Patent Application
20140019537
An enterprise may implement a content management platform as a way for the enterprise to manage content in a secure and convenient manner. For example, some content management platforms may provide functionality enabling members of the enterprise to create, store, share, retrieve, and/or update documents in accordance to various rules set by an administrator. As a result, such content management platforms can facilitate collaboration of content between members of the enterprise.
In addition to the management of content, some content management platforms may also provide for the establishment of communities in which members can join and participate. For example, each community may include functionality whereby members can share their collective knowledge about a particular category. Each community may be associated with a different category. Thus, members can join and participate in select communities associated with categories that interest them, find other members who also have also share an interest in these categories, share their own expertise on these categories, and/or find other members who have expertise on these categories.
A drawback with conventional content management platforms that provide communities is lack of customization. In particular, a typical administrator who establishes the communities for an enterprise may have little or no programming knowledge. As a result, conventional content management platforms may be designed to provide only a single configuration or a limited number of configurations of a community. In this way, communities can be easily set up without error by a non-programmer. However, some administrators may desire or demand a greater level of customization.
It is with respect to these considerations and others that the disclosure made herein is presented.
Technologies are described herein for providing a configurable community platform. The configurable community platform may be configured to provide a community reputation settings page for customizing a community. For example, the community may be utilized promote a collaborative environment within an enterprise network. The community reputation settings page may include functionality for customizing various aspects of the community, including the rating system of the community and/or the achievement point system of the community. By utilizing the configurable community platform, a community administrator can create multiple communities, each having its own customized user experience.
In some example technologies, a method for providing a configurable community platform is provided. The method may include providing a community reputation settings page comprising first functionality and second functionality. The first functionality may be configured to receive a first administrator customization of a rating system for a community page. The second functionality may be configured to receive a second administrator customization of an achievement point system for the community page. The method may also include receiving, via the community reputation settings page, the first administrator customization of the rating system and the second administrator customization of the achievement system. The method may further include configuring the community page in accordance with the first administrator customization and the second administrator customization.
It should be appreciated that the above-described subject matter may also be implemented as a computer-controlled apparatus, a computer process, a computing system, or as an article of manufacture such as a computer-readable storage medium. These and various other features will be apparent from a reading of the following Detailed Description and a review of the associated drawings.
This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended that this Summary be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any or all disadvantages noted in any part of this disclosure.
The following detailed description is generally directed to concepts and technologies for providing a configurable community platform. Through the use of the concepts and technologies described herein, a community administrator can create communities having different user experiences. In particular, the community administrator may configure reputation-related features of the communities.
The configurable community platform may provide access to a community reputation settings interface for each community. Through community reputation settings interface, the community administrator can configure reputation-related features of the community by making certain selections and/or defining certain values. Functionality provided by the community reputation settings interface for configuring reputation-related features of the community may be embodied in various interface elements, such as radio buttons, text boxes, check boxes, drop-down boxes, pop-up windows, or the like.
In a first example, the community reputation settings interface may provide functionality enabling the community administrator to enable or disable a rating system in the community. When the rating system is enabled, users can rate posts or replies made by users in the community. When the rating system is disabled, users cannot rate posts or replies made by users in the community.
In a second example, the community reputation settings interface may provide functionality enabling the community administrator to configure the rating system, if the rating system has been enabled. Example functionality may enable the community administrator to select whether the rating system uses a simple, binary rating system (e.g., a “like” button) or a more detailed multi-level rating system (e.g., five-star rating system).
In a third example, the community reputation settings interface may provide functionality enabling the community administrator to enable or disable an achievement point system in the community. When an achievement point system is enabled, each user can acquire points for various activities related to the user's participation in the community. Some examples of activities related to the user's participation in the community may include creating a new post, replying to a post, receiving a positive rating for a post or reply, or having a reply being designated as a “best reply” in a discussion.
In a fourth example, the community reputation settings interface may provide functionality enabling the community administrator to configure point values for the achievement point system, if the achievement point system has been enabled. Example functionality may enable the community administrator to define the amount of points acquired by the user for each activity. Thus, the community administrator can associate fewer points for certain activities and higher points for other activities.
