17 Dec 07 ITTS Update Meeting – December 17, 2007

* Outlook migration (Sherri)
still on schedule to be completed by the end of January
resolved the email-Word merge issue, which involved having to verify every message going out
still need to roll the software fix out to everyone’s desktops, but tests were successful
if you do need to use the Word merge feature in the near future, let helpdesk know and we’ll install it for you

* Installment payment (Sherri)
option for membership dues on the website now

members can pay dues in two installments as long as the total cost is over $125
will be charged $1.50 handling fee
will automatically split divisional dues, too

* Website (Rob)
in a split phase right now where Userworks is working on creating the information architecture for the site even as we’re working on the graphic design piece
showed four very rough design concepts from Userworks
they are based on the wireframes and do NOT represent the information architecture
designs are going to focus groups in Maryland on December 18 to help further narrow down options

* Collage implementation (Rob)
ALSC and LAMA are going live this week, which means all of the divisions will be live
the entire site has been converted as a rough draft
generic sections are being vetted
not sure we’ll be done by Midwinter because of the holidays but should finish up soon after

* KMS (Sherri for Karen)
there was a login issue for the old URL, but ITTS has created a redirect for the old URL to take you to the new one so it should be working again
future upgrades should not affect the URL again

* New capabilities (Matt)
Dreamhost fundamentals (new hosting service where all new blogs, wikis, discussion boards, etc. are located)
will do a demo next time of the web-based panel to show what you can do in there (one-click software installs, etc.)

question: can we install our own software?
answer: yes, but it would be self-support then, as ITTS can only help with the available one-click installs

* Training (Louise)
Finishing up Outlook training before Midwinter, will resume after that

Louise will be at Midwinter offering hands-on training sessions for Collage (classes and tutorials), Online Communities, and wikis
– classes are your first exposure to Collage; tutorials are for when you’ve already been exposed to it and you have specific questions

question: how many people are using Online Communities?
answer: have more than 100 communities right now; no way to track how many people are actively using it

question: are we still looking at Drupal vs. Joomla?
answer: yes, leaning towards Drupal for Online Communities, but still doing research
hope is that we install some software beginning in February and working through March; would love to launch a new version of OC at Annual

question: will this be integrated with iMIS?
answer: that’s the intent, yes

* Q&A
question: need website logs
answer: should be there now; software is called Urchin
question: needs current statistics, though
answer: they should be there through September

working to add through December

20 Nov 07 ITTS Update Meeting – November 19, 2007

Louise Gruenberg – Training

Outlook roll-out training Tues. – Thurs. every week except this (Thanksgiving) and next (SydneyPlus/KMS work). Schedule resumes first week of December and goes until everyone is converted to Outlook, 02/01/08.

Collage training continues in person and online as more units go live.

There will be iMIS training videos on the staff wiki shortly. People can use them as refreshers or to prepare for a class.

Many staff attended training on Moodle with an outside trainer. Everyone seemed pleased. We will be letting our WebCT license expire on 11/29.

Sherri Vanyek – Enhancements

Outlook conversion ongoing; about 100 converted so far. Some problems with search on older machines, which was resolved by installing a search utility program from Microsoft. In four rare cases, older machines needed to be re-imaged. We are currently testing a solution to the security settings for mail merge that require the sender to approve each message going out (could be thousands in some cases). The conversion schedule is on the staff wiki; plan is to be done 02/08.

We have developed a new “GiveALA” form that writes directly to iMIS and approves credit card charges in real time. Development Office staff are currently testing it; should go live in early December.

Automatic installment payments for dues are currently being tested and are expected to launch early December as well.

Spacemaster, the advertising sales module for Choice magazine is still under development. Once the people from Spacemaster had their data in our system, the Choice staff found problems with it. They are working to resolve the issues.

Rob Carlson – Web

The database purge completed over the weekend of November 2-4 was successful. It ran 39 hours and purged approximately 3 gigabytes of data from our database. This is important in speeding up deploys in Collage. It means, however, that not every version of every asset ever created will remain in the system. Collage will always retain the most recent and approved versions of a given asset, regardless of how old it may be. We plan to do a purge a month of the seventh month back, so we will always have current and historical versions of assets that were created in the past six months.

More than a dozen units/sections have gone live in Collage during the past two weeks. As we reach some of the smaller units, conversions are easier and faster. Plus we have more experience. Currently live are…

Divisions: AASL, ACRL & Choice, ALTA, ASCLA, LITA, PLA, RUSA, and YALSA.

Offices: Accreditation, Chapter Relations, Diversity, HRDR, International Relations, Library Advocacy, Public Programs, Research & Statistics, and the Washington Office.

