Welcome, Opening Remarks, State of egils & Opening Keynote Intro
Opening Keynote
How to Translate Developer: A Live Translation Session
Support and Training in a Consortial Environment
Evergreen Serials: Making it Work For You
Action Triggers
In Search of Search
Contributing Code to Evergreen is Easier Than You Think
Lightning Talks
Envisioning Evergreen: Charting the Course to 2020
Welcome, Opening Remarks, State of egils & Opening Keynote Intro
Tara Robertson, Kathy Lussier & Brian Owen
Kathy Lussier -
The Year in development
- release managers
- First Evergreen hack-a-way
- 1,081 code and doc commits to Evergreen repository
- 41 contributors
- 13 first time code contributors
- shows cross pollination w/ Koha
Documentation:
- documentation repository is now merged with the code repository
- When you download code, documentation comes with it.
- Efforts to move documentation up to newer version. Hope to see older documentation to be upgraded in future.
- Berklee College of Music is spearheading the documentation updating process.
- will have an intern to help with this.
- Evergreen in Action - work published in 2012
- web team needs volunteers to help improve web presence
- you don’t have to be involved in a formal group to be involved in EG
- Committees, etc. have scaled back and now working on immediate goals
- new features on incremental basis, etc.
- Volunteers still needed to move this forward!
- Change based on change in leadership.
- More discussion = bigger, stronger community.
Why should you contribute to the community?
- what you give to the community, you get back tenfold
- Ever been annoyed by outdated documentation?
- Quickest way to get it fixed is to fix it yourself.
- Can lead to software improvements to make your life better
- EG is as strong as the community that supports it.
- if you have a strong core of volunteers, then EG becomes a stronger and more viable product
- it can also be fun! [picture] Get to know these wonderful folks!
Get involved
- Join a mailing list or attend meetings of interest groups or teams.
- Send documentation to DIG
- File a bug report or confirm one that’s already there.
- Answer a question when you can help
- Update or bolster a wiki page
- create a project of your own
- e.g. serials and authorities roadmaps
Milestone - One of our own - 2013 Mover & Shaker - Galen Charlton, @gmcharlt
Brian Owen (SFU) - Keynote intro
- Overview of non-fiction titles by Vaillant, non-fiction author and journalist:
What do these stories have to do with open source development?
- The Concept of Environment & ecosystem is key source of belief in Open Source.
- Mentions transition from top-down to collaborative, horizontal.
- Parallels with Aaron Swartz & discussion of eco-terrorism.
- small, isolated, independent BC communities are some of the first to use the Sitka/Evergreen system
Opening Keynote
John Vaillant
- Thanks to Shirley Lew & following on twitter, bringing him here b/c ...“Coming here I realize, I’m among my people.”
- Believes his work is very much like a full...?
- Full disclosure: Has a friend who works for III. [joke] Told him to bring a helmet & unfriended him. [/joke]
- source (fr/eng) = spring, upwelling! fresh!
- knowledge is alive, dynamic (Noosphere/Biosphere?)
- Knowledge is power.... What is available should be available to the citizenry. Access & collaboration is fundamental to a healthy democracy.
- Writing non-fiction is a total commitment, no deal beforehand from publisher
- The Jaguar’s Children - new title coming next year
How I became a believer in Open Source:
- Experience with student housing co-op that started in 1950
- students (kids!) running and operating dormitories, buying properties
- groups of students who are only there for 4 years, from different generations
- core philosophies of openness, inclusiveness, responsibility
- because it is communally run, everyone is included in the discussion
- No secret societies/frats allowed on campus, but TANK (?) encouraged discussion of everything - good/bad, legal/illegal.
- “young people grappling with ideas of fairness and ethics”
- Oberlin food co-ops skeptical of Sysco, food corporation supplying university (esp. bananas)
- Led to working with a Honduran cooperative to import bananas direct.
- After college, hitchhiked up to Egegik, Alaska
- When you open yourself up to strangers [similar to collaborations], no matter what, you experience amazing things.
- Car Accident while hitchhiking resulted in a better direction than originally planned.
- Original: Work in a cannery.
- Better alternative suggested: Other side of Bristol Bay & place with fishing vessels.
- Camped with geologists, who mentioned bear problem.
- later got a job w/ the salmon boat repair industry.
- Salmon industry in Alaska in 1980s mirrors library situation today
- 1930s model:
- large, worked at a few river mouths and do everything
- source boats owned by canneries.
- monopoly on repairs
- Then people started to own their own boats but were still tied to canneries because of isolation.
