the power of open source

I'm pretty overwhelmed now that I've returned from my annual Computers In Libraries conference trip. I've got a lot to do & little time to do it in, like everyone. But, I wanted to get this out there - the thought I've had for so long about the power of open source (reiterated further when I listened to the DrupalCon SF keynote being livestreamed yesterday afternoon & heard from the President's new media guru, who was behind the use of Drupal as a CMS for whitehouse.gov and is SO into "open government" that the Whitehouse.gov team has contributed modules of their own back into the Drupal community).

Open source is not free. We all know that. But it shifts the economic benefit from one of vendor profits to one of staff development - the building of human capital. From that investment in the development of, say, in-house Drupal expertise, the returns you get are things like:

• the ability to customize the system to your specific users' needs and your specific business' needs (instead of being bound to a set of system features that are implemented by a vendor on the basis of how profitable those features would be in the larger market)
• improved competence among IT staff
• higher morale among staff dealing with the systems they're implementing. People are intrinsically motivated by the ability to create and to have some control over their own destinies. That's an even more powerful factor in the happiness and productivity of employees than higher salaries.
• a sense of social good - of contributing to a larger community - a sense of purpose

There are doubtless many more benefits the community can come up with re: open source - feel free to add in your thoughts or correct me if you think I'm off-base. But I truly, truly think that the shift of investment from giving more $ to 3rd-party vendors whose only motive is $ to spending that money on training and building staff is a positive thing for people, communities, and the economy in general.

So, to all of the businesses, nonprofits, and governmental organizations who are headed in the direction of open-source implementation - congratulations - I think your investment will be well-worth it. (I know Evergreen (open source ILS) is having its users' group right now and I'm sure a lot of wonderful new developments will be coming out of that!)

Cloud Computing & Digital Videos

Cloud Computing
& Digital Video
#cloudvid
Jason A. Clark

A look ahead
- what's the cloud
- cloud as smart outsourcing
- reasons to move into the cloud
- gotocollegeMT.org/videos/

API
- rules for talking to remote server
- store
- retrieve
- upload

cloud defined = internet-based computing
- buzzword
- storage
- services
- intrastructure
- moving away from client/server model
- internet-based platform for computing

cloud options
- Amazon S3
- OCLC Digital Archive - web-scale management services (strictly storage) - safekeeping of master files - Worldcat is moving toward this
- Google App Engine - build apps using Google's infrastructure - using their Python, etc., for example
- Datastores of popular sites - Flickr, YouTube, blip.tv
- Google Docs
- Google Fusion Tables - can pckg huge amts of data into Excel-like packages & query

Problem:
- create scalable digital video platform in a week or so
- his dept = him, another librarian, 2 support workers

solution:
use online video services for ingest, datastore, metadat, file conversion, distribution, video player
TerraPod - http://www.terrapodcast.com
any MT K-12 students had to be able to submit to this (if they upload to blip.tv or youtube & then get data) - just need to add a tag to it - then gets queue info - outsourced metadata to K-12 users
use blip.tv player

cloud = infrastructure
- open & available storage
- open & available resources/services
- structured data

cloud = platform
- access to programming languages
- deployment tools
- application stacks
- blank slate for data

cloud = web scale
- network benefit
- enhanced distribution
- social architecture

why? advantages
- small shop
- many contributors, familiar ui
- optimized search index
- metadata entry and harvest
- file conversions
- social features and media players
- multiple file outputs (m4v, flv, mpeg)
multiple distribution formats
- mediaRSS, JSON, STOM, OpenSearch, iTunes (or Facebook)

disadvantages
- data in the cloud, loss of control
- terms of service
- API lag
- varying support

mashup routine
- make request
- receive structured data
- parse & display
just a matter of passing things into a url
http://www.blip.tv/posts/?.....

code samples
- Jason will help with code samples if you need it

Best practices
- cloud architecture = heavy lifting
- archive locally if you must
- reuse metadata
- outsource file conversion

apps.gov
- promoting cloud computing

don't be “ascared”
- apps.gov
- Google Data Liberation Front - strategic part of Google making certain that you can make sure to do with your data what you want (part of company)
- structured data
- storage and apps running on the network

Developing & Designing for Mobile

Developing & Designing for Mobile
Jeff Wisniewski
University of Pittsburgh
jeffw@pitt.edu
www.facebook.com/wisniewski

when we think about mobile, we have to think that the number of connections coming from the desktop web will be exceeded by the connections from mobile in the next couple of years (by 2013/14)
(Marvel has a comics generator - an aside)

this talk not about mobile apps, instead the mobile web

app v. mobile web
app
= available offline, as well as online
= higher barrier to entry
= fragmented landscape - platforms
= updates - cyclical
= coolness = high
mobile web
= online onlyl
= lower barrier to entry
= single platform
= continuous updates cycles - can evolve continuously
mobile users
= immediate need for information (so not interested in lending policies)
= context is king (user is already distracted)
= Nielsen says "mobile usability is pretty much an oxymoron"
= small screens, difficult input, speed/latency

"don't make me think!" applies even more in mobile
additionally "don't make me type"
Content for mobile site?
ask your users what they want?
content: built
now --
- directions
- hours
- ask a librarian / text
- contact info
later --
- catalog search & actions (search itself not enough, need to be able to take action/do something with what you find)

content
- be selection - info on need to know basis
- repurpose existing
-- podcasts
-- videos (format? not Flash for iPhone)
- alerts
-- RSS
content: bought
- EBSCO, PubMed, Westlaw, other mobile-optimized article sources
- web-scale discovery services (preindexed) can be mobile-friendly (as opposed to federated search)
- Catalog
-- build
-- buy
-- tweak
-- does your catalog's accessible version work for mobile maybe?