Round Tables: EMIERT, FAFLRT, GLBTRT, IRRT, LHRT, LRRT, and SRRT.

Other: American Libraries Online, Headquarters Library, and I Love Libraries.

General ALA units are next. These are mostly the tagged pages from Active Matter, so there are lots of interdependent assets. We will need to tread carefully, but hope to have everything in Collage before the end of the calendar year.

Redesign of the ALA website continues apace. UserWorks is drafting the information architecture (IA) right now, as well as finishing up the content inventory. The IA will be sent to a selection of members for comments the week after Thanksgiving. Four graphic design proposals of four levels of content pages will be reviewed and presented to focus groups in December, and the consensus candidate will be presented for comments during Midwinter.

Matt Ivaliotes – Internet Applications

WebCT, as previously mentioned, is going away at the end of the month. Staff can go to classes.ala.org and register for an account. Let Matt know that you need course creation privileges. Early returns from people who have created courses in Moodle and those who attended the class last month are good. Moodle has an outstanding documentation wiki at moodle.org

Sympa is in the process of being upgraded and moved to a more powerful server. We are currently testing the new installation and planning how to migrate our hundreds of lists to the new server/version. The new version should clear up a couple of issues we’ve been having, such as read-only access to lists and replicating vacation messages.

We are currently testing the movement of weblogs from our internally-served b2evolution to Dreamhost-served WordPress. New blogs and wikis are all being created on Dreamhost now. Andy Bridges of the Washington Office found a solution for moving from b2e to WordPress, but user IDs and passwords don’t follow, nor does the b2e skin. Blog owners will have to select a new skin after the move to WordPress. Custom skins currently in use will have to be redesigned for use with WordPress.

Because Jenny Levine had a meeting conflict, we deferred discussion of Web 2.0 developments until the next meeting.

Charles Wilt asked about an ETA for the Sympa upgrade. Matt responded that the beginning of January looks likely. There are hundreds of lists to be converted.

Jonathan West asked if the Collage database purge would clear up the problem of old content still being picked up by search engines. Rob responded that that really isn’t a Collage issue, but rather an Active Matter issue. Active Matter never deleted content from the web server when it was removed from the CMS. That’s a manual step (send a list of to-be-deleted content to the help desk). Once a unit goes live in Collage their content is removed from the Active Matter web server, so the ALA Google search appliance should pick up the change. However, we have no way of stopping Google (the Big Google) from caching old pages and allowing people to view them.

The next meeting is tentatively scheduled for Monday, December 17, 2007 at 2:00 p.m.

16 Oct 07 ITTS Update Meeting – October 15, 2007

1. Enhancements to current services (Sherri)

   * Outlook Migration
   Handed out a draft schedule
   Will start with Conference Services tomorrow
   Converting and training about 10 people at a time
   Conversion process is about 30 steps, not all of which we’ve been able to automate
   Need one hour of prep time and two hours of conversion time for a 500MB or less mailbox, so please try get your mailbox at or below that level
   Right-clicking on your “mailbox” and selecting “mailbox properties” will show you how large it is
   During the conversion process, we will need access to your computer so that we can uninstall Groupwise, install Outlook, and attach your archive to Outlook

   While your account is inaccessible, you will attend a 3-hour training session with Louise
   ITTS is starting out with a 3-hour course (normally they are 1-3 days), but will offer an advanced version later
   If you have a laptop, bring it in so it can go through this process
   Reminders and recurring events will not convert, nor will proxies and rules
   Events, tasks, and memos will, though
   Frequent contacts will convert as a personal address book
   Other staff still on Groupwise will see your email as coming from 123together.com until they are migrated to Outlook
   – this does not affect how non-staff see your email (it will still appear as ALA to them)
   The conversion should be completed by February 2008 if all goes according to plan

   There will be make-up sessions at the end for those who are sick or can’t attend their scheduled training

   * Spacemaster implementation
   Converting final data for final test
   Should go live in the next month if successful

2. Web issues

   * Web Editorial Board activities (Karen)

   Has mostly been doing the usual news and spotlight decisions
   Recently discussed how to handle all “news” on the website
   Appointed a task force from the group to study this
   – Came back with a proposal to replace the static view on the home page with three news feeds that change dynamically
   – Feeds could then also be displayed elsewhere on the site
   – Looking at a way to test this as a trial run, even as the usability study continues

   Also going to start a long overdue conversation about what types of information should be in the CMS as static, carefully-structured pages versus what kinds of information should be in blogs, wikis, etc.
   Need to collectively think about the long-term impact of working around the CMS

   Would be happy to get questions, talking points, and other ways to frame this conversation

