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— updated 2018-06-01

RMHInet — orientation for new members

This webpage is intended as a "General Handbook" for RMHInet members,
with links to other relevant pages on our site.


  Copyright ©2017-2018 by RMH-Publications Trust; all rights reserved. Published by the Rocky Mountain Herbal Institute; c/o PO Box 579; Hot Springs, Montana [59845] USA. Education and software for health professionals:   www.rmhiherbal.org

Subtopics on this page… 

 

Introduction for new members

See also:

 
A bedrock principle of RMHInet is that the uninhibited, vigorous, respectful, reasoned, thoughtful pursuit of the truth is absolutely essential to understand how we, the human species of earth, have been systematically deceived, poisoned, and mentally and economically enslaved and to discover what we must do to overcome this predicament, specifically with regard to the health and well-being of our ourselves and our planetary environment.

We've created a combination of communication tools that support this goal:

  • herbalthink-users, an email announcement list intended solely for people who have been admitted to Herbalists' BootCamp
  • rmhinetwork, an email announcement/discussion list for members
  • RMHInet, a social-media platform reserved for members only
  • Private, secure cloud-storage (Sync.com) accounts/folders for transmitting personal data
  • Optional: local study groups to be sponsored by authorized Group Leaders

Our choice of 3rd-party providers, user interfaces, and formats were carefully evaluated by RMHI based on four important criteria:

  • Does it allow for freedom of speech and expression — free from twisted notions of political correctness, censorship, etc.?
  • It is easy to use?
  • Does it offer a similar range of healthy social interactions to those available in non-cyberspace life?
  • Does it allow for data security/privacy where necessary?

Initially, RMHInet will comprise a small and highly selective group of people. That's just the nature of the "early-adopter" phenomenon. I realize that I am attempting to introduce a radical new system that has the potential to revolutionize traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). TCM education and practice is frequently beset by dogmatism and inertia; its educational methods largely remain at the medieval stage.

The upside for early-adopters is that you can become the pioneers of this field and eventually become the practitioners, teachers, and entrepreneurs who will spread its use to others. 

 

herbalthink-users   email announcement list

herbalthink-users  is an email announcement list intended for participants in Herbalists' BootCamp and for all HerbalThink-TCM software users. This group is intended primarily for addressing mundane software issues, basic procedural issues related to using the HerbalThink-TCM software, and questions regarding the content of BootCamp tutorials. Once people successfully complete Herbalists' BootCamp, they will be admitted to both  rmhinetwork  and  rmhinet.mn.co  — see below. 

 

rmhinetwork   email announcement/discussion list

rmhinetwork  is an email announcement/discussion list, which we manage on our own servers. We use it for several purposes:

  • To make important announcements to all RMHInet members.
  • To post recommended weekly reading lists to members — mostly of recent articles about health and related topics from the Internet. (Weekly reading lists are usually posted on Saturdays.)
  • To serve as a backup form of communication and place to ask questions if other services are temporarily down or if members need to ask for advice on how to use these other services.
  • To serve as a transition media for long-time  rmhinetwork  members who may be unfamiliar with social-media formats.

If you wish to change your email address for  rmhinetwork , be sure to   contact   RMHI to inform the administrator of  rmhinetwork  (Roger Wicke).
Indicate on subject line:   "update my email address for rmhinetwork" 

 

rmhinet.mn.co   social media

The primary communication tool of RMHInet is sponsored by Mighty Networks on its own dedicated subdomain, with SSL-encrypted-https interface:  rmhinet.mn.co .
It is a private social-media network accessible only to invited members.

After evaluating and rejecting dozens of alternatives, either for their out-of-control censorship and political-correctness tyrannies or for buggy and confusing interfaces, we chose this service because it claims to promote freedom of speech. We noted that it currently sponsors several Christian organizations, which have generally come under attack by Facebook, Google, and other media conglomerates. We are religiously and philosophically eclectic ourselves, but view the harassment of specific groups for their religious or political beliefs as an unacceptable violation of freedom-of-speech, First-Amendment principles.

