ITTS Update » Blogs & Wikis http://itts.ala.org/update Updates from the IT department of the American Library Association Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:59:38 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 en ©American Library Association jlevine@ala.org (American Library Association) jlevine@ala.org 1440 ALA, libraries Podcast from the IT department of the American Library Association American Library Association American Library Association jlevine@ala.org No no http://itts.ala.org/update/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/powered_by_podpress.jpg ITTS Update http://itts.ala.org/update 144 144 ITTS Update Meeting - October 28, 2008 http://itts.ala.org/update/2008/10/28/itts-update-meeting-october-28-2008/ http://itts.ala.org/update/2008/10/28/itts-update-meeting-october-28-2008/#comments Tue, 28 Oct 2008 19:42:04 +0000 Jenny http://itts.ala.org/update/2008/10/28/itts-update-meeting-october-28-2008/ 1. Website Redesign/IA Rollout (Sherri and Karen)

the website is a work in progress
we’ve been focusing on stability issues with the ActiveMatter server (forms, ecommerce transactions, etc.)
- updated the Access databases to Microsoft SQL databases, restricted access to a small number of IP addresses to help address this issue
- this also let us restrict search engines from indexing old content
- got rid of tagged pages from the old ActiveMatter server

we’re in the process of upgrading to a new server with more disk space and a faster processor
- hope to have that done in the next week

working with Duo on tagged content displays, division news feeds, and RSS feeds on the home page

a few weeks ago, a few of us met with Michael Stephens, the current chair of the Web Advisory Committee and came up with two objectives for the site
- for current information (this requires a systematically consistent approach for tagging, etc.)
- a marketing tool

the Web Editorial Board will try to lead several initiatives in these areas
- encouraging staff with web responsibilities to add keeping the site current as a goal on their evaluations
- need some quality control to achieve this; will allow us to set goals (”get your shadow assets down 10% from where it is today,” etc.)
- revamping the Web Editorial Board into two separate teams
- “tag team” - will review the site structure, will consult with offices on restructuring content; create standards; review and finalize the web style guide; examining the website to determine to what extent it should be used as an archive; examining advantages and disadvantages of decentralized site management; tagging items for listing pages; checking for ALT text on images; proper page headlines; use of transcripts for audio and video files; procedural documentation; etc.
- “communications impact team” - encourage use of images, pods, etc.; consulting with units to develop individual areas of the site for maximum effect; optimizing pages; accessibility issues

the Web Editorial Board is going to expand and add more members

2. ALA Connect (Jenny)

just got back from vacation yesterday so hasn’t had a chance to check in with the development site to see recent changes made to the functionality
Urban Insight has successfully imported the active committees from iMIS and categorized them into “communities” (currently divisions), “committees,” and “events”
hope to have a demo to show on November 18, as we are hoping to alpha test in November and beta test in December for a roll out before Midwinter in January

3. Wiki Migration (Matt)

all wikis currently hosted at wikis.ala.org will be moved to Dreamhost domains because the wikis.ala.org server was never really intended to house these applications
Matt will be able to migrate 6-8 wikis each week without requiring the wiki owners to do anything
he’ll send out a message about this today or tomorrow
he’ll change nothing about your wiki, other than the beginnings of the URL (”wikis.ala.org/acrlwiki” will become something like “acrl.ala.org/acrlwiki” in the domain unless you specify otherwise) - basically, “wikis” just becomes your acronym

migrating the wikis to Dreamhost has some other benefits, including the addition of an audio captcha for spam control

all of this will happen over the next 4-5 weeks, and Matt will notify you when this is happening for your site
while your wiki is migrated, it will be down for 1-2 hours

everything in your current wiki will get migrated, including content, users, blocked users, images, files, etc.

4. Virtual Private Hosting (Matt)

if you already have blogs, wikis, or Moodle on Dreamhost, you may have noticed that it slows down from time-to-time
but earlier this month, we upgraded to “virtual private hosting” service, which means we’re now paying a monthly fee for reserved processor time and more importantly, memory

this means we’ll no longer be throttled back when other users overload the server, so speed and response time should improve dramatically and should be more consistent
we also have no maximum ceiling now, as our usage is burstable

if you do encounter problems, let Matt know right away because he has more options for troubleshooting now (such as rebooting our virtual server)

Moodle chat now works (insofar as Moodle chat works)

Matt also noted that when you use FTP on Dreamhost, make sure you’re using your domain name (eg, rusa.ala.org), rather than a server name

5. Meeting room resources in Outlook (Sherri)

coming soon - we’ll be implementing the ability to book meeting rooms in Outlook
just have to get this set up and will then send out a tech tip about it