   * Collage implementation (Karen, filling in for Rob)
   Migration is about 2/3 done; should be completed in November
   YALSA and International Relations have gone live
   RUSA is scheduled to go live this week
   Round Tables’ pages are being reviewed

   Question: for committees and round tables, are people putting new things in the new CMS or the old one?
   Answer: until you’re converted, keep putting it in Active Matter, because it will get converted from there; ALA committee pages have not been converted yet, so we should continue adding content for them in Active Matter

   * Website Usability/Redesign (Karen, filling in for Rob)
   User Works is giving an update to the Executive Board on Sunday
   Have a summary of results of the feedback from the second set of wireframes

   * Website Search Optimization Analysis
   The proper markup structure is essential for an optimized web page (titling is important, the best place to put keyword phrases is in the title, links are indexed, the first 25 words on the page are very important for indexing)
   – encouraged everyone to try finding things on the website when you don’t already know where they are; it’s an eye-opening education

   * KM System Enhancements (Karen)
   We’re in the process of adding a “request/response” system for receiving, answering, and collaborating on answers
   The public forms for submitting questions will appear on the website, while the internal KM system will show you which questions are awaiting a response from you or your unit
   You’ll also be able to forward a question to someone else who can better answer it
   We can customize the system so that questions about specific topics can go to specific units

   Answers to these questions will help build up a new “knowledge base” (another new tab in the KM system) of answers to frequently asked questions

   Work was progressing on all of this, but there’s been a slowdown because the Library is short one staff member right now – will return to this soon

3. New Capabilities (Matt)

   * WebCT to Moodle conversion
   Matt has been investigating conversion scripts for moving content from WebCT into Moodle
   With the help of Donavan, he tested the scripts and unfortunately it didn’t go as we had hoped
   The scripts do work, but the effort doesn’t save you much time from manually importing the content yourself because of all of the tweaks you have to make

   November 29 is when our WebCT license expires
   – this means that any course you have now that is running in WebCT needs to be running in Moodle if you want it to be working on November 30; otherwise, you can leave it in WebCT and migrate your content before February
   The one known issue is that quizzes won’t convert anyway and must be moved over manually

   * Migrating existing blogs and wikis to the new hosting service
   All new wikis and blogs have been going on the new service, everything seems to be working well
   As we get ready to migrate existing blogs and wikis over, we’ll start with wikis first
   Blogs will be more difficult because we’re actually switching software from b2evolution to WordPress (whereas we’ll still be using Mediawiki for the wikis)
   – requires conversion of content (posts and comments)

   – maintaining access rights for authors and admins
   – skins/templates don’t convert, so when you decide you want your blog moved, you’ll need to spend time creating the new skin on WP
   ITTS is not going to drag anyone out of b2e at this time; will work through the process first
   The major complication for both of these is the RSS feed, because URLs change between software, so we need to work out if we can maintain existing addresses

   Question: Is there training we’ll need to go into the new environment?
   Answer: Well, there wasn’t any training previously for the blogs, but WordPress is easier to use in general and we are trying to provide documentation for this. For wikis, the software will be the same, and Matt will be migrating the actual content, which should stay the same

   Question: Are new blogs being set up?
   Answer: Yes. Some requests are getting lost between Track-It and email, so please let us know if something has fallen through the cracks.

   Question: when blogs are migrated, what happens with members who are already authors on them?
   Answer: Matt will test migrating the posts and comments over. Blog owners will have to handle the skins, but Matt can give admins access to do this. Once Matt gives staff access, you can then work with members to implement skins, authors, etc. Authors may not convert over, but Matt will try to migrate them.

   Question: will it be possible for us to have one wiki login or one blog login across the board?
   Answer: The software isn’t designed to work that way. Would have to hack each wiki to make it look at an authentication database, which would be difficult. Would also require a much more complex system of permissions than we currently use.

4. Association 2.0 (Jenny)

   * AL Focus
   Just a reminder that ALF is still plugging away at http://alfocus.ala.org/ and that you can post your own videos here, too
   Can then embed the videos in your blog or wiki
   This is also one place where we’re trying to explain how the various parts of ALA work, so you might want to track what goes online here, too
   – e.g., the BARC interview that explains what BARC is at http://alfocus.ala.org/videos/rod-hersberger-marilyn-hinshaw-interview

   * r-mail
   Noted that this service will give you code to paste into your blog that lets folks subscribe to email updates for your blog
   This way, they don’t have to know what RSS is – they can just sign up here and get an email for each new blog post
   Inserting a reminder here that this service is free, could go away at any time, and is not affiliated with ALA in any way; it will only work if their site is up and running, which ITTS cannot control
   Note, too, that it does put a small ad at the very bottom of the email message
   Still, it might be a good way to let users get updates – your call

