ITTS Update

Now that ALA Connect has launched and usage is growing, ITTS is going to begin planning for the shutdown of the old Online Communities service at the end of this year.

There’s been only one login on the old site in the last 30 days, which was an accident by someone who meant to use Connect instead. We’re not sure if anyone is still using Communities, so we need your help spreading the word. Please let your committees, discussion/interest groups, sections, etc. know about this upcoming change so that they have time to migrate any existing content they want to keep in to ALA Connect.

All content a group wants to save will need to be migrated manually before December 31, 2009. Files will not be retrievable from Online Communities after that date. If any of your groups need advice about how to do this or have specific questions, please have them contact me directly at jlevine [at] ala.org.

Thanks!
Jenny

Posted by Jenny under Online Communities | No Comments »

The time is finally at hand for us to upgrade ALA Connect from Drupal 5 to version 6. This will happen Wednesday night, July 29, 2009, from 8:00-10:00 pm CST (6:00-8:00 PST, 9:00-11:00 pm EST). During that time, you won’t be able to access Connect, but no data will be lost, and the site should look pretty much the same when it returns in its new 6 self.

The best place to watch for updates during that time is the AC Twitter account at http://twitter.com/alaconnect. However, we’ve integrated lighting lots of candles as an early step in the upgrade process, so we’re hoping it will go pretty smoothly. We also had some great beta testers who we think found all of the bugs so you don’t have to.

Because some of the Drupal 5 modules either don’t exist in Drupal 6 or have changed a little, a few things will be different in the new version. We’re not introducing any major new features yet, though, so you shouldn’t have to learn any major new tricks to keep using Connect the way you have been. Here are a few of the things that will be different when the site comes back online Wednesday night.

• The biggest change is to the “notifications” setup. In the current version of Connect, you go to each group to turn on email notices, unless you’ve manually set the default email preference in your profile to “send all” or “send none.” In the new Connect, you’ll have a new “subscriptions” tab on your profile where you can set all of your group email preferences from one page. Here’s a sample screenshot.

  

  In addition, you’ll be able to set a default interval for email notices so that you can receive a daily digest if that’s your preference.

  

• Your network will display by type of contact, although it will still default to “all.” Here’s a sample screenshot of how it’s broken out in the new version.

  

• A new “lock” icon appears next to “protected” content to indicate it’s not publicly viewable.

  

• For the time being, we won’t be able to include information for instant messenger accounts in your profile because that module hasn’t been updated yet, but we’re still exploring our options for returning this feature in the future (along with expanded options to include services like gTalk).

As you can see, there aren’t any major functional changes, but please let us know how the new version works for you after we flip the switch Wednesday night.

Posted by Jenny under ALAConnect | No Comments »

ALA Connect got a warm reception during the ALA Annual Conference earlier this month, and we’re seeing increased usage as a result of the marketing push. The dust had finally settled a little from Annual, so this past weekend we flipped the rosters in iMIS (our member database), which means the rosters in Connect got flipped, too.

What does that mean? It means that anyone whose appointment to a committee ended on June 30, 2009, is no longer part of the roster for that committee in Connect. So if you log in and find that you suddenly don’t have access to a specific group anymore, it’s likely because your appointment has ended and new people have been added to the roster.

Conversely, if you log in and see a new committee showing up in “My ALA Groups” or on your profile, it’s probably because your appointment to that group started on July 1, 2009.

We performed some magic behind-the-scenes to make the switch happen after Annual in order to give working groups the ability to access their space in Connect during the conference, but now it’s time for the new roster to work in that space.

If you believe that an affiliation is missing from your profile in Connect or that you’re on a group you shouldn’t be on, please leave a comment here, email me at jlevine [at] ala.org, or use the contact us form on the Connect site. Even better, if you *know* you should be listed on a specific committee, contact that committee’s staff liaison (or “admin” in Connect), because that’s the person who can add you in the member database so that Connect reflects your participation.