- had their own fishing permits.
- last barrier: repair facility.
- Repair business allowed these boats to fish wherever they want without being tied to a cannery.
- Free salmon fisherman from patronage of large cannery companies, open source salmon fishing.
- Freedom within strict boundaries: they are what kept people making money and kept the salmon coming back
- “Not really an anarchist, structure necessary” to some degree in writing, freedom to write what you want but quotes and facts must be supported.
- Some controls ensure integrity in writing
- If there are enough errors, you’re gone too.
- If he hadn’t made that trip, he wouldn’t be able to have such material.
- “Still hitchhiking for a living in a sense”
- Eric Raymond’s idea of “the cathedral vs the bazaar”, more on the bazaar side?
- While researching (for The Tiger), didn't use encyclopedia—went to Russia with tribesmen and interviewed drunken poachers. Go to where the story is.
- “Can you deliver it? Were you there? Did you live it? Can you write it?” (no matter if sober or drunk)
- Qualifications secondary to abilities, doesn't matter who your daddy is
- It doesn’t matter your state, but can you deliver? - that’s what matters to publishers. Nothing about your background matters, rather what you can do.
- Hadn’t thought about book being a monument to open source, but then realized bibliography and acknowledgements were hundreds of examples of cross-pollination & collaboration with help from others.
- Abbott & Costello - Thinking about how one shouts for the other: what is thought of when sending out an e-mail, etc. for help.
- “Bellow into the universe, into cyberspace, ‘I need help right now’ and all kinds of people come to your aid.”
- Putting yourself at the mercy of others.
- When go through databases - VPL shoutout! - feels like participating in civilization.
- Example of reaching out through the centuries: see Biodiversity Heritage Library, scientific journals from 1850s, vivid illustrations. Researching Joseph Leidy, polymath
- Something sacred about anonymous acts of generosity, more than just code or gaining autonomy: co-creation
- Golden spruce had needles that couldn’t photosynthesize but thrived, theory that mycorrhizal networks of fungi pass information as well as nutrients.
- basis of Evergreen con logo: transfers knowledge, definitely nutrients. Analogy of experience doing research on & offline
- Monsanto, Amazon, Stephen Harper’s Ottawa—oppose status quo, conflict of worldviews.
- THE RAT: Censorious, judgmental quality. Meanness.
- They might be threatened by communities like us.
- Want to comment on proposed pipeline eastward from tar sands? Fill out ten page form (kafkaesque).
- Social justice component, this feels like the right thing to do.
- “Making information available to ordinary citizens in a free & honest way is a ...cornerstone of democracy. Feels like a UN gathering there.” At the core, it is about fairness & equity.
Comments and questions
- Q: You mentioned all of your travels and talking to people and so on. How did you get your ideas for your books?
- A: Both of which happened to him while he was doing something else.
- Missed front page news of Golden Spruce being cut down, was up in Haida Gwaii, asked a local logger about story. No other journalist seemed curious about logger of the Spruce, one thing led to another.
- Tiger came out of documentary: Conflict Tiger. Saw at film festival in Banff—Russians and tigers—what could go wrong? Killing an evening led to story.
- Russian forest is not tourist friendly.
- Now director of Conflict Tiger making Golden Spruce documentary, “traded stories across media”.
- Friendship & spirit of generosity fostered (& experienced) gives life meaning.
How to Translate Developer: A Live Translation Session
Grace Dunbar & TBD
Lesson 1:
What do developers mean by “some, all, most” in terms of code?
They mean something...but what?
Discusses framing problems in mutually respectful ways.
Bug reports are important instances of communication
Lesson 2:
Developers are WYSIWYG
What is the developer doing?
Ask the right questions
-good questions are specific and don’t interrupt or take up time
-recommends “rubber ducking,” that is , asking the question out loud.
Lesson 3: How to make a developer’s head explode:
“Mike, the search isn’t accurate enough,” when precision is the correct term.
-Words have meanings:
Be specific
Be thoughtful
Be courteous
Be descriptive
Argues that a developer’s job is to solve problems, writing code is the means to that end. Developers are creative people: they enjoy making useful things. Developers are more like architects than contractors; artisans not imitators. The role of developers is to build nifty things, but it is not to train how it is used
Librarians aren’t just users, they are knowledgeable professionals, who are also problem solvers.
Q: how much do developers think about the performance of features once it is released into the real world of users.