   * Feed2js
   Installed this on the new hosting service so that we can display others’ headlines on our sites, display our own headlines on our own sites, or let others display our headlines on their sites

   To try this out for yourself, go to http://discuss.ala.org/feeds/build.php and paste in a URL for an RSS feed
   – you can change the options if you’d like
   – then take the code and paste it into your web page where you want the headlines to appear
   You can also display things like American Libraries news headlines on your own sites to make them more dynamic
   – see an example of it at http://discuss.ala.org/feeds/altest.html

   You should be able to use this to display almost anything that has an RSS feed
   It’s not locked down (and won’t be unless it becomes abused by non-ALA users), so feel free to use this to syndicate content yourself, as it is intended for ALA staff use

   * SlideShare
   This free site lets you upload a Powerpoint presentation or PDF file of slides and then converts it into a slideshow that users can click through
   Also gives you code you can paste into your blog or wiki to display the slideshow on your own site
   Also lets users comment on individual slides
   Same caveats as noted for r-mail (free is as free does, etc.)
   Still, this may be a great way to offer screencasts if you know how to use Powerpoint but don’t have the time or knowledge to do something more robust in something like Camtasia

   One note from someone that videos and screencasts need to be kept short, especially if it’s just talking heads. Ten minutes can be way too long (3-5 is better).

5. Training (Louise)

   * Outlook
   Putting documentation on the ALA staff wiki

   Expect to start receiving lots of emails from Louise when your unit starts getting ready to be converted

   Question: The conversion for rules and folders – is there a way to copy the formula of rules in Groupwise or can we do screenshots? Will there be help for this ahead of time as we’re cleaning up our mailboxes?
   Answer: Try “print screen,” but will check into this

   Question: Are we using “archive” the same way (terminology)?
   Answer: Ultimately, your archive gets stored on your I drive. Want to keep large attachments on your H drive. Can edit your archive through Groupwise.

6. Keeping up with developments

   * Blog w/RSS Feed (and email alerts option) – http://blogs.ala.org/ittsupdate.php

   * Wikis
   – [http://wikis.ala.org/learningcollage Learning Collage]
   – [http://wikis.ala.org/webplanning Web Planning]

25 Sep 07 ITTS Update Meeting – September 24, 2007

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

20 Aug 07 ITTS Update Meeting – August 20, 2007

1. Enhancements to current services (Sherri)

   * Equipment Roll-out
   * Complete – all of the laptops and desktops have been installed and the old units are being wiped clean and sent back

   * Outlook Migration – signed an agreement with “123 Together” on August 8 for Exchange/Outlook; they promise 100% uptime, which their references verified; working with a company called Quest on conversion tools from Groupwise; will convert ITTS the week of August 27 for testing; after successful migration for ITTS, will distribute a conversion plan and start training for staff

   * Spacemaster implementation – an ad system for the CHOICE office; we are currently working on matching up the iMIS records and the CHOICE records for the last few years; have to clean these up before can go live; will do more testing when complete and then go live on new version, which will put info directly into iMIS and then accounting software

   * New GiveALA donation form – working on a new method for this, a form to put info directly into iMIS; this will work for anything done through the Development Office, including for scholarships; hope to go live with this in December; will be able to get a lifetime history for the donor when this is live; uses a fundraising module for iMIS; will respect privacy requests, though

   * iMIS Patch – Tim is currently working on a Zen application to roll out this patch to everyone; fixes a problem with payment in iMIS 10.6 patch

2. Web Issues (Rob)
   * Web Editorial Board activities – is working on another clean-up event for the website; looking at a different format to try for better results than we had at the spring session

   * Collage implementation & conversion process – continues; met with Duo last week to streamline the process and get things moving faster; have asked for better, cleaner conversions from them; ACRL has gone live, though, as has ASCLA; last pages to be done will be group pages; examining a few problems with accessing some ACRL pages; Pubs, Conference Services, & tagged pages (which ITTS will have to go through and convert) haven’t gone live yet; once you go live with your content, you have 30 days to find problems because after that time spent fixing issues is billable

   * Website Redesign / Usability Makeover
   * Wireframes – sent out URL with updated design a second time because had a little leftover time and money with the consultants; 1700 people have filled out the survey, although responses are now leveling off; will take it down Monday, August 27; they will analyze the results and send them to us before the end of the month; they are working on a proposal for the redesign, which we should receive any day now

3. New Capabilities (Matt)

   * Dreamhost – ITTS staff can install a new blog, wiki, or bulletin board for you on this service; you can use other software on it, but you would have to install it yourself

   * Blogs – now have blogs going live on new hosting service; all new blogs are being installed on this service as WordPress blogs; currently working on conversion tools for the posts and comments, but templates/skins will not automatically port over; groups using WP elsewhere should be able to migrate to our WP service (contact Matt about this if you are interested in this); new blog and wiki requests take a couple of days to implement; will add a note about accessibility for comments to the “best practices” in the tech support at http://wikis.ala.org/alastaff/ .