ALA staff members who receive questions about committee appointments from members should first check iMIS to make sure the appointment dates are correct there. If you’re still experiencing problems with rosters in Connect, feel free to call or email me. In fact, it’s a good idea to check your rosters in general to make sure that they’re accurate, as we only flipped dates for appointments that ended on June 30 or began on July 1.

Questions? Don’t hesitate to ask!

Posted by Jenny under ALAConnect | No Comments »

Back in January, I got an early taste of the power of ALA Connect during ALA’s Midwinter Meeting while the Website Advisory Committee was beta testing it. I found the site to be a huge help, so I want to share some tips as we all head to Annual because if you’re lucky enough to have a laptop or web-enabled cell phone with you at #ala2009, Connect can be both useful and fun.

Useful:

• Being in a meeting and trying to figure out who else is in the room with you by looking at the group’s roster.
• Meeting someone for the first time and adding them to your network so that you can easily find them again later.
• Emailing someone whose address you don’t have handy at that particular moment (just go to their profile and use the “send a message” feature).
• For committees: entering your meeting notes as an “online doc” directly into your Connect workspace as you’re taking them so that you don’t have to worry about distributing them via email as Word documents afterward. Doing this also allows the whole group to make their own additions/corrections or add comments much more quickly

Fun:

• Seeing which avatar/picture your friends choose for their Connect profiles.
• Seeing which groups and communities your friends are active in.
• Watching which new communities are forming during conference.
• Watching the Connect tag cloud change as various groups add content from their Annual sessions.

More than 11,000 people have visited ALA Connect in the last month alone, so it’s a pretty good idea to make sure your profile there is accurate. To check it, log in using your ALA website username and password and click on the my profile link in the left-hand sidebar. If any information listed is incorrect, you can fix it by updating your profile on the ALA website and logging back in to Connect.

Even better, if you’re comfortable with the idea of posting a picture of yourself, add one in Connect in order to help your colleagues do the useful and fun things listed above. If you’re looking for a job while at Annual, you might also think about fleshing out your profile, making it “public,” and linking to it from your resume so that potential employers can see your professional affiliations. It’s a great way to use Connect to your advantage!

My member profile on Connect (friend me there!):

Posted by Jenny under Uncategorized | No Comments »

1. ADP eTime Software (Sheila)

   Because this is browser based, ITTS can’t push out an icon for this. The site will go live in the next day or two.This link from the KM system will *ONLY* work from inside the office. You can’t use it from home.

2. New Security Certificates for ALA websites (Sheila)Will be re-issued on June 18, so you’ll see new prompts to accept these new certificates that use https instead of http.

   Only have to accept the certificate once per browser on any computer you use.

   Certificates apply to the staff wiki, TrackIt help site, and the KM system.

   ITTS will send out a notification on the 18th reminding staff to accept these certificates to gain access to these sites.

   Reminder about a link to the TrackIt help desk is always in the left column of the KM home page.

3. Usability Testing at Annual (Louise)ITTS is doing a series of usability testing focus groups of division pages, the interface for the awards database (if ready), and ALA Connect
4. ALA Connect Update (Jenny)- Email blast to members went out today, and we’re seeing a lot more hits on the site as a result2009 schedule for Connect:
   • June = migrate to Drupal 6
   • July = implement the mentoring network
   • August = implement the opportunities exchange
   • September = implement new search engine
   • October-December = implement new conference event planner for Midwinter 2010

   ITTS has scheduled drop-in Q&As every day at Annual, so tell your members!

   showed some statistics from May, will post new ones to Marginalia this week; 1600+ visits today alone due to the email blast

5. Intro to FriendFeed (Jenny)

   showed FriendFeed, a lifestream aggregator
   - ALA’s account
   - ACRL’s account

Posted by Jenny under ITTS Update meetings | No Comments »

At the Midwinter Website Advisory Committee meeting, a subcommittee formed to help implement a new conference event planner in ALA Connect. This group has put together a survey to help us learn what members want improved/fixed/added/changed about the current event planner.