m.home
- create a new mobile optimized homepage (rather than retrofitting) - because info architecture is so different from old homepage to mobile v.
- single column
- single lines
- flattened hierarchy, fewer clicks (more selective in content served for mobile)
- short titles instead of longer, descriptive titles that are recommended for desktop sites
- simple std HTML & CSS mobile doctype declaration

m.markup
- css media type=handheld? lies! - doesn't work anymore
- mostif not all new mobile borwsers ignore the handheld statement (since marketed as "full web")
- media queries work more often - e.g., if screensize href="tel:2037688761"call me

href="sms:1234567890">text me

if page-based site you want to format for mobile only
use display none in css
use html accesskey

accesskey="1" href="http://..."

links will become automatically actionable in order of access keys - will work with selector
m.markup
-webkit-border-radius for rounded corners in mobile
auto resize image (do you even need the image)
combine dependent files
performance issues for website speed
- minify your javascript & css:
www.cssdrive.com/index.php/main/csscompressor/
http://dean.edwards.name/packer/
tell Google - register your mobile site there
make sure you're registered with google local (google small business center)
validate your code
CMS' like drupal, joomla, wp, can auto-create mobile-friendly v.'s
usability testing
- less architectural complexity and more functional complexity
-- test on paper prototypes
- platform proliferation - pick top 2 for testing
analytics
- Google Analytics added mobile tracking recently - so you can see which mobile browsers are coming to your site
- Clicky mobile hardware tracking (pro account or higher)
- filter by user agents (but lots of different ones - 15-20)

mobile OK Checker
- validator.w3.org/mobile
- Google webmaster: developing mobile sites
- mobile speed test (www.mobilespeedtest.com)
- iPhone Interfaceb mockup tool (iphonemockup.lkmc.ch)
- mobile site generator - www.hiddenpeanuts.com/msg/

Example good mobile sites:
-Virginia, NCSU, Oregon State, MIT
- MIT Open source is a web development platform (open source) to help you develop mobile site

In HTML5, can have offline access, so may not need to develop apps

where are links to CMS mobile templates (e.g., Drupal Joomla: mobile_tools in Drupal (http://drupal.org/project/mobile_tools), Joomla mobile extensions (http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/core-enhancements/mobile), Wordpress (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-mobile-pack/))
Comment from the audience that at one library with mobile, they're seeing download and reading of 100-page pdfs for their Blackberries/other mobile devices - people's willingness to read on mobile phones shouldn't be underestimated

Global Library Landscape

my notes from the last session I attended today:

Global Library Landscape
Marshall Breeding, Director for Innovative Technologies and Research for the Vanderbilt University Libraries

runs Library Technology Guides website - has done so for many years - http://www.librarytechnology.org/
provides reports and info on library automation field
directory of libraries' automation systems (who's running what) - libwebcats site - http://www.librarytechnology.org/libwebcats/?SID=20100413976867675
ILS turnover report is a new report he developed in Perl to see which systems were migrated off of
- caveat: only as complete as has data (pretty good from United States, once Canada = ok, then non-English-speaking = not so accurate)
his goal is to get more and more information - if you can help Marshall out, please let him know, keep him up-to-date so we can all understand the library automation marketplace (so we can make better decisions)

Another - more complex - report = ILS turnover reverse
"if I had this system today, what are others replacing it with"
tries to track internationally, e.g., in Australia - Public libraries has data
a lot of systems elsewhere we're not so familiar with in the US - such as Bookmark
what is the most used library software in the world? Isis software family developed by UNESCO back in the 60s, did he say? derivatives of it. New version of it, called ABCD (in Spanish) - open source version

Perceptions Report
- has done past couple of years
- 3rd annual survey = Perceptions 2009
- Apollo had great year topped the charts (new), as are Polaris, Auto-Graphics
- Apollo serves underserved libraries - small former Winnebago sites for example
- at his website - perceptions2009.pl - to see it for yourself
- of course, take with a grain of salt, since you hear most from those who are unhappiest (also those overly happy, the middle not as likely to respond)
- free for you to go look at, at his website

General conclusions
- the simpler the problem - the happier the users - single, non-automated libraries easy to please
- large municipal libraries & academic libraries (complex situations) - less happy with automation situation - so can't say that companies that serve the more complex situations
- people running open source ILS' are no happier than those with vendor-supplied
- his interpretation = if you run your own system, though, you'll be more likely to report it better (ergo, the open source must be really bad???)-
Library Journal automation marketplace
- published annual in April 1st issue
- based on data provided by each vendor
- less likely for vendors to give info
- focused primarily on north america
since 2002, has been doing the automation marketplace
- 2010: new models, core systems (base of industry, still = core ILS)
- 2009: investing in the future
- 2008: opportunity out of turmoil
- 2007: an industry redefined
- 2006: reshuffling the deck
- 2005 gradual evolution
- 2004: migration down, innovation up
this past year, terrible year for selling, but some did ok, such as Aleph
[...wow, data on III's Millennium = 157 sales in 2001 but only 45 in 2010, though still 2nd of all of the vendors]

mature systems - no longer based on best or most features, now based on models for future
recurring revenue more important to vendors than 1st-time sales
- software as a service fits that idea
New user interfaces = HUGE ACTIVITY = discovery platforms
- the front door of library through web presence is the most important piece of the system development these days
- not as worried about the back-end right now

Business transitions
- Polaris Library Systems - management buyout - good thing
- LibLime - (open source support services) acquired by competitor PTFS - even in open source, consolidation in fragmented market niche

Key Context = Libraries In Transition
- huge shifts, print to electronic, especially in academic
- key issue = particularly subscribed content, such as articles/databases
- strong emphasis on digitizing local collections
- demands for enterprise integration and interoperability
(if not integrated, system becomes less relevant)
- building for new generation of library users
- digital natives, web-savvy
- web2.0 concepts
- collaborative
Technologies in Transition
- client-server technology = dead
- web services / cloud computing / xml / service-oriented architecture = today
- Beyond Web2.0 (integration of social computing into core infrastructure)
- full spectrum of devices (portables - mobile, iPhone, iPad, etc.)
Dynamics
- evolutionary
- revolutionary
- open source and licensed alternatives
evolutionary path
- gradual enhancement of long-standing ILS platforms
- wraps legacy code in APIs and Web services
- 3 decades' long system deployment in some libraries

rethinking library automation
- working toward service-oriented architectures

can't believe Marshall forgot ByWater in the list of open source solutions support companies... are they too new for him? not sure what the criteria for inclusion are... maybe he'll remember next year... He does have LibLime & PTFS though.

