bear with me as I attempt to get the balance right.
A couple of things you can do with your blog to slow the ability of spammers to post: it attracts extra work for you but is worth it.
- Go into the Settings Menu for your blog, then Advanced Post Settings, then the Override/Globals tab. Choose "All Comments Require Approval" from the dropdown box and save your settings.
- When making a new post, make sure you go into the Advanced Options tab and choose "All Comments Require Approval" from the dropdown before posting.
Both of these options will mean that you will have to login and approve even legitimate posts, but it should also mean that you can delete any spam postings before they are visible on your blog.
You can of course use the above settings modifications to turn off the comments posting function on your blogs entirely, but as Rebecca has said (quite rightly), that defeats the object of blogs as an interactive resource.
A brief reminder as I've had a few queries about this over the past week or so: since we changed the URLs (web addresses) of the blogs back in early March to address concerns some users had that some schools' internet security might block any URL that mentioned blogs, your blog URL should look something like this:
http://clusterweb.org.uk/cs/community/clusterblog_support/default.aspx
If you are still using/quoting a blog URL that looks like this:
http://clusterweb.org.uk/blogs/blogs/
secondary_hands_on_support/default.aspx
it will only open an error screen.
Please remember to update your blog profiles to reflect this change in your URL, as the information you add to your profile is used to generate links within your blog itself. If your profile is wrong, some of your links will seem to be wrong too.
A brief point that's come up from my trying to help out Rebecca with the Link List in her new blog:
When creating a Link List, make sure you enable both the links you add and the list itself, or the list will not display. To check if your Link List is enabled, go into Manage Content>Link Lists>Edit List.
The popup window you will see (above) will have a checkbox "Enabled". Make sure this box is checked if you want your List to display.
It's worth bearing in mind also that if you're making changes to your blog's configuration, it is sometimes not instantaeneous. Wait for up to 15 minutes for a change to take effect and make sure you Refresh your browser window to view the changes.
As part of our developing set of user guidelines, you can now read the AUP (Acceptable Use Policy) for blogging with Kent's Clusterblog. Download a copy from the link below. The document is in PDF format so you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to open it.
Any feedback, comment or query on this AUP is welcome. Leave a message here or e-mail my team.
I've just sent out a mass e-mail to all blog owners regarding this, but I'm posting here as well for reference.
In order to address concerns some blog users have raised about school internet firewalls blocking ClusterBlog, the URL of your blog will have changed once more. I apologise for any inconvenience caused.
To find your new URL please go to the ClusterBlog main page http://clusterweb.org.uk/cs/ and then log in to access your blog.
If you have any queries, please let me know at sophie.williams@kent.gov.uk.
You can now attach documents to your blog posts using the Post Attachments function. ![Smile [:)]](/cs/emoticons/emotion-1.gif)
I have just given this a brief test myself and it seems to be working fine. If you come across any problems or have any questions about the attachment system, just let me know either by commenting here or by sending me an e-mail.
*This entry contains important information for all current bloggers. Please read.
First of all, apologies to all bloggers here who have been unable to access their blogs for the last few days. Due to continuing issues with the beta versions of the software we had installed, we have now upgraded once again and hopefully this will have solved a lot of these problems. You should now be able to go in and post/edit your blogs.
Important: The software has now been installed in a new directory on the site, so your blog URL will have changed: for example, my blog is now at http://clusterweb.org.uk/cs/blogs/clusterblog_support/default.aspx
To find your new URL I'd suggest going to the main page www.clusterweb.org.uk/blogs and then signing in to access your blog.
There are still some issues which we are aware of concerning uploading attachments to the blogs. We are doing all we can to fix these, including liasing with the software developers, and updates will be posted here as I have them.
The self-registration function remains disabled: for more information about joining ClusterBlog please contact me or my team. Once again, apologies for the blog downtime - this project is still in the testing and development stage so it is not always possible to guarantee every function will be live 24/7, and I would ask any of you who have planned demonstrations of the blogs to your teams, schools or clusters to be aware of this.
I have disabled the self-registration function on ClusterBlog, so that no new users will be able to register at this time. A new registration form will be available in the near future. If in the meantime you are interested in taking part in the ClusterBlog community, please contact me or my team.
If you are thinking of applying to use ClusterBlog, please read the following carefully. This has been posted to the front page of ClusterBlog for a while but I thought it would be useful to reiterate it here.
ClusterBlog is designed for the use of Kent education staff only and forms part of www.clusterweb.org.uk, Kent's extranet for education staff and schools.
Who can blog on Clusterweb ?