   * Wikis – have new wikis going online on new hosting service; all new wikis are going online on this service; new requests still go through ITTS, which installs Mediawiki, and then staff or member admin can take over

   * Bulletin Boards – offering phpBB for bulletin boards on the new hosting service now

   * Sympa – virus scanning of messages going through Sympa has been tweaked because there was an issue with this in which the server would slow down and back up 15,000 messages

   * Upgrade – new version has loop filtering capabilities (can handle autoresponders!) and the ability to offer read-only lists

   * Moodle – is live now at http://classes.ala.org/! RUSA has one online; Matt can give anyone “course creation powers” that will include the ability for you to add students yourself; will work to make registration automated, too, as eventually we want it to become part of iMIS; interface uses the defaults; experimenting with scripts that convert WebCT courses to Moodle; discussion about whether we should convert every course or just those we know are in use; documentation is available at http://docs.moogle.org/; proposal to get WebCT developers together to share information about Moodle (would help to have a standard way to orient users to classes); training? ITTS will look into this

4. Association 2.0

   * Member/staff survey on virtual workplace tools (to shape plans for Online Communities or alternate application) (Louise) – rolled this out with an email blast a couple of weeks ago; 246 responses so far, 85% from members; still accumulating the results, but 60% answered the questions about what they want from online tools

   * Second Life meeting on August 24 at 2:30 p.m. in the Carnegie Room – members attending the Second Life Community Convention will be coming to ALA HQ in Chicago to talk with us about their experiences in-world and what ALA can do with its presence – please join us! this will be the meeting where we began talking about concrete steps for building up our presence in-world(Jenny)

5. Training (Louise)

   * Ongoing training sessions – seeking feedback about existing Collage training; survey should go out today in email

   * Collage

   * Collage Hand Holding Help — scheduled as time allows
   * iMIS Membership for new hires and others who need it
   * Online Communities Administrator sessions

   * Upcoming (September) sessions of classes not held often
   * IMIS Meetings/Events, September 4 at 1:00 pm (this only happens a couple of times a year)
   * Wiki Workshop, September 5 at 1:00 pm

   * Other training
   * See schedule on KM, if class is not listed, request it

   * Ongoing projects:
   * System set up of Collage project groups onto deploy folders, masterpages, and other resources
   * Extending the Collage wiki
   * Working on the ALA Staff wiki (formal launch in FY08)

   * Working on the planning for the Outlook rollout
   * Working on iMIS and other digital training videos

6. Keeping up with developments (Sherri)

   * ITTS UPdate blog w/RSS Feed – http://blogs.ala.org/ittsupdate.php
   * Wikis

   * Learning Collage – http://wikis.ala.org/learningcollage
   * Web Planning – http://wikis.ala.org/webplanning

7. Q&A / Wrap-Up

   * Do Groupwise questions go into Track-It?

   Answer: yes

18 Jul 07 ITTS Update Meeting – July 16, 2007

1. Enhancements to current services (Sherri)
   * Computer rollout
   – 29 of 99 desktops have been rolled out
   – Contacting rest of staff to schedule installations
   – Hope to finish before first week in August at latest because lease is expiring

   * Outlook/Exchange migration

   – Contracts taking longer than originally planned but almost done
   – Investigating conversion tools
   – Will migrate ITTS first
   – Will go unit by unit after that
   – Hope to roll out to rest of staff in September
   – Louise is working on documentation now

   * Spacemaster implementation
   – Sales/ad software package

   – CHOICE upgraded it to work with iMIS
   – Completing training on Wednesday
   – Should go live at the end of August as long as testing goes as planned

2. Web Issues (Rob)

   * Content switch (hardware)
   – Now have a backup content switch to install so we won’t have a single point of failure anymore
   – Right now the content switch is pointing everything to the ActiveMatter server, with the exception of those units that have gone live being directed to the Collage server

   – About to flip this so that most of the traffic is going to the Collage servers and the exceptions are on the ActiveMatter server

   * Domain name issues
   – Had some problems with any domain name that does not involve ala.org loading slowly, especially lita.org
   – Think we have resolved this, but please let us know if you experience or hear about problems
   – Our ISP wasn’t updating the public name servers, which caused the problems, but it’s been fixed now

