REGISTERING

What is a Display Name?
Your Display Name is the name you’re known by on the site. It appears everywhere your photo or icon appears. You cannot make your Display Name private, but you can control all other information that you may elect to add to your profile.

Can I change my display name once I’ve registered?
Yes. Go to Edit My Profile, then select Edit Settings from the left menu. From there, you can change your name. Please note that the name you choose will be displayed along with your photo or image throughout the site.

Can anyone join the solutionsinsight.org community?
Yes, as long as you’re 13 years of age or older. The community is for anyone who is interested in vision-related topics, including volunteers, supporters, and people who may know someone who is blind or vision impaired.

Does it cost anything to join?
No. There are no membership fees. And, like all programs and services offered at Braille Institute, the solutionsinsight.org Web site and community are free.

What happens if I never received my confirmation email to complete my registration?
First, take a look in your SPAM folder. Most of the time that’s the issue. Once you’ve ruled that out, please email our site administrator at solutions@brailleinstitute.org, and we’ll assist you.

CREATING AND EDITING YOUR PROFILE

How can I edit my profile, and what do the privacy settings mean?
Select Edit My Profile from the blue menu at left. Once you’re on the Edit My Profile page, you have full control over the information you provide, including who can view each aspect of your profile information. Following are the privacy setting options:

• Private: Profile information marked Private does not display anywhere except in your own account.
• Friends: Profile information marked Friends can only be seen by others you have “friended” within the solutionsinsight.org community.
• Logged in Users: Profile information can be seen by anyone who is a member of the community.
• Public: Profile information can be seen by anyone who visits solutionsinsight.org, whether they are logged in or not.

If you become a member of a group, you will also have the option of allowing profile information to be available only to members of a specific group. Please be aware that each piece of information can have only one privacy setting.

Are my Display Name and the name in my profile the same thing?
No. Your Display Name is the name you use to set up your account. It’s different from the name you provide on your profile page. Your Display Name can be seen, along with your profile photo/image, everywhere on the site.

Can I add a photo or image to my profile?
Yes. You can add a photo or image to your profile by clicking on Edit My Profile in the blue menu at left, and then selecting Edit Profile Icon. From there, you’ll see instructions on how to upload and crop a photo or image for use on your profile.

Why do three of the profile items show up as live links?
A few of the profile elements are live links to help you find others within the community who answered those questions the same way you did. If you click on the links for Gender, Are you visually impaired? and/or Do you have a relative or friend who is visually impaired?, you’ll see a list of people who gave the same answer that you gave, provided they enabled their privacy settings to allow others to view their answer to that question.

DASHBOARD

What is the Dashboard?
The Dashboard is an up-to-date chronology of community activity that you can view in three different ways: (1) just your own community activities; (2) the activities of your friends in the community; or (3) activities of the entire community. People generally skim the Dashboard when they visit the community to get a quick sense of what’s been happening and what they might want to check out.

MESSAGES

What is the Messages section, and how do I use it?
The Messages section is your email account within the community. You will to go this section to receive or send messages from other solutionsinsight.org community members. If you select “Site” for any notifications, your message box is also where you’ll receive those notifications — so you can see what’s happening in the community without clogging up your regular email account.

Can I send a message to anyone on the site?
No. Before you can send a message to someone, he or she must first agree to become your “friend.”

FRIENDS

How can I invite someone in the solutionsinsight.org community to be my friend?
You can ask a community member be your friend by clicking on the pull-down menu associated with his or her Display Name and photo, and selecting Add Friend. Anyone you invite will receive an email that they need to confirm before they show up on your Friends list.

If you look under the Friends menu item, you'll see that you have access to your overall Friends list. You can also look at “Friends of” your friends, which is a great way to find more people you might want to invite to be your friend.

Who are “Friends of?”
When you’re in the Friends area of the site and you click “Friends of” in the left menu, the list of members you will see are the friends of your solutionsinsight.org friends. This provides a great way to find others whom you may want to add to your list of friends.

What is a Collection of Friends?
A "Collection of friends" is simply a way to organize your friends (e.g, work, family, etc.) To start a collection, select Friends from the blue menu at left, and then New friends collection. You’ll be taken to an alphabetical index based on users’ Display Names of your current friends. If a letter is in boldface, it means you have one or more friends with a Display Name that begins with that letter. Click on the letter to see all of your current friends whose names begin with that letter. Select those you would like to include in your collection and click Save before you move on to the next letter.