In a fifth example, the community reputation settings interface may provide functionality enabling the community administrator to configure achievement levels for the achievement point system, if the achievement point system has been enabled. Example functionality may enable the community administrator to specify a minimum number of points that a user would need to acquire in order to reach various achievement levels. Such achievement levels may be provided within the community as a way to incentivize participation by the users.
In some embodiments, the community reputation settings interface may be configured to enforce one or more verification rules that the community administrator is instructed follow when configuring the achievement levels. One example verification rule may prevent the community administrator from entering point ranges that have gaps or overlaps between achievement levels. Another example verification rule may prevent the community administrator from entering a negative point threshold for an achievement level. Other verification rules may be contemplated by one skilled in the art.
In a sixth example, the community reputation settings interface may provide functionality enabling the community administrator to configure achievement badges for the achievement point system, if the achievement point system has been enabled. Each achievement level may be associated with a different achievement badge. As a user advances to a new achievement level, the user may acquire the corresponding achievement badge. The achievement badge may be displayed in the user's profile as a way for other users to identify the level and/or quality of participation of the user.
Example functionality may enable the community administrator to specify whether the achievement badge is displayed as an image (e.g., a series of one or more highlighted symbols) or as text (e.g., newbie, expert, VIP, MVP). If the community administrator specifies that the achievement badge is displayed as an image, example functionality may further enable the community administrator to select an image from multiple available images or to upload an image. If the community administrator specifies the achievement badge is displayed as text, example functionality may further enable the community administrator to define the text shown for the achievement badge of each achievement level.
In a seventh example, the community reputation settings interface may provide functionality enabling the community administrator to configure gifted badges for the achievement point system, if the achievement point system has been enabled. A gifted badge may refer to a custom badge that is assigned to a user in place of the user's achievement badge. The gifted badge may be utilized to acknowledge a special user of the community (e.g., a celebrity), to acknowledge a special achievement of a user, and/or to easily identify a certain user (e.g., a moderator). It should be appreciated that such gifted badges may or may not be associated with special privileges in the community apart from other users.
It should be appreciated that a given community reputation settings may include one or more of the above described interface elements. It should also be appreciated that the above described examples of interface elements are merely illustrative and are not intended to be limiting. Other configurations of various reputation-related features of the community may be facilitated via additional interface elements as contemplated by one skilled in the art.
After the community administrator has configured the reputation-related features of the community via the community reputation settings page, the community administrator may launch the community in the enterprise network. Users may join and participate in the community. The community may include, at least in part, a discussion board enabling users to discuss various topics related to the category associated with the community. Participation on the discussion board may include creating a new post on a particular topic, replying to the post, or rating the post or reply. Additionally, each post or reply may be displayed alongside a profile of the user who creating the post or reply. For example, the profile may include the user's name, the user's photograph or an avatar associated with the user, and an achievement badge or gifted badge.
As used herein, an “original poster” may refer to a user who creates a new post. Also as used herein, a “discussion” may refer collectively to a given post and any replies to that post. The discussion board may include multiple discussions, and the discussions may be arranged in a particular order. Also as used herein, a “user” may refer to only those users (e.g., employees) that have access to the enterprise network. Also as used herein, a “page” may refer to a web page. Also as used herein, a “link” may refer to a hyperlink.
While the subject matter described herein is presented in the general context of program modules that execute in conjunction with the execution of an operating system and application programs on a computer system, those skilled in the art will recognize that other implementations may be performed in combination with other types of program modules. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, components, data structures, and other types of structures that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the subject matter described herein may be practiced with other computer system configurations, including hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like.
In the following detailed description, references are made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and which are shown by way of illustration, specific embodiments, or examples. Referring now to the drawings, in which like numerals represent like elements through the several figures, a computing system and methodology for providing a configurable community platform is provided. In particular,
The server computer 104 may include community platform 110. Although not illustrated in
The administrator computer 102 may include a community configuration access module 118. A community administrator 120 may utilize the community configuration access module 118 to access the community reputation settings page 114. In some embodiments, the community configuration access module 118 may be a web browser configured to access the community reputation settings page 114. As described in greater detail below, the community administrator 120 may utilize the community reputation settings page 114 to configure reputation-related features of the community page 116.