talks about opening up library systems through web services and SOA - using APIs to open things up to proprietary, traditional ILS'

new models of library collection discovery
- from local discovery to web-scale discovery
- lots of non-library websites delivery library info to patrons (Amazon, e.g.)

the model that's still around in library web presence is one of first asking the format someone wants, then delivering to separate system with different look/feel - get rid of menu of siloes

modernized interface:
- single search box
- query tools (did you mean? suggest)
- relevance-ranked results
- faceted navigation
front-end decoupled from back-end
social discovery

Drupal Applications & Practices

again, just my notes:

Drupal Applications & Practices
Blake Carver, owner of LISHost

missed the beginning of preso - late back from lunch
but basically explained what Drupal is - why it's great, why it sucks (same reasons - e.g., so many modules)
also caught that the most problematic of the Drupal sites hosted at LISHost = one that was designed by a person that was a designer but didn't know Drupal
Mike Anello's list of his favorite 45 Drupal modules (that you may not have heard of)
Jay's List - My Top 50-ish Drupal modules (by topic)


as an end-user, fav module = Twitter modules - everything that gets posted to LISNews tweets out, so Twitter is the biggest referring url
as an end-user, other fav. module = Boost - writes a static html file for the busiest pages, so reduces load on server / speeds up (e.g., for his American Libraries Drupal site)
Drush - Drupal shell utility - VERY powerful - command-line installs, updates, etc.

What's Coming - Drupal 7
- surveys
- better media & WYSIWYG
- performance, security
- auto-upgrade
- usability
- PHP 5.2
- new dashboard & admin pages
making everything easier

Lots of places to find info / help with Drupal
groups.drupal.org - libraries group
drupal4lib mailing list

must-have modules?
though it depends on use of Drupal, Admin menu (will be rolled into Drupal 7)

choosing a good calendar often an issue for libraries
- who's doing this with Drupal - lots of ways to do it, a little tricky & ugly to get started - views, cck, date module (seems fragile though)
------------

NIH Library
James King, Information Architect, National Institutes of Health Library

Wanted to build a pandemic digital archive, for example
- study the 1918 pandemic outbreak publications - over 5K documents collected by an NIH doctor re: 1918 pandemic and similar pandemics (most not covered by pubmed obv., due to age of many publications)
Librarians put together custom lists of publications that answer a need of govt
A lot of custom databases built for this purpose
wanted to put more project mgt into each of these
& to allow for more rapid application development
UPEI's Islandora - (drupal over fedora)!!!!
Purchased a server & Acquia support Nov. 2008
Hired James King, Information Architect in March 2009
schedule on-site Drupal install
first prototype shown - May 28th (in 2 weeks!)
load a module or turn on a feature
content mgt system combined with social publishing system makes it quicker to deploy, because more people are able to contribute whenever they want
sees Drupal, Sharepoint as 3rd generation
1st was static html pages
2nd gen was some interactivity - scripts and databases
3rd gen = every pc of site is loaded into db & managed by system
Many websites running Drupal - Popular Science, Whitehouse.gov
- so clearly completely scalable - can handle as large/complex a site as you want
Initial plan was to catalog the materials originally, then decided to do something more like copy cataloging - talked to Proquest (historical newspapers) & other vendors
a lot of depth in siloed areas
changed scope from just building an index to a creating a community
uses these modules:
- biblio (auto import from Endnote) - scholarly publication handling system
- browscap/mobile tools (for handheld access)
- CCK/Views - to support event/meeting calendar, etc.)
- Entrez (to import from PubMed to Bilio)
- Gmap (to support mapping)
- LDAP/Active Directory
- Taxonomy
- Timeline (to dynamically plot by timeframe)
Going to put a Drupal front-end on their digital repository

SOPAC 2.1 - SOcial OPAC

SOPAC
John Blyberg, Assistant Director, Innovation & User eXperience
Darien Public Library

SOPAC transformed the way Darien did business with their users
"SOcial" OPAC (online public access catalog) - open source, built on Drupal, and integrate with catalog
To the end-user, the transition from the website to the catalog is jarring - so SOPAC integrates the experience
a cohesive online digital strategy for your library
3 libraries running: Darien (CT), Ann Arbor (MI), Palos Verdes (CA)
2 more libraries coming online: Newport Beach (CA), SAILS Library Network (MA)
how does it work?
SOPAC keeps users in Drupal, a layer that is a social services suite (2 libraries: INSURGE - social data, LOCUM - business rules) & connector piece to allow it to connect to any ILS
SOPAC development is UX-driven (built for end-users, not librarians) - end users don't want to feel stupid
SOPAC had to look good, had to have visual appeal for users
Tagging in SOPAC
- this has changed the way Darien does business
- when user tags something, it gets reindexed - part of keyword search is the tag
- key change from SOPAC1 to SOPAC2
- staff uses tagging feature extensively
- used to have a rack of "staff favorites", now tag in catalog - "staff favorites"
- can sort results list by any number of elements - can browse through "staff favorites"
- added tag for movies that are "better than book"
- "Meet us on Main Street" - program they put on ev. Wed. - "Main St." is part of library - reading group / group reader's advisory - growing in popularity - they hadn't been keeping a list, so then they added a tag for "meet us on main st." & can now browse through that
- "middlesex autobiography" - crowd-sourced a booklist of autobiographies for a teacher, rather than library staff taking time to develop the book list
- other uses, beyond end-user experience
Reviews and Ratings in SOPAC
- some people develop a "voice" & people follow all of their reviews
Hot Fiction
- can track circ data & include into index - can run on the fly - just sort by most popular this week, this month
- favorite fiction search - based on ratings - what your peers like/don't like