How can I invite people I know who aren’t community members to join solutionsinsight.org?
To invite someone who isn’t already a member to join the community, go to Friends on the blue menu at left, select Invite others to join, type in their email address, customize the note, and click on Send. If you like, you can invite several people at one time.

 

GROUPS

Do I have to be a member of the community to participate in a group?
Yes. You’ll notice that both open and closed groups show up on the pre-login page of the Community section; even if you aren't logged in, you can still see them. You cannot, however, participate in a group (e.g., comment on a photo or in a discussion) until you register.

What is the difference between “open” and “closed” groups?
Any registered member of the community can join an open group simply by clicking on Groups in the blue menu at left, then clicking on the name of the desired group, and selecting Join group.

To join a closed group, you must be invited and approved. If you are interested in joining a closed group, click on the name of the group and then on Request membership in the menu at left. The owner of that group will receive your request and decide whether to accept or deny your request. You’ll then receive a notification via email or in your message box on the site (depending on how you set your preferences).

How do I join a group?
Click on Groups in the blue menu at left, then click on the name of the group you want to join, and either select Join group from the left menu if it is an open group, or click Request membership if it is a “closed group.”

How do I set up a group?
Click on Groups in the blue menu at left, then click on Create a new Group, which is the blue button located below the group listings on the “All Site Groups” page.

Can anyone set up a group?
Yes. Any registered member of the community can set up a group. Typically a group is established around a topic that is of interest to two or more people. For example, you might create a group focused on an activity that you like, such as golf or reading mysteries. Or a group could be established based on a role you play in real life, such as “Caring for Elderly Parents” or  “Elementary Schoolteachers,” or “Students Who Love to Volunteer,” or even “San Miguel High School Students.” The topics are endless.

What can group members do?
Groups are the hotbed of interaction within the community. Whether you’ve started a group or are a member of a group, you can: 

• Start or participate in one or more group discussions. This is a great way to post a question to a group of people who have similar interests.
• Create, view, contribute to, or comment on photo albums. (Remember: Group albums can be added to, edited and deleted by anyone in the group, so be careful not to accidentally delete an album.)
• View, submit and comment on group videos.

 

PHOTOS

How do I create a photo album?
Click on Photos in the blue menu at left, then select Create a new album. From there, you’ll name your album. You can also add a description and tags, if desired. See the “Tags” section below for information about tagging content.

Can everyone see my photo album?
That’s up to you. You can determine who can see your album when you set up the album. You can always go back and change your settings by clicking on Photos in the blue menu at left, then on Your photo albums, and then on the album you would like to edit.

Can other people add photos to my photo album?
No, but they can view and comment on your album. See the “Groups” FAQs above for creating albums that more than more person can contribute to.

How can I change the cover image of a photo album that’s already been created?
Click Photos on the blue menu at left and select Your photo albums. Click on the title of the album you would like to change to see all of the photos included in the album. Click on the photo you would like to the cover of your album. Select Edit image, scroll down and check the box next to Make image album cover, and click Save.

 

VIDEOS

How do I add a video?
The site is designed to incorporate YouTube videos. To add a video, go to Videos on the blue menu at left and select Add YouTube videos. You’ll need to go to the YouTube Web site and copy the link to the video. From there, you’ll paste the link into the “Video URL” field. You’ll also need to add a title for your video and an optional description.

If you’re a member of a group, you can add videos as part of your group activities. Go to the Groups page, click Group Videos and follow the instructions described above.

Can everyone see my video?
That’s up to you. As with photo albums, you can determine who can see your video when you set it up. You can always go back and change your settings by clicking Videos on the blue menu and selecting the option to edit the video you’ve posted. The privacy settings are located just above the Save button.

TAGS

What are tags, and what should I include?
Throughout several pages of the community section, you’ll see opportunities to submit tags. The idea behind tags for videos, photo albums and other content is to help users find content easily by tagging them with terms that they might associate with the particular topic. For example, if you have a photo gallery composed of photos from a car show the tags might be: cars, Corvette, rally, classic. These tags show up as live links on the album pages, so if there is other content tagged the same way and you click on the link, you’ll see all content that’s been tagged the same way. If you post albums with photos of people, you might include their names in the tags. After that, any content tagged with their name will display as a search result.

ACCOUNT ADMINISTRATION

Where can I change my password and email address?
When you are logged in, go to Edit My Profile in the blue menu at left and select Edit settings.

How do I discontinue my membership in the community?
To have your account disabled or deleted, please contact our site administrator at solutions@brailleinstitute.org.

To learn more, please review our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

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