6. Keeping up with developments
Blog w/RSS Feed - http://itts.ala.org/update/
Wikis - http://wikis.ala.org/learningcollage; http://wikis.ala.org/webplanning

]]> http://itts.ala.org/update/2008/10/28/itts-update-meeting-october-28-2008/feed/ Annual 2008 WAC Meeting and Report http://itts.ala.org/update/2008/06/20/annual-2008-wac-meeting-and-report/ http://itts.ala.org/update/2008/06/20/annual-2008-wac-meeting-and-report/#comments Fri, 20 Jun 2008 21:01:14 +0000 Jenny http://itts.ala.org/update/2008/06/20/annual-2008-wac-meeting-and-report/ At the 2008 Annual Conference, the Website Advisory Committee meeting will take place on Monday, June 30, from 8:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. in Room 202B in the Convention Center. If you’re coming to the meeting or playing along at home, here are the agenda and the latest ITTS Report (both PDFs). Committee members who have agenda changes or additions should bring them to the meeting.

In the meantime, if you have any questions, please ask away in the comments. See you in Anaheim soon.

]]> http://itts.ala.org/update/2008/06/20/annual-2008-wac-meeting-and-report/feed/ Dreamhost Server Relocation Notice and ALA Sites http://itts.ala.org/update/2008/03/21/dreamhost-server-relocation-notice-and-ala-sites/ http://itts.ala.org/update/2008/03/21/dreamhost-server-relocation-notice-and-ala-sites/#comments Fri, 21 Mar 2008 20:59:47 +0000 Jenny http://itts.ala.org/update/2008/03/21/dreamhost-server-relocation-notice-and-ala-sites/ Our external hosting partner, Dreamhost, will be relocating servers in its data center this weekend. We do not expect the applications we have on Dreamhost - including blogs, wikis, and Moodle online courses, among others - to encounter any meaningful downtime as a result of this major equipment relocation. However, Dreamhost control panel access, which a few staff members have, will be unavailable during this time. Also, it would not be a surprise to see some performance hit as the result of all of this work being in progress, as Dreamhost will be down to one DNS server from its normal three.The relocation will be taking place tonight at 11PM CDT and will last for as long as twelve hours.

Matt

]]> http://itts.ala.org/update/2008/03/21/dreamhost-server-relocation-notice-and-ala-sites/feed/ MyALA Overview http://itts.ala.org/update/2008/01/14/myala-overview/ http://itts.ala.org/update/2008/01/14/myala-overview/#comments Mon, 14 Jan 2008 16:27:22 +0000 Jenny http://itts.ala.org/update/2008/01/14/myala-overview/ I did a few slides explaining where we’re headed with “MY ALA” for the Executive Board session on January 11 and then again for the Web Advisory Committee meeting on January 14. PDF of the slides available here. There isn’t much explanation on the slides themselves, so if you have questions, please leave a comment or email me at jlevine@ala.org .

]]> http://itts.ala.org/update/2008/01/14/myala-overview/feed/ Social Stats http://itts.ala.org/update/2008/01/10/social-stats/ http://itts.ala.org/update/2008/01/10/social-stats/#comments Thu, 10 Jan 2008 13:51:09 +0000 Jenny http://itts.ala.org/update/2008/01/10/social-stats/ Matt has counted up some statistics for some of the services ITTS provides, and there’s more of pretty much everything than we would have thought. Since all new blogs and wikis get parked on Dreamhost, those sites have come online just within the last five months.

Not all of these installations are fully live yet (some have just been requested and are being configured by the owning unit), but it gives some sense of the direction in which ALA is moving. This also doesn’t count blogs and wikis hosted offsite, since we have no way of tracking those.

Staff, please don’t forget to link your sites from the Read Write Connect wiki so that members can find them. If you need help figuring out how to do this, please us know.

Wikis
—–
On wikis.ala.org: 74
On Dreamhost: 27
Total wikis: 101

Blogs
—–

On blogs.ala.org: 39
On Dreamhost: 19
Total blogs: 58

Lists on Sympa: 926

Courses on Moodle: 30

Online Communities by category
——————————
ALA General: 57
Divisions: 197
Round Tables: 20

Total Communities: 274

]]> http://itts.ala.org/update/2008/01/10/social-stats/feed/ Blogs & Wikis - February 2007 http://itts.ala.org/update/2007/02/27/blogs-wikis-february-2007/ http://itts.ala.org/update/2007/02/27/blogs-wikis-february-2007/#comments Tue, 27 Feb 2007 21:43:31 +0000 Rob Carlson http://itts.ala.org/update/2007/02/27/blogs-wikis-february-2007/ “Read Write Connect,” the compendium wiki of ALA blogs, wikis, Flickr, and other interactive web applications, has been well received. We are currently hosting 35 blogs and 49 wikis on ALA servers. We are looking into the possibility of outsourcing the hosting of blogs and wikis to reduce maintenance and support, as well as to simplify the creation of new blogs and wikis, to expand offerings, and to provide more customization capability to blog and wiki managers. Stay tuned.

