### Starting the registration process

A BSCW server may or may not allow self-registration by prospective users. If a server has not been configured for self-registration, then only the BSCW administrator can register new users. The following description of the registration process assumes that your BSCW server does allow for self-registration.

The key to your registration is your personal email address. A BSCW server will typically get it

o from you when you open the registration page of your BSCW server (on FIT’s public BSCW server this is http://public.bscw.de/pub) and click [register first], or

o from an already registered user who invites you to cooperate with her or him in a shared workspace.

When the registration procedure has been initiated by the provision of your email address, BSCW sends an email message to that address. This message contains a special URL which you have to open in your Web browser.

Opening this URL brings up a form where you fill in your user name and password. This form may be used only once.

Note: Read our recommendations regarding user names and passwords in the following two sections, before entering user name and password. You may not change your user name once you are registered!

After submission of the registration form, BSCW is ready for your first log-in under the user name and password given.