SOPAC & "Me"
- building a profile - an identity attached to the library
- hold list - auto-hold - RSS feeds

SOPAC & Drupal
- excited about changes coming in Drupal7, Views3, CCK3
- SAILS website going to go live in a while - prototype - point being, as an open-source project, a portable piece of software, carousel widget showing book covers developed by the developers putting together the SAILS' site
- showed example of CCK3 (CCK allows you to develop "custom content types" - e.g., "videocast")
- John created a content type called "booklist" - could be specific about order, etc. on booklist & it draws in image of book cover (using CCK3) - put in bib #, can choose to add book cover - saves a lot of time
- Drupal allows you to bring all sorts of Drupal tools - jQuery in it, for example
SOPAC & The Physical Library
- how do you take digital experience & bring it into the physical experience?
- screen dedicated to what's going on in library - items just returned show up on screen in library on its "Main St." - can request for staff members to go get them right away from that screen - updates every 10 seconds
- directly from SOPAC data - no reports have to be run
SOPAC 2.1 & Beyond (looking into/developing):
- Twitter integration - reviews, updates, events, overdue notices, requests feedback
- dedicated SOPAC Twitter account - want SOPAC to be able to announce to and listen from Twitter
- playing around with it - figuring out the use case
- Organic Groups - (OG modules in Drupal) - SOPAC can bring people together outside of sphere of influence of librarians - so users can create interest groups on the fly, coupled with a CRM (Customer Relationship Management System) - what users like/don't like (profiles of users) - yes, there are privacy issues, but figuring out how to do that - so that they can be more proactive in even getting people together
- we don't want to be the end destination for users, we want to help build community
- we have inventory management systems, why don't we have customer relationship management systems?
- schema-less bibliographic data storage (Apache CouchDB - schema-less database) - give libraries the ability to dump anything into db
- iPhone & Droid apps - including distributed self-check (using iPhone camera to scan barcodes, for example)

Strategic Planning & Encouraging Change

my raw notes from the AM session:

Strategic Planning & Encouraging Change

Michael Edson, Director of Web & New Media Strategy, Office of the CIO, Smithsonian Institution

(See many of the resources referred to here at their wiki on wikispaces - e.g.,

http://smithsonian-webstrategy.wikispaces.com/Commons+Prototype+-+workspace+-+home+page+content )

Showed walk-through of paper-based prototype use

Last year, talked about concept of a Smithsonian Commons

Have been planning & prototyping

The concept is to offer up the amazing resources of the Smithsonian in ways that others can freely and easily reuse and deploy in their own blogs, mashups, websites, wikis, whatever... giving the information consumer freedom in how they consume what the Smithsonian offers & to build on it, to build community, etc.

the preso at Slideshare - http://www.slideshare.net/edsonm

Strategic plan

Larger new 5-year strategic plan in Smithsonian

"earning new relevance" for Smithsonian - "work that matters"

concept of "thermocline" used as a way of understanding the issues

deep conflicts in workplace about the changes that are needed & the need for constant change

also, the concept of "free"
older generation (largely) thinks that giving things away is ridiculous,

younger generation (on the whole) thinks free is an obvious business model

issues:

- complacency

v.

- urgency

John Kotter, A Sense of Urgency (more on the Kotter books at http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5938.html) is required - the 30% of new initiatives that succeed are driven by a sense of urgency

museums now feel that they must accomplish real work in society

accelerated knowledge creation & social change

in old days, used to have to be the best you could be as the given organization

nowadays, MOST innovation occurs outside the walls of a Smithsonian

think big, start small, move fast

Mobile users are changing everything

Myth about the relevance, reach, and impact of orgs like museums & libraries

Smithsonian 2.0 Conference

Workshops to Wiki - Web & New Media process

open up process to as many people as possible

overcome orgs' innate tendency to slow things down

smithsonian-webstrategy.wikispaces.com - public wiki
people felt their words were heard because appeared on wiki

wiki became the strategy

one of the reasons strategies fail is that cononical version held statically in one location, rather than on tool like a wiki

Gov2.0 conference - driving change with transparency

- update Smithsonian Digital Experience

- update Learning Model

- balance of autonomy & control (help edge innovators in indiv. Smithsonian museums to innovate)

pain points & opportunities

Smithsonian Commons

more valuable if freely shared than if restricted

wrote experience brief w/4 users - flow of story, what problems are encountered, what they are trying to do - up on Scribd

looked at Flickr stream to see how Smithsonian is used/views by people - used in the experience briefs

let Smithsonian info be mashed up outside of institution

"amateur curators" allowed on Smithsonian commons - reusable data for others' sites, API for others to use Smithsonian assets as desired.

Biggest challenge = overcoming inertia

Well-Organized Sites & Portals

My raw notes from the last session I attended today (though I haven't posted my Google Wave notes - sorry, out of order):

Well-Organized Sites and Portals

Chris Jasek, User-Centered Design Portfolio Manager, Elsevier

has a Master's in Human Factors

background of research

- as publisher, wanted to know how products were being accessed thru libraries

-- literature research

-- user research

-- reviews of library websites

-- free consultations

well-organized? what does that mean?

tip of iceberg (visual perceptions)

- layout

- visual dsign

- perception

below the surface:

- user's mental model

- user's tasks

- intuition

"People don't come to a website to admire it, they come to get work done"

well-organized? from who's perspective?

- librarian persona

- surgical nursing student persona

Tasks & Pain Points for each

5 steps to a well-organized site

1. (most important) Research users. Understand their needs & tasks.

for Elsevier:

(a) conduct research to find journals,a rticles, books

(b) find course materials (lecture notes, etc.)

(c) find user account info (e.g., checked-out books)

(d) find info about library (locations, hours)

(e) get help in using the library or library website

"the biggest mistake is not giving enough space to the task 85% of the people come to the site for"

- users want multiple ways to look for info (e.g., name, subject, type of material, course)

- users want detail (descriptions, fulltext?, access restrictions, "best bets")

- users want help in recovering from wrong path & additional ideas to find more

offer cross/related linking

- users want terminology they understand

- opac (should be find books)

- A&I databases (should be find journal articles

- MOST IMPORTANT - test with your own users

- users want speed

- have no time to wait - website performance

- search needs to work flawlessly & simply, like Google

Survey other sites

- what do otehr sites offer?

