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Q: What is the difference between the myBrandeis calendar and Netscape/CS&T Calendar?
A: This calendar (myBrandeis) is designed to publish public events. While you can maintain a private personal calendar, it is primarily intended for a global audience.
Netscape
Calendar/CS&T Corporate Time is the supported solution for scheduling meetings and personal agendas. Unlike this public web calendar, it supports departmental scheduling, invitations to meetings, and resource reservations.
It is (unfortunately still) an entirely different system. Staff may request a Netscape
Calendar/CS&T Corporate Time calendar account here.
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Q: Where can I get a concise academic calendar?
A: You can use "types" within this calendar to get information on academic calendar items this month, or view the full academic calendar on the registrar's site.
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Q: How do I book a room or other resource for an event?
A: All this calendar does is publicize events you've
already finished planning. For help with event planning, see the Student Union, Student Events, or (for staff/faculty) Conference and Event Services.
To reserve TV/VCR/computing equipment for instructional purposes, contact CIMTech.
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Q: How do I add/suggest a new calendar item?
A:
- First double check to make sure your item has not already been added
- Then, the simplest way to add a new calendar item is to go to the calendar page.
- From there, select Add calendar item at the top of the page. You will be taken to a page with a form that you have to fill out.
If you do not see an add an item link it is probably because you are not logged in, login and then you should see the add item link.
- Be sure to select ALL the sponsors of the event, the location and the type
- Provide a clear description of the event
- When you are done, click on the "Add Item" button.
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Q: Why are calendar items approved?
A: Calendar items are not displayed in the campus calendar until they are approved by the calendar administrators. This is not a form of censorship - it is a form of quality control. Most (90%) entries get approved directly, requiring no change after proofreading. Sometimes, however, submissions are incomplete, missing location, time, or even a description. Because the calendar feeds so many areas (the Reporter, the Shapiro Info Booth TV, club center, and departmental websites), we need the listings to be as complete as possible.
Items are approved within 24 hours. This timeline should be ample, given that event posting ought to be done well in advance of the actual event date.
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Q: How do I add a calendar item that runs past midnight? It complains "start time must be before end time."
A: Enter the Start Time (such as 10:00 pm) and specify Duration: 240 minutes (or whatever). It will do the right thing.
If it's an all-day sort of thing, you can click the "No time" box instead. See any holiday for an example.
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Q: Why do I have to have a start time and end time?
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Why can't I just enter a start time? I don't know the ending time of the event!
A: The calendar system works in a day planner format. In order for the system to block out a time for an event, it must know both start and end times. If you don't know the actual end time of your event, approximate. People would rather know roughly how long an event is than not know at all.
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Q: Why are there only a few types?
A: The types serve to organize and categorize the calendar listings. These are used to search the database for similar events, and present custom views. To be effective, the types have to be limited to a number fewer than 20. Some grouping must obviously take place. Besides, how different is a forum from a colloquium, a symposium, a discussion, or info. session? The event title or description can call it whatever you want; the type should be limited.
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Q: What is a type?
A: A type is a category for a listing. It allows for grouping of similar items for the list view and for the customized views.
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Q: How do I view a calendar item?
A: Use the small calendar on the top left hand side of the screen to navigate to the day, week, month, or year that you are interested in. You should see a list of all events that are happening during that time on the right hand side of the screen. (Unless you are in the year view, in this case you will see a list of months). Click on the title of the event that you are interested in to see more details.
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Q: How should I enter an athletics event?
A: The best method for posting an athletics event is to:
- list the title with gender and team name (e.g., Men's Basketball)
- use possesive (include apostrophe)
- in description, place the team name of the opponent. (e.g., "vs. Babson College"). Do not include "@ Brandeis" or "home".
- include Building. "Gosman" for indoor events, "Athletic Fields" for outdoor events. This may be obvious to many, but remember this calendar is for outside visitors, and the location links to the map.
Be sure to list event start time and end time
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Q: How do I edit a calendar item?
A:
Only the original creator of the item (and Calendar Administrators) can edit an item.
If you created the item, do the following: Use the small calendar on the top left hand side of the screen to navigate to the day, week, month, or year that you are interested in. You should see a list of all events that are happening during that time on the right hand side of the screen. Click on the title of the event that you are interested in to see more details.
If you have permission to edit the calendar item, a link will appear at the top left of the description saying [edit]. It will take you to a form where you can change the values as appropriate. When you are done, click "Update Item".
Sometimes multiple people submit an item; only one listing will be approved. If you were not the creator of the item, or if you notice some egregious error, you should contact webservices@brandeis.edu
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Q: I created a calendar item, but it's disappeared.
A: There can be several explanations for this:
- The item has not been approved yet: before a calendar item appears on a group calendar, the group administrator must approve it. Just wait a bit and give it time. Or contact that calendar's administrator.
- You are using types filtering: Go to the calendar page. At the bottom of the screen on the left hand side you will see a form with all of your calendars, with checkboxes next to event types. It could be that the event you are looking for is of a type that you are filtering out. Make sure the checkbox corresponding to the event's type is selected. Or, try selecting all checkboxes, in case the event was miscategorized. Then click on the "GO" button.
- Wrong date: Are you sure you are looking at the right day / week / month / year ?
- The calendar item was deleted by another user: sorry, it happens. Most likely the calendar administrator thought it was inappropriate or was already posted by someone else. This is a public calendar, so duplication / editing must take place to maintain clarity and accuracy.
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Q: How do I add links to my listing?
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How do I enhance my listing?
A: Listings should be as detailed as possible. Sometimes you have an event that is part of an ongoing series. Be sure to state "part of the Film Studies Summer 2002 Festival".
If you have an event that has an associated web page, be sure to include the URL. Simply add a line like:
"learn more about the film series at the <a href="http://www.brandeis.edu/das/">Festival site</a>".
Be sure to check the option at the bottom of the listing entry, "entry is HTML". You'll also have to modify your entry slightly and preceed each paragraph with the HTML <P> tag.
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