ON THE USE OF THE WEB PORTAL

ON THE USE OF THE WEB PORTAL

15. How the content is organised
All the information on the website is organised according to its nature:

•  The content tree is structured as a book, with chapters and pages. It is a comprehensive guide to the Campaign, it is regularly updated and expanded. Before asking questions on the forum or sending an e-mail to the Campaign Secretariat it is an excellent idea to browse through it in order to see if the information you are looking for is already available online.
• The Forums are the main place for debate and exchange of ideas between all the actors involved in the campaign, from the decision making body to the occasional visitor of the website. We very much encourage you to post comments and ideas there. At times a thought or an idea which you might not find particularly interesting can generate an entire new project!
• The Events are all the activities happening in the framework of the Campaign. When you register an event (such as the launching event of the Campaign in your country, a training course, a music festival, etc...) you are requested to insert their start and finish dates. This way the event will be displayed on the Campaign calendar.
• The Polls are a quick tool for the management bodies of the Campaign to discover what you think about certain issues or to acquire Campaigners' preference on certain issues. Our Polls have no pretence of being a scientific research tool, they are more just a way for the Campaigners to interact.

16. How not to get lost in the amount of information
At this moment we provide 3 tools that can be of some use in order to find the information you need and to follow the various discussions happening online.

• Recent Stuff is a page where all the material uploaded on the site is listed in inverted chronological order (the most recent contribution is listed first). All the contents (content tree pages, polls, blog entries...) are listed together here. This page has also a RSS/ATOM field (see "Powertricks" section).
• The Search Engine allows you to make text searches on the entire website. The search mechanism works like Google, Yahoo or any other search engine you might use for finding pages on the Internet. The search box is available all the time both in the left menu and in the upper right corner of the website.
• The Subscribe Option allows you (if you are logged in) to receive notifications of comments or replies to given pages. The option is generally available at the bottom of each page

17. The different sections of the website

• The different sections of the website (enjoy, take action, policy-making, working with youth and media) are designed to attract different target groups, providing them with the necessary information on the Campaign activities and the Campaign themes as well as motivating people to get involved.
• The main purpose of the “enjoy” section is to motivate young people to join the Campaign. For this reason cultural or sports events, available gadgets and online activities will be given a prominent visibility here.
• The main purpose of the “take action” section is to foster further development of the network of actors of the Campaign. The user will be invited to join thematic forums, whilst best practice projects from various countries and educational material will be available for downloading.
•  The main purpose of the “working w/ youth” section is to offer multipliers valuable tools for spreading the message of the Campaign. Amongst other things, in this section material related to training, teaching and youth work will be available for downloading.
•  The main purpose of the “policy-making” section is to offer policy makers tools for shaping youth policies close to the values of the Campaign. Background documents such as laws and reports on the youth situation in various countries will be available, but also concrete tools like for example the “European Charter on the Participation of Young People in Local and Regional Life” will be available to visitors.
• The main purpose of the “media” section is to make available to media professionals material useful to their work. Here it will be possible to find press releases, pictures, a media pack specially designed for journalists, a video kit, and a brief description of the forthcoming events as well as facts and figures on the issues of the Campaign in the other member countries

18. Powertricks
Some more advanced features of the website you might be interested to use:

• RSS and ATOM - The entire website is syndicated through both RSS and ATOM fields. It is not the Campaign mission (unless some volunteer would like to write a help page on this!) to explain in detail how this system works, but if you don't know what RSS and ATOM mean and you are curious to discover how this feature of the website could be of use to you, you might wish to start your journey here.
• My Account - This menu allows you to fine-tune your web experience on the Campaign portal. From this menu you can choose to visualise / hide certain menus of the site, to automatically subscribe to the discussion you contributed to, activate the possibility for other users to send you mails without disclosing your address to them, and more...

19. Philosophy & Policy

• The Campaign Website is meant to be a tool for keeping the Campaign as Transparent and Participative as possible. All its content is available to visitors without the need to register.
• Discussions and comments are not moderated (they are not reviewed before being published). Sensitive issues are welcome to be debated online provided that the debate proceeds in a coherent sensitive way.

20. Why can't I see the attachments mentioned in the text of the articles?
The website of the Campaign tries to prevent spambots from registering the mail addresses contained in our documents. For this reason, attachments are only visible to users who are logged in (i.e.: type in your username and password and you will see the attachments!).
The Council of Europe maintains the right to remove any post that might be considered offensive, denigrative, vulgar, spam, etc... In brief: we count on your common sense to keep this place a nice one!