ITTS Update

* 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

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.

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]

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