New Library Web Project

I've got a neat job building a community site for one of the library organizations here. I'll talk more about it at our Drupal4Lib BoF in Anaheim but basically the idea is to promote online collaboration. Needless to say (for those in the know), I'll be making great use of Drupal's Organic Groups.

Best Rib Tips in Chicago Moves to Armitage

I don't go very often but the best place for rib tips in Chicago, Calvin's BBQ (formerly Smokin' Woody's) is moving from near Lincoln Square to Armitage just west of Western.

Drupal4Lib BoF at ALA in Anaheim

I got a number of enthusiastic and helpful suggestions on the Drupal4Lib list as to when and where we could hold our Drupal4Lib BoF.

It's increasingly looking like it'll be Sunday after the LITA Top Technology Trends in the LITA Bloggers' Room. 

Drupal Talk II at UIC (5/30)

I'll be doing a follow-up to my talk on Drupal at UIC on Friday, 5/23 5/30 (1:30p-3pm) in Burnham Hall 308. The title of the Talk is: "The Wonderful World of Drupal Modules". Basically I'll go into some of the more important modules: CCK, Views, ImageCache, Panels, etc.

More info here: http://tinyurl.com/6exfs9

UPDATE: I had to postpone the talk by one week -- to 5/30.

Mayor Daley Speaking at the UIC Forum

Mayor Daley speaking at UIC's Daley Urban Forum named after his father Richard J.

The Forum featured a number of Mayors from Arab countries. Many of them have troubles that are common to countries in the 3rd World (lack of funding, infrastructure, etc.)

Particularly moving however was the account by the Mayor of Mosul, Iraq.

He talked about the challenges the Municipal government faces there. These include setting up a "prostheses factory" to deal with all the people, including children, who've had limbs blown off due to bombs. The Mayor reported with pride that a number of Healthcare Centers had been set up despite the fact that many of Iraq's original medical workers had fled the country.

Even here, success was not complete however, since one or two of these Centers had subsequently been bombed.

Despite this hell, the Mayor was optimistic. He would have shown us pictures only they stopped him from bringing them at Baghdad Airport.

Slides from Talk on Drupal at UIC

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Earthquake in Chicago

Well, the bed started to wobble and I thought either I should've gotten a better bed or maybe the floor in my new place wasn't as intact as I had assumed.

And no, I did not run down to the street screaming.

Leo Klein's Top 10 Most Favorite Drupal Modules

Someone on the Drupal4Lib list asked what Drupal Modules were "most useful" for creating a library website.

Here are some of the ones I couldn't live without:

1. Content Construction Kit (CCK) - Gives you the ability to model your own data types.
2. Views - Gives you the ability to display those data types any way you want.
3. Panels - Allows you to position your data anywhere you want on the page.
4. ImageCache - Allows you to make as many copies of an image as you want at any size depending on location or anything else you specify.
5. Organic groups - Create as many groups as you want (e.g. users, staff, etc.), restrict content by group.
6. Captcha - Keeps the spam couties away.
7. Community Tags - Allows users to create and assign their own tags to content.
8. Tagadelic - Creates a Tag Cloud.
9. Clone module - The name says it all.
10. BUEditor - Simple HTML tag editor. 

Moving: Packing Up

Yup, it's that time again: I'm moving to a new apartment. Here I'm doing some prep work.

More Ugly Money from the U.S. Treasury

I really think the US Mint (coins) and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (dollar bills) have lost the art of designing money. The fine detail and overall sense of composition that used to distinguish our currency is now no more.

Case in point is the new $5 dollar bill with that big ugly purple '5'. It looks like they just got out a huge rubber stamp and banged away.

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing praises this as "Safer, Smarter, More Secure". Apparently 'visually impressive' so it conveys -- who knows? -- the idea of actually being worth something is no longer a requirement.

Meanwhile someone has created a website called "Get Helvetica Off Our Money."