   * Collage migration
   – Schedule is picking up again after Annual Conference

   – ASCLA should be going live this week
   – ACRL, YALSA, and a few others are on the verge of going live after a few tweaks
   – Some units have been reviewing content since April, so now it’s time to get moving on this and migrating
   – Round tables are next – they are currently under “internal review” at Duo right now so will begin the process during the next month
   – Rob asked that units use the “conversion log” Louise has created for them on the Learning Collage wiki as the reporting mechanism for problems ( http://wikis.ala.org/learningcollage/ )

   – All of the office have been converted, with the Washington Office being live
   – They are at the point where they should be reviewing the content (and have been since April) and writing their issues to the wiki
   – A couple of divisions are still being worked on (mainly ALSC)
   – If you have a list of issues in email, please put it on the wiki faster, as Duo will definitely get to it if they see it there and we’ll all have accountability
   – Are now doubling up on divisions, offices, round tables, and “other” to get things done

   * Usability and redesign process

   – Got some good feedback about the wireframes
   – 194 people filled out the survey and said we’re headed in the right direction
   – ITTS talked with UserWorks while in DC and they said they would take all of the input/feedback they’ve received and they’ll do a second reiteration that incorporates that feedback
   – Should have another set of wireframes this week
   – As of September 1, assuming everything goes well with the wireframes, we begin work on the redesign (yay!)

   Question: When do we begin working on navigation labels, etc.? When do I start lobbying?
   Rob: Not at that stage yet. The wireframes are a shelf where we say this could go here and that could go there. It’s we would put this in that column, really like a coatrack. It was an opportunity to test the labels we put on things. Have card sorting data from Conference now, too. Probably won’t be talking about feedback and labels until September. We’ll seek input throughout the process.

   Question: Do we know if anyone using a screenreader has gone over the wireframes? You’re using dropdown menus, right?
   Rob: The wireframes don’t lend themselves to Jaws, but the dropdown menus themselves (the code) has been tested by screenreaders and we have a report on that.

   Question: When do the pieces staff gave come into play?
   Rob: Those will be part of the overall discussion.

   * Web Editorial Board activities (Karen)
   – WEB will be bringing together two threads

   – Working with Conference Coordinating Committee talking about how to improve how we handle conference content after the fact (handouts, presentations, etc.), keeping in mind issues of money, rights, etc.
   – WEB is beginning some discussions about how to use “assets” in the new CMS and how to deal with “shadow assets”
   – Starting to work on a “back to school” cleanup day with more training/refresher opportunities to teach staff to use Collage properly to help us more
   – Chunking and modularizing content to be re-used in multiple places is the way to go, and we need to unify on this principle
   – WEB is always searching for new and current spotlights for the home page, although they may not be as significant in the redesign (50 x 50 pixels, by noon, to Karen, each Wednesday)

3. New Capabilities (Matt)
   – Handed out a draft of the deployment procedures for off-site web service deployments, in the current case on a service called Dreamhost
   – This is the process by which units will get their own space
   – greater freedom for units
   – also greater responsibility for managing your own services

   – New blogging software default – WordPress

   – Same wiki software – Mediawiki
   – New bulletin board software – phpBB
   – Matt can install these in your directory anytime, but the configuration, settings, templates, etc. are all then yours to do with as you please
   – Can begin getting units started now
   – Listed basics of what he’ll need to know to get you started
   – unit name

   – contact person and primary admin username
   – requested subdomain name (pickaname.ala.org) where your applications will live; note that this *cannot* already exist
   – departmental approval

   – Once he has these things, he can get you started right away

   Question: I spend half my time trying to find the output of what various units are doing, so will all of this be searchable by anyone? Will there be rules developed for archiving/preservation of these materials? Need to resurrect task force on records and preservation and incorporate it into goals to resolve these issues.
   Matt: Obviously there needs to be a procedure for this. What we don’t want to see happen is that we have “shadow CMSes” popping up on this service. Can put the sites into our Google search appliance so that they are found in our search engine.

   Please address any questions you have about this policy (or service) to Matt
   Overall, though, we are ready to begin deploying

   Question: When we set up these services for members who have requested them and taken the lead, what happens when there is a problem? Suggest two lines for requesting contact info, one for staff and one for a member.
   Matt: The primary account user will be a staff member, and then Matt can create a second admin user to be a member. Staff admin can always add the member admin user.

   Question: Will the wikis come with default functionality we would have expected (like the ability to upload files) turned on automatically?
   Matt: Not really, as we don’t control the defaults on Dreamhost. Will always have a default sandbox wiki you can play with to see the default configurations. We can provide some default templates uploaded to the site, and
   Jenny: We’ll provide some suggestions and samples of code you can literally copy and paste to get you started.