Reputation-related features may refer generally to aspects of the community that affect the reputation of the community itself, the reputation of a discussion, the reputation of a post or reply, and/or the reputation of one or more users. Some example reputation-related features that can be configurable by the community administrator 120, via the community reputation settings page 114, may include a rating system and an achievement point system.
Example configurations of a community may enable or disable a rating system of the community. If the rating system is enabled, example configurations of the community may specify how users can rate posts and replies. Example configurations of the community may enable or disable an achievement point system of the community. If achievement point system is enabled, example configurations of the community may specify (a) the number (i.e., quantity) of points a user acquires for various activities related to the user's participation in the community, (b) the number of points a user would need to acquire in order to reach various achievement levels, (c) achievement badges associated with the achievement levels, and/or (d) gifted badges associated with certain users.
The community reputation settings page 114 may be accessed by the community administrator 120 when the community administrator sets up the community page 116. The community reputation settings page 114 may also be accessed by the community administrator 120 after the community page 116 has been launched in order to make changes to the configuration of the community page 116. Users 122A-122N may access the community page 116 via community access modules 124A-124N. The users 122A-122N may be collectively or generically referred to as users 122. The community access modules 124A-124N may be collectively or generically referred to as community access modules 124. In some embodiments, the community access modules 124 may be web browsers configured to access the community page 116.
According to various embodiments, the community page 116 may include a discussion board (not shown). By default, the discussion board may include functionality enabling users to create a new post (which may also start a new discussion) and to reply to existing posts. The discussion board may also include functionality enabling the original poster (i.e., the user who created the post) to designate the “best reply” from the replies in the discussion. For example, the original poster may select the reply that is the most helpful, the most complete, the most accurate, and/or some other measure of quality.
Depending on the configuration of community, the users 122 may be able to rate posts and replies in discussions, acquire points, and/or reach various achievement levels based on the acquired points. Also depending on the configuration of the community, the users 122 may be associated with badges that are displayed on profiles of the users 122. Such badges may include achievement badges that are associated with the achievement levels of the users 122. In the alternative, such badges may include gifted badges that are assigned by the community administrator 120 to identify special users.
Referring now to
The community reputation settings page 114 includes a rating settings section 202, an achievement point system section 204, an achievement level section 206, an achievement badges section 208, and a gifted badges section 210. The rating settings section 202 may include at least one first interface element (e.g., illustrated in
The rating settings section 202 may further include at least one second interface element (e.g., illustrated in
Under the multi-level rating system, a user may be provided with, for example, a five-star rating interface. Through the five-star rating interface, the community administrator 120 can specify a rating level for a given post or reply. If a user believes that a post or reply is poor quality, then the user can rate the post or reply as zero stars or one star. If a user believes that a post or reply is high quality, then the user can rate the post or reply as four stars or five stars. By enabling the users 122 to specify rating levels of posts or replies, the multi-level rating system can provide a more detailed rating over the binary rating system. Multiple users can rate a particular post or reply.
The achievement point system section 204 may include at least one third interface element (e.g., illustrated in
The achievement point system section 204 may further include at least one fourth interface element (e.g., illustrated in
The achievement level section 206 may include at least one fifth interface element (e.g., illustrated as a series of text boxes 220A-220E) whereby the community administrator 120 can enter a number of points a user needs in order to reach various achievement levels. In the first text box 220A, the community administrator 120 can specify the number of points a user needs to acquire to reach a first level (e.g., Level 1). In the second text box 220B, the community administrator 120 can specify the number of points a user needs to acquire to reach a second level (e.g., Level 2). In the third text box 220C, the community administrator 120 can specify the number of points a user needs to acquire to reach a third level (e.g., Level 3). In the fourth text box 220D, the community administrator 120 can specify the number of points a user needs to acquire to reach a fourth level (e.g., Level 4). In the fifth text box 220E, the community administrator 120 can specify the number of points a user needs to acquire to reach a fifth level (e.g., Level 5).