Setting up a member account on  rmhinet.mn.co  only takes a few minutes. We recommend that new members already have prepared the following items for posting during the initial signup process:

1. You will need to respond to an "invite" email that will be generated by  rmhinet.mn.co .
Remember to check your spam folder if necessary, it may sometimes end up there.
2. When asked to "Write a little about yourself", you will be allowed only 160 characters of text, so prepare a very brief description of your background — i.e., profession, business, activities.
This data is stored in your user "Settings", so you can also change/edit it later.
Example (for Roger Wicke):   Director/Instructor, Rocky Mountain Herbal Institute. Clinical TCM herbalist, educational software developer. Previously: medical researcher, biomed engineer.
3. You will be allowed a lengthier (up to 3000 characters and more?) response to the question "What are your goals in participating in RMHInet, and how might other members help you?"
This response is stored in the "Questions" area along with the responses from other members. You will also be able to change/edit this response later.
Example (for Roger Wicke):   I'm the Host/Admin of this network and Director of the Rocky Mountain Herbal Institute. I launched RMHInet and this group in August of 2017. My current goals are to create a friendly and open-minded forum where students and alumni are encouraged to share ideas and learn from each other. I hope to learn from each of you as well. I am 64 years old this year, and as I age, I find that my curiosity only increases.
4. During your first session, be sure to set a password for your account. This can be done via the "Settings" control, accessible via the icon in the far upper right corner of the interface.
Until you set a password, you will be required to login via email confirmation each time.
5. RMHI enrolled students and graduates:   you qualify to join the "Certification Candidates and Alumni" group. If you do not automatically receive an invitation to join, be sure to select "Groups" and issue a request to join.
You must respond to the email invitation to join the preceding group within a few days, or the invitation will expire.

rmhinet.mn.co  has the following useful features for members:

  • All postings in response to an original article/question/posting are arranged in a logical sequence on the same page, making it easy to follow all comments in response to that topic (the "thread").
  • All postings are accessible by topic, by member, or by group; you can search for postings that contain specific keywords.
  • Choose which subtopics/members you wish to follow closely.
  • Choose which types of postings/events/actions, will trigger automatic notifications sent to your email address.
  • Send messages to individual members; arrange online chat sessions with them.
  • Edit and even delete your own postings, correct errors.
  • RMHInet administrators have the ability to schedule special online chat sessions for all members or for specific groups.
 

Sync.com accounts

Basic Sync.com accounts are free and offer a way to securely transmit/store sensitive data.

Each RMHInet member who submits CaseQuery case reports for evaluation by AutoSage-TCM is emailed instructions for accessing private folders that are accessible only by that member and by RMHI staff. These instructions show you how to create your own free Sync.com user account, which is fast and easy to do.

Note: you do not absolutely need to download the Sync.com app onto your computer, as the website will encourage you to do. Sync.com is usable purely as an online service without installing any software on your own computer. You can upload and download files onto your account directly via the web interface, without installing any special software, which is what we recommend.

Important:   Even though Sync.com states that it is HIPAA-compliant, all RMHInet members who utilize the CaseQuery/AutoSage-TCM expert system modules should ALWAYS avoid including personal identifiers, such as the individual's name, initials, geographic location, etc., within the case data file. Use only an alphanumeric code that you have recorded privately. Additionally, for your own records, you should obtain written permission from your client to transmit his/her health history file and analysis report for sharing with RMHI staff and/or other RMHInet members for evaluation and discussion. 

 

Local study groups

People everywhere are much more likely to freely share ideas and information with others whom they can look in the eye. For that reason, online social media will always be lacking. RMHinet is designed to facilitate formation of local study groups by authorized Group Leaders. What this means is that by qualifying as a Group Leader, you will be able to access various support services from RMHI to help you make your local study groups better and to serve individual clients:

  • Software licenses and technical support
  • Phone/email consultations
  • AutoSage-TCM case-analysis reports for your clients
 

Enrolled RMHI students and graduates

    The Study Toolbox is an area of RMHI's website accessible only to enrolled RMHI students and graduates. It contains:

  • Supplementary reading, organized by topic
  • Misc. resources, documents, checklists
  • Guidelines for students

Immediately after your enrollment, you should receive a personal userID and password for accessing this area.
(This area is not SSL-encrypted, but you will never be asked to provide any personal, sensitive information.)

    Level-1 participants must submit a total of 12 (monthly) brief reports on topics of personal interest within the domain of environmental health issues, diet and nutrition, and holistic anatomy/physiology. These reports are an important aspect of supplementing your herbal education with knowledge that is crucial for human and planetary health.

    All Level-1 participants should submit their HerbalTutor progress files at the end of each calendar quarter. Please follow the recommended Lesson Plans section within your HerbalThink-TCM software.

See also:
    Getting started; applying for admission; guidelines for Level-1 and 1-H students