UCP Knowledge NetworkApplied knowledge for action
A Project Officer during as part of as an operational coordination hub and has the capacity to deal with several simultaneous emergencies in different time zones, around-the-clock.

Summer Update - Check out our recent developments!

By Knowledge Network – Staff memberPublished on

We have listed some of the most-recent new developments on the Knowledge Network platform to keep an eye on!

Strategic Goal 1 of the Union Civil Protection Knowledge Network is to create a Stronger Community and, thus, develop a platform for civil protection and disaster risk management actors to communicate, interact, and collaborate.

Per the Strategic Plan 2022-2026, the platform will become the heart of a lively and active network of practitioners by bringing together information, activities and opportunities currently spread across different places. Article 13(1), point (d) of the UCPM Decision No 1313/2013/EU likewise states that the Commission shall set up and maintain such a platform.

Last year in 2022 - when the platform was launched - we saw 9000 visitors and 130 000 page views in total. By August this year, we have already seen 22 000 visitors and 134 000 page views! 738 members of the CP and DRM community have registered a profile on the platform thus far.

Thus, we are excited to announce that – after almost two years of development, recurring dialogue with stakeholders, as well as unfortunate and unforeseen delays – most of the main features requested by the community for the Knowledge Network platform will be ready by end of the year 2023; including the much awaited Knowledge Library. A separate launch event for the Library will be hosted in due time.

Below we have listed some of the most-recent new developments to keep an eye on!

New guidance!

First off, a new page contains guides for the Knowledge Network platform's behind-the-scenes tools as well as other useful info: 

  • User Guide
    • A user guide addressed to authenticated users that have editing privileges for the portal and aims at introducing the editing tools available.
    • A user guide for coordinators of projects, exercises and training courses as well as moderators of discussion groups.
    • In addition, slides from the past refresher webinars (March and April 2023) to coordinators are available there.
    • Plus editorial quick tips, image upload guidance, Knowledge Network visual style guide, communication manual for EU-funded CP action, etc.

 

To complement, two new pages are now available as guidance and reference:

  • Community Roles
    • It describes the different roles available to the community on the platform (e.g., what does a CP expert mean or what can a project coordinator do). This repository is useful to know the different roles and responsibilities that will serve as a reference in order to know and recognize the different rights the users have on our system resources.
  • Discussion Groups - guidance
    • Provides answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) related to Discussion Groups (access to content, invitations to discussion groups, who can start it …). Slides of a past webinar on introducing the discussion groups (May 2023) are also uploaded.
A drone during a field exercise in Cyprus from the project ARTION
ARTION field exercise in Cyprus. © ARTION

The discussion groups are still in an 'early build' release and we forecast that, for example, a more advanced group file library, notification system, and similar enhanced features will become available incrementally during autumn 2023.

Coming soon!

A new release (1.19) is expected for mid-September which will include and incorporate, for example

  • enhanced and organic way of building agendas into events;
  • file and media library available only for the group's members; and
  • new and more secure onboarding process all-around the Knowledge Network platform.

We are forecasting that the Knowledge Library will be released on the platform in beta mode around October-November. Similarly, some other functionalities expected to be ready around end of 2023 are integration between the platform and the EU Academy, notification system servicing all parts of the platform (discussion groups, project coordinators, ...) , and many smaller improvements as well as enhancements based on your feedback.

A Duty Officer at the Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC).
Emergency Response Coordination Centre from the inside.
Photo credit: EU/ECHO/Ezequiel Scagnetti
Snippets and examples of new features in past releases of 2023
  • Release 1.18: Ability to pin discussions on group homepage, visitors can filter news and stories by thematic series, added table component to page editing, background fixes, etc.
  • Release 1.17: Added capability to add Related content or Related stories, enhance the user's profile page, ability to introduce thematic series in News & Stories, risk drivers added as tags, background fixes, etc.
  • Release 1.16: Events now contain register button, useful links section, ability to add event participants, background fixes, etc.
  • Release 1.15: Visitors see media resources in thumbnail view, users can write more about themselves in a dedicated field in their profile page, background fixes, etc.
  • Release 1.14: Additional features to Discussion Groups, such as moderators' ability to manage News and Events within the group, users see content list, users see recent activities, background fixes, etc.
  • Release 1.13: Ability for news, projects, stories, discussions and organisations can be categorised by Sector and by Hazard, (public) groups added to searchable index, background fixes, etc.

We have listed some of the most-recent past released including some guidelines in this document. 

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