The LAST assignment...a little late!

Emerging Technologies in Practice

Yay! last project is done. I really enjoyed completing this project and I wish I could have spent more time on it. Perhaps in a later class I can open up this subject again. I always love talking to other librarians!

Almost Done

WOOHOO!!

Almost done. Just one paper stands between me and finishing this blessedly short, yet intense course. As I sit here on the couch in front of the TV watching Parks and Recreation (great show, btw), I am wondering whether or not everyone liked working with D2L, we were the first in the program to use it. I prefer it over blackboard but I wonder what everyone else thinks after working with it for a while?

Overwhelmed.

Gosh Darn only a week left in this course. I am not sure how I going to fit in all the work we have left. It sure has been a BUSY Maymester.

Motivation where did you go?

After completing the Joomla site for Assignment 2 and the upcoming Holiday weekend, motivation is difficult to summon for the last push to complete Maymester. I was intially planning to do Option one for Assignment 3, but it doesn't appear that that situation is going to pan out due to the holiday. Therefore time to work on option 2. Time to lock the office door and hunker down no matter the holiday temptations.

Joomla an adventure

Honestly I didn't have too hard of a time with Joomla, but let me tell you I almost prefer building a site from scratch.

I know with time, I can be better at web design with Joomla. However in order to get some of the stuff I wanted to get done it was difficult.

The site didn't turn out how I wanted it to, I wanted a different type of side menu, but I soldiered on and figured out an appealing alternative.

Changing the template and design of the page was very easy. This is the most difficult part of design for me, so the ease of layout and color was great. Previously I have used CSS and always have found it difficult.

One of the most appealing aspects of Joomla is that you can see the changes you make to the site immediately, instead of loading it to a server and then checking it and then pulling it off to edit and loading it again and then loading the wrong page...can you tell I have had this experience before?! Joomla eases this frustrating task of web design.

Well if you want to check out my Joomla site go ahead: http://athenseatslocal.cloudaccess.net/

The site is on the local food movement here in Athens, Ga. Enjoy!

JOOMLA, JOOMLA, JOOMLA

This has been the foremost topic on my mind. Assignment 2 doesn't seem to daunting, just time consuming. After building a site from scratch, I think I could manage a CMS.

After poking around last night, I am not really sure where to start. So the plan for today is to ask around at work, because we do use Joomla there, I just don't. And then to watch that painfully long tutorial. Hopefully either will help!! Wish me luck!

I had great intentions

So I had these great and wondrous intentions of posting a tutorial I did on tumblr for a previous graduate course for everyone to oh and ah over. However after fiddling with the file and blogger for a good twenty minutes I was unsuccessful and feeling rather defeated. To post the tutorial I would have to copy and paste the text and then go in and add the images separately. Just too much trouble today after a long day at work and the advent of a massive article reading session and Joomla on the horizon as well. Anyone else have days like today?

Assignment One Part Three: Wikis

Athens-Clarke County Library serves a diverse population of patrons. All ethnicities, economic levels, and age groups are present. The library is a local public library in a dynamic city. The budget is around 3.5 million for the entire system; the majority is spent on personnel. The system is comprised of 12 locations. The goal of the wiki is interdepartmental communication. The wiki will be composed of interlibrary documents and information on policy in order to keep all employees abreast of changes in policy. Signage and flyers have also become an issue; using the wiki will allow any employee to download the correct sign, flyer, or handout in order to print more for patrons.

Page History: A page history will need to be available to see who has made edits and possibly recover documents if needed.

WYSIWYG: A WYSIWYG is crucial. Many of the people using the wiki are not familiar with mark up language and will need desktop text processor.

Commercial Support: Commercial support is not necessary because in house Computer Technicians can manage the site if needed.

Interface Language: This is not needed because the wiki is a private source for all employees who are English speakers.

Hosted or not: The wiki will be hosted because it is easier to use as a hosted web source and will be accessible from any machine. 

Domain: There is no need for a domain name, because the site will only be used by staff.

Corporate Branding: No need for this because the site will only be used by staff.

PBwiki is a perfect option. The storage capacity is large and many users are able to access and edit the wiki.

When to tweet and when not to tweet?

I had a personal twitter profile I NEVER really used. After poking around on twitter for this course I have become more and more interested. Now being a person that isn't too into social networking in general I really do not see myself checking it everyday outside of this course. Many times I honestly do no know what to post. So let me ask you, What is appropriate to post to twitter?

Background and Knowledge of Web 2.0

I am quite familiar with Web 2.0 technologies. I am a first generation facebook user, meaning I was on "the facebook.com," when it was limited to only college students. While teaching high school literature, I used twitter and www.edmodo.com to keep in touch with my students, post assignments, and host discussions. I have also maintained a professional development wiki with colleagues in the past.

The library where I currently work maintains an active facebook account and blog. However, I do not post on either professionally. I am hoping to learn through this course how to integrate more technology into traditional library services.

Recently I started a personal blog, I post about the books I read, films I watch, and food I eat. It has been a great experience so far. If you are interested the URL is http://thisoneeats.wordpress.com/

Happy Maymester!