An Easy Guide

to

Knowledge Forum 4.0

Overview

Knowledge Forum is an online environmentfor multiple users discussions. It is better than traditional newsgroup discussion because its features help writers to develop their ideas.

1. The Login Page

To login the database for discussion with Canada, please go to this site

Then, enter your user name and password.

Click Sign On.

Then, you will see the Welcome View

If you have any problem on logging into the database, please contact

The Main Page

The Icons

2. Understanding the components of a note

In Knowledge Forum, a Note is like a piece of paper that you can read or write on it. In addition, these notes have special features that help you to write down your ideas systematically.

Now click on a note to open it.

Scaffolds: the structure that guides the writer to write down his/her ideas. Also, it lets readers know what the text is talking about.

Reference: To make reference from other’s notes or from a view

Attachments: To share files with other readers in KF

Problem: the main theme of the note

Content: the things that the writer of that note wants to say

Keywords: keywords or important ideas that are related to the topic

3. To post a note in KF 4.0

To post anindependentnote:

Click the “New Note” icon on the main menu:

Then a new note window pops out:

  1. Type in the Note Title box to give a title for your note.
  2. Click on the scaffold best suits your needs and then click the button.
  3. Type your information inside the > <tag. Add more scaffolds to indicate your many ideas.
  4. Then, write the keywords that appeared in your message in the keyword box.
  5. Write the problem that is the theme of your note.
  6. Then click button.

To build-on to someone’s note:

  1. Click to open the note that you want to build-on to.
  2. Click the button to open a new note that is linked to the original note.
  3. A new note window will pop out. Follow steps 1-6 for creating a new note to make your response.

To post a picture or to Attach files in your note

You can post a picture found in the Internet into your note. Knowledge Forum 4.0 supports JPEG and GIF format pictures.

Also, you can attach files to your notes, like text files, word documents, powerpoint files and so on to your note in KF4.

  1. In a Note, Click on the Attachment menu and choose Create New Attachment.

  2. In the New Attachment Window, type the title of your attachment.
  3. the file in your harddisk for the file you want to attach.
  4. Press to finish attaching a file

To insert a Movie into a note:

  1. In a note, click on the Movie menu and choose Create new movie.


  2. Type the Title of your movie in the title box.
  3. Click to locate the movie that you want to attach.
  4. Select the playback option. The default is Progressive Download.
  5. Click

To annotate someone’s note:

  1. Click to open the note that you want to annotate.
  2. Click the button to open the annotate window.

  3. Type your message and press .

To quote someone’s idea

Sometimes you may find other’s ideas very useful and want to copy them to your own note. You can copy and paste but it is very troublesome. To do this, you may use the function in KF called “Quote”

To quote part of a note:

  1. Select the note to reference from the Note drop-down menu in the reference section of the new note.
  2. Open the referenced note.
  3. Copy the text you want to reference.
  4. Position the mouse cursor between the > < symbols in the content field of your note.
  5. Paste the copied text between the > < and press after you have finished all.

To delete a note

Sometimes you may want to delete your note after you have posted it. In KF, you can only delete your own notes.

  1. First of all, check the check box beside the note that you want to delete.
  2. Click on the “Do Action” Menu and choose Delete Selected.

To use the ‘Rise-above’ function

Rise-above function allows writer to write an idea that 'rises above' the previous thinking and to store the relevant notes in a collection. Rise-above note is more than a folder which contains all the relevant notes.

To make an accurate rise-above note, you also have to wrap up the discussion, write a summary for it and also to lead to a new direction for your work. The Notes in the Rise-Above folder will disappear visually from the View after you have done the rise-above and become accessible only through the new Rise-Above Note.

To make rise-above note:

  1. First of all, check the check box next to the notes that you want to do a rise above with.
  2. Click on the “Do Action” Menu and choose New Rise Above Note.
  3. Input the note content like a normal note.
  4. Press after you have finished all.

My Reader

The “My Reader” in Knowledge Forum 4 acts as a temporary storage area for collecting related notes, attachments, movies, and views from multiple sources. You can work with My Reader as you would work with objects listed in a view or your search results.

You can open objects, create a rise-above note, create a reference note, and copy objects to another view from My Reader.

To go to My Reader, click .

  1. To add notes, views or attachments to My Reader, check the checkbox next to that object.
  2. Then click on the “Do Action” menu and choose Add to Reader.

  3. The My Reader window pops up and objects will be copied to the window.
  4. You can sort the order of the notes by using the ‘Custom’ pull down menu.

Search

You can search the database for notes and objects that fits your criteria, for example author, keyword, title and so on.

Click on the icon to open the Search Window.

  1. Choose the appropriate search criteria by the pull-down menu.
  2. Add or take by pressing the buttons.
  3. Press to submit the search.

Easy Guide to Knowledge Forum 4.01/8