iConnect Upgrade Plans
ASIS&T staff and the Membership Committee recently conducted a member survey of iConnect, ASIS&T's online member community. This survey told us a few things:
- Not all members know about iConnect and its value.
- Many members aren’t aware of the features inherent to iConnect.
- It’s time for an iConnect upgrade that will make member engagement easier and more fulfilling.
To address these findings we are developing a two-pronged approach of education and upgrade.
EDUCATION
iConnect is ASIS&T’s secure platform for knowledge exchange, content curation, idea incubation, and professional networking.
This platform, which is provided by Higher Logic, is the top community engagement platform for associations and used by over 3,000 organizations worldwide including:
- American Library Association (ALA),
- Society of American Archivists (SAA)
- American Society of Association Executives (ASAE),
- American Society for Quality (ASQ), and
- ASIS International.
Members use iConnect in various ways to connect with other members. Open Forum is the home for all members to reach out and ask questions, provide answers, share information, and engage with their peers. Doing research? Let others know. Looking for research partners? Speak up.
Each special interest group (SIG), chapter, and committee has its own community where members can interact and share and store knowledge.
In future Weekly Roundups, we will be posting tips, tricks, and a “Did You Know” section about how to engage more successfully with your colleagues through iConnect. iConnect, like an ASIS&T membership, is one of those things in which the more you put into it the more you get out of it.
Even ASIS&T staff is in the process of learning and recently went to an exciting conference on the platform to better use it to its potential.
UPGRADE
Over the course of the next year we will upgrade the iConnect experience to evolve the functionality and relevance of the community and increase engagement experiences to include:
- A volunteer portal, where members can apply for open volunteer positions or nominate others.
- An updated look, including:
- Upgraded central feed that will show recent activity for all the communities you’re a member of, allowing you to Like posts directly from your feed. You'll also be able to see the number of replies on each post and follow posts that you’re interested in.
- My Communities quick navigation list and Followed Content list will be available on your homepage, making it even easier to keep up to date on what you’re most interested in.
- Mentor Match, will allow ASIS&T to better coordinate its current mentoring opportunities into a cohesive year round, online, mentoring program to promote professional development and networking
See a sneak peek of the work in progress on iConnect below!
Stay tuned for future announcements about the upgrade and how it fosters access, belonging, and community for ASIS&T members.