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Logging In for the First Time

GETTING YOUR USER ID CODE

The first time you login to our system, you will need a user ID code. This is like a registration number. It tells the software what school you come from. Since each one is unique and can only be used once, it helps prevent unauthorized users from gaining access to the system.

To request your user ID code click here, and give the name of your school in the body of the message or n/a. If you are maintaining the software for a school or large you need to fill out a special request email. In the body of this email please put the following:

Your full name
Your full school name
Your position at that school
Your school phone number

You will receive an email back with a large number of user ID codes. You should guard these codes carefully. Each code will only work once. If you need more than the codes you have been initially given simply email us and we will email back another 100 codes.

LOADING THE SOFTWARE

Let's begin by starting up the GSD software. The first thing we must do is make sure that a network connection is established. If you do not have a direct network connection you should start your connecting software up now.

Once a connection has been established, you're ready to run the GSD software. On Windows and MacOS based machines you should have an icon on your desktop called "The Global School District." Simply double click this to launch the application. On Unix based machines run the file: "gsd" at any prompt.

THE LOGIN SCREEN

Soon you should see a screen with the GSD logo and a box for a username and a password. This is called the login screen. The software is designed such that any user can log in to the system from any machine. This allows many students to use the software on one machine.

You don't have a username or a password yet, so let's register as a new user. If the cursor isn't already in the username box, select the box with the mouse. Type in 'new' and hit return. The cursor should move down to the password box. Normally, tab will toggle between the two boxes. If the cursor is in the password box and you hit enter or return, the program will send the information across. Since you're a new user you don't need a password, so just wait a few seconds and another window should come up.

THE NEW USER PROFILE SCREEN

After a few seconds a new-user info screen will come up. To move from field to field in this form, hit return or tab. The purpose of this is to provide the system with some information for database search purposes, so that other users can find out a little bit about you. Future releases will allow you to keep certain information private.

Fill in your first name and last name, and then select your status or year in school from the box of choices. The next field, "user ID code" requires the eight digit user ID code which you obtained above.

The rest of the login screen requires some explanation. In the section where it says "username" and "second choice", "third choice" you can select three possible user names. It will try to give you your first choice, but if this name is taken it will go for the second or if needs be the third choice. If all of the choices have been taken then you will have to select more names.

For the password, you will notice that no matter what you type, only *'s appear. This is a security measure that prevents other people from seeing your password. Since you may make a typo without realizing it we ask you to confirm your password by retyping it in the space below. Remember this password! If you forget it you can always send email to:forgot-password@gsd.mit.edu

The next section allows you to select interests. Interests are discussion groups that are based around their specific topics. Interests will have specialized software and services, such as online-multiplayer chess games in the chess club.

The entire form creates a user profile which other users on the system can obtain in numerous ways. This allows users to find people with common interests, but more on that later.

If the form has been filled out correctly you should return back to the login screen, but this time your username should be filled in and the cursor will be on "password." Enter your password here and hit return.

YOU'RE IN! WHERE NEXT?

Congratulations! You've successfully logged into the Global School District. The next screen you'll see is a picture of our "virtual campus" (in the first beta release, it doesn't look much like a campus, bear with us!) To find out what the buttons do, use our graphical imagemap to select the feature you'd like more information on. To find out about some of the menus and general functions of the main window, go on to the Main Window section.

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