Purpose of the Connections Page

The Connections Page represents sumApp’s core functionality. It was designed to enable members to:

• Easily identify other members by their faces, segments, and brief bio descriptions.
• Easily narrow down a long list to find their most likely connections.
• Find specific members they already know are in the list.
• Focus on the most-recently added members.
• Easily see how they’ve ‘ranked’ their connection to other members.
• Easily see which members they’ve not yet identified a connection to.

All of which serve the ultimate goal of enabling them show their relationships on the map in Kumu, and to keep the map as up-to-date as possible with as little effort as possible.

There are three sumApp Admin areas that help define the Connections Page context. They include Setup > Define connection options, Setup > Settings, and for the custom survey filter Setup > Create Survey.

Features of the Connections Page

Top of Connections Page

Features designed to make it easy for members to find other members and limit the total population of members shown by various variables. Includes:

1) Project Name – defined when project was created. Can be changed in Setup > Settings.

2) Member View Navigation Bar. Member can skip forward or backward through the app to whichever page they want to see. Bio tab is editable in Tier IV, in Setup > Settings

3) ‘Hello Text’. Editable in Setup > Settings.

4) If the member has already shared connections in the connections page, the blue info bar at the top tells them how many they’ve shared (shows at top and bottom of page).

5) Connections page title – Editable in Setup > Settings.

6) Features for sorting, filtering and searching the member list:

Body of Connections Page

7) The member tiles themselves.

• Every member in the member list shows in the member tiles.
• Each tile shows a single member’s name, photo/gravatar (if loaded), segment, brief bio, and connected-to status. (see more about member tiles below)
• Tiles will be sorted and/or filtered based on selections made at the top of the page.
• Tiles are used by the member to identify other network members and, once identified, to indicate how well they know that person.
• Each person reports on their own sense of the relationship.
  • The other member doesn’t have to ‘accept’ the connection, or rate the connection at the same level.
  • Discrepancies should be expected and can be used to explore differing perspectives.
• When more members are added to the list, the default order is for the new names to show at the top. Members can sort on ‘recent’ to return the newest to the top if the order has been rearranged.
• Once a member has shared their connections to other members, that data remains in the database. When it’s time to refresh the map, they simply need to go in and make changes – they aren’t required to start all over again.

Bottom of Connections Page

4) If the member has already shared connections in the connections page, the blue info bar at the top tells them how many they’ve shared (shows at top and bottom of page).

8) Back buttons (top and bottom of page) – moves back a page.
9) Finish button (top and bottom of page) – moves to the ‘Thank You’ page editable in Setup > Settings.

Sorting, Searching, and Filtering on the Connections Page

The top of the Connections Page includes the following features for simplifying the connection-input process:

1) ‘Recent’ Sort Button. Sort the tiles by the chronological order in which they were added to the member list . (toggles back and forth from most recent to least recent). Returning members can sort on the ‘Recent’ button to only view the newest members and not go through entire population each time they return.

2) By connection ranking. Members can sort the member tiles based on how they’ve already ranked them. This enables them to review those they’ve not yet ranked, and to quickly identify members whose rank has changed, so they can update them.

3) By first name, alphabetized.

4) By ‘segment’, alphabetized.

5) Survey-Based Filter drop-down that enables your user so filter the member lists based on responses to a chosen question. Tier IV only. More info.

6) Segment Filter – Drop-down for filtering based on ‘segment’. Read more about segments.
7) Search field – search on member’s names.

Anatomy of a Member Tile

Front of Tile

Member tiles are meant to further help make it easy for your members to manage their connections.

1) It’s hard to tell in this image, but tiles which the member has already reported on are greyed out compared to other tiles. The idea is for the brighter images to draw the eye’s attention. Once reported on, we want to reduce the distraction of it.

2) The green number at upper left corner of a tile says which option was chosen for that member.

3) The green check mark in the upper right of a tile indicates that a response has been made regarding this member.

4) The member’s name shows below the photo. If you have 2 different members with the same name, this isn’t a problem for sumApp, and the photo, segment, and brief bio are meant to help others distinguish one from the other. Members and their emails are loaded by the sumApp administrator via the ‘Add Members’ page in ‘set-up’.

5) The segment the member belongs to (can only be one segment per member. The segment label is defined when adding members to the member list and is only intended for the purpose of filtering the the member tiles, but it will also flow into Kumu and can be used for filtering, clustering, decorating there as well. More about segments.

6) The brief bio, input by other members on their own Bio pages.

Opened Tile

Clicking or tapping on a member tile opens it up for responses to the connection option questions. The possible connection options depends on which Tier the project is in.

Tiers I & II  – Single Mode Connection Option

Tiers I & II have a single connection mode.There is a single list of options and only one can be chosen from the list. We call this a ‘ranking’ question because the options should be in order of increasing strength.

An opened up single-mode connection tile contains:

1) Member picture – loaded by member on Bio page.

2) Member name – editable in  Launch > Manage Members.

3) Segment – editable in Launch > Manage Members.

4) Member brief bio – submitted by member on Bio page.

5) Connections modal title – editable in Setup > Settings.

6) Connection options – editable in Set up > Define Connection Options. (Tiers I & II)

7) Clear button – member can remove responses.

8) Save button – saves response and closes the pop-up tile.

Tiers III & IV – Multi-Modal Connections

An opened up multi-mode connection tile contains:

1) Member picture – loaded by member on Bio page.

2) Member name – editable in Launch > Manage Members..

3) Segment – editable inLaunch > Manage Members.

4) Member brief bio – submitted by member on Bio page.

5) Connections modal title – editable in Setup > Settings.

6) Connection options – editable in Set up > Define Connection Options. (Tiers III & IV). The multi-modal connection option editor is very similar to the survey builder. You can use as many questions as desired, and have multiple field types to choose from.

7) Clear button – member can remove responses.

8) Save button – saves response and closes the pop-up tile.