Archive for the ‘Teams’ Category
November 19th, 2009 by Carrie Macfarlane
We’d like to get some quick feedback on 2 potential changes to the left-hand menu in the new library site. If you go the library site in Drupal (under development!), you can see how these changes would look.
- Change the name “Library Departments” to “Contact Us.” The purpose of this page is to give users quick access to departments like Reserves, Interlibrary Loan, Collection Management, etc. Using the word “Contact” in the name of the page brings more attention to the page, we think. It also might allow us to remove the long list of contact info that otherwise could be needed on the library collections pages.
- Create a new subpage under “Library Collections” called “Collections,” and nest pages like College Archives, Government Documents and Digital Collections in it. This decreases the number of subpages under “Library Collections” to 6. White Whale recommends no more than 8 subpages, and without this change, “Library Collections” has 11. We considered nesting some of the collections under “Main Library,” but we think that nesting them under “Collections” gives them a little more prominence.
We think these changes will make it easier for most users to find what they’re looking for. Do you agree?
November 19th, 2009 by Dan Frostman
The members of the Curricular Technology team would like to get some feedback from the rest of LIS on our new website, if you are so inclined. The basis for the information architecture is a three-pronged approach: what you can do (Uses), what you need to do it (Tools), and how are other people doing it (Stories). Not everything is fleshed-out yet, but for examples, see: Uses>Audio>Music notation or Tools>Voice recorders or Buzzwords> Blog. Here are some of the points on which we are waffling:
- The labels / descriptions under the various Uses. Are they too wordy? Can a user find what they are looking for?
- The left-hand menu under Uses – should it appear at all?
We welcome your comments, thoughts, suggestions, accolades, applause, donations, etc.
November 19th, 2009 by Elin Waagen
Thanks for your time yesterday at the all-LIS staff meeting. I know that your time is an extremely valuable resource , and I appreciate that you took time away from other pressing work to learn a little bit about what the web team is doing.
I have listed below the link to the Information Architecture site – I hope you’ll take a closer look.
LIS Website
It is a work in progress and we welcome your thoughts and ideas. You best know who your users are – and your feedback will help build a fabulous place for our users to discover LIS and all the resources and services we provide. Many thanks to those of you who filled out comment cards and asked questions at the meeting. We will take your comments and questions to heart and carefully evaluate them as we further develop and test the usability of the site.
We have some very exciting web tools and platforms to work with in developing the site. We hope that the intersection of multiple platforms on the LIS web site will give our users the best possible experience in navigating and accessing our services and resources – and also give LIS a chance to feature the great work we do.
Please be in touch. We can reached by blog, phone, email, and also in person. 
Elin, on behalf of the web team Ian, Barbara, Carrie, Liz, Jim, Jess and Doreen
November 18th, 2009 by Alex Chapin
I attended part of the LIS website team meeting today and gave a presentation of the ShadowBox theme and some of the new features that will be available in the next version including updates to author pages, more custom header options and most importantly, higher contrast text in comment fields. I also gave a preview of some new ShadowBox variations based on the new college website design. Below is a screencast from that meeting:
November 17th, 2009 by Michael Roy
Megan Battey shared with us a nifty tool from SF MOMA for looking at a large collection of images at the same time. It’s called Artscope and can be found at
http://www.sfmoma.org/projects/artscope/#r=64
November 16th, 2009 by Alex Chapin
I recently created a version of the ShadowBox theme for Measure, an instance of Moodle used at Middlebury for online assessments. As a starting point, I used the Anomaly Theme Pack, created by the Patrick Malley, the Themes Manager for Moodle.org and the Creative Director of the NewSchool Learning design shop. I merged some of the styles and markup Patrick had developed with code from the WordPress ShadowBox theme to create a similar look and feel to the WordPress version. This is a great example of the power of open source to build upon and synthesize the work of others (much of this theme designers current work in no longer open source…)
 Screenshot of Measure ShadowBox theme header
The goal is to create a more unified user experience (UX) and make it easy for faculty and students to move from one platform to another. You’ll noticed that Measure has links to WordPress and Segue in the upper right corner. These same links can be put in the same place on WordPress blogs that use ShadowBox. I’d also like to put these same links on all Segue sites to help with the transition away from Segue to other platforms.
