Create an identi.ca account

Deprecated. As of 2013-03-26 identi.ca no longer accepted new registrations, and closed in July, 2013.

Objectives

In this mini-tutorial we: provide a summary of microblogging; highlight the features of identi.ca; show you how to create an account on indenti.ca; and provide a test activity to trial posting a note with a hashtag

Summary

Example Box 1: Demonstration of a search showing an aggregated feed for identi.ca posts which contain the #oeru tag Identi.ca #OERU Feed Sorry, Identi.ca is no longer available. Identi.ca is an open source social networking and micro-blogging service. Microblogging is a broadcast medium to exchange small elements of content such as short sentences and web links, usually restricted to 140 characters, similar to the short messages displayed in the Example Box 1. Popular microblog services include identi.ca (Open source software) and twitter (Proprietary software). Users with microblog accounts can follow the posts of friends, colleagues and groups with similar interests in real time. Microblogs include features to repost messages to your group of followers. Messages can be tagged using one or more hash tags (for example "#OER") which enables users to search for posts containing the hash tag or the ability to aggregate the feeds of hash tags in readers or other websites (see Example Box 1).

Key points

Users can create a free account on the identi.ca service hosted by StatusNet identi.ca is open source software which means you can download the software, host your own microblog service and adapt the software for your own purposes if you want to. Identi.ca allows free export and exchange of personal and "friend" data based on the FOAF standard which means that notes posted on Identi.ca can be fed into a Twitter account or other service. All notices on Identi.ca are published under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license which provides permissions to reuse, adapt and re-distribute posts, making this an ideal service for open education resource (OER) collaborations.

Activity 1

Register an account on identi.ca and update your profile

Go to the account registration page: https://identi.ca/main/register Follow the instructions on screen to create a new account if you don't already have one. Tips: Only use lowercase letters for your nickname without punctuation or spaces If you find the Captcha graphic letters hard to read, click on the button with the two arrows to get a new captcha graphic. You must agree to the default Creative Commons Attribution license terms for all your posts. Click on the register buton If your selected username is already in use, you will be provided with the option to change usernames. Check your email account for the confirmation email and follow the instructions to activate your account. Log in to identi.ca using your new account details and update your profile: Click on the "Profile" link which you will find at the top of your browser window Click on the "Edit" link to update your profile Click on the "Edit Avatar" link to upload an image for your user account on identi.ca

Overview of the identi.ca service

Media

The Blip.tv service shut down in August, 2015, so this copy of the video is no longer available. Wayne Mackintosh. This screencast provides a short overview of the indenti.ca website with a brief introduction to a few of the important features to get you started. Go to http://indenti.ca Click on the "Login" link. Login using your nickname and password you used when creating your account. We recommend that you click on the "fullscreen" button when viewing the screencast. In this screencast, we demonstrate: How to update your profile Upload an image (avatar) for your profile page How to subscribe followers for your account on indenti.ca How to connect your identi.ca account with an existing twitter account. This will post copies of your identi.ca notes for your twitter followers. Note that tweets on twitter cannot be copied to your identi.ca account. Therefore when taking courses hosted by the OER Foundation course please post using your identi.ca account so we can aggregate the feed. How to post a note including a hash tag in preparation for Activity 2 below. The best way to learn how to use indenti.ca is to experiment and try things out.

Activity 2

Post a note on identi.ca using a hash tag

Example Box 2: Demonstration of the #wetest tag to practice posting a note on identi.ca using a hash tag Identi.ca #wetest Feed Sorry, Identi.ca is no longer available. The purpose of this activity is to practice how to post a note with a hash tag using your indenti.ca account. This activity will illustrate how we can search and harvest a feed which you post with a specified hash tag. Log in to your identi.ca account In the Update your status... text area compose a short test note and remember to include the hashtag #wetest in your post, making sure that there is a space before and after the tag (no other punctuation). For example: Just testing a note for a Wikieducator course. #wetest Visit the tag page for #wetest tag page on identi.ca. You should see your test post assuming you remembered to include the "#wetest" tag in your note (or wait a few minutes to for your post to appear in the Example 2 box or refresh your browser page).