- other library sites

- sites in other industries

- examples of latest tech

-DON'T BLINDLY IMITATE (THEY MAY NOT HAVE DONE USER TESTING / THEIR USERS AREN'T YOURS)

FOLLOW BEST PRACTICE DESIGN

- use page real estate wisely (key tasks get most/prime space - top upper left)

- minimize the number of clicks

- use consistent navigation (lessen confusion, build familiarity)

- treat links according to conventions (consistently throughout site)

- use consistent elements (fonts, layouts)

- use few colors / minimal graphics (avoid circuslike, unprofessional appearance)

- provide help link on every page (text, video, chat, helps save support time / cost)

- make your site accessible to all users (W3C accessibility recommendations)

TEST YOUR DESIGN WITH USERS

- MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU CAN DO

- Feedback from your own users is key (offer stakeholders opportunity to observe user testing)

- do user testing all the way through design process

- conducting usability studies is affordable and easy (observation is best, informal studies work well)

- usage tracking also important (google analytics) (though be careful of interpretations)

- focus groups/interviews aren't the best predictors, because what they say & really feel are two different things

ADDRESS ISSUES & REPEAT

- Identify problems, not solutions

people often jump directly to 1 solution to avoid true problem

instead generate a whole field of solutions to test alternatives & find best

- multiple, manageable iterations are important

prioritize

improvements with each iteration

you are never done (because tech changes, users change, expectations change)

"Now, go make your users smile"

pamphlet on how to design library websites to maximize usability - will be posted on conf website

-------------------------

Emily Shem-Tov, Goldmine Program Manager, Adobe

Information Resources Group, part of Market Research group, part of Global Market Research

overarching theme that brings team together

- extending our reach

- raisng the bar

- sharpening our focus

- building connections

Annual campaigns of this library group she's a part of

- supporting pillars

- specific measurable goals

A living document - will it help us meet those themes/goals

End of year evaluation of whether or not met goals/objectives

Portal

- internal, 39K+docs (in PDF, of course - it's Adobe)

- news feeds

- full-text search, flex-based search results (had to overlay Ultraseek with Flex to get higher-level functionality)

- browseable topics

- tailored entry pages for different business units, functional depts., hot topics

- email alerts, RSS feeds, saved searches, social bookmarks

- links to other licensed resources

3 steps to portal

1. planning (user research, surveys, roadmap, design)

2. development (search engine, CMS, taxonomy, tools & features)

3. promotion (marketing, training, tracking)

Goldmine Taxonomy & CMS

- totally customized for our audience & content

- over 1100 topics

- imported into custom CMS

- reviewed quarterly by team

browse & search are both working together

still have a physical library

added a lot of ebooks recently (overdrive, springer)

Sirsi library catalog

digital collections integrated into catalog

A LOT OF MARKETING & OUTREACH, especially on internal blog

ereich@adobe.com

Website Redesign: 2 Case Studies

My raw notes from the CIL2010 session on:

Website Redesign: 2 Case Studies

Sarah Houghton-Jan

Blogs at LibrarianinBlack.net

San Jose Public Library

known problems

- joint website for 2 libraries - 2 missions - the public library & the academic

- public library users felt ripped off, ignored

- 7 year old design, content, and CMS

- webmaster as gatekeeper = disconnected staff

- ADA requirements cumbersome in existing environment

problems discovered DURING process

- unrealistic expectations from administrators

- 1 year long RFP & contract process

- incompetent graphic designers

- 6 months of lost time due to lost momentum

- merged web team working on 3 sites - univ., public, and shared sites

- incompetent graphic designers

PLANNING

- stakeholders must identify org's goals

- techies, designers, & information architects identify how to meet the goals

- identify your givens (what do you already know about your users - from known / experience, surveys, analytics)

- use planning software (baseCamp, dotproject = open source)

- double the estimated timeline

STAFF & CUSTOMER INVOLVEMENT

- initial satisfaction surveys for both

- card sorting testing for customers early on (users showed that the website shouldn't be merged through card sorting)

- staff focus groups

- mock-up task testing for customers (walk-thru tests)

- transparency to staff and customers

USABILITY

- identify who you are serving

- focus on the few things you do well (user test MOST COMMONLY NEEDED tasks - most commonly needed by public, not staff)

- tell stories of what your users want (what do people come to us for?)

- look for friction points (where do people get mad at you? look for complaints... best people to do testing with...)

- who is the site for again? (e.g., is kids' site for children or their parents)

ACCESSIBILITY

- start simple

- Basic tools: JAWS, WAVE, browser emulators, OS emulators

- Firefox tools: Firesizer, Firefox Accessibility Extension, HTML Validator, Web Developer Extension, WCAG Contrast Checker

COMMUNICATION

- blogs for staff & customers with email & RSS updates

- ask for customer & staff input (AND USE IT!)

- recruit usability testing participants from among "the angry folk"

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

- set deadlines for everything

- hold people accountable

- one person should be in charge of tracking

- give periodic updates to staff/managers

- spend the most time on IA and DESIGN (often get stuck on things like choosing CMS instead) (by design, she seems to be referring to the visual - graphic design along with navigation design)

- keep things moving no matter what (LOST MOMENTUM DAMAGES PROJECT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PROJECT FATIGUE!!!)

