As part of the University's ongoing effort to enhance its digital communications platforms, Brown released a new version of Events@Brown (events.brown.edu) on August 6, 2018. Events@Brown is the online calendar system for promoting events hosted across the University, with functionality to embed tailored event feeds into various websites throughout brown.edu.
The new release offers many of the options as Brown's previous events system, and it offers many new features, including:
- A more comprehensive list of events hosted by Brown academic and administrative units and campus groups
- An improved user experience and a mobile-friendly design
- Embedded maps for event locations
- Images in event postings
- The ability to share an event between different departmental calendars
- A more user-friendly interface for event editors
Migration Details
Releasing a new version of Events@Brown requires migrating existing event calendars, and the individual events associated with those calendars, into a new system. This upgrade only affects events.brown.edu. The University’s other calendaring and room scheduling systems will not be affected by this upgrade.
Calendar Migration
The current events system contains more than 290 distinct calendars, representing specific departments, offices and topics. Because many of these calendars are unused or abandoned, existing calendars are not being reproduced in the new events system unless the calendar was requested. Every user with an account in the current events system received an email with instructions for requesting a calendar earlier this year. Campus units will be able to request new calendars after the release on August 6, 2018.
User permissions for requested calendars will automatically transfer into the new events system.
Upcoming Events Migration (i.e., events occurring after August 6, 2018)
Every event occurring after August 6, 2018, that appears in the current version of events.brown.edu will automatically transfer into the new events system.
Archived Events Migration (i.e., events occurring prior to August 6, 2018)
Archived events hosted on events.brown.edu will automatically transfer into the new events system. Only events associated with requested calendars will be migrated.
Website Integration
The new events system will continue to integrate with BrownSites, which allows department-specific events to appear on departmental websites. If you requested an events calendar for your unit and your website is built with BrownSites, your events integration will continue to work after the new release.
Many websites at Brown display the University's umbrella events feed in the right column. This feed displays a mix of events aggregated from across Brown's 290 event calendars. Often, this umbrella feed is not related to the website's content or purpose, and this column only appears because it was the default option in BrownSites. Default calendar columns that display the University's umbrella events feed will be automatically disabled on August 6, 2018. If you would like to retain the University's umbrella feed on your unit's website after August 6, 2018, please email [email protected].
Training Resources
The new system will be more intuitive and user-friendly for event editors. Detailed information about the new events system will be available online when the new system launches. OUC will email a link to the online help guide to event editors after the new system is available.