SDMS Discussion Forums

What are the SDMS Discussion Forums?

As an exclusive benefit of membership in SDMS, members can participate in the SDMS Discussion Forums, an area set aside on the SDMS web site for SDMS members throughout the world to discuss issues that affect their lives and careers. More than 30 forums are available for discussions on a wide range to topics. The SDMS Discussion Forums are fully searchable so you can easily see if anyone has previously posted questions/answers on a particular topic.

What are the benefits of a discussion forum over an email list server?

In the past, the SDMS has hosted an email list server (SDMS Sound Advice) and it has witnessed some lively discussions. However, it was based on older technology and did not offer some important features such as searchable archives, easy configuration, etc. The SDMS Discussion Forums replaces the SDMS Sound Advice list server and adds many new features to enhance the member’s experience:

1) The forums have a search capability that includes searching previous messages by word, topic, date, member name, and more.

2) The forums are archived so you can see what others have said about a topic.

3) It’s easier to have a private discussion with other members. Often, email list subscribers accidentally send email to everyone on the list rather than to the intended recipient. This can be quite embarrassing! With the SDMS Discussion Forums, you can email another member directly, hold discussions using various instant messaging tools, or use our simple online chat utility (with no software to install).

4) Because the discussions are separated into topic areas, you don’t have to review hundreds of messages on unrelated topics. In addition, with the built-in search capability, you can search across topic areas to see if anyone has posted something of interest in any of the topic areas.

5) It’s easier to view/understand the sequence (thread) of the discussion.

6) No one except you (and the system administrator – see acceptable use policy: Appendix B) can edit your messages.

7) The SDMS Discussion Forums are accessible anywhere in the world at anytime using a web browser.

8) You can bookmark messages for later review.

9) You can easily print an entire discussion thread.

10) You can display on the “active” topics to quickly review what has been posted in the past hour, day, week, etc.

11) You can email a friend with a link to a particular message.

12) The forums do not allow attachments to be posted so viruses cannot accidentally be sent to others.

What is required to use the SDMS Discussion Forums?

The SDMS Discussion Forums are provided as a member benefit and are available only to current members of the Society. The Discussion Forums are located in the members only area of the SDMS web site so access to the forums is restricted.

Prerequisites

To use the SDMS Discussion Forums, you will need:

Current membership in SDMS (you will need your SDMS member # and last name as it appears on your membership card).
A computer with Internet access (via dialup modem, DSL, cable modem, etc).
A valid email address is required.
a web browser (you must enable cookies) such as Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator/Communicator. We recommend you have a recent version to ensure compatibility with all the features of the SDMS Discussion Forums.
Printer (recommended)

What topics are discussed in the SDMS Discussion Forums?

That’s really up to you! There are currently more than 30 discussion areas in the SDMS Discussion Forums. Below you will find a listing of the currently available forums and a brief description of their purpose:

Education

· Educators
Discussion of educational issues, techniques, etc. for those involved in sonography education.

· National Certification Examinations
Discussion of how to prepare for National Certification Examinations.

· SDMS Educational Foundation
Discussion of the grants and award programs available to SDMS members.

· Students
Discussion of issues related to being a sonography student and pursuing a career in sonography.

· Ultrasound Practitioner
Discussions about efforts to establish Ultrasound Practitioner programs.

Other

· Career/Job Issues
Discussion of issues related to your job/career in sonography such as job descriptions, policies, salary negotiations. NO JOB ADS PLEASE!

· Government Affairs
Discussion of legislative and regulatory issues that impact sonographers.

· Musculoskeletal Injury (MSI)
Discussion of musculoskeletal injuries and their impact on sonographers.

· Reimbursement
Discussion of issues related to reimbursement.

· Research
Discussion of issues, techniques, etc related to research in diagnostic medical sonography.

· Veterinary Ultrasound
Discussion of issues related to provision of veterinary ultrasound.

SDMS Regions

· International
Discussions for SDMS members located outside the United States and Canada (including all other countries and US Military [AP,AA,AE]).

· Region 1
Discussions for SDMS members located in Region 1 [AK,CA,HI,ID,OR,NV,WA].

