DHCommons is available for anyone to browse, without having to create an account first. If you do choose to create an account, you can start contributing to the site, including posting projects, creating a collaborator profile, adding events, indicating that you're attending events, and contacting potential collaborators.

A quick tour of DHCommons

1. Actions for logged-in users

Once you've logged in, a menu will appear in the footer that lets you add a project, view your profile, or log out.

2. Your projects

All the projects that you create on DHCommons also appear in the footer to make it easier for you to update them.

Profiles

3. Edit your profile

When you click on "edit" on your own profile, you can change the information that appears, including your avatar photo, location, title, affiliation, field, and expertise.

If you indicate that you're interested in at least one type of collaboration (e.g. peer review, beta testing, etc.), your profile will appear in the list of collaborators (click on the green "Collaborators" tab).

4. Contact

Any user who hasn't specifically turned off the contact form will have a "contact" button on their profile so other users can reach out to them about their projects or opportunities for collaboration.

5. Upcoming events

If the person has indicated that they'll be attending an upcoming conference or event, it will be listed here.

6. Projects

All the projects where this user is listed as a collaborator will appear here.

Projects

7. Collaboration

This is the section of the project profile that includes information about what kind of help the project is seeking.

8. Contact person

Click on the name of the contact person for the project to look at their profile, and use the profile "contact" button to get in touch with them.

9. Edit

Any project profile that you've created will have an "edit" option at the top, so you can update the profile.

Events

The events page lists all the upcoming conferences and events that users have added to DHCommons, along with an option for adding a new event. For each event:

10. I am attending button

If you're going to that event, click on the green icon with the text "I am attending", and you will be listed as an attendee for that event.

11. I'm not attending button

When you click on the "I am attending" button, the icon will change to "I'm not attending" with an X through the green icon. Click the "I'm not attending" button to be removed from the list of attendees.

12. More information about events

Click on "read more" to go to a page with a list of the event's attendees, along with a link to the event's website and/or a description of the event.