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Springwood Bushwalking Club Inc. PO Box 126 Springwood NSW 2777

www.springwoodbushwalker.org.au

USING THE SPRINGWOOD BUSHWALKER WEBSITE

Using the Springwood Bushwalker Website

The purpose of this document is to help members, especially new members, make best use of the club website. Unless you have systematically looked over the website, be prepared to be pleasantly surprised to see features you may not have been aware of.

The website is divided into a public area and a private area. The private area is members only. It includes the preferred method for members to book onto walks. This saves leaders work populating the form, provides a list of who has booked to the committee if the party is delayed and is useful for record keeping.

The private area also has a section for committee members and is designed to help run the club. It is visible only to office holders and committee members so is not further included.

This document is updated from time to time when significant changes or additions are made.

Navigation Note It is important to understand that each of the boxes in the column on the left provides a different sub-menu along the top of the screen.

In other words, if you press one of the buttons down the left side it gives you a new set of menu options along the top.

The following pages outline the main characteristics and functionality of two of the areas on the website:

• Public Area • Members Area

There is a third area on the website that is reserved for the use of Committee members.

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Public Area

This is what you see when you first go to the club website.

The home screen contains general information about the club. It is worth spending some time looking around the public area.

Bushwalking The bushwalking screen is mostly about links to useful bushwalking sites

How to join outlines membership and joining conditions. No doubt you have already been there.

Walks The walks screen shows the program less leader and booking details. It records all walks recorded in the club data base since about 2008. It is a useful way of finding past walks and getting ideas for future walks (eg by season). It also demonstrates how active the club is. Leader names are left off to encourage people to become members, rather than strangers expecting to be able to join the walk. Similarly meeting places and times are not included in the activity description.

Members information This provides the most important documents for club members to be familiar with, especially best practices for our various types of activities. This is definitely worth a look.

Leaders This section is about procedures for putting walks on the program and what to do in an emergency. Also worth reading - even if you are not a leader.

Emergency Info Be familiar with this page and please show to whom-ever will be concerned if you don’t get back in time. This gives them club emergency contacts and an indication of what will be done

Site map A guide and a quick way to hopefully find information in the public area

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Members Area

What can be done in the members area The members area is far more interesting than the public area. After successfully logging in you can:

• Book onto walks • Look up other member contact details • Look up committee member contact details • Borrow books from the library • Borrow maps from the library • Search what walks have been on • Download club newsletters from 1997 onwards • Add a walk to the program (leaders) • Get a calendar summary of activities • Edit your walks and change who is on the walk (leaders) • See the details of walks you have booked on both in the past and the future • Search for walks put on by a particular leader

It is worth exploring these areas using the navigation buttons once you are logged in. The buttons on the left control the menus along the top row.

Logging in To log in use the email address you used on your club application form as your user name. You should have a membership number from our membership secretary. This was given to you after you paid your fees. Hint: So that you don’t lose it, put your membership number and email in your address book or contacts list.

Figure1:Memberloginscreen.Login.Yourmembershipnumberisyourpassword

Or you can request your log in details- which will go to the email address you provided. Hit the go button.

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Members area Home screen BookingawalkLogging in should take you directly to the member’s (whats on) home screen where you will see all the current activities. Activities in grey text have not yet been approved but everything else can be booked.

Figure2MembersHomescreen.Panupanddowntofindinterestingactivities

Check the walk grade first. This is in bold letters after the name of the activity. There should be more information in the description. (we recommend starting on easy or easy-medium grade walks first because bushwalking grades are often harder than many expect).

If the walk suites you then simply click the request to join walk button. This will take you to the screen shown in figure 3.

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Figure3Bookinganactivity

At this point if your partner is also a member, then you can also book them on by clicking the box next to their name.

The leader is a volunteer and is actually doing you a favour putting a walk on that is of interest to you. It is therefore polite to ask, rather than demand, to be included on the walk.

If you are a prospective and/or have not walked with the leader before, then it is useful to point out here that you are a prospective. Also take the opportunity to briefly outline your fitness and bushwalking experience such as the last walk of that grade, or higher, that you did and how long ago. You might also ask the leader if they want you to phone them. Some leaders like to have a discussion to assess your fitness for the walk. If you are not known by the leader you may also expect some further questions. They are just trying to ascertain if you are sufficiently fit and experienced for you and others to enjoy the whole trip.

