Help & FAQs

Welcome to My EESC

Introduction to My EESC

My EESC is a new service available to all users on the EESC website. My EESC brings personalisation options, notifications, and automated content recommendations to the EESC website, giving users the opportunity to customise their experience to their needs.

The service does not require users to create a new account or to install anything on their devices. However, creating an account unlocks additional useful features, while it is also possible to install the My EESC service as an app on your mobile device (or even on your desktop or laptop).

Overview of New Features

The main new features that are made available as part of the My EESC service are the following:

  • Personalisation options and stream: Users can follow the topics and content of interest to them, and then they can gain access to a personalised  stream, called My Stream, which displays this content. My Stream is available on a dedicated page, as well as a floating widget across the site, including the homepage.
  • Notifications: Based on the personalisation options configured by the user, the My EESC service triggers automated notifications to inform the user about new or updated content that matches their interests. Users are in control in terms of what notifications should be activated and how often they should be sent.
  • Automated content recommendations: Based on the user’s browsing history on the EESC website, the built-in recommendations engine proposes content that matches the user’s interests, allowing users to explore more.
  • Cross-device user settings and experience: By creating an account on the EESC website, users can benefit from using their personalisation and other settings across all their devices.
  • Progressive Web App (PWA): The My EESC service (and in fact the entire EESC website) is made available as an app that can be installed on compatible mobile devices, desktops, and laptops.

Benefits of Personalising Your EESC Experience

By configuring their personalisation options, users indicate their topics and content of interest. This then triggers automated notifications for relevant new or updated content, meaning that users no longer need to monitor the website for new or updated content. In addition, the personalised stream and the automatically recommended content, enhance the overall experience by tailoring the EESC website to the users’ needs and requirements.

The creation of an account, coupled with the possibility to download the My EESC service as an app, allows users to access personalised content and notifications across their devices, at home, at work, and even on the go.

Following Your Interests

How to Follow Topics and Categories

Following topics and categories can be done from various places on the website.

  1. Topics and categories can be followed from the central My Settings page which is available under the My EESC menu. On this page, users can either follow horizontal categories (News, Events, and Opinions), or to fine-tune their personalisation options, by following specific EES Office Holders, Groups, Sections, Observatories, Policy Areas, etc.
  2. While on an applicable list view, for example on the list of News, the ‘follow’ button is visible for each one of the entries in the list. Clicking on the ‘follow‘ button reveals the contextual options available for this specific content item.
  3. When viewing the full details of a specific page, for instance, of a specific News item, the ‘follow’ button is available to allow users to set up or update their personalisation options in the context of the currently viewed page.
  4. Finally, the ‘follow’ button is available on other places too across the website, for instance on the homepage, the My Stream page, etc.

In addition to following entire categories or topics of content, users can also follow specific content items, such as a specific Event, and then receive targeted notifications as soon as this event is updated. To do that, the user needs to select the ‘Follow this item’ option in the personalisation menu.

Understanding Notifications and Alerts

For each followable category or item, the user can indicate the type of notification that they would like to receive. The available options are:

  1. No notifications: Selecting this option, will mute the email and push notifications concerned with this category or item.
  2. Email only: Selecting this option will trigger an automated email alert whenever there is new or updated content concerned with this category, or if there are updates for the specific followed item.
  3. Push only: Selecting this option will trigger an automated push notification whenever there is new or updated content concerned with this category, or if there are updates for the specific followed item. Note that to activate the push notifications, the user will need to accept the browser request, when asked (this needs to be done only once per browser).
  4. Email and push: Selecting this option will trigger both an automated push notification and an email alert whenever there is new or updated content concerned with this category, or if there are updates for the specific followed item.

Navigating My Stream

Accessing and Customising Your Stream

The personalised stream is available as a dedicated page called My Stream. The stream can be accessed via the My EESC menu, or from other links that are available on other pages on the website.

