Initial Publication Date: May 11, 2009

Using Serckit Workspaces

Serckit Workspaces are wiki-like areas on the web where groups can collaboratively edit web pages and share documents.

Visit the Workspace and Create an Account

Screenshot of Login Screen
When you start using a Serckit workspace you'll be provided with the url of the workspace (or more precisely with the url for a particular page in the workspace). If the workspace is private (see below) you'll immediately be asked to login to gain access. If you have yet to create an account with SERC you'll need to follow the 'Create New Account' link. In order to gain access to the workspace be sure to create your account using exactly the same email address that the person managing the project would have used to set up access. Once you've created the account you should be able to return to the workspace url and see the pages. If the workspace is public you'll be to view it immediately, but when you want to make changes or upload files you'll need to login (creating an account beforehand if you don't have one already). The interface should guide you through this process.


The Basics of Editing within Workspaces

To edit the text of a page just click the Edit button in the upper right corner. You can make formatting changes using the editing toolbar across the top of the page. An editing sidebar will appear with controls for saving changes, adding links and uploading files. This video provides a quick 3 minute overview of these features that will get you started.

Prefer text instructions to video? Here's a one page summary of the basic editing features.

Workspaces can be Public or Private.

Depending on how the workspace was set up it may be either public or private.

  • Public Workspaces can be viewed by anyone (no account or password needed).
  • Private Workspaces and files within them are only visible to those with an account that has explicitly been given access.
  • Both public and private workspace can be edited only by those with explicit access: you must have an account and that account must have been given editing access to that workspace.

If additional people need access to your workspace you'll need to provide their email addresses to the person managing the workspace.

Workspaces are Built on the Same Tools as the rest of Serckit.

You can explore the rest of the documentation here to get more detail about Serckit and how it functions. Most of these ideas and additional formatting tags apply equally to workspaces. The two major differences between Workspaces and other areas on the SERC site are:

  • Workspaces have only live pages, while other web spaces in Serckit have both development and live versions. Since workspaces are intended for formative, collaborative work the the dev/live separation would complicate things unnecessarily.
  • Workspaces pages have additional options embedded directly at the bottom the page. These controls allow  creation of new pages, the editing of the local menu and access to all uploaded files. This means people can use workspaces in a self-contained way without needing to learn Serckit's more complicated back-end tools.


You can learn more about the rest of Serckit in the pages that follow.