A: some think about it a lot, others less so. THe amount of time spent with specific tools is important. Developers emphasize completing features. This may be changing, IRC has turned increasingly to emphasizing performance. Time-outs are improving and will continue to get better.
Q: What is the average or reasonable response for bug fixes? Libraries can’t afford to be down.
A: While the open-source community isn’t fundamentally commercial, vendors are evolving to provide support and solve problems quickly. Academic libraries cannot afford to be down.
Audience comment: from the IU community says the support has been pretty robust and the community can in many cases answer questions.
Audience comment: Evergreen has has fewer critical issues than a previous proprietary service.
Audience comment: The support from Sitka has been 24/7 and amazing.
Support and Training in a Consortial Environment
Shannon Dineen & Shauna Borger (Evergreen Indiana.)
-Calls for organized collaboration between in the training community.
.
Formal training:
Core curriculum of Evergreen classes
-Basics: circulation, cataloging, holds and searching, admin/reports.
-trainers are trained to a set of standards and skills.
-libraries send 1-2 staff
-server training
Group discussions:
Five committees on policy and training
Executive, cataloging, patron services, IT, eContent
Rotating membership allows for new members to have new opportunities to learn & contribute.
Provides social learning community for staff
List-serves:
tips
is like a form of documentation
Weekly Update blog
Individual training
One-on-one consultation and training.
reinforces learning from the training seminars
Regional Coordinator (Indiana State U) liases with libraries.
Continuing communications helps connect resources and users.
Helpdesk
Tickets received 24/7
Mistakes are teachable/learnable moments
Challenges
Managing end-user expectations
helping users make the transition from proprietary to open-source
Maintaining training documentation with each upgrade
Mentoring trainers
Opportunities
Training the trainer (Mentorship)
Regularly scheduled user groups:
Bookmobiles
Reports
Expand workshop offerings
circulation refresher, etc.
Expand online training.
Laurie Davidson (Sitka, BC Libraries Cooperative)
BCLC Support Suite: Evergreen and Beyond
Consortia
68 libraries, 1.5 million bib records
Tools:
Ticket Tracking System
RT” bestpractical.com/rt
support.sitka.bclibraries.ca
Each ticket establishes an automatic response, account, responsibility, and system of cues. Manages a variety of tickets through a chain of support and system of triage. VOIP support.
Telephone support
support is distributed
www.voip.ms : voicemail creates ticket.
distinguishes between urgent and regular issues
1-800 number: 24/7 support
BCLC website (BC Library Cooperative)
http://bc.libraries.coop/
integrates support
Sitka support on website
updated manuals
policy, best practices
contacts
video
news
Sitka ideas
self-serve ticketing
staff client downloads
Sitka status dashboard
http://bc.libraries.coop/status
up-to-the-minute status reports
SItka Snippets
SItka Ideas for Development
Idea torrent : Big libraries weighted more than small
Migration and Training:
provides support on-site, on-line, and go-live.
Training Schedule for Migration
Migrate data
90 minute pre launch
3 hour circulation training pre-launch
continuing online and personal support.
Evergreen Serials: Making it Work For You
Dan Wells
Anecdote of trying to use a hammer backwards. A hammer is an effective tool, but only if you use it correctly.
Suggests alternate title:
“Bang! Bang! Dan Well’s Serial Hammer Came Down On Their Heads!”
MFHD: Muffhead
Mard Format for Holdings
standard for exchanging holdings data AND code.
Basis of support is that records and code are can be interchangeable for other projects.
Serial MFHD are similar to MARC records
Controlled holdings statement - Fields 853 + 863
Free-text holdings statement - Field 866
(his library uses for binding statement
Groups correspond to MFHD records
EG through MFHD record
strings of relevant “pattern codes” translate
Issuance = simple, uncompressed MFHD field 863
the label is just a label
the holding code = JSONfied Marc data
Summaries: Generated contents collects 863s = compressed range for display
Textual contents = simplest forms
Building the display
A 3 tiered abstraction
Actual serial -> Serial Virtual Record -> MFHD
[correct order?]
SVR: normalizes and organizes data. Simplifies logic in display code.
Allows more back-end flexibility. MFHD can be changed w/o changing the SVR
Drawback: 3 layers of bugs!
Data, MFHD code? Summary code? Display code?
Be really specific when reporting problems!!
MFHD v MFHD
data can come from more than one source,
The summary method decides which wints
The add to record entry is best
- use record entry
-NO NOT use
On merging details: is similar to “Add”. If the Pattern Code matches exactly the last 853 SRE then there won’t be a break.
Use Cases:
No shame in just wanting to display holdings information.
