KNIT FAQ

What can I do in KNIT?

Any campus member of UC San Diego can use KNIT to network with the campus community, build websites, create groups, and more! For more details, visit the UC San Diego KNIT site.

What are KNIT websites?

KNIT websites are created through WordPress blogging templates. They are customizable (with themes, widgets, plugins, and layout) and are great for facilitating public or private online discussion and creating public humanities projects. KNIT allows any campus member to create an indefinite amount of customizable WordPress websites.  

KNIT websites can be created for: 

  • Developing your professional or academic online presence
  • Creating online resources for the public or for student, research, or other communities
  • Showcasing research and activities of a campus group or lab
  • Facilitating collaborative, digital, and/or public-facing research or pedagogy
  • Hosting classroom discussion in a customizable, networked, media-rich environment
  • Experimenting with digital publishing tools
  • Publishing academic or student journals

What are the levels of User access?

A site can be configured to have one or many contributors, and WordPress allows granularity in the permissions users are assigned. Listed below are roles and their permissions:

  • Administrator – has access to all the administrative duties
  • Editor – can publish posts, manage posts as well as manage other people’s posts
  • Author – can publish and manage their own posts
  • Contributor – can write and manage their posts but not publish post
  • Subscriber – can read comments, and receive comment and newsletters

How do I Sign Up to use KNIT?

KNIT requires your UC San Diego Active Directory credentials.  Browse to knit.ucsd.edu sign-on and enter your AD username and you will be directed to enter your UC San Diego AD credentials. 

What are KNIT groups? 

KNIT groups are standardized spaces that facilitate discussion forums as well as permissions to KNIT websites.

KNIT groups features include:

  • Online group forum where members can post and reply to topics
  • Email notifications of group activity; user can choose how often to receive notifications
  • “Reply By Email” functionality for easy communication with the group
  • Groups can be public, private, or hidden
  • Groups can be associated with a KNIT website (so as to notify group members of new website content or to allow group members to post to the website)

How do I Join a KNIT group?

  • Navigate to our group page, [https://knit.ucsd.edu/groups/YourGroupName]
  • Click the button “request to join”. 
  • When the group Admin approves your request, you will have access to post to the KNIT group or website.

Are there any examples of a KNIT website and Group I can view? 

Does KNIT go down for maintenance?

Server updates are installed automatically every morning at 5:45 AM, and updates to WordPress, plugins, and themes are upgraded at 6:00 AM daily. Either of these may cause KNIT to be unavailable for a short time, typically less than 5 minutes.

Can I install plugins or themes?

As a security measure, users are not able to install their own plugins or themes. We will consider installing plugins or themes if they might be of general interest to other users, after reviewing for potential security issues. Please contact the KNIT support knit@ucsd.edu if there is are plugins or themes that are not available that you would like to use.

Are there any limits on what I may do with my site?

No special terms are applied to KNIT sites, but usage must be consistent with campus policies and responsibilities. For more information, visit TritonLink Student Computing Responsibilities.

Additionally, KNIT is not authorized to store or handle data exceeding Protection Level 3 (P3), as defined by the University of California Classification of Information and IT Resources. This includes:

  • Government classified/controlled (CUI/CTI/ITAR/FISMA)
  • Health or personal protected information (PHI/HIPAA, IRB controlled, or statutory PII)
  • Students’ grades or academic records (FERPA) beyond what is intrinsically necessary when using the site with a course
  • Information subject to certain Data Use Agreements (DUA)

Where can I find additional information for building a KNIT site?

Please see the comprehensive CUNY Academic Commons Help site for further details on personalizing and managing a site and groups.

Please contact the KNIT support knit@ucsd.edu if you have additional questions or need support.