· Region 2
Discussions for members located in Region 2 [CO,MT,NE,ND,SD,UT,WY].

· Region 3
Discussions for SDMS members located in Region 3 [AR,AZ,KS,LA,NM,OK,TX].

· Region 4
Discussions for SDMS members located in Region 4 [IA,IL,IN,MN,MO,OH,MI,WI].

· Region 5
Discussions for SDMS members located in Region 5 [CT,DC,DE,MA,MD,ME,NH,NJ,NY,PA,RI,WV,VT].

· Region 6
Discussions for SDMS members located in Region 6 [AL,FL,GA,KY,MS,NC,SC,TN,VA].

· Region 7
Discussions for SDMS members located in Region 7 [Canada].

Specialty Content Areas

· Abdomen (AB)
Discussion of issues related to the Abdomen specialty.

· Adult Echocardiography (AE)
Discussion of issues related to the Adult Echocardiography specialty.

· Breast (BR)
Discussion of issues related to the Breast Ultrasound specialty.

· Cardiovascular Principles & Instrumentation (CPI)
Discussion of issues related to cardiovascular principles and instrumentation.

· Neurosonology (NE)
Discussion of issues related to the Neurosonology specialty.

· OB/GYN (OB)
Discussion of issues related to the Obstetric/Gynecology specialty.

· Pediatric Echocardiography (PE)
Discussion of issues related to the Pediatric Echocardiography specialty.

· Ultrasound Physics & Instrumentation (UPI)
Discussion of issues related to ultrasound physics and instrumentation.

· Vascular Principles & Instrumentation (VPI)
Discussion of issues related to vascular principles and instrumentation.

· Vascular Technology (VT)
Discussion of issues related to the Vascular Technology specialty.

Technical Support

Tips on using the SDMS Discussion Forums
Find/post tips on using the SDMS Discussion Forums

Additional forums may be added in the future. If you have suggestions, please send them to webmaster@sdms.org.

What are facilitators?

Members of the SDMS Board of Directors, various SDMS committees, and the SDMS staff have agreed to participate in each forum to assist with questions, facilitate discussions, and help find answers to your questions. The forums are not moderated so facilitators cannot edit/remove postings but we do reserve the right to remove postings that violate our SDMS Discussion Forums Acceptable Use Policy (Appendix B).

How do I access the SDMS Discussion Forums?

Step 1: Log in to the SDMS Members Only area

The SDMS Discussion Forums are located at: http://www.sdms.org/members/forums/

To begin using the SDMS Discussion Forums for the first time, you must first login to the SDMS Members only area (Figure 1).

We have added the option to check a box to have the web site “remember” you. With this option checked, a small file (a ‘cookie’) is written to your computer’s hard drive with your login information so that the next time you visit our site, you are not prompted for the login information and are taken straight to the page you requested. It saves time! The cookie will expire when your membership expires so be sure to renew your membership!

Note: You should not select this option if you share a computer with other users (i.e., at work). If you do, others may be able to logon as you and access your SDMS records (i.e., CME Transcript, member information, etc).

Instructions

SDMS Member #: Enter your six-digit SDMS member number. Be sure to include any leading zeros.

Last Name: Enter your last name as it appears on your membership card.

Email Address: Enter a valid email address.

Remember me: Check this checkbox if you want to be automatically logged into the Members Only area in the future.

If you encounter problems, click one of the links provided for more information.

Figure 1. Login to the SDMS Members Only area

Step 2: Register to use the SDMS Discussion Forums

You do not have to register for the SDMS Discussion Forums to search or view the messages there. However, if you want to reply or post a question or comment, you must be registered and logged in (this is a separate login system from the Members Only login previously completed).

To participate in the SDMS Discussion Forums you must register by creating a “user name” (which will appear on all messages) and a password. You must also provide a VALID email address. The user name and email address must be unique (no one else can use the same user name or email address). You should also provide your first and last name. You can then provide as much other personal information as you like (signature block, credentials, bio, favorite web sites, Yahoo/AOL instant messaging information, etc). This information will be displayed when other SDMS members view your profile (see Figure 2).

