ZRA News
AZA Community Network: Replacement for the ZRA listserve
February 23, 2018 Hello Registrars:Thank you for your patience as the board addressed the issue of the listserve not working and finding a solution. Because AZA is no longer supporting the listserve function, we have switched to using the AZA Community Network platform which is accessible to all ZRA members. You do not need to be an AZA individual member to join our community network.
For non-AZA members, below are the instructions to access the site:
- Login at network.aza.org using the primary email and password “123” for your MyAZA account. You can change your password after you have registered.
- If you are already logged into your MyAZA account via www.aza.org, you can access the AZA Network from the left-hand navigation.
- If you have never visited the Network, you will be asked to Accept the terms of use.
JOIN COMMUNITIES…
Search “Zoological Registrars Association Members” and you will see a join button on the right. Post discussions by email or by logging in, upload resources in the library, search previous content shared and connect with peers that are also members of the community.
What other communities can I join?
- If you a registered user of the AZA Network,
regardless of member status, you have access to the OPEN communities.
- Registered users who are also individual AZA members in the professional categories (Associate, Affiliate, Fellow, and Student) have access to join additional communities.
- Registered users who are employees of AZA-accredited zoos, aquariums, and certified related facilities regardless of individual membership, are eligible to join still more communities.
- Additional special interest communities can be joined by contacting a moderator. Click on the link in the community description to email the moderator of your interest to join.
In addition to the special interest communities above, there are many communities associated with AZA Committees, working groups, animal programs, and task forces that you may already be a member of. These can be found by selecting “My Communities” in the top navigation.
START A DISCUSSION...
Once you are a member of a community, there are two ways to post a discussion:
- Just like AZA’s previous listservs, you can send a message directly from your email* to the community email address.
* This is always a “reply all” function. If you want to reply only to the individual posting, please click “Reply to Sender” link to the left of every message within the email.
- Log into the AZA Network, navigate to the community home, and post a message by clicking on “Add”. This is also where you can search previous discussions and files shared.
Here are a few other tips and tricks:
- Include a signature tag on all messages. Include your name, affiliation, location.
- State concisely and clearly the topic of your comments in the subject line. This allows members to scan and select quickly a posting of interest and makes it easier for members to search the archives by subject.
- Include only the relevant portions of the original message in your reply. Delete any header information, and put your response before the original posting.
- Only send a message to the entire list when it contains information that everyone can benefit from.
- Send messages such as "thanks for the information" or "me, too" to individuals--not to the entire list. Do this by using the "Reply to Sender" link to the left of every message.
- Do not send administrative messages, such as remove me from the list. Instead, use the web interface to change your settings or to remove yourself from a list. If you are changing e-mail addresses, you do not need to remove yourself from the list and rejoin under your new e-mail address. Simply contact our AZA Member Services department.
- Warn other list subscribers of lengthy messages either in the subject line or at the beginning of the message body with a line that says "Long Message."
The network community works fairly similar to the listserve but a great benefit is the search function for topics that have been discussed.
Many of us will be on a steep learning curve using this new communication tool but we will all learn together.
Once again, thanks for your patience.
Deanna Snell
Acting President
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