- celebrate small victories

LAUNCH TECHNIQUES

- phased-in launch (notices, pre-testing)

- beta & feedback

- ITERATIVE DESIGN PROCESS via CMS

- = 1.0 + feedback

- = 1.1 _+ feedback (and so on)

- provide brief online & printable orientation

-- if it takes >1 page, start over, your website is too complicated

5 THINGS TO AVOID

- don't try to be fancy when your brain says "no"

- allow consultants to push you around

- have more than 1 project mgr

- stifle creativity

- don't re-invent the wheel

5 THINGS YOU MUST DO

- show your ego to the door

- take risks

- document everything

- research everything

- talk to users continuously

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Georgetown library website redesign

Kristina Bobe, Steve Fernie, Shian-Chih Change, William Wheeler

Concepts that informed redesign:

• user-centered design - speaking the user's language
• how can we incorporate new technologies into the website?
• connecting the dots - resources & users connected
• help users help themselves (e.g., what hours are you open?)

a few key components (not whole process)

5 topics covered today:

1. master task list (know your users... what are their tasks? What are they searching? included catalog search stats, chat reference transcripts, analytics for site, reference desk questions)
   - printed list, used scissors & tape - literally cut up list & taped to wall
   - what could people not do on current site? what was working on the current site? what could be improved on?
   - had staff look at it & see if anything was missing from master task list
2. usability
   - competitive analysis of other ARL websites
   - usability testing (I kind of blanked a bit here, since it sounded very familiar from my recent course & was checking in on emails. sorry!)
3. content management
   - switched to Drupal (used to use Dreamweaver. originally looked at Contribute. Instead, decided on full CMS.) Very flexible open-source content management system. No one on staff had previous experience with Drupal, so found it difficult. (Using 30 contrib modules at Gtown.) Has been well-worth investment in time to learn.
4. subject guides
   - LibData - open source authoring platform for subject guides, course guides, and general resource guides - developed by the digital library, U of Minnesota in 2003, development (dev'd in apache, mysql & PHP)
   - currently being ported to Drupal by Minnesota
   - needed to get subject guide imported from old Cold Fusion / (? database) setup
5. communication (backstage redesign - using the wiki to keep staff informed - replacing 3 other 'intranets')
   - was a stable place, & creative addition, but organization remained a challenge - not common terminology - enabled small group work, but limited cross-group collaboration
   - adopting challenges - reminding everyone to go to the wiki
   - tool fatigue
6. lessons learned
   - decide, then go on, don't worry if something better comes up
   - foundational importance of task analysis (not guesswork when looking at users; refining beyond anecdotes; more, better data)
   - wiki enabled better collaboration, not a panacea - still failures to communicate - still need to talk to people
   - LibData important step forward, but lack of flexibility (consistency too much for all subjects)
   - Drupal key decision (8 months out, still figuring it all out) - but a complex change

Improving Visual Web Experience

This session's title was "Improving Visual Web Experience", but it really concentrated on several tools that produce visuals - photos, 3-d models, and maps.

These are my raw notes from this AM's session:

Improving Visual Web Experience

I. Using Deepzoom & Photosynth to Improve Patron Experiences

Mike Beccaria & Heather Harrison from Paul Smith's College

Deepzoom - allows you to take large photos & zoom in & out seamlessly - MS tech

in silverlight now (approx. 60% adoption, alt to Flash)

Hard Rock Memorabilia

yosemite Deepzoom Panorama Project

AJAX Demo

only works when you have silverlight in browser

can use the AJAX version, so people don't need to have silverlight installed

How to compose project in DeepZoom Composer

- download software

- create new project, add images

- then "Compose"

- drag & drop images on workspace, make columns, decide how many columns you want

- once created save & Export - Custom - select options for export, preview in browser

- embed in you own website -

- upload project folder to your web server,

dzc_output.xml file

Use in Libraries

1. create a library map

2. digital galleries of student & staff work

- great way to host mini digital collections - can even put on Wordpress

3. scanned pages of a book & display all at once

- use Silverlight & SOLR to search

Photosynth

- merges photos into 3D space

- Microsoft Labs - beta

- freely downloadable software (like DeepZoom)

- incorporated into Silverlight

- go to photosynth.net to find out how to do it

(ex. Obama inauguration site)

- added panoramic feature & can make hotspots on photo data

ideas:

- new books

- magazines

- shelving (use 2D mode) - browse the shelves

- art gallery on display physically - take pics of gallery space

- photosynth makes point plots with x,y,z coords - can hack to get point clouds, which then could be used it for 3D model of library - library tour?

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Improving Visual Web Experience

Len Davidson, Catholic University of America

Maps - Google & Bing

Bing just came out with mashup with foursquare

bing.com/maps

get the latest version

- choose map apps

- click on twitter maps

Geochirp.com

Google Fusion Tables

data - visualize on map (google fusion in beta)

aerial photos & historical maps

- NYCityMap

but you can build something like this for free

Can do it in google -

but easier in Bing MapCruncher

US Geological Survey - Earth Explorer (for highest res = charge, but medium res = free)

Choose points to line up, then click render & upload to a web server - layered map - can switch & merge, etc.

besides software, all you need is space on a web server

(that would be really cool for archaeology & my lost road)

location-based social networking

- foursquare.com (see who's using your library)

- Hyatt Regency's FourSquare page

Bing has a live map of foursquare data

Notes on the Website (re)Design Process

A book that can help you manage a website (re)design project is Web Redesign | Workflow That Works (see http://www.web-redesign.com/).

The process offered in that book is broken down into the following phases:

1. Define the Project

2. Develop Site Structure

3. Design Visual Interfaces

4. Build & Integrate

5. Launch & Beyond

My primary interest in this post is discussion of phases 1 & 2 - defining the project & developing the site's structure. Do this correctly, and you will produce a very usable website. This group of ideas on how to (re)design your site doesn't include such important aspects as setting schedules & budgets, determining when you will need experts (& what type you will need), or anything of that nature. If you follow the Web ReDesign 2.0 process, all of these additional issues will be covered. But my discussion below is sort of an "off the top of my head" list of what you should do to get started planning your (re)design process. So if you have any ideas to add or refinements to make, feel free to comment here.

To start off, don't even think about the visual aspect of what your new site is going to look like... yet. Don't let other collaborators get you sucked into discussing a website that is "cool" or seems "clean". I wouldn't let anyone start wireframing or sketching prototypes. Not yet anyway. Instead, begin with some core concepts.