   * Moodle
   – Have installed a test instance, but few staff have looked at it
   ITTS is moving forward and implementing a production version because some units want to move forward
   – The site will live at classes.ala.org
   – Using Moodle will allow for immediate course registrations and will let unit admins add students themselves (yay!)
   – Have until end of November for our current WebCT license so hope to transition all courses before then
   – There are existing scripts to convert material from WebCT into Moodle, although he hasn’t had a chance to test them yet
   RUSA volunteered to test this (yay!)

   Question: Can we transfer files en masse from our hard drives into Moodle?
   Matt: Not sure, but doesn’t think so because everything is database-centered, not flat files. Thinks the conversion scripts handle the flat file to database-backend issue

   * Sympa mailing lists
   – Upgrading Symp from 4.1 to 5.2
   – New feature is that you can restrict someone from posting even though they are a member of the list, even though this feature isn’t used very much in modern list management
   – Rob is still working on revamping the Sympa landing page

4. Association 2.0 (Jenny)
   * Online Communities
   – ITTS is putting together a survey of member and staff needs for virtual workspaces
   – what modules do you need to do your work online?
   – what modules within the existing Online Communities product do you use the most?
   – what is missing from the current Online Communities product?
   – these types of questions

   – Want to get everyone’s feedback so that we can evaluate the current software and then fix it or find new software

   Question: Are units using Communities?
   Donavan Vicha: Yes, RUSA is using them extensively. Most questions are about passwords, accessing documents, etc. He hasn’t spent a whole lot of time hand-holding committee members.

   Question: Is that survey ready now?
   Jenny Levine: Not yet, but soon.
   Sherri Vanyek: We’ll try to get it out by the end of the week.

5. Training (Sherri, filling in for Louise)

   * Ongoing training sessions:
   – Collage
   – Collage Hand Holding Help — scheduled as time allows
   – iMIS Membership for new hires and others who need it
   – Scheduling Active Matter sessions (reluctantly) for Round Table volunteers and anyone else who needs it
   – Scheduling Online Communities Administrator sessions

   * New training available:
   – Shadow Asset Resolution the Easy Way (fix your broken links, missing items, and references to deleted items)

   * Other training:
   – See schedule on KM, if class is not listed, request

   * Ongoing projects

   – Extending the Collage wiki

   – Working on the ALA Staff wiki
   – Working on the planning for the Outlook rollout – contact Louise if you have special needs or input

6. Keeping up with new developments at:
   * Blog w/RSS Feed – http://blogs.ala.org/ittsupdate.php

   * Wikis – http://wikis.ala.org/learningcollage, http://wikis.ala.org/webplanning

7. Next meeting will be on Monday, August 20, 2007, at 2:00 pm

20 Jun 07 ITTS Update Meeting – June 18, 2007

1. Enhancements to current services (Sherri)
* Equipment roll-out
– 64 laptops
– 115 desktops arrived today and are being configured
* Migrating to Outlook and Exchange
– Attorneys are looking at contracts but delay because of illness on their end

* Installment payment option in iMIS (Tim)
– as of last Friday, we’re ready to let members pay dues in installments
– could also take pledges with regular payments now
– updates will be rolled out to staff as the new desktops are implemented
– SpaceMaster integration for CHOICE in iMIS (does sales, billing, and payments against invoices) will also be happening soon

2. Web Issues

* Web Editorial Board activities (Karen)
– Working with Marci Merola to launch “I Love libraries’ website
– Planning for the usability kiosks for the website at Annual
– Many discussions about how to handle the awards information on the website and improve it
– Meetings are on Wednesdays at 2:00 p.m.
– Will be discussing another “extreme makeover-like” event for this fall, revamping the Sympa landing page, where to get information in the KMS, and more

– All of the information is available on the blog and wiki

* IloveLibraries.org will debut the afternoon of June 18 as a soft launch but won’t be publicized until we know everything is working properly – http://ilovelibraries.org/
– this is an initiative of President Leslie Burger

* Collage Implementation (Rob)
– AASL has gone live; ran into a few problems but were able to solve them
– Duo’s progress on the migration has been slowed by their sudden involvement in the “I Love Libraries” website

– Will get back into a regular implementation mode after Annual
– Hoping to have everyone live in Collage by the end of August

* Sympa Upgrade (Rob)
– Now that we have migrated completely to Sympa, need to devote some attention to the not-very-good Sympa home page

* Website Redesign (Rob)
– Will have wireframes at Annual for members to give feedback on
– These are rough drafts of a possible structure for a redesigned web page
– It’s more a tool for gathering information, rather than a sample design

