On Joinup, public services, businesses and citizens get together to develop interoperability solutions. We share eGovernment applications, standards and code-lists and encourage others to improve and extend future versions. We are a community of practice, and we aggregate knowledge, news, studies and events. We bring together government digitalisation professionals that use, develop and implement eGovernment solutions. We focus on European public services, but our projects are open to all. Joinup is created by the European Commission. The portal is funded by the European Union via the Interoperability solutions for public administrations, businesses and citizens (ISA²) Programme.

This How-To describes the first steps in developing a comprehensive and attractive collection on Joinup.

Creating an effective ‘About’ page

First of all, a clear scope and definition of the collection will help your users.

A concise and convincing introduction on the ‘About’ page will entice experienced Joinup users and new visitors to become members of your collection. To get input and to structure this text, a collection owner or facilitator can use answers to the following questions:

• What is the aim of the collection?
• What are its objectives?
• What are the important milestones?; and
• How can others contribute?

Make sure you get your key message in focus, and revisit and refresh the introduction as your collection develops.

Managing the ‘Overview’ page

Secondly, you should know that the ‘Overview’ page is the front page or landing page of your collection. This front page can be extensively customised by selecting tiles, and by pinning content such as important news or an upcoming event. Here you can add tiles that help your members and others get easy access to key topics.

As owner or facilitator of a collection you should use the ‘Overview’ page to give exactly this, a complete overview. Remember, not everybody will want to read long texts, and it is often easier to catch people’s attention with an infographic, or a catchy one-line slogan to act as an introductory Abstract.

This Abstract, which will be displayed on the top of the ‘Overview’ page, will comprise a powerful summary of what your collection has to offer and invite the reader to go through the rest of the information on the ‘Overview’ and ‘About’ pages. You can manage the Abstract by logging in to your account, going to your Overview page and clicking ‘edit’:

You are prompted to go to a page that allows you to edit your collection. Now select ‘Additional fields’ and add your Abstract.

Uploading and updating content regularly

Meaningful content that transfers knowledge and adds value is one of the main reasons users visit the collections on the Joinup portal. Fresh content and frequent updates are what will convince occasional users to become members; these will also motivate members to stay in touch and contribute. If possible, present your information in multiple ways and keep it up to date.

For more in-depth tips please consult the document ‘How to create meaningful content for your collection’.