Note: Although the software allows you to add a picture to your profile, we do not support uploading files to the SDMS Discussion Forums. However, if your photo is stored on another web site, you can type the URL in the “Picture URL” field and it will be displayed whenever your profile is displayed. The best image size is 150 x 150 pixels (all other sizes will be resized to 150 x 150 and could appear distorted).

Also, when registering, you will be required to read and agree to our SDMS Discussion Forums Acceptable Use Policy (Appendix A). We reserve the right to remove any posting and to remove any SDMS member from the SDMS Discussion Forums for violations of the acceptable use policy.

Figure 2. Discussion Forum Member Profile

Step 3: Log in to the SDMS Discussion Forums

To login to the SDMS Discussion Forums, you must provide your username and password. These are different than what you used to login to the SDMS website’s Members Only area.

An option is provided to allow you to save your username and password so you don’t have to login each time you use the SDMS Discussion Forums. Just check the checkbox and you won’t have to login in the future (Figure 3).

If you have forgotten your password, you can click the “Forgot your Password” link. You must provide the email address used when you registered for the SDMS Discussion Forums. Your password will be emailed to you.

Figure 3. Login to the SDMS Discussion Forums

How do I post a message to a forum?

The Discussion Forums are predefined by SDMS and cannot be changed by users. There are three types of messages that can be posted in the SDMS Discussion Forums:

1) New Topic: You are the first to post the topic. Once posted, the topic cannot be deleted.

2) Reply: A reply is submitted in response to an existing topic. You can edit/delete your reply at any time.

3) Reply with quote: A reply is submitted in response to an existing topic and the previous person’s message is included within your post. You can edit/delete your reply at any time.

To submit a message, click the New Topic icon or link located at the top and bottom of the forum page in the Discussion Forum where you want to post the message:

The message editor is displayed (Figure 4). Depending on your computer’s screen resolution (640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, etc), you can adjust the screen size to give yourself more room to type your message.

If you have not yet logged in with your Discussion Forum username and password, you must provide it here or you will not be able to submit your message. If you have already logged in the UserName and Password fields do not appear.

Figure 4. Message editor

Creating A Message

The SDMS Discussion Forums allow you to use a series of codes to emphasize or change your message. This includes formatting with different font faces, different sizes and colors, hyperlinks to other web sites, links to email addresses, etc. All codes are based on a “beginning tag” and an “ending tag” similar to HTML (but for security reasons, HTML is not permitted). For example, to bold some text in your message, type:

[b]my text is bold[/b] ð my text is bold

[url]http://www.sdms.org[/url] ð http://www.sdms.org

Figure 5. Message format options

The Format options (Figure 5) provides you with buttons to easily insert the proper codes in the message editor. The buttons include:

1) Bold

2) Italic

3) Underline

4) Center

5) URL hyperlink

6) Mailto (for email addresses)

7) Images (not permitted in the SDMS Discussion Forums)

8) Code (not applicable - intended for displaying programming code)

9) Quote

10) List (create bullet lists)

11) Smiley faces*

12) Font name

13) Font size

14) Font color

Note: Depending on the type/version of browser used, you may experience problems when using the format buttons/options (format, font, color). The tags may be inserted at end of the message box instead of where you expect. You can copy/paste or simply type the tags where they belong (around the text you want to format). We are looking for a fix for this problem.

*You've probably seen others use smileys (or ‘emoticons’) before in email messages. Smileys are keyboard characters used to convey an emotion, such as a smile :) -- The SDMS Discussion Forums take this one step further by automatically converting certain text to a graphic smiley when it is inserted between brackets [].

Figure 6. Smileys supported in messages.

For more information on the codes that are available for your use, please refer to the online FAQ in the SDMS Discussion Forums.

When specifying a subject for your message, be sure you are concise and accurate as the subject is often used when browsing topics. It’s important that the subject accurately reflect the discussion.

Enter your message in the message box. If you would like to be notified whenever someone replies to your topic, check the checkbox.

When done, click the “Post New Topic” button. Your message will be added to the forum.