All KCC LA officers and teachers tasked with an official Kent LA role e.g. Kent Advisory staff & Hands on Support Team. (Not at the moment individual teachers working in one school)
People should also use their own names not Login identities and provide their KCC email address as contact details.
Who is the Clusterblog for ?
Clusterblog is for all Kent staff, teaching and LA alike. You can comment on most of the blogs unless they specify otherwise.
When to use Clusterblog ?
In your capacity as a education or allied professional tasked with a pedagogical or advisory message to colleagues.
Your personal views and opinions should be expressed elsewhere.
KCC cannot be held responsible for views expressed in an international publishing medium which may offend or provide the basis for legal action.
What to blog about ?
Your official Clusterblog should be based around what your KCC job role covers. Although we realise that some generic areas e.g. ICT may be covered in several blogs because they are relevant to several "bloggers".
Colleagues can author a Group blog. We will group the blogs as the number grow into groups of similar themes
What not to blog ?
Internal confidential business information should never be blogged. Bloggers should be sensitive and careful about what they blog.
Where to add information ?
By choosing your publishing medium appropriately you can ensure the information you impart has the best expected outcome for colleagues;
-
Emails – quick and best suited to short newsy items and links, they are rarely stored
-
Blogs – best support innovation , news ,links to sites and documents of interest with the added value of encouraging collaboration. With RSS the benefit is people are regularly directed to visit the site.
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The web site lends itself best to longer life resources which you want to add to and develop. The advantage is a permanent URL to quote.
How to Blog ?
Guidance for use by our bloggers will be available shortly.
Pupils Blogging
We do not expect pupils to take part in these blogs. A separate working group will be considering guidance for this group. Contact Sarah Quantick.
Many users have contacted me to let me know that the uploading files/attachments function on the blogs doesn't seem to be working: more specifically, that you try to attach a document to your blog, using the Upload File tool or Post Attachments tool, and when you try to complete the upload, the following error is displayed in the upload window - 'We are currently unable to serve your request'....etc.
We're doing all we can to find a solution to this for you. I'll keep you updated.
This is one of the most often-asked questions I'm getting at the moment, so I thought it was worth giving all users (and potential users) a quick update.
At the moment we are still evaluating the use of ClusterBlog as a tool for Kent County Council education staff, (we have not added a link from ClusterWeb to the blogs and we are not advertising their presence) and until we have completed this process we will most likely not be opening ClusterBlog up to a wide user group.
The final decision as to exactly who is eligible for a blog has still yet to be made. You are more than welcome to contact me about having a blog, as this helps me understand which sections of Kent education staff have the most interest in the concept, but please be aware that I may not be able to set you up with a blog straight away.
We are working on a document which will set down some of the main principles of blogging for education in Kent, including guidelines for who will be able to apply for and use a blog here through ClusterWeb. This draft document will be discussed at the ICT Officers Meeting on Tuesday 7th next week.
As soon as I have a more concrete answer for you, I will post an update.
As I'm sure most of you have noticed, the upgrade has gone through successfully! Apologies for any inconvenience caused during this vital update to the software. I was out of the office for most of yesterday so haven't had a chance to look properly at all the upgraded features but as Alison has pointed out, the new version already has one big advantage over the old one: the ability to upload attachments.
I hope to have some time over the next few weeks to really get to know the functionality of this new version. If you want to tell me about something you've discovered your blog can do that you think would be of use or interest to other bloggers, please tell me and I'll add it to my upcoming blogger's guide.
Oh, and Rosemary? On this version, the smilies work. ![Angel [A]](/cs/emoticons/emotion-13.gif)
![Lightning [li]](/cs/emoticons/emotion-60.gif)
We should be going ahead with an upgrade on this blogging software from today.
If there are any changes you should know about, I'll keep you posted here.
Registering with ClusterBlog does not automatically provide you with a blog/gallery, nor the ability to set one up yourself. At the moment, as the user base of ClusterBlog is small, I am setting up new blogs/galleries purely by request from colleagues. Once you have registered, if you require a new blog and have not previously spoken to me or one of my colleagues, please send me an e-mail so that I can clarify a few details. This will most likely not remain the procedure when we adopt ClusterBlog permanently and start opening up the user base to a wider group - but for now it's easiest.
It may interest keen bloggers to know that your blogs are included in ClusterWeb's site statistics program and I should therefore be able to furnish you with some facts and figures at some stage.
- E-mail Notification of Comments posted to your Blog
I've noticed that this function doesn't seem to be working, having tested it. If anyone has successfully received an e-mail notification of a comment made on their blog, I'd be delighted to hear it! I am looking into a few possible reasons/solutions to this issue.
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