Wish to predict & receive issues but continue with manual holdings display entry. Ok.. Create the record, link to corresponding distribution, set “Summary Method” to “User record entry only”
Normal issues need predicting and receiving, but indexes and supplements will be handled manually. Set serial control to normal. Set Summary Method to Add or Merge
Predict and receive, but don’t heed holding information do display (e.g. backup copies for binding) Recommends the OPAC invisible idea, and a workaround.
Large number of copies in circulation and no namual control of holdings display
The positives are that it correlates and integrates units with content. Probies an easy to navigate heiarchy
The drawbacks: Does not consider Serial Record Entries or their contents.
Sidesteps SVR with customization
Challenges: Successful integration of another crowded logic chain.
Changes in 2.4
1.
2. alternate serial control embedded in Serial control
Changes in the future:
Makes no promises for 2.NExt
MFHD will continue as the hidden basis
Link to acquisition
Continuity in views
2.Future
Action Triggers
Chris Sharp NOT Chris Wells
- Action triggers - opaque, useful but not well doc’d
- AT Success
- what you want to accomplish
- tolerance for jargon! code!
- Access to Evergreen server, on sysadmin’s good side
- What problems do they solve?
- Evergreen needs to do certain tasks automagically at a specific time. (notifications e.g. overdue items) like Cron!
- AT is user-defined without having to script with Cron.
- Admin -> Local Administration -> Notifications / Action Triggers
- Double click event definition.
- Single click on event name just gives some properties, not trigger event.
- What’s it gonna do? (before you start, know this)
- “when X happens, I want system to do Y” (e.g. card expiration date)
- what triggers, what action taken, wording for templates (what it should say?)
- Each event has a hook: what attribute of an entity (user account/card/etc.) will make it run.
- e.g. circulation comes due, checkin/checkout, user clicks a button
- e.g. item scanned for a hold
- happens within EG itself
- Passive = just passage of time, external to Evergreen usually (cron).
- What action is triggered?
- Reaction = action?
- Is this still something we want Evergreen to do? How do we know it’s still valid?
- CircIsOpen
- CircIsOverdue
- HoldIsAvailable
- HoldIsCancelled
- Example: Trigger Event Definitions in PINES
- PINES is very centrally managed, not a lot of individual customizing
- Processing Delay field - 10 days, but 10 days after what? Context field = due_date. 10 days after due_date.
- Group context field = usr - if not defined send 10 different e-mails instead of grouped.
- Reactor
- Validator
- Definition ID: internal DB id - could be helpful for troubleshooting, communicating to admin
- Failure Cleanup, optional field. If event fails, runs cleanup module.
- Granularity: tagging your event with some user-friendly term
- Max Event Validity Delay: If not set, every item since beginning of time!
- Opt-in Setting type
- Opt-in Use Field
- Success Cleanup: any other module that needs to run at the end?
- Template Toolkit (helps build TPAC) configuration template
- comes out on the other side with something that can be printed or emailed
- Shows anything that was run through the system and date (good log for front-end staff).
- Evergreen 1.6 documentation is still valid
- Dokuwiki also well
Q&A
Q: If someone has set up branch level and everyone else uses consortium level, what will happen?
A: Both trigger! 2 emails. (experience says you get none at all?)
Note: Beware of old DB entries! Could end up with emails with blank Title & Author fields
Q: What is the “environment” in the context of cloning an Action Trigger?
A: Environment gives you the parameters from original.
(As you’re doing this, remember to report bugs you come across).
Q: What would you do if you want to add a different piece to the template?
A: Fields come from fieldmapper, an XML file that maps to database tables. You could map something to the total circulation table, for example. If you are interested in adding custom text, it’s very easy.
In Search of Search
Jed Moffitt, Jeff Bond, Scott Myers & Robin Stahly
Jed:
King County Library System (KCLS)- large centralize public library system surrounding Seattle. Originally rural, not so much any more.
- 50,000 items a day
- use EG in an industrial strength way for ~2.5 yrs
- looking for a system: in the throes of disempowerment running a traditional ILS system
- bugs they couldn’t fix
- random shutdowns in middle of business day
- features they wanted that wouldn’t be developed
- boss had the notion of using an open source solution
- goal: to nimbly produce stuff that would help people to do their jobs
- would still use EG if he had to do it all over again
- problems, despite a lot of good effort
- came close to moving away from EG
- other people have done a better job at search than they have
- Staff and public still saying: findability still an issue? Still not where we need to be.