The achievement badges section 208 may include at least one sixth interface element (e.g., illustrated in
In the sixth interface element, the community administrator 120 may select whether the achievement levels defined in the fifth interface element are displayed on a user's profile as an image or as text. As used herein, an “achievement badge” may refer to an image or text associated with an achievement level. The community administrator 120 may select the first radio button 222A to specify that the achievement level of a user is displayed on the user's profile as an image. For example, an image may include a series of five symbols (e.g., blocks, stars). One or more of the symbols can be highlighted to show a user's achievement level. That is, one highlighted symbol may indicate that a user has reached the first level (e.g., Level 1), while four highlighted symbols may indicate that the user has reached the fourth level (e.g., Level 4). Although not illustrated in
The community administrator 120 may select the second radio button 222B to specify that the achievement level of a user is displayed on the user's profile as text. In particular, when the community administrator 120 selects the second radio button 222B, the community administrator 120 can also specify the text that is displayed for each achievement level in the text boxes 224A-224E. In the first text box 224A, the community administrator 120 can specify the text that is displayed in a user's profile to indicate that user has reached the first level (e.g., Level 1). In the second text box 224B, the community administrator 120 can specify the text that is displayed in a user's profile to indicate that user has reached the second level (e.g., Level 2). In the third text box 224C, the community administrator 120 can specify the text that is displayed in a user's profile to indicate that user has reached the third level (e.g., Level 3). In the fourth text box 224D, the community administrator 120 can specify the text that is displayed in a user's profile to indicate that user has reached the fourth level (e.g., Level 4). In the fifth text box 224E, the community administrator 120 can specify the text that is displayed in a user's profile to indicate that user has reached the fifth level (e.g., Level 5).
The gifted badges section 210 may include at least one seventh interface element (e.g., illustrated in
It should be appreciated that one or more portions of the community reputation settings page 114 may be grayed out or otherwise inaccessible depending on previous inputs by the community administrator 120. In one example, if the “No” radio button 212B is selected, then the rest of the community reputation settings page 114 may be grayed out because a rating system is not enabled. In another example, if the first radio button 222A is selected, then the text boxes 224A-224E may be grayed out.
According to some embodiments, the point values specified in the text boxes 218A-218D and/or the achievement levels specified in the text boxes 220A-220E may be extensible and/or configurable. In one example, the community administrator 120 may be able to specify different and/or additional activities (e.g., posting a photograph, filling out a profile) for which the users 122 can acquire points. In another example, the community administrator 120 may be able to specify a different number of achievement levels and/or different titles of achievement levels.
According to some embodiments, when the users 122 view the community page 116, the community page 116 may be configured to arrange the discussions in the discussion board in a particular order. In particular, the discussions may be arranged (e.g., sorted) according to a reputation score of each discussion. For example, discussions having a higher reputation score may be displayed at or near the top of the discussion board, and discussions having a lower reputation score may be displayed at or near the bottom of the discussion board or not displayed at all. In some implementations, the reputation score for a given discussion may be determined according to a predefined formula that takes into account, for example, the age of the post in the discussion, the age of the last reply in the discussion, the number of replies in the discussion, the number of high quality replies (e.g., according to their ratings) in the discussion, or the like. In some other implementations, the predefined formula may be configurable by the community administrator 120.
According to some embodiments, the reputation level of each of the users 122 according to their current achievement level can be made available via a search program. For example, illustrative communities may include a photography community and a patent law community. The search program may enable users to enter a query for “photography experts.” In response to this query, the search program may be configured to find, at least in a part, users of the photograph community who have reached a high achievement level. Similarly, the search program may enable users to enter a query for “patent law experts.” In response to this query, the search program may be configured to find, at least in part, users of the patent law community who have reached a high achievement level.
Referring now to
As illustrated in
Referring now to
In
At operation 404, the community configuration module 112 receives the customizations from the community administrator via the community reputation settings page. In particular, the community administrator may input various customizations for the community's rating system and/or the community's achievement point system. Such customizations can be made via the interface elements contained in the community reputation settings page. When the community administrator has finished inputting the customizations, the community administrator may submit the community reputation settings page to the community configuration module 112. After operation 404, the routine 400 proceeds to operation 406.
