Library BoF at DrupalCon Portland?

I know a couple of library people are going to DrupalCon in Portland in a week or two.

Looks to me like a great opportunity to get together and talk shop. So how about if we organize a Drupal4Lib BoF -- maybe on the Wednesday (5/22) sometime mid-day or in the early afternoon?

Topics could be open or suggested ahead of time. People could present projects they're working on, ask whatever questions they want. It'd be a great time!

If you've got a suggestion, either email me back or leave a comment here.

Is this a good general time to meet? Do you have a topic you'd want to suggest?

Any feedback would be appreciated! And hope to see you in Portland!

(UPDATE1): I set up a poll at the Drupal Library Group asking people what timeslot they prefer:

Poll: Drupal4Lib BoF - 10:45a-12p or 3:15p-4:30p? http://groups.drupal.org/node/297483

(UPDATE2): Okay, '10:45a-12p' wins. Here's a link to the event on the Drupal Library Group:

Library BoF at DrupalCon Portland (5/22, 10:45a-12p) http://groups.drupal.org/node/297878

Library Related Events at DrupalCon Portland

From a short cursory look at some of the proposed sessions, in no particular order:

• The Library of the Future - Solr Search and Responsive Design for Multnomah County Library
• Re-imagining libraries on the web: a case study of the Stanford University Libraries website redesign
• Migrating the Library [GWU]

I may have missed something so feel free to add.

Design Fail

I swear if I get another one of these as a design proposal for the main page of a website, I'm going to sue Microsoft for crimes against usability. (P.S. Why Microsoft? Hint...)

Mom at Reference

Mom at the Reference Desk dealing with an unruly patron.

Presentation at UIC IT Professionals Forum: Mapping with Drupal

Slides from the presentation I gave today (larger version here). A couple people came up afterwards and said it had inspired them to go off and try it themselves.

Mapping with Drupal from leoklein

Worst People In The World : Edwin Mellen Press

So because someone on the blog The Scholarly Kitchen writes a post or two criticizing publisher Edwin Mellen Press (EMP), EMP sends their lawyer after the blog with the equivalent of a 'cease-and-desist' letter -- not just to the blog but to a person who left a comment on one of the offending posts. Huh?

I know diddly-squat about Edwin Mellen Press and even less about the quality of their work but this way of reacting to criticism does nothing but lend credibility to the arguments of their detractors.

The two offending posts have since been removed but both are still available thanks to online archival services (h/t Gary Price):

• When Sellers and Buyers Disagree — Edwin Mellen Press vs. a Critical Librarian (2/15/2013)
• One Down, One to Go: Edwin Mellen Press Blinks One Eye (3/5/2013)

On the Nature of Train Wrecks

Matt Enis from Library Journal writes about the 'Fail4Lib pre-conference workshop' at this year's Code4Lib Conference where people talked about failed or problematic projects and the lessons they learned.

As I wrote in comments to the piece, I find the greatest cause of failed projects to be those based on received wisdom. Let’s call it, the ‘Wrong Bandwagon Effect’. Some mis-identified trend is taken up and you can’t argue against it because “everyone knows” (i.e. received wisdom) that it's the way of the future. Everyone knows! Only "everyone" never seems to include the end-user. But that doesn't matter since before you know it, yet another mis-identified trend pops up and nothing says ‘cutting edge’ like jumping from one of these trends to the other. (Classic example.)

This isn’t an argument against innovation. Rather it’s an argument against not doing one’s homework, of coasting along without anyone ever looking back and asking, what’s the guru's record so far?

UPDATE (3/28/2013): Here's an even better, not to mention more contemporary example: link ...

Canvassing in Cincinnati

Working the shifts banging on doors. More photos here...

Citizen Action IL Annual Dinner

Attended the annual Citizen Action IL Dinner. Jesse Jackson Sr. was the honoree.

4th of July Parade in Evanston

Always a fun time (even at 100 degrees)!

New Web Design for UIC's Office of Academic & Enrollment Services (AES)

I'm kind of pooped having spent a fun morning at Dominican University with the "Chicagoland Drupal in Libraries" group. I then hustled back to UIC (thanks Gwen for the lift!) where I had the usual list of web editing chores. I also had enough time to upload this baby: http://admissions.uic.edu [6/24/2012]

This marks the final phase of a redesign that I've been working on since the beginning of the year -- spurred on by two requirements: 1) fresh new look 2) gots to work on mobile

Happily, 'responsive web design' came along right at the time I was tackling this project. (What's 'responsive design' you ask? When looking at the above page, slowly make the window more narrow. Then go back out. That's responsive design.)