Formatting Catastrophe: 'UIC Announce'

I mean, they're not even trying:
http://tigger.uic.edu/announce/ [web archive]

Current Cites for March 2008

Current Cites for March 2008 is out!  I posted on an article in this month's Online called "The New Rules of Web Design". You can find the issue here...

Online Anonymity is a Human Right

Lest we forget, from the blog, Technology Liberation Front:

"Despite the appeal of combating defamation by banning online anonymity, lawmakers should be wary about restricting anonymous speech in the name of fighting libel. The same laws designed to deter defamation can also be used to target political dissent or silence whistleblowers for whom the option of remaining anonymous is critical. While Mark Klein and Babak Pasdar elected to reveal their identities, they remind us that whistleblowers are crucial safeguards against government excesses. And as Chinese dissidents know all too well, governments around the world have a long history of suppressing political opinions that undermine state legitimacy."

1st Day at OAR

Today was my first day as Web Coordinator at the Office of Admission and Records at UIC. Bunch of nice people and lots of possibilities for the site.

On a totally unrelated note, here's a shot from the day before of my sister blowing out the candles on her birthday cake.

Simplicity vs. Complexity in Design Rematch

Don Norman's at it again! Here's his wonderful description of the balance that designers need to observe between complexity and simplicity:

"The mark of the great designer is the ability to provide what people need without excessive complexity, without feature bloat. Simplicity should never be the goal. Follow the famous Einstein quote: "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." Complex things will require complexity. It is the job of the designer to manage that complexity with skill and grace."

He says this unfortunately in the context of a completely gratuitous squabble with Chicago-based developers, 37signals (here's their response). Nevertheless, it's an approach I find quite appealing -- certainly more than his earlier attempt which led to this post.

Current Cites for February 2008

Okay, the latest edition of Current Cites is out the door. I've got a cite on the tag-tussle concerning IE8. Unfortunately I wrote the thing up before the most recent decision by MS to go with "standards-mode" as default. (An update is on the way.)

In any case, you can see the issue here... 

Drupal for Libraries - Slides

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First, I'd like to thank everyone for coming. I appreciated the energy and enthusiasm -- plus the good questions.

Above are the slides for the first part. For the second part, see the screencast "Creating a Library Database Page with Drupal".

I should have the audio file up in a few days. [Done 3/4/08]

NOTE: the 'full-screen' version at SlideShare actually looks pretty good. Have a look...

For the person who was having trouble using the "Sandbox" at opensourcecms.com, try the demo at http://drupal.demo.civicrm.org/

If anyone has any questions, feel free to contact me.

Again, thanks both to MLS and to the people who came!

UPDATE: Nice news from Slideshare:

"Hey leoklein!

Your slideshow Drupal for Libraries has been included in the Spotlight section on SlideShare.

Enjoy your day! the SlideShare team"

Must be the picture of me hanging upside-down that did it.

New York Times Does 'Live Blogging'

 

You know we've come a long way when the 'Grey Lady' herself starts doing 'live-blogging'.

Screencast: Creating a Library Database Page with Drupal

In anticipation of my talk 'Drupal in Libraries' that I'll be giving to the Metropolitan Library System on Fri., 2/29 (1:30p-4:30p), I'm releasing the screencast 'Creating a Library Database Page with Drupal'.

The talk will be about Drupal in the context of Open Source Software and Content Management Systems as well of course as its application in a library environment. (more info and rsvp...)

The screencast goes over the points I'll be making in the second part of my talk.

Have a look an tell me what you think.

-- Link to Smaller Version (400x300) here... --

UPDATE: The slides and audio from my presentation are now available. You can access them by going here...

Drupal 6.0 Now Available

 I just noticed over at the Drupal site that Drupal 6 has been released: http://drupal.org/drupal-6.0

You can find a pretty good screencast on new features here...

It's interesting how a number of the new features are in fact integrations of ideas that originally were developed as separate modules (Updates, Blockcache, etc.)

The pattern seems to be: people contribute new ideas as modules and then the best ones are incorporated into Drupal itself. Good plan.

The performance improvements, column headings and drag-and-drop features also look interesting.