Note: When you book a walk this is really sending an email to the leader asking if you can go on the walk. It is NOT a solid booking but a request to register or expression of interest. You might not be able to be included because the limit is reached. Either way expect an email from the leader with more information. Sometimes this is just a terse meeting time and place or it might be more comprehensive. If you have not had a response from the leader, say after a day or two, then try contacting the leader again. Our members are often travelling or there may have been a glitch. This is one of the reasons why it is good to book early.

When you book using the web site it also populates the club database. This is useful if there is an emergency call out as emergency contacts in the club, and committee members can access that information. It is also good for club statistics, for example our annual insurance reporting. Also the leader can easily cut and paste email addresses of those who have booked on and so email the same walk details to all participants – ensuring everyone gets the same message. Hint: when you get this email it is a good idea to forward it to whomever will be concerned if there is a delay for you getting home. This is why it is best to book using the club web site.

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Be aware nothing happens until the button at the bottom right to email the leader is pressed.

The number of people registered is given along the bottom. It can be compared against the limit number in the description.

Update my details You can change your log in email address and update other details here. It is a good idea to check this is complete and correct when you log in for the first time. It must also be updated when you renew your membership.

There is a button here to turn on or off getting short notice and very short notice emails as well as a bulletin which is usually despatched on Sunday evenings.

Membership list This shows members alphabetically by surname and their phone numbers and email addresses. You can opt out of being shown on this list. The default is opt in.

Committee list Contact details for committee members. If you have an issue or a question then please ask a committee member.

Borrowing books and maps The list of maps and books is extensive. Only the first 80 or so are shown at any one time. It is worth searching to see an updated list.

Program tab:

Calendar This is a summary of what activities the club is offering on a particular day. It is mostly useful for leaders planning walks to help ensure sufficient participants but can also be useful as a quick what’s on view to plan which walks to participate in. See figure 4.

Figure4Exampleofthecalendar

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Search for Walks Here you can see which walks were listed for any particular time-period. This is very useful for leaders planning walks, or for participants to see what sorts of walks are likely to be put on at any particular time of year.

A second feature allows you to search for content within walks. This is useful for place names, especially if you want to talk to a leader who has already been to the place of interest. See figure 5.

Figure5AsearchforwalksfeaturingNumantiafallsfrom2008

Newsletters Every copy of our newsletter from 2009 is available for download. At the bottom of the list is our current newsletter.

My Walks tab:

Add a walk The my walks tab goes straight to the add a walk form – the recommended way for leaders to put walks on the program.

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Club Walks This goes to the pre-approved walks list. You can search for a walk here which has been pre-approved by the committee. If you are a leader and are confident to lead this walk you can put it instantly on the program and all members who have opted in for emails of walks notices will automatically get an email of the walk. In this way walks can be put on at very short notice – for instance the night before a suitable weather forecast. This facility is new and may have bugs. See figure 6.

Figure6Pre-approvedshortnoticewalks.Thesewalksaregoodtogo.Theyjustneedacompetentleader

Calendar The same summary in calendar view as described above.

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Edit Walks This displays a listing of walks that you have booked onto or that you are leading. The default is from the current month but it is possible to choose an earlier time, or to search for a particular word. Hint: it is best to use both. (Most records date from 2009, so that is often a good starting place). It is similar to the my walks area but is mostly intended to help leaders and is a bit more flexible.

The edit walks area, like the my walks area, is a great place to remember the walks you have been on and to refresh your memory of walks which are coming up that you may have forgotten you have booked on. See figure 7.

For leaders if you want to put a walk on again using the clone this activity takes you to a pre-populated add this walk form. All you really have to do is to add the date. Note: there are some bugs in clone activity at time of publication.

Figure7Editmyactivities.Providesalistofupto100ofyourlastleadactivities

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Booked Walks This shows you the next ten activities you are participating in or are leading. See figure 8. It is useful for getting your act together. What date was that walk which I booked on at Wentworth Falls?

Figure8ScreenshotoffuturewalksIhavebookedon

Member Walks Simply enter a date and your membership number and you will get a count and a listing of the walks you have been on since that date.

There is also a site map of the members area and a facility to log out.

If you do not log out the system will log you out after a while.

The future Thanks to the efforts of our webmaster, Springwood Bushwalking Club arguably now has the best website of any bushwalking club in Australia. The main purpose of the website is to make it easier for members to go walking and to walk safely.

The committee hopes to keep gradually improving the website so that it makes it easier for people to get outside and lead and participate in club activities.

This is a living document. As the website grows and new features are added, then hopefully this document will periodically be updated to reflect the changes.

If you have any great ideas, interesting suggestions or feedback, there is a facility in the public area to send comments or suggestions. Or just talk to a committee member – especially our webmaster Jeanette.

Happy Walking