Minimal user role: Contributor

The organic groups module enables the generation of private groups within a Scratchpad. Subscribing to a group gives access to this private space. It can be used to cooperate on specific projects, for example writing or reviewing a paper, or for sharing data, etc.
As a user of this site you are welcome to create a new group, for example for your favourite taxon.

The creator of a group is usually the manager of the group, but he can also hand this responsibility to another user. The manager can edit the group's settings, unblock new subscribers and change user roles. Within a group users can have the same or a higher user role than on the rest of the Scratchpad.

So here is what you have to do:

• Go to the menu under your user name on the left side. Click on "Create Content" and then on "Group".
• Enter the Group Name and Description. The Group Name should be short as it will show up in the web addresses of all content you produce within this group.
• If your group deals with a specific taxon chose this taxon or if unavailable the next higher taxon in the Classification drop down menu.
• Chose the subscription request you prefer. I don't recommend open subscription as there are quite a lot of spam subscriptions. You can also check the box for the registration form, so that new users can apply to be part of your group. You will get an email informing you of the application and asking you to approve or disapprove.
• If you want your group to be unpublished, at least for the time being, go to "Advanced" and "Publishing options" and uncheck "Published". Under "Advanced" and "URL path settings" you can change the alias for your group, but I wouldn't advise to change the preselection because otherwise you will later get problems with your customised blocks. Also under "Advanced" you can chose the menu settings (you might not have the role to see this). Enter title and description for the menu and chose the parent item. If you leave the preselected "Navigation" the group will only show up in your personal block on the lower left side. Better is to chose "Groups" (the NOT indented entry far down!). Depending on the weight you set the item will be lower or higher in the Groups menu.
• Click on "Submit".

Your group is now establish under the alias: http://www.diptera.myspecies.info/content/groupname and all content you create within this group will have the alias http://www.diptera.myspecies.info/groupname/contenttitle

As long as you are on one of your groups pages a menu block titled with the name of your group will appear on the right hand side. If you create new content using this menu the new content will automatically belong to this group.

Tips:

• If you create content within a group the default
  is that this content will be visible only to the group members and not
  everybody. It is usually better to make your content public (under
  ‘Advanced' > ‘Groups' select your group AND select ‘Public') because
  only then will it be visible to people which are not logged in.
• You
  can have a different (higher) user role within a group than on the rest
  of the Scratchpad. Be aware that even though you might have for example
  a contributor role for a group this doesn't give you all the rights a
  user has which is contributor for the whole Scratchpad. For example you
  can't create a new group.