At operation 406, the community configuration module 112 configures the community according to the received customizations. The customizations may provide a different user experience in the community apart from other communities. After operation 406, the routine 400 may either repeat (e.g., periodically, continuously, or on demand as needed) or terminate. For example, community administrator may repeat the routine 400 in order to customize additional communities.
By way of example, and not limitation, computer-storage media may include volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for the non-transitory storage of information such as computer-storage instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data. For example, computer-storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other solid state memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (“DVD”), HD-DVD, BLU-RAY, or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by the computer 500.
According to various embodiments, the computer 500 may operate in a networked environment using logical connections to remote computers through a network 518. An example of the network 518 may be the network 108. The computer 500 may connect to the network 518 through a network interface unit 510 connected to the bus 506. It should be appreciated that the network interface unit 510 may also be utilized to connect to other types of networks and remote computer systems. The computer 500 may also include an input/output controller 508 for receiving and processing input from a number of input devices (not shown), including a keyboard, a mouse, a microphone, and a game controller. The input/output controller 508 may also be configured to receive user input via gestures, touch (e.g., via a touchscreen), and/or voice. Similarly, the input/output controller 508 may provide output to a display or other type of output device (not shown).
The bus 506 may enable the processing unit 502 to read code and/or data to/from the mass storage device 512 or other computer-storage media. The computer-storage media may represent apparatus in the form of storage elements that are implemented using any suitable technology, including but not limited to semiconductors, magnetic materials, optics, or the like. The computer-storage media may represent memory components, whether characterized as RAM, ROM, flash, or other types of technology. The computer-storage media may also represent secondary storage, whether implemented as hard drives or otherwise. Hard drive implementations may be characterized as solid state, or may include rotating media storing magnetically-encoded information.
The program modules 514 may include software instructions that, when loaded into the processing unit 502 and executed, cause the computer 500 to generate field sets. The program modules 514 may also provide various tools or techniques by which the computer 500 may participate within the overall systems or operating environments using the components, flows, and data structures discussed throughout this description. For example, the program modules 514 may implement interfaces for generating field sets.
In general, the program modules 514 may, when loaded into the processing unit 502 and executed, transform the processing unit 502 and the overall computer 500 from a general-purpose computing system into a special-purpose computing system customized to generate field sets. The processing unit 502 may be constructed from any number of transistors or other discrete circuit elements, which may individually or collectively assume any number of states. More specifically, the processing unit 502 may operate as a finite-state machine, in response to executable instructions contained within the program modules 514. These computer-executable instructions may transform the processing unit 502 by specifying how the processing unit 502 transitions between states, thereby transforming the transistors or other discrete hardware elements constituting the processing unit 502.
Encoding the program modules 514 may also transform the physical structure of the computer-storage media. The specific transformation of physical structure may depend on various factors, in different implementations of this description. Examples of such factors may include, but are not limited to: the technology used to implement the computer-storage media, whether the computer-storage media are characterized as primary or secondary storage, and the like. For example, if the computer-storage media are implemented as semiconductor-based memory, the program modules 514 may transform the physical state of the semiconductor memory, when the software is encoded therein. For example, the program modules 514 may transform the state of transistors, capacitors, or other discrete circuit elements constituting the semiconductor memory.
As another example, the computer-storage media may be implemented using magnetic or optical technology. In such implementations, the program modules 514 may transform the physical state of magnetic or optical media, when the software is encoded therein. These transformations may include altering the magnetic characteristics of particular locations within given magnetic media. These transformations may also include altering the physical features or characteristics of particular locations within given optical media, to change the optical characteristics of those locations. Other transformations of physical media are possible without departing from the scope of the present description, with the foregoing examples provided only to facilitate this discussion.
Based on the foregoing, it should be appreciated that concepts and technologies for providing a configurable community platform are presented herein. Although the subject matter presented herein has been described in language specific to computer structural features, methodological acts, and computer readable media, it is to be understood that the invention defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features, acts, or media described herein. Rather, the specific features, acts and mediums are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.
The subject matter described above is provided by way of illustration only and should not be construed as limiting. Various modifications and changes may be made to the subject matter described herein without following the example embodiments and applications illustrated and described, and without departing from the true spirit and scope of the present invention, which is set forth in the following claims.
