ITTS Update

1. Enhancements to current services (Sherri)
   * Outlook migration
   have started with ITTS
   planning to convert one unit per day
   conversions must be started overnight
   when you get back to your desk from the training, you’ll have an Outlook icon on your desk and will have been converted

   LITA and then Conference Services have volunteered to go first, after ITTS

   question: do we have a specific timeframe for units to be converted?
   answer: it will depend on how quickly the conversions go and if your unit is ready to go; ITTS has a spreadsheet schedule that we will give to unit managers

   will also have a more sophisticated spam filter that will also require some training, which we will provide
   training will cover rules, filters, how to change your password, archives, etc.
   rules won’t convert from Groupwise into Outlook
   advice to copy filters into a Word document before you know you will be migrated so that you at least have a copy of them, even though you can’t just copy and paste them into Outlook
   will have the ability to use rules to send messages to external addresses (such as mailing lists); caution about using this for *all external emails* as vacation auto-responders

   * Spacemaster implementation
   waiting for Spacemaster to bring data into new system for testing

   * New GiveALA donation form
   new form will replace the donation pages online, in the membership form and the GiveALA form
   will launch before the end of the month

   * iMIS patch
   will be testing patch for rollout next week or the following week

   question: how will the patch be tested with users?
   answer: ITTS will test the patch internally and then it will be rolled out to desktops

   question: what does the patch fix?
   answer: it is intended to fix a problem with additional payments not being recorded properly

2. Web Issues
   * Web Editorial Board activities (Karen)

   right now discussion has been about how to redo “news” on the website; have a proposal but have forwarded it to our usability consultant
   probably will not be a repeat of the website cleanup event this fall because of lack of time due to changes happening in the Library
   the Library gets at least once a day a grumpy person who can’t find something on the site that is there but difficult to find
   encouraged everyone to start at the home page, pretend you don’t know where something is, and then look for something you just put up; you will be appalled at how difficult it is unless you know who is responsible for something and where they have put stuff in the past

   question: will there be standard metadata going forward with Collage?
   answer: it’s there now, all of the tagging categories; no guidelines for keywords, though; will have a style guide after the usability report is done

   * Collage implementation (Rob)
   have 7 units ready to go live with another 5 reviewing content

   hope to take YALSA live later this afternoon
   consultants are working on round tables now; not always clear who handles web pages for these, so please work with Rob while he tries to identify the appropriate people
   implementation is moving faster now that we’re working with smaller chunks of content

   * Website usability/redesign
   waiting on a proposal from UserWorks for the rest of the job

3. New capabilities (Matt)

   * WebCT to Moodle conversion
   working on scripts now
   existing courses are exported into a specific file type for import into Moodle
   WebCT has a built-in export
   quiz questions may be an issue porting over but otherwise the conversion should go relatively smoothly
   will do it in a test environment rather than the production one

   there is an online Moodle course in a Moodle environment where you can learn how to use it

   MPS has requested in-person training, so they are pursuing a Moodle trainer to come to Chicago; will chunk up the cost according to which units attend the training

   if you want to see it in action, go to http://classes.ala.org/

   * Dreamhost
   working on getting all of the requests for wikis and blogs done
   going forward, will have 4 possible default setups for you to choose from – completely wide open, secured viewing (must have an account to view content), registered content (user must have an account to edit content but no admin approval for accounts), and secured content (same as previous but admin must approve accounts)
   will have a preset number of plugins/extensions available out-of-the-box and list will be available
   anything else (other extensions) would be up to you to add

   should be able to migrate old blogs to new service by November

   * Sympa
   how to upgrade to latest version November 1, which will let us go back to having read-only mailing lists, more security against loop emails, and more

4. Tips (Jenny)
   * reminder about making your page titles descriptive (but not overly long)
   this matters for when people bookmark pages, as this appears as the title of the bookmark, so you want it to be easily findable in a long list
   same for search results in web search engines (Google, Ask, Yahoo, etc.)

   pages named “minutes” or “2008 report” don’t help the user identify what the page is actually about

   * HTML vs. PDF
   discussion about the difference between how HTML pages and PDFs are accessed, indexed in search engines, and linked to from bloggers, external sites, etc.
   having more in HTML helps with these things, including viewing on mobile devices
   importance of being able to link directly to the most important information, rather than just one long PDF

   * defined podcasting
   noted that putting an audio file on the web and linking to it for people to listen to is not “podcasting”
   the “casting” in the term refers to syndicating the file via an RSS feed, for example through a blog

   if you are not posting the audio file somewhere that has a feed, you are not “podcasting” so you shouldn’t use that label
   the easiest way to do this is through a blog

5. Association 2.0 (Jenny)
   * ALA staff wiki
   ITTS is beginning to put some tech support documentation on a staff wiki at http://wikis.ala.org/alastaff/
   currently, there is some info for blogs, Flickr, and wikis, with more topics planned

   please note that the wiki is open to the whole world, so you don’t want to post any sensitive or confidential information (such as passwords)
   Karen wondered how we’re defining what is on this wiki versus the KM system
   this is a topic that will require further discussion but for the moment, almost all of the content is ITTS tech support

   * new Marginalia blog
   John Chrastka, Mary Ghikas, Jenny Levine, and Karen Muller are all posting to a new blog called “ALA Marginalia” at http://discuss.ala.org/marginalia
   it is designed to highlight things happening within ALA, to help explain some of the mysteries, and as a place to have conversations with members (and nonmembers) about a variety of topics
   please feel free to check in on the blog yourself, point your members to it, and suggest topics

   please also let us know if you want to join the blogging team

   * Banned Books Week in Second Life and virtual worlds
   Jonathan and Nanette both talked about the various events they have coming up for BBW in Second Life, Facebook, and MySpace
   we briefly went in SL to show the pirate ship, dock, signs, and other items around the dock that have been set up for the big BBW celebrations
   more info is available at http://blogs.ala.org/oif.php?cat=268

   * new versions of Second Life
   if you are planning to attend the Thursday SL lunches or regular SL User Group meetings from your desk and you already have SL installed, please try to log in at least a day ahead of time to see if Linden Labs has issued a software update

   if they have, please use the Track-It help system at http://help.ala.org/ to ask ITTS to upgrade your software
   this way, we’ll have some lead time before the meeting starts
   thank you!

6. Training (Sherri for Louise)
   Louise will schedule Collage training as people need it, so just let her know

   getting ready for Outlook training

7. Keeping up with developments
   ITTS Update blog – http://blogs.ala.org/ittsupdate.php
   Wikis – http://wikis.ala.org/learningcollage ; http://wikis.ala.org/webplanning

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