- Gotten some additional help in understanding better the system that they have already built
- closer to the original vision of being able to make regular predictable and reliable updates to the system (agile)
- How are we trying to attack search and use agile methodology.
- Who we are (Catalyst IT services)
- believe in data
- work in software
- Big data dudes, anyone read Moneyball? Moneyball for software dev.
- Application Dev/InfoMgmt/Mobility
- Could libraries adopt an Agile framework? Yes!
- deep experience in open source development, but not in the library space
- effective agile framework
- disciplined cross functional team
Agile Values
- Individuals and interactions
- Working software, i.e. it does what its supposed to do
- documentation is part of the end deliverables (don’t worry, DIG!)
- Benefits of Agile Projects (some jargony metrics), tl;dr: optimizes many areas
- Weekly small improvements: leads to predictable delivery
- people know what they’re going to get, when they’re going to get it
- a disciplined C-F team (well-rounded party) - everyone knows what hat they wear:
- Recommended Character Classes:
- Product owner
- Subject Matter Experts
- Analyst - to engage users
- Development & Testing
- Project Management
- Technical Writing - training materials, etc.
- Collaboration and transparency are essential
- invested many hours and $$
- many improvements queued up to be accepted by the community
Q&A
- What are some of the development projects in-progress? Which pieces? scalability issues?
- Tried to do custom list + browse searching
- Did list & browse but...author browse, subject browse but specificity users wanted wasn’t there. (Didn’t meet local need.)
- do you have a public repository?
- using GitHub, make work-in-progress visible
- look to bring it all back to the community
Contributing Code to Evergreen is Easier Than You Think
Lebbeous Fogle-Weekley (Equinox Software)
Contributing happenbs in many ways
- feature requests, too! “it doesn’t do this yet”
- use LaunchPad
- someone had produced a “fix”
- they need testing. library users and staff can be helpful in this process
- a lot of people don’t think of themselves as developers, but there are meaningful changes that you can make still
Bug Reporting
- launchpad.net/evergreen
- bug reports include gentle suggestions that things could work differently
- don’t be shy/intimidated
- talk about the problems EG has as publicly and clearly as you want
- do as much preliminary research as you can, but don’t let that stop you from asking
- search launchpad & mailing lists
- ask in #evergreen IRC channel
- can seem developer-heavy, but are really very friendly!
- don’t worry about it too much. Just report!
- How to search launchpad: use Google! (e.g. “launchpad evergreen [search term]”)
Developers don’t mean to be jerks
- Sometimes mark bugs as duplicates, blame local config or user’s system external to EG.
- Don’t take offense - sometimes devs are even wrong!
Tips for Good Bug Reporting
- developers very active in engaging in bug reports just after conferences, meetings, etc.
- If you see a lot of activity in IRC, add your bug report then, and let them know
Add data to someone else’s bug to make it richer and bump it up (attention++)
- the more you can say about why it’s a problem for you too, will help people troubleshooting and raise the profile of the bug
More tips (thanks to Mike Peters)
- cultivate relationships
- if there’s a comma out of place: report it.
- tag your bugs with a lot of keywords. How would someone in a totally different library search for this bug? Makes it more findable
- Google “evergreen bug wrangler FAQ” to get at the Wrangler’s guide, settings explained there.
Patch Testing
- a bug report might attract a patch between “never tested” and “tested the heck out of”
- sign-off of a second developer required
- more needs to be and can be done by library staff
People skills and IT Skills
- you don’t have to be a sysadmin to test a patch if you have access to a test server and someone to help you load a patch
We can’t ask Jason to do it all
- patch testing servers, as opposed to public demo servers, could be maintained at a community level
Not all patches call for user tests, but many do
- “Test plan”: can you follow the same steps that formerly triggered the bug
- lowers the bar for others if they have a script to follow
- good idea for devs to formalize the use of test plans
How do we capture value from User Tests?
- anyone can attend meetings on IRC
- how to we count user tests in conjunction with developer sign-off?
- we should talk more about this
- need to be a better way of documenting the tests that happen so fixes can be merged in more quickly
Patch Meetings
- have not been maintained in the past, but need to find a sustainable interval for them
- don’t want bugs waiting around in launchpad forever, until they are no longer relevant
As with bug reports, be noisy
- ok to talk about on mailing list & IRC
- dealing with folks on volunteer time but understand issue is urgent to you.
Code code
- directly contributing code
- one part where it’s particularly easy. some knowledge of HTML & CSS will get you far (“TPAC”) the OPAC
- just don’t change the scary-looking parts
- rearrange the page to make it easier, more accessible to screen readers, etc.