 As new platforms are introduced, they can be added in much the same way as Google Apps lists its various applications.
For more information about Measure, see the Measure Blog.
November 16th, 2009 by Joy Pile
In attendance: team members minus Sue Driscoll. (Joy Pile, minutes)
Mack and Alex are working at the helpdesk. Alex tangentially wondered if and how the CTT should be more involved in the helpdesk. It was noted that the team has a number of issues on its plate – not the least of which was the original charge to find a replacement for Segue. If the team is to be involved in other projects – then we need direction and new goal setting from the ADs. It was agreed however, the CTT could have a hand in training staff at the helpdesk once a replacement application is chosen. It was suggested that the team could also have a hand in application development – particularly for MiddMedia and could help determine which features and applications are most appropriate for curricular use.
For the rest of the meeting CTT discussed its new website. There was some disagreement about the current navigation – but it was agreed to seek feedback from a few potential users before changing the navigation from the current mock up.
Discussed the philosophy behind Quick Starts, and came up with the following rubric:
- That we need to post some information that relates to the different labs on campus
- That there needs to be information about some of the free for download applications such as Audacity that are included among the tools
- Discussed what essentials might be included in a Quick Start Guide as it related to Audacity.
November 16th, 2009 by Elin Waagen
Web Team Agenda Wed 11/18 10 – 11 am in Voter West
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November 11th, 2009 by Jess Isler
On Monday, Barbara, Elin, and I attended the NERCOMP Workshop: Usability in Libraries and Beyond at UMass Amherst. (more…)
November 10th, 2009 by Elin Waagen
Agenda 11/11 – 12
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November 6th, 2009 by Alex Chapin
The Curricular Technology team is working on the figuring out how to document technology, no small task… We are all in agreement that it would be good to have some sort of “quick start” documentation that provides people with the basics to get started with a given tool or a given task/objective. Below is a screencast of a “quick start” demo I did for how to capture.
See: Capture > Presentation > How to do it.
This screencast is definitely too long for a quick start, but the idea of using a screencast in conjunction with step-by-step instructions for quick start documentation is appealing. For other examples of screencast quick starts and/or overviews see:
Using audio/video from MiddMedia in WordPress
Segue > Step-by-Step Instructions > Adding Text and Images
Alas these screencasts are a lot of work and am not sure how effective they are or how they can be improved… Though I think generally they should be as short as possible.
November 6th, 2009 by Sue Driscoll
Meeting minutes of CTT 11/03/2009
In attendance: all team members, Sue Driscoll (minutes)
The focus of the meeting was the IA of the CT website and how to build the site.
Decisions we made:
We agreed that we will use Drupal for the quick starts and overviews, which will then link to MediaWiki for more detailed documentation. The existing Ed Tech site was an initial attempt at a curricular technology site, and should only be used for its content.
We agreed that Dan, who volunteered, will be the ‘project manager’ of the CT site. His responsibility is to oversee the building of the site and make sure that others are doing what they said they would do. Others will be involved in finding and writing documentation. He will begin by adding the lists of Tools and Uses to the site.
We decided that each Tool will have its own page and will include an overview, a quick start and a link to more detailed documentation. Alex will write an example ‘quick start’ before the next meeting.
We decided that each Category of Uses will have consistent headings:
1. What is it? (overview)
2. What do you need to do it? (software, hardware)
3. How do you do it? (quick start)
4. Tips and Suggestions
Also, a link to more detail than the average user wants, or to a glossary and/or buzzwords
Alex will create sample text for the Video category of Uses.
