31 Oct 06 Communities Updates October 2006
On Wednesday, October 18, ITTS staff discovered an intruder on the Online Communities server. The server was brought down and taken off the network immediately. Out of an abundance of caution, we moved all the Online Communities applications to a new server which we built from scratch. Then, on October 23, the new OC server was found to have been compromised as well. All three servers (the database server as well) were taken off the network, and security experts were brought in. They conducted a thorough sweep of our systems and recommended new remote access procedures, which we have implemented. The OC servers were rebuilt, while being monitored for malicious software, and brought back up on Thursday, October 26th.
30 Oct 06 Online Communities Server
Last week we experienced some problems with our Online Communities server. We’ll post more here when we have more information, but the site is back up and running now. We apologize for any inconvenience this caused, and we hope you’ll email us at webmaster [at] ala.org (or otherwise contact us) if you experience any problems accessing or using this service. Thanks!
28 Sep 06 Communities Updates September 2006
Several enhancements were made to the Online Communities (OC) system this month. Communities in the “general” category can now be grouped by unit, which reduces the length of the list under “general.” This also allows for the creation of unit administrators for units other than Divisions or Round Tables. Also, changes to a community member’s forum profile will now apply to all forums in which the member participates. Requests for new communities where there is not an existing unit administrator will now be sent to the global admin, who can then create both the community and a unit administrator.
A wiki has been created to track desired enhancements to the OC system. It is still under development, but will be located at http://wikis.ala.org/ocenhancements/ when it is ready.
05 Sep 06 Communities Updates – February 2006
February 2006
An e-Learning Instructional Designer has been hired (January 30, 2006) and has as one of her highest priorities the creation of documentation and online tutorials for the OC system. Matt Ivaliotes has been providing administrator training at ALA, but sessions have been sparsely attended. We take this as a sign that staff in those units interested using the OC system have been trained. We will continue to offer admin training as we ramp up efforts to provide online documentation and user tutorials.
05 Sep 06 Communities Updates – March 2006
March 2006
Training of OC users continues by phone, Live Meeting (web) and face-to-face. There are currently about 145 communities in the system.
05 Sep 06 Communities Updates – April 2006
April 2006
Training continues. There are currently 156 online communities in the system. We will be soliciting input from staff about possible future enhancements to the OC system.
05 Sep 06 Communities Updates – May 2006
May 2006
Use of the system continues to grow. A group of participants in the Library 2.0 boot camp project has taken on the use of the online communities system as a way to enhance member participation in the organization. Another Library 2.0 group has proposed encouraging new members to become active in a community as a way of improving the “initiation” experience of new members. A meeting with the OC system developer has been scheduled for May 31 to discuss questions about the current system and to explore enhancements.
05 Sep 06 Communities Updates – June/July 2006
June/July 2006
Two meetings have been held with the online communities system developer to identify areas for improvement, based on input from staff and members. A list of enhancements has been developed and we are awaiting an estimate of how long it will take to implement them.
05 Sep 06 Communities Updates – August 2006
August 2006
Use of the communities system continues to grow. Display of available communities was modified to allow grouping by unit. This reduces the long list of available communities upon start-up. This will also allow the designation of unit community administrators within the “general” category. The developer continues to work on our list of enhancements. As enhancements are done, they will be reported here.
06 Jul 06 Communities – Background
Online communities software was implemented in the summer of 2005. Units of ALA that were ready and anxious to begin using the system were encouraged to set up groups. LITA and RUSA, among others, started several communities during this “soft roll-out.” As use of the OC system was ramping up and the need for training and documentation rose, ALA’s training coordinator resigned to pursue her education.