(BTW, when you do look at other sites, don't just look at comparative sites. The "pros" call this "competitive analysis". But I wouldn't base all of my decisions on other libraries' sites, as there are many library sites that are less than ideal and have never been tested for usability. So they are not necessarily the best guides for how design your site.)

Basically, we want to establish what are you trying to do with your site? What is your (re)design all about?

A. Know, learn, or clarify your organizational mission. The mission of your organization will guide your decision-making. Don't debate semantics of the terminology of a mission statement, but be clear as to what it is your organization is there for, what value it adds to the world.

B. Establish your web presence's mission & goals. What is the purpose of your website? What do your users want from you online? What do they expect? Make certain all collaborators understand the mission and goals.

C. List problem statements about your current site (for those redesigning)

1. Run usability tests with users representative of your general user population. It can be a fairly simple process. For example, prepare a few questions to test how easy it is for users to complete commonly-performed tasks on your site. Don't fail to do this - this may be the most important step you take in your redesign process. (You should also test prototypes of your site with users as you reach later phases of the redesign project.)

2. Look at your website analytics. Note high bounce rates (this is a statistic found in some web analytics tools, such as Google Analytics). High bounce rates can indicate that people coming to your pages are not finding the content they find valuable and are quickly leaving the page(s) in question.

3. Survey end-users / provide an open feedback area about the website & solicit their opinions & suggestions

4. Use checklists, like those found at usability.gov and websitesthatsuck to help you understand what issues your site currently has and which ones are most important (& for a why you shouldn't let your website suck - see this article re: Websites That Suck Increase Stress)

- Common problems:

(1) Navigation - if you get navigation down correctly, that will fix 80% of all usability issues (per CT's Usability Professionals Association president, Michael Rawlins, whom I just took a great course with!)

(2) Terminology/translation of mental models - especially in library sites, it's not uncommon to see the use of acronyms that the library staff may understand but first time users of your library website will not. Have you tested your "labels" for things with real end-users? Do they know what you mean when you're referring to "ILL" or "Databases"? Research has been done on library terms that users understand, so you can find some suggestions for how to deal with this thorny issue. But always test it against your user population.

D. Create a content strategy (You will be guided by the mission & goals of your site, as well as by your survey results, usability testers' comments, and web usage statistics)

1. What type of content do you want on your site? What do users expect (& what do they expect to see on your home page)? Where do you add value? (We understand that there are limited resources for content creation & the number of sites providing content expands exponentially every day, so concentrate on content that you are best suited to providing. If there are alternative sites that do a good enough job on a given topic, you may simply want to point your users to those sites.) Keep the content in line with the mission and goals you established earlier.

2. Who should create and maintain your website? How much should be posted and how often should it be renewed and reviewed? What's your plan for "weeding" the website of outdated/outmoded pages?

3. (for redesign) What content do you have up on your site now? What's most used? What's least used? What has a high bounce rate (which can mean that there's a problem with the page)? How recently has the content been maintained? How usable & accessible is it? Is it designed for the web (e.g., writing in bulleted phrases, instead of long paragraphs... in active voice... web-friendly, non-proprietary file formats used for images and multimedia)?

- If you aren't currently running an analytics tool or web log analysis software of any type, you really should add that, ASAP. Otherwise, you're building in the dark.

4. (for redesign) Inventory of your web assets/online customer touchpoints? For libraries, there can be a lot of these. Ideally, you'd be able to make them work together to provide a seamless and easy experience for the end-user, but that's rarely possible. Still, you should have an inventory of these assets (e.g., your catalog, digital collections, databases). Web2.0 tools make it easy for staff to post content (e.g., to del.icio.us, blogs, flickr, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) - but do you know what they've put online, where that material is and how/whether you can integrate the use of those tools with your regular website (or whether you'll have to migrate the content into the regular website)?

5. (for redesign) Which content will you want to migrate over to the new site? Which content will you have to create fresh (& who will create it)?

E. List your website's requirements

1. What features & functions should the website offer? (What tasks can the user do at your website? e.g., find out the hours of your physical location, buy something online, search the site for user-supplied keyword(s) or phrases...)

2. What are the site qualities you want to ensure?

for example:

- mobility (it works well on mobile devices. More users access the internet through mobile devices than by computer, so this is important)

- accessibility (legally, there are requirements that your website is accessible to users with visual and physical disabilities.)

- findability (search engine optimization has been done to ensure that your pages are easily found at the top of the search results list when relevant searches are conducted.. that it is easy to find information once on the site (e.g., you have a good, persistent/easily found site search engine as well as excellent navigation and bookmarking capabilities)

3. What should the back-end (admin and authoring) processes look like? (this will help you to choose an appropriate content management system or website publishing methodology)

F. List objectives for the site - measures for success of your (re)design project.

1. Increase number of site visits by x% - from X to Y

2. Lower bounce rate for various pages

3. Ensure that at least three posts or articles are put up about the organization every week

4. Move the site from a lower position in Google search results to a higher position when searching on a given phrase

5. Usability tests show that all participants can perform the allotted tasks within the allotted time.

6. Reduction in the number of phone calls to help with features of the website or to learn information that can be found on the site.

The planning is the most important part of the process. You'll need to take further steps to move toward completion of your website (re)design. Some deliverables you may produce during the planning process may include (each one of these could be a whole post unto itself, so I won't go into detail here, I just want you to be aware of these terms & concepts):

- site maps that demonstrate your site architecture

(usability tests: testing the planned architecture, navigation, and terminology/labeling against users' mental models using card sorting, for example and prototypes.)

- system flow diagrams - flow charts of how users will go through tasks on your site (e.g., booking a room reservation)

- personas & use cases

- wireframing/prototyping - you can use a number of tools, including simple sketching, to wireframe (create a mockup of various pages or a storyboard of a series of pages) your site & test people's reactions to the wireframes when laying out pages.