You can help us out by completing the survey and giving us specific suggestions for what would help you. If you’ve ever complained about using ALA’s event planner (or even if you haven’t), now’s your chance to actually *do* something about it. Don’t just mutter under your breath – mutter to us. 

The survey will be open through July 19, 2009, and anyone can take it, including non-members. All of the feedback received will help us shape the new event planner, which we hope to implement for the 2010 Midwinter Meeting.

Thank you to WAC members Dave Hargett, Rebecca Jackman, Mary Popp, Jean Rainwater, and William Reed for their invaluable help with this project.

Posted by Jenny under ALAConnect & Web Advisory Committee (WAC) | 1 Comment »

1. Explanation of ALA Connect privacy settings (Jenny)
Jenny did a demo of the new privacy options for members in ALA Connect
this includes the ability to hide community, division, round table, and section affiliations, but not committees

2. Demonstration of new release of Trackit help desk software (Sheila)
ITTS is going to end use of the helpdesk@ala.org email address for staff on April 8
support requests after that time need to be submitted via Trackit
staff can start using http://help.ala.org if they’re not already using it
your login is your FirstInitialLastName (eg, jlevine)
contact Sheila for your password if you’ve never used Trackit before

feedback@ala.org isn’t going through here
can still call 3273 if you’re computer or internet access is down
this site isn’t open to members – helpdesk@ala.org is only going away for staff use, not members
ITTS is discussing ways to monitor Trackit during holidays

discussion of way to just notify about a potential problem, rather than fill out a full report
ITTS will implement that type of feature in Trackit

3. Brief demonstration on how to schedule meeting rooms in Outlook (Sheila)
Sheila did a demo of how to book meeting rooms and resources in Outlook
this is how you can book a meeting room now, although you need to contact Alicia to actually book the executive conference rooms on the 2nd floor
contact Sheila or Louise to book the training room

there’s a bug that doesn’t show “all day meetings” as “busy,” so you’re better off picking specific times (like 9-5)

Posted by Jenny under ITTS Update meetings | 1 Comment »

1. Website

• Web Services Health Check (Sherri)
  ITTS circulated an RFP to diagnose and fix sporadic reports of problem with web-based services
  we’ve been unable to replicate the problem to date, so we’re having issues troubleshooting it
• Web Tag Team Initiative (Louise)
  introduced Sheila Joy, ITTS’ new trainer (the new Louise!)
  Web Tag Team is looking at those pages on the site that have nothing tagged to them – in other words, no content
  they’ll be going through the site and tagging things they think should appear under those subject headings
  will contact web managers when they want to add a tag to a page
  more should start appearing under those pages
  will have to discuss adding new content to the page if none existsquestion: can we send the report of pages with no content around to the unit managers?
  answer: yes, although we’ll probably put it on the share drive

2. ALA Connect Update (Jenny)
we’re still scheduled to soft launch in March and launch officially in April
have a number of volunteer groups for the soft launch
one more staff Q&A session Wednesday afternoon, although we may do a few more in March leading up to the launch

3. E-petition application (Donavan)
Board wanted this for this year’s election
we’ve tried to create something all units can use so need everyone to provide feedback
works a lot like the committee volunteer applications (public and staff sides) with flexible options

4. Second Life (Donavan)
the three staff members most involved in Second Life can’t really initiate anything for National Library Week
need input, initiative, and hopefully volunteers from the divisions and offices
putting on symposia, working with an Emerging Leaders team on an in-world event, continuing to put up videos and podcasts from Midwinter, have a Twitter feed
testing a live streaming capability
gaining confidence in our ability to use this as an enhancement for presenting programs, especially given how tight budgets are
let Donavan or Tina know if you have anything on your sites you want to re-purpose into SL

5. Blogs and Wikis Migration (Matt)
see the email that went out to all staff yesterday
Matt will migrate all blogs this weekend
contact him if you have questions or if you don’t need your blog moved so that he can delete it