The stream displays the content that matches the personalisation options of the user. By default, the content is displayed in descending order (from latest to earliest), but the user can change this by using the relevant dropdown in the header of the page.

Another option available to the user is to render the stream as a grid (default mode), or as a list. The view mode can be changed from the header of the page, by using the relevant controls. In either case, the stream displays the top 8 items. To view more content (provided that there is more content to be viewed), the user needs to click on the ‘More items’ button in order to load the next 8 items.

The filters that are available on the page allow users to filter the content based on the followed categories. For instance, if a user follows a Policy Area and a Section, the filters would allow the user to view only the content for the Policy Area, without viewing the content of the Section.

Finally, for each item of content shown on the page, there are contextual buttons (‘Share’ and ‘Follow’), which allow the user to perform targeted actions specific to the selected content item.

Integrating My Stream on Your Homepage

By default, the homepage features the My Stream widget, to allow users quick access to their personalised content, alongside the latest content from across the website that is shown on the homepage. It is possible to collapse the stream by clicking on the ‘Hide’ option. A collapsed stream can be expanded again by simply clicking on the ‘Show’ option.

Similarly to how the stream can be collapsed and expanded on the homepage, the user can do the same on almost any other page of the website, therefore giving easy access to the latest personalised content from anywhere.

Registration and Account Management

The Advantages of Registering with My EESC

Being a registered My EESC user provides the following benefits:

  • Possibility to receive email alerts linked to the followed content and topics of interest.
  • Access to personalised content recommendations.
  • Using the same settings across several devices and browsers, without having to re-configure them every time the user switches device / browser.

How to Register and Manage Your Account

Creating an account is very easy. The step-by-step process is as follows:

  1. On the first page of the account creation process, the user needs to provide their email and setup their preferred password.
  2. On the second screen, the user can follow their preferred topics and categories. This step is optional, as personalisation settings can be configured later, after the creation of the account.
  3. On the final screen, the user is asked to provide some optional personal information.

At the end of the process, the system displays a confirmation message. To activate their account, the user needs to confirm their email address by clicking on the confirmation link sent to the email address that they specified during the sign-up process. Not doing so will trigger the automatic deletion of the account 3 days after the initial registration. The system will send timely reminders to users who have not confirmed their email address, to avoid unwanted deletion of the account.

Users can delete their account at any time by editing their profile.

Content Recommendations

Locating the Content Recommendations

The automated content recommendations are available on the detail pages of content items, for example when viewing a specific News item, or a specific Opinion etc., under the heading ‘Recommended for you’.

How the Recommendations Engine Works

The recommendations engine uses machine learning algorithms to identify similarities between content items, and then the system produces the automated recommendations based on each user’s interests. 

My EESC on Mobile Devices

Installing and Using the My EESC PWA

The My EESC service, and in fact, the entire EESC website, can be installed as a Progressive Web App (PWA) on compatible devices and systems (mobile phones, tablets, laptops, or desktops). To install the app please use the workflow and actions available to you based on your operating system and browser. In most cases, an ‘install’ button is available as part of the address bar in the browser. In mobile devices an automated message might be displayed, inviting you to install the app.

Once installed, the app can then be uninstalled, if needed, as any other application on your device.

FAQs

Do I have to create an account to use the service?

No, account creation is not mandatory for using the service. Anonymous users can use most parts the My EESC service, including the personalisation settings, the My Stream page, the push notifications, etc. What is available only to registered users are the email alerts and the automated content recommendations.

Can I register for an account and keep my current personalisation settings that I have configured as an anonymous user?

Yes, this is possible. Initiate the workflow to create a new account, and the system asks you whether you would like to transfer your current settings as an anonymous user to your new registered account.

How can I make changes to the personalisation settings that I have setup as a registered user?

To make changes to the personalisation settings linked to your registered account, you first need to login to the My EESC service, and then you must go to the My Settings page and update your followed categories and other settings.

Contact Information for Further Support

In case you have any questions about the features available in the My EESC service, or if you need any assistance with using these features, please get in touch.