Finally, I should add that each one of the challenges you face - whether it's related to project management or how specifically to create a given function (e.g., design patterns for when/where/why/how to use web page elements like drop-down boxes) - has been faced by other webmasters. Standardized solutions have been developed, such as design patterns and tools like layout grids, content management system themes/templates, color scheme generators, and so on can be used, often at no cost. You should use them instead of reinventing the wheel. After all, you've got enough to do already!

My bookmarks for website design / usability:

http://delicious.com/sbclapp/usability

Getting grounded in website design concepts

What if someone you knew - not a librarian, not involved in libraries at all, in fact - told you they were going to create their own library ... that they were going to collect & circulate books to the public.
"How hard can it be? After all, all you have to do is get a building, some shelves, some books & then sign them out," they might say.
But because you're a librarian, you know that some of the seemingly most simple concepts are the hardest to execute effectively. So you start asking them questions, to get them to realize what issues would arise:

• how will you get the funding?
• what books will you buy to loan out?
• how will you organize the books so that they can be found?
• who will you loan the books to?
• how will you get the books back? what if they're damaged?

Hundreds of other questions will bubble up through your mind, because - after all - you understand how complex an organization the library is.
Similarly, when I hear people talk about building websites without much of a plan or concept of the work involved, I worry about the website that will result - particularly if its goal is to represent the library. We should be serving up sites that add to our organizational and professional credibility.
To impress you with the breadth and depth of web work being done in the commercial sector these days, I could start spouting off the types of specialized positions that one can train for that only deal with one specific aspect of building websites:

• graphic designers
• developers (people who write or tweak the code behind the websites)
• content producers
• search engine optimizers
• information architects
• usability specialists / interaction designers / user experience designers
• database managers
• system administrators

...and there are doubtless many more. There are also sub-specialties and various flavors of these specialties.
But I digress, the point is not to discourage librarians from engaging in website building, it's just to impress upon them that it's a complex process, if you're doing it well. If you fail to work through a planning process you may build something, but it's going to be, at best, a Rube Goldberg device and at worst, it will show up at
http://websitesthatsuck.com
Ideally, libraries would be able to handle their websites with the help of professionals, much as they handle construction projects using people who specialize in building things, such as engineers, architects, contractors, plumbers, electricians, and so on. Unfortunately, there's a widely held perception that anyone can create a website easily. And they can. It's just that doing so without a deeper understanding of concepts involved is more akin to building a tree house than than to building a structure that meets today's construction codes, has structural integrity, and is designed to accommodate the users' needs.
I also understand the constraints that libraries are under. Governments that barely provide enough money to staff their physical libraries are not willing to pay for things like professional website design (especially since there's that misperception that anyone can quickly, easily, and inexpensively build a website). So, at the very least, librarians can do what they do best, arm themselves with research and knowledge ahead of time. Their best bet is to try and understand the basic web concepts that provide a foundation for professional web workers.
Terminology and concepts that you should understand if you're going to be involved in designing/redesigning a website (even if your role is simply to be a part of a website design committee) include:

• accessibility (ensuring that your site is accessible to all users, even those with visual and physical impairments)
• findability (the ability of users to identify an appropriate website and navigate the pages of the site to discover and retrieve relevant information resources - see also: Peter Morville's site -
  http://findability.org/)
• search engine optimization (SEO) (ensuring that your site / pages are well represented in search engine results)
• usability, user experience design (ux), interaction design
  
  Usability is a qualitative attribute that assesses how easy user interfaces are to use, including such aspects as:
  
  
  
  • Learnability: How easy is it for users to accomplish basic tasks the first time they encounter the design?
  • Efficiency: Once users have learned the design, how quickly can they perform tasks?
  • Memorability: When users return to the design after a period of not using it, how easily can they re establish proficiency?
  • Errors: How many errors do users make, how severe are these errors, and how easily can they recover from the errors?
  • Satisfaction: How pleasant is it to use the design?
  
  This is a key diagram for understanding the user experience design process:
  http://www.jjg.net/elements/pdf/elements.pdf )


• design patterns (tested solutions to common web design elements/problems - see examples at http://www.welie.com/ & http://www.designofsites.com/design-patterns/)
• information architecture, taxonomy
• [graphic design-related] color theory, typography
• content management system (a comparison of web content management systems is available at http://www.cmsmatrix.org/), open source
• templates, cascading stylesheets (css), include files

A must-have resource designing usable sites is http://www.usability.gov
To get a basic understanding of accessibility in website design, go to http://www.w3.org/WAI/gettingstarted/Overview.html.
Finally, you should always seek advice on standards (e.g., for code standards - such as testing html and css for validity) from www.W3.org
Some great website design blogs include: http://www.alistapart.com/, http://www.boxesandarrows.com/, http://www.useit.com/, http://blog.jjg.net/
Books to help you with key web design concepts: http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=sclapp&offset=0&previousOffset=0&collection=67420&shelf=list

Lessons in design from a life well-loved

The theme of the past couple of weeks in my life has been one of putting others ahead of yourself. First, there was the usability design class I'd been taking the past two Wednesdays. Then there was the passing of a lovely 100-year-old woman - my grandmother-in-law - Grandma B.
The key takeaway from the course was to make the user of your (... software, device, or website... ) "king". Their needs, their feelings about the designed (...software, device, or website...) trump all other considerations. You should never design a website based on what you personally find "cool" or think is best without at least running it past others - in other words, doing usability tests throughout your design process and taking to heart what users have to say about what you're building.
At the same time, I've been thinking about what made Gram so special to everyone whose lives she touched and what made her able to live so long - and honestly, I think it was that she always thought and cared about others. She remembered everyone's birthdays, their relationships and their people, who was important to them. That's one lesson that Gram could teach us all, and it's one that could even guide those of us involved in designing websites - what is important to others? Others' needs and feelings must guide our designs, rather than our own opinions or thoughts on what we think is important. If we prioritize the needs and emotions of others as we design, we will create a positive (and hopefully long-lived) relationship with the users of our sites (or devices or software).
So Gram, thank you for all of your lessons.