How to Get Started Using culturecloud

1. First Join
2. Next form your cloud by going to your Portfolio
   • From your Portfolio, click on the "personal information" link
   • Create a short bio if you want
   • Select up to 5 "ID Tags" to be included in your personal cloud–words or phrases that provide a great sense of you (e.g., writer, gardener, blues, NYC)
   • Upload a photo if you want
   • Click "save your settings"
   • Anytime you want to make a change to your ID Tags or Bio from your Portfolio click on the "personal information" link
3. Start adding content by going to your Notebook
   • From your Portfolio click on Notebook or click on "add you ideas" from all topic pages.
   • Select the type of content. Is it a writing, an image or a list?
   • Categorize your work
     • Use the pull down menus to select the category that best applies to your work.
   • Give your content a title
   • Enter your writing, image or list
     • For writing you can either enter it in your normal word processing program and cut and paste it into the provided space or just type directly into the provided space
     • For an image
       • You have the option of providing some introductory text to describe your photo collection
       • Upload your image(s) by first clicking on browse to find the image file you want to upload. Once you’ve found desired image "click add this image"
       • You then have the option to provide a caption for individual images in your photo
     • For a list enter the items that make up your list (e.g., your favorite authors, books, pinot noirs, etc) in the provided fields.
   • Tag your work
     • Add up to 2 main topic tags (the terms most related to what you wrote). Good uses of main topic tags are the titles of created works such as books, films, songs, albums; the creators of those works such as authors, composers, performers, directors; places; things etc.
     • Add up to 5 related tags that branch out and let people in on all the connected ideas your work is about. Good uses of related tags are themes (e.g., ethics, redemption, man vs. nature, tradition vs. progress), subject matter (government and the arts; public health, new gadgets, the diving off Bonaire), works that might be related such as another work by the same author/compose/band).
   • Publish your work
     • Click Publish and your work will be added to your profile and to the rest of culturecloud.
     • If you’re not quite ready to Publish you can save your work as a draft to finish it later.
     • You can also decide if you would like your work to be considered to be a staff pick. We have a small staff so we’ll do our best to review all submissions.
4. Anytime you want to edit or delete work you’ve already posted or work on articles you’ve saved, just click on Manage Input from your Notebook.
5. Create the "favorites" section of your profile.
   • As you find things of interest on the site (see below) simply select the option to "add to my favorites" located in the area with the name of the member, topic or article. This will automatically add the selected item to the "Favorites" view of your profile.
6. Search for topics of interest
     There are a number of ways to find topics you’re interested in
   1. Check out The Daily Cloud on the Homepage
      • The Daily Cloud shows what the most talked about topics are on culturecloud
   2. Use Search
      • Just enter something into the search field and click the arrow. You can use search to find content about a topic of interest or to find a specific member of culturecloud. Be as specific as you like.  For instance, you can search for people who are into German movies before WW2, or the one member who told you about Emil Jannings.
      • If you want to narrow it down further use advanced search
        • An advanced search will let you filter in a number of ways including by category, article type, and others
      • The search results will show
        • cloudmembers—people who have written about the searched term
        • a tag cloud of all the topics related to the searched term. Just click on any of these to go to that topic page
        • a list of members whose username matches the searched term.
        • a list of content related to the searched term
      • If you don’t find anything why don’t you start a conversation yourself by creating content and tagging it with the term you searched
   3. Click on Zeitgeist
      • The Zeitgeist, which is located in the header of every page on culturecloud, is where you’ll find a number of ways to discover the content and people on culturecloud. From the top-rated, to the most contentious, to the undiscovered - it’s all there in The Zeitgeist.
   4. Use category navigation
      • Near the top of every page there is a category strip that organizes the content on culturecloud by broad categories such as Books, Arts and Entertainment, and Socio-Political. Just click and use the drop down lists to hone in on whatever neighborhood you choose. You’ll see the familiar tag clouds on every page pointing to related topics you may find interesting.
7. Find people you might like
   • On all topic pages there are cloudmember clouds that show the people most interested in that topic.
   • You can also check out the "Favorites" area of anyone’s profile to find the people other member s found interesting
   • CC highlights Thought Provokers on the home page, which is the place where someone’s turn of phrase, or startling image made us stop and pay attention.
   • Just about anytime you see a username you can roll-over with your mouse to get a snippet of their personal cloud— an easy way to find out what someone is about, and what they like.
8. Build your cloud over time
   • Your Personal Cloud reflects the things you’re interested in. As you’re out doing the things you love, you're also thinking about the things that matter - so bring all those experiences and ideas to your cloud. When you read a book that makes you think, or go to a performance that challenged your views, or have an opinion that you simply must share - all of these, and more, are moments to put something straight into your cloud. Because the more you add to it, you'll discover the secret of culturecloud: the wisdom of daily life is our fuel.
   • Participate in Conversation Starters. They’re an easy way to join in a conversation. Conversation starters are topics that the staff of culturecloud initiates by posing a question on the homepage. You can go to any of these and join the conversation. You can find a new one everyday on the Homepage or you can go to Zeitgeist to join in conversations that have already started to find one that interests you. Everything really is connected.
9. Have fun