– Is supposed to get people to react, which is why they are [intentionally] rough
– Two kiosks will be available the whole time at the registration desk where folks can view the wireframes and a survey
– There is a press release on the website under “news” that divisions/units can use to help promote this
– 36 members were recruited to be walked through the wireframes as an activity that UserWorks will run the Monday and Tuesday of conference

3. Knowledge Management System (Karen)
* Electronic Serials Routing is in place
– means the electronic serial comes to Karen and she can then redistribute the link to those in-house who sign up for it

– Planning to combine the searches to make it easier to find things
– Adding more databases for staff to be able to search
* “Ask ALA” (Karen)
– A virtual reference system to pull in questions from the public website into the knowledge management system
– Will route questions to the person or unit best able to respond
– Will direct users to FAQs to try to reduce the number of questions
– Will help us build a knowledge base of answers that can be shared

– Will gather statistics for how many questions are being answered and by which individual units/divisions, as well as the interval between when the question is submitted and when the answer goes out
– Can track topics for possible publishing topics
– Users get a guaranteed response
– Responses can be enriched with attachments and links

4. New Capabilities
* Moodle (Matt)
– still seeking feedback about this software as a replacement for WebCT
– will allow units/divisions to be more independent in what they implement

* Dreamhost
– working on documentation and policies
– have tested the service with two blogs for the “I Love Libraries” website and AL Focus video site; have not experienced problems with any of these sites
– a week or two after conference, Matt will send out an email announcement for how to get blogs and wikis on this service
– does mean units/divisions will have more responsibility for these
* Podcasting (Jenny)
– a reminder that ITTS has two iPods with microphones for those want to record sessions, interviews, or anything else at Annual (or any other time); contact Jenny to schedule getting one

– ITTS has also purchased a video camera and a Mac laptop for editing video for any staff member to use
– “American Libraries” has been the guinea pig for video; Dan Kraus has helped AL launch a new video site called “AL Focus” – http://alfocus.ala.org/
– Contact Jenny to find out about booking the video camera at Annual or other times
* New wiki functionality
– Thanks to research done by the members of Project HH of the Emerging Leaders program, we can now embed screencasts, videos (in Flash), RSS feeds, and Meebo Chat Rooms in our wikis
– To add this functionality to your wiki, contact Jenny

5. Association 2.0 (Jenny)
* Second Life
– the group hasn’t had much chance to meet lately, but we will start back up again in July
– Karen pointed out that the Library has two copies of “Second Life: The Official Guide,” one for circulation and one for reference
* Meebo Chat Rooms
– Meebo, a website that lets you connect to multiple instant messaging services at once via the web, now offers copy-and-paste chat rooms you can place on your own site for free; see the Chat Online page on the ALA Annual 2007 wiki for an example
– you can create one of these to add to your own pages, as well!

* RSS feeds
* Twitter feed for Annual
– Twitter is a service that lets you post short status updates to your friends via the web, instant messaging, or texting
– there is a Twitter account for the Annual 2007 conference at http://twitter.com/alaannual2007
– it already has a few friends
– lets us broadcast messages to these friends
– also gives members a way to coordinate meeting up at conference, as well as giving those who can’t attend a more personal view of Annual

– have set up something similar at Jaiku – http://alaannual2007.jaiku.com/

6. Training (Louise)
* Ongoing training
– Lots of Collage training until the conversion is complete
– Have done almost all of the iMIS committee refreshers; two left after conference
– Collage Hand Holding Help is being scheduled on an “as needed/requested” basis as time allows

* New training
– Added a new class for “shadow asset resolution the easy way”
– If anyone needs other training at this point, contact Louise to schedule something

* Online Communities
– If need Online Communities training after conference, let Louise know
– Doing a member/staff survey about Online Communities to see who has adopted it, what you like about it, what you dislike about it
– Trying to get this launched during conference
– Want more input before moving forward with anything for OC

* Ongoing projects
– Getting the ALA Staff wiki ready with some content/documentation
– Working on a staff needs assessment for Outlook
– need to know what staff do now in order to know how to train for changes in these processes in Outlook
– In June and July, Louise is getting trained on Outlook and Office 2007 to anticipate training for staff
– Always extending the Collage wiki
– Ordering some copies of Camtasia and Snag-It
– trying to set up a computer with software that is infrequently-used by staff for occasional bookings
– Louise, Tim, and Irene attended the national iMIS users group conference

– they saw some interesting third party extensions/software we can add to iMIS

Next session: July 16, 2:00 pm

Keep up via this blog and the Web Planning wiki at http://wikis.ala.org/webplanning/.