6. Midwinter Twitter Presentation (Jenny)
Jenny did an overview of things said about ALA on Twitter and tweets from the Midwinter Meeting

7. Keeping up with developments

Blog w/RSS Feed – http://itts.ala.org/update/
Wiki – http://wikis.ala.org/learningcollage

8. Q&A

None this time

Posted by Jenny under ALA Website & ALAConnect & ITTS Update meetings & Second Life | No Comments »

The beta test for ALA Connect has ended, and we’re now working on the final issues list before soft launching the site in March. Overall, the comments we received were positive and encouraging; in fact, the comment we probably heard the most at Midwinter was, “Can’t you just launch this thing already?” So we’re working as hard as we can to do exactly that.

To help lay further groundwork for the official launch, we’re releasing an official ALA Connect Roadmap (114 KB, PDF) to provide some context and outline the service’s potential future. There are five sections to it:

1. Introduction
2. Unique Value to Members
3. Barriers to Adoption
4. Initial Metrics for Success of Phase One
5. Roadmap for Future Development

Section 5 includes descriptions of potential modules for phases 2 and 3. We’ll provide more details for phase 2 as we move into it this summer. The notion of “phases” is somewhat inaccurate, as features will be released on a continuous basis as they become available, but it provides a framework of building blocks.

Posted by Jenny under ALAConnect | 1 Comment »

At ALA Midwinter in Denver last month, we had a great Website Advisory Committee (WAC) meeting, coming out of it with several action items. You can read the full details in the official minutes (52KB, PDF), but here’s the short list of items that were reported out during the Council III session on Wednesday, January 28.

1. Website Content Management System (CMS)
   Collage, the ALA website CMS software, will be discontinued by the developers within one year.  Collage updates and support will expire within three years. WAC is taking the following steps:
   • Convene internal task force with representation from all affected units;
   • Investigate and explore options for a web content management system which is intuitive, stable, and scalable;
   • Report back progress and draft recommendations for discussion at Annual 2009.
2. Event Planner
   Members have expressed dissatisfaction with the current event planner. WAC is taking the following steps:
   • Working to implement the Event Planner in ALA Connect;
   • Will survey the membership for feedback on features and functionality during spring 2009;
   • Will report on “Event Planner in ALA Connect” progress at Annual 2009.
3. Website Content Standards
   Members report some difficulty finding things on the ALA website. Members occasionally have discovered older versions of a current web page on the ALA website. WAC is taking the following steps:
   
   • WAC is creating a task force to recommend future directions for the ALA website (meaning the website stored and maintained within the CMS); i.e. is the ALA website mainly an archive of permanent content with current content in blogs/wikis –or– is the website mainly for current information with links to other internal resources for historical documents –or– somewhere in between?
   • Task force will report recommendations to WAC by Midwinter 2010.
4. Accessibility Issues and Data Cleanup
   The ALA website has never had a full accessibility review.  ITTS staff calculate that a “full accessibility review and data cleanup” project to meet web content accessibility guidelines would take approximately ten (10) “person-years” (10 years for 1 person to do).  The code which controls display of the ALA website does not meet web standards.  With the looming need to migrate off the Collage CMS system, “clean” data is imperative to a smooth, seamless transition to a new web content management system. WAC is requesting from BARC that:
   • ALA allocate funds to perform an accessibility review at the highest priority level; and
   • ALA allocate funds to perform a data cleanup project to repair or remove non-compliant code at the highest priority level.
5. Recognition for Content Managers
   There has been a large cadre of members and staff who have undertaken the task of managing and updating content over recent years.  Without the Herculean efforts of these dedicated members and staffers, the ALA website content would not be as complete as it is. WAC is taking the following steps:
   • Formally recognize content managers for all ALA web content via several methods in relevant places within the ALA web presence.

Posted by Jenny under ALA Website & ALAConnect & Web Advisory Committee (WAC) | 2 Comments »