HTML & CSS
- CSS is useful in smoothing out the usability issues
- i.e. using <div> tags rather than tables
- pay off when people want to make changes
Javascript in Staff Client Interfaces (Ben Shum)
- probably next most approachable area
- new developers (i.e. GSOC program) should be encouraged
- Match new programmers with library science nerds!
- good for the project: we always need more
Technical side: Git, diff, patch and whatnot
- people have changes in mind and want to get them implemented with a minimum of fooling around with these tools
- but, there is a lot of curiosity out there about learning these things
- if you don’t get answers right away, just try again later
Again, don’t be shy!
- don’t assume no one else wants your code.
Lightning Talks
How to submit bugs using Launchpad
- Easiest way to get there: go to evergreen site and click on “contribute → report bugs”
- Log in to launchpad site.
- Report a bug link
- Fill out short summary - check button will show you potential duplicates.
- Fill out further information if possible and submit!
Bill Ott - Grand Rapids Public Library
Thinking Outside the Box
- Was using sign-in cards for registration.
- Idea: electronic way of allowing patients to sign for their card?
- Shows electronic signature to staff when its created and stores it for record.
- Application encrypts signature and stores it in a hex string! No image.
- CON: Uses ActiveX
- PRO: Saved a lot of paper!
Envisioning Evergreen: Charting the Course to 2020
Panel discussion convened by Sharon Herbert, Kathy Lussier, Rogan Hamby, Jed Moffitt & Tara Robertson
Warning: Groups with a common cause and well-defined identity might become zealots and start wearing funny hats. Let’s stay neighborly.
Forest metaphors (PINES, SITKA, Spruce, etc.)
- we can think of ourselves as sustainable forest managers
- what do we need to conserve, remove, etc?
- creating a sustainable resource
- takes the (speculative, wished for) long view
Where could and should EG go in the years ahead?
- Library system performance and the QA issues surrounding it
- looking to find a consultant to evaluate performance
- underlying performance is not as exciting, but it can make a big difference to our users
- don’t know what kind of proposals we’ll get, or what it will cost
- User Interface/Usability design: not most glamorous but critical
- Socializing the catalogue
- needs to be incorporated
- need to be aware of privacy concerns, but they can be overcome
Jed: Wooden-finger jazz player (Thelonious Monk), some Ken Burns-type character came up to him and asked “Where is jazz going?”. He said: “I don’t know I’m just after the next gig!”
The Next Gig
- Need to keep in mind original virtue: what do our communities need and how to we get there?
- Local empowerment aggregates into global empowerment. Evergreen in Bhutan (prospectively).
- Hack it to death, the flexible beast (EG)—becomes what folks need.
Rogan: Language - Accurate & Precise
Started fixing computers because he was a reference librarian and they needed them to work
EG in 2 ways:
- 1. advocacy
- 2. direct operational needs of MY library
Integrated Library System as a term
- small amount of data to keep track of, integration was easy
- began to split into modules by vendors - tiered packages
- we are constrained by the term ILS
- we’re not selling it, we’re building it for ourselves
- why aren’t we integrating with DSpace?
- not all of the features of a true ILS are already there
Tara: First job out of SLAIS@UBC, worked with EG w/ Sitka.
- academic perspective
- we should disintegrate the ILS
- so many enterprise systems we are dealing with
- student information system is key
- most places dump from this system and shoehorn into ILS
- not sure we need to keep dumping more stuff into the ILS
- modular systems with good APIs to hook into systems we already use.
- Booking system right now...kinda sucks
- paper journals have been dwindling in the academic sphere
- last year: how to share serial prediction patterns
- this year: is that so important?
- we need to, as the EG community, we need to support people who are trying to work on a new decision-making procedure, e
- Tailored checklist of EG features so we can respond to Request-For-Proposals and compete with vendors.
Conversation/Commentary:
- Big fan of “disintegrating” the ILS. The right tool for the job.
- Upgrade scripts should work and should be efficient & be well documented
- Relatively small pool of developers relative to user base.
- The community needs to put forward more resources, such as user test cases
- Folks should contribute money to improving next release?
- Georgia case study: before upgrade, had users hit a test server with a checklist.
- Firm foundation (fewer memory leaks, crashing) rather than bells n’ whistle features.
- Addendum (Rogan): features do add value
- Improve testing, QA without rigid processes that bog down with bureaucracy.
- Encourage other people to experiment.