]]> http://itts.ala.org/update/2007/02/27/blogs-wikis-february-2007/feed/ New “Read Write Connect” Wiki http://itts.ala.org/update/2007/01/17/new-read-write-connect-wiki/ http://itts.ala.org/update/2007/01/17/new-read-write-connect-wiki/#comments Thu, 18 Jan 2007 03:35:41 +0000 Jenny http://itts.ala.org/update/2007/01/17/new-read-write-connect-wiki/ ITTS and the Web Editorial Board have been working on a new wiki to replace the web page that listed ALA’s blogs, wikis, and RSS feeds. The wiki format will make it much easier to maintain these lists, as well as expand it to include other resources like Flickr accounts (photos), virtual worlds (like Second Life), podcasts (audio), social networking sites (MySpace, Facebook), and other new formats/technologies/tools as they pop up.

The new wiki went live today at http://wikis.ala.org/readwriteconnect/. It’s also the link behind the “Blogs Wikis RSS Feeds” graphics on the home page now.

Let us know if you encounter any problems accessing any the resources. We’d love feedback on the site, especially ideas for improvement.

]]> http://itts.ala.org/update/2007/01/17/new-read-write-connect-wiki/feed/ Blogs & Wikis Updates - November 2006 http://itts.ala.org/update/2006/12/01/blogs-wikis-updates-november-2006/ http://itts.ala.org/update/2006/12/01/blogs-wikis-updates-november-2006/#comments Fri, 01 Dec 2006 21:58:33 +0000 Rob Carlson http://itts.ala.org/update/2006/12/01/blogs-wikis-updates-november-2006/ The “bad behavior” plug-in for MediaWiki has been installed. New wikis this month include the Web Planning Retreat, Sister Libraries, National Library Agenda, Virtual Reference Directory, Publications, and ACRL Baltimore (conference wiki), for a total of 28. Additionally, Read Write Connect has been created, a wiki to consolidate access to all ALA blogs, wikis, RSS feeds, podcasts, Flickr sites, etc.

New blogs this month include the Web Planning Retreat, Member Participation, American Libraries Centennial, and a blog for the Office for Intellectual Freedom. There are now 25 blogs being served from the ALA server.

]]> http://itts.ala.org/update/2006/12/01/blogs-wikis-updates-november-2006/feed/ Blogs & Wikis Updates - October 2006 http://itts.ala.org/update/2006/10/31/blogs-wikis-updates-october-2006/ http://itts.ala.org/update/2006/10/31/blogs-wikis-updates-october-2006/#comments Tue, 31 Oct 2006 16:07:05 +0000 Rob Carlson http://itts.ala.org/update/2006/10/31/blogs-wikis-updates-october-2006/ The “bad behavior” module for WikiMedia, which helps reduce wiki vandalism, is in the process of being installed. As previously reported, b2evolution (blog software) has been upgraded. There are currently 19 active blogs on the ALA server. New blogs this month include Student Retention Task Force, Jenny Levine, COSWL Cause, Lama Leads, Lama 50th Anniversary, and Midwinter 2007. There are currently 21 wikis on the ALA server. New wikis this month include CC:DA, ECRR, Yalsa 50th Anniversay, Virtual Reference Directory, Publications, and Law for Librarians. Plans are underway to turn the current “RSS Feeds, Blogs, and Wikis” page off the ALA home page into a wiki itself, to facilitate updating as new feeds, blogs, and wikis are created.

]]> http://itts.ala.org/update/2006/10/31/blogs-wikis-updates-october-2006/feed/ b2evolution upgrade http://itts.ala.org/update/2006/10/09/b2evolution-upgrade/ http://itts.ala.org/update/2006/10/09/b2evolution-upgrade/#comments Mon, 09 Oct 2006 15:07:09 +0000 Jenny http://itts.ala.org/update/2006/10/09/b2evolution-upgrade/ The B2Evolution software running ALA’s blog service has been upgraded! Improvements include spam control for comments and trackback, the availability of more skins, comment moderation, and more. Jack and Matt, our blog and wiki guys, have also added the plugin that will allow podcasting through the RSS feeds.

We’ve been monitoring the blogs for problems, and so far we’ve only found minor formatting issues, which we are in the process of resolving. If you encounter any problems, please email (jlevine [at] ala.org), call (800-545-2433-2461), or IM me (cybrarygal on AIM).

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