Editing a Message

You can later edit your original message but a notation is appended to your post indicating when you edited it. If you edit a message more than once, multiple “edited by” notations will appear (although you can delete all but the latest).

Figure 7. Editing a message

When done editing, click the “Post Changes” button to submit the changes.

Figure 8. Edited message

Deleting a Message

You can delete a reply only if you are the author. You cannot delete a topic once posted (i.e., first poster of a topic). If you need a topic deleted, contact webmaster@sdms.org

Can I be notified of new postings to the SDMS Discussion Forums?

Unlike a traditional list server (i.e., SDMS Sound Advice) where list subscribers receive email messages each and every time someone posts a message, the SDMS Discussion Forums provide members with greater control to determine which topics or messages they would like to see. A list server delivers the messages to your email inbox with no regard to which topics you are interested in. When using the SDMS Discussion Forums, you have two email options, notification and subscription.

Notification

When you post a message to the SDMS Discussion Forums, you can choose to be notified by email whenever anyone replies to the topic (Figure 9). This is called a “Notification”. At any time, you can choose to remove the notifications from one or all of your posted messages (see “Cancel Notifications” at the top of each page). When you ask to be notified, you will be sent an email message telling you that a reply has been posted along with a link to the SDMS Discussion Forum where you can find the reply.

Figure 9. Notification via email of replies

To cancel Notifications, click the “Cancel Notifications” link at the top of each page. All messages to which you requested email notification will be displayed. Check the Delete checkbox on each that you wish to cancel and click the “Delete Selected Requests”.

Figure 10. Topic notification cancellation

Subscription

By checking a “Subscribe” checkbox, you can choose to be alerted via email whenever someone posts a message to a forum or even a particular topic within a forum (Figure 5). At any time, you can choose to remove subscriptions by unchecking the “Subscribe” box.

Note: It is possible to subscribe to a forum AND a topic within a forum…this can lead to duplicate notifications. Only subscribe at the forum level or at the topic level but not both.

Figure 11. Subscribe to forums

Using Bookmarks

You can bookmark any topic by clicking the bookmark link at the top or bottom of each page:

Bookmark this topic

To display your bookmarks, click the “My Bookmarks” link at the top of each page. It will display the list of bookmarks. You can click on the bookmark and you will be taken to that discussion topic. Or if you want to delete the bookmark, check the Delete checkbox and click the “Delete Selected Bookmarks” button (Figure 6). Note: Deleting a bookmark does NOT delete the message from the discussion forum.

Figure 12. Review or delete bookmarks

Sharing by email or print

Send Topic to a Friend

When viewing a topic, you can click the “Send Topic to a Friend” link and a popup window (Figure 13) will allow you to create an email to send to a friend/colleague. Note, however, unless they are SDMS members, they will not be able to access the SDMS Discussion Forums – encourage them to join!

Figure 13. Send Topic to Friend

How do I search for information or limit the number of messages displayed?

Multipage Display

If more than 15 messages have been posted in a topic, multiple pages are created and links to each page appear on the top and bottom of each page:

There are also a number of methods available to allow you to filter the messages posted to the SDMS Discussion Forums.

Search

Select the “Search” link at the top of any forum page and then enter a search phrase. You can limit your search to a certain forum, the entire message or just the subject, any date, or by the member who posted the message.

Figure 14. Forum search options

Our search page also includes an easy link to more than a dozen web search engines (Figure 15).

Figure 15. Web search options

Active Topics

Click on the “Active Topics” link at the top of any forum page and only messages posted (in any of the forums) since your last visit will be shown. You can change this to include only those in the last hour, one day ago, etc. (Figure 16).

Figure 16. Active Topics

Show Topics From…

You can display all topics from the past day or past XX days by selecting an option from the drop-down list (Figure 17). You can also choose whether you want (and how frequently) the page to automatically refresh (thus showing any new messages).

Figure 17. Show Topics/Refresh

How do I get additional help with the SDMS Discussion Forums?

There is an FAQ link at the top of each page. You will also find a forum dedicated to “tips and tricks” on using the discussion forums. Also, facilitators are available in each forum so ask your question in the appropriate forum. And finally, if you still have questions, send them to webmaster@sdms.org.