Anyway, I still had to do the 'landing pages'. This one, the Admissions page, is the first of four.

But back to my itinerary: At around 5:15pm, I left UIC and headed over to DePaul for a couple of hours of 'Fun @ the Reference Desk'. It was a relatively quiet night. In Summer, Reference closes an hour earlier (i.e. at 8pm instead of 9pm) so I made it back home before 9pm.

In any case, as I said, long day -- productive just the same.

[Historical note: a certain other unit claimed it was the first to launch a responsive site. Yeah right...]

Jesse Jackson & Me

I ran into Jesse Jackson while in Milwaukee. I've run into him a couple of times before. One memorable occasion was in West Berlin during the Eighties. He had made a speech to thousands of Berliners at the Gedanknis Kirche (i.e. the center of town) finishing with the line, 'we defeated the 3rd Reich in Germany and we'll defeat the 4th Reich in South Africa'. The Berliners cheered. Then he added that he'd be at a party in Dahlem later that evening.

Party in Dahlem! With Jesse Jackson! The moment we heard that, we headed straight to the location -- a lefty social center for students. Unfortunately what Jackson forgot to mention -- probably because he didn't know -- was that they were charging at the door! Charging at the door? Impossible! So instead of going in, we waited. Finally a car arrived and Jesse Jackson got out. "Jesse," I said, running over to him, "I'm from Chicago and they won't let me in!"

He turned to me. "You're from Chicago", he asked. "Come with me!"

We walked arm-in-arm into the place. I headed straight to the liquor table. I filled up my glass and then sauntered back to the entrance to wave to my companions who were still outside. I motioned to the doorman to let them in. Having just walked in arm-in-arm with Jesse Jackson, the doorman assumed that I had a certain elevated degree of mojo -- so he let my friends in.

I reminded Jesse of this episode when I saw him in Milwaukee. He was in good spirits and laughed.

9th Congressional District Kick Off Rally

The 9th Congressional District Dems held a kick-off rally in Evanston today. Great chance to see a whole bunch of old friends -- including Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky who's speaking to the audience way in the back of this photo.

Comment from a Student fresh from the 'Stacks'

We worked together to find a few books he needed. I was on the phone AND doing chat reference when he came back -- so he switched to handwritten communications.

Talk Next Week on Google Analytics

In the middle of 'project hell' as a colleague put it, but why let that stop me from giving a talk on Google Analytics at the UIC Webmasters Brownbag next week? (Actually it was the talk I was supposed to give last February when I blew it away in favor of talking about Responsive Design).

Check Your Website for Accessibility?

At the UIC Digital Accessibility Expo. http://dae.uic.edu/

TechCocktail Chicago

Hard to find room at the bar!

Responsive Design Doesn't Have to Be Butt Ugly

The Next Chapter of Responsive Web Design
By John Yuda on April 27, 2012
For designs to be truly responsive, we need to move beyond flexible grids and media queries. John Yuda outlines five building blocks for the future of RWD

I notice that this is .net magazine's third article/post on responsive web design in as many days. I think an interesting follow-up would be something along the lines of 'the next chapter of responsive web design' -- from the perspective of visual design -- an aspect that's oftentimes forgotten in the rush to praise, for example, the Boston Globe site which if you ask me is visually rather bland and unexceptional.

We already know there are other sites that are 'responsive' and still appealing -- so one doesn't rule out the other (unless we want it to).

Facebook Issues Me a Stern Warning

I got a stern warning from Facebook telling me that I might be "blocked from commenting on public posts" if I went through with posting the following strong words on a post originally by Tony ('Maakies') Millionaire about chickens being found with caffeine in their feathers:

As someone who in a former life actually was a chicken, I'd like to strongly object to the arrogant assumption by pampered human beings with double vowels in their names that chickens don't appreciate coffee. We do! In fact, it's common knowledge that coffee beans were first plucked out of the soil by enterprising chickens -- long before humans even stopped swinging in trees.

Yet More Embarrassing Incompetence

Note to self: when uploading a file creating a whole bunch of new accounts for your content management system, remember to include passwords along with usernames, or frankly there might be one or two people who can't log in. Oops.