Joe commented that it is important to identify who is going to do what. For example, who will curate the stories? What is a story? We agreed that a story is a 3 sentence blurb about an activity using curricular technology that links to a longer story on another department page or blog. There may be photos and links to our tools. Someone on the team should be responsible for finding these stories as they are reported around campus, write a blurb, perhaps add a photo and put them on the CT site.
Where do pdfs live? They should be linked to Midd Files because Drupal is not the place to store large files. Word documents can go into the Wiki and video files can go in MiddMedia. CT should set the example on this.
November 5th, 2009 by Arabella Holzapfel
In an attempt to ‘catch up’ with the other teams (LIS-blog-wise), we are starting out by posting our first few important documents or decisions. Other posts in the near future will describe what we’ve accomplished so far. Then, sometime in the next couple of weeks, we will be regularly posting updates like the other two teams have been doing.
Our charge:
develop and promulgate digitization standards; to create a process for prioritizing digitization efforts; to create workflows to allow for effective scanning, storage, cataloging, and archiving; to provide access to digital collections through various means.
Our priorities:
* Develop a policy for approving and prioritizing new projects – 12/2009
* Review of existing projects (standards and relevance) – 5/2010
* Work with Collection Management to integrate metadata creation for digital projects into CM workflow – 5/2010
* Investigate best practices for digital preservation actions – 5/2010
And our ‘vision’:
* What you want to accomplish and why
The Digital Archives team will recommend strategies that expand the vision of a digital library and develop policies that best utilize staff expertise to deliver relevant digital resources to the scholarly community.
* “What’s in it for me” for those affected
For collection curators:
* collections will be organized, described, managed and made accessible in alignment with LIS standards and priorities
* established work flows will ensure that projects are prioritized, planned for and completed
* there will be ongoing assessment of collection practices and policies
For scholarly researchers:
o you will have access to valuable materials that have been consistently described
For LIS:
* LIS staff and resources will be used judiciously
* consolidation of material and location of material
* collections will be managed and preserved for the long-term
* you will know why you are working on a particular collection
* projects will typically be completed before moving on
* projects will be seen as belonging to LIS rather than to individuals
* decisions will be based on clearly defined policies and priorities
November 5th, 2009 by Elizabeth Whitaker-Freitas
November 3rd, 2009 by Elin Waagen
LIS Web Team Meeting Agenda 11/4 and 11/5
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October 28th, 2009 by Carrie Macfarlane
Agenda 10/29/09
Timekeep, notetake, moderate, drive
Announcements
Permissions and workflow for LIS content
11/9 – deliverables on timeline
October 28th, 2009 by Barbara Merz
Should we change the blog categories in any way? Should “*The Essentials” remain the default?
Rational – it can be confusing to use the current categories. See what is categorized currently as essential and what is not.
Some suggestions:
1) *The Essentials is not needed. All readers should subscribe to the whole blog and pick what they’re interested in cp. reading sections of newspapers or subscribing to any other blog.
2) or should the default category just be changed to “Areas and Workgroups” i.e. LIS centric with action required to categorize as “*The Essentials”
3) and/or should “*The Essentials” be renamed “*The Essentials (all campus)”
October 28th, 2009 by Elin Waagen
October 27th, 2009 by Adam Franco
Topic 1: Segue v1 shutdown notice.
Team ok with Alex sending out the notice he presented. Team decided that the notice should be sent to all faculty rather than a limited group. Team decided that Segue 1 should be made unavailable at the end of Fall 2009 classes and not postponed until later.
Topic 2: CT Site IA.
Team looked at the Uses categories started by Alex. After much discussion and a few changes, we agreed to use the following IA as a starting point for our build-out:
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October 23rd, 2009 by Michael Roy
We made the front page of The Campus . The article focuses largely on student concerns about ending the 24 hour library hours during exams, and on printing. You can read it at http://www.middleburycampus.com/story/lis-cuts-24-hour-exam-week-access
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