Continuing-Ed Opportunities with Drupal

Continuing-Ed Opportunities with Drupal Web Services Librarian Networking Group June 7, 2010 Gwyneth Stupar Reference and Web Services Librarian Northbrook Public Library [email_address] Northbrook Public Library 2.0: www.facebook.com/NorthbrookPublicLibrary www.twitter.com/northbrookpl

My gift to you… 10 months Drupal learning rolled into 1 (and gift-wrapped) Links Slides

Background No computer science experience Visual Learner Basic Skills: HTML class with Michael Stephens at Dominican Colleagues taught Dreamweaver My Work Week: 14 hours per week : Web Services 21 hours per week: Reference Librarian

“ Go Learn Drupal…” Um, what do I do now? LEARN AS MUCH AS YOU CAN NEVER ASSUME You may not see progress right away; continue learning anyway… Drupal is like a Star Trek Transporter Beam

Survey Says! Let’s Rate Them

Gwyn’s Drupal Rockstar Rating System =Worst =Best Ratings are based on experience gained vs. overall cost .

Doug Vann dougvann.com I found Doug at: http://groups.drupal.org/libraries call – 3 hour session Introduction of CCK and Views Drupal Sandbox Chat Transcript with Links Completed Training: July 2009

Lullabot lullabot.com Drupal Fundamentals Meetings are Virtual: Presentor, Screen, and Chat Sandbox Provided with theme, activity (create a site for your rockband) Listserv Recordings available Challenges Cost Completed in 6 weeks: Oct. 12, 2009 to Nov. 16, 2009

Learn by the Drop learnbythedrop.com User-friendly screencasts Demo Listserv: http://learnbythedrop.com/drop/164 Ongoing

Lynda.com lynda.com Paid subscription ($25.00/month) Drupal 7 videos are in production Demo of Drupal Video Lynda.com offers a wide variety: Drupal, Joomla, Wordpress, Javascript

DrupalCamp Huge turnout Numerous presentations On June 26 and 27, DrupalCamp will be at the University of Chicago Law School

DrupalJam The most influential of all learning opportunities Total free-for-all; ask as many questions as possible Katherine Lynch, web developer at Drexel University http://cdmug.org/videos/jam/spring2010/session6 http://www.katherinelynch.org/sites/default/files/a11y_dcsf_DONE.pdf

DrupalCon Over 100 librarians in the room, most conversed about a librarian-created open source ILS Large event, with a small-town feel Session by Michelle Lauer about Views arguments is excellent: http://www.archive.org/details/ViewsExamplesUsingArgumentsAndRelationships (in fact, I used this to pattern the A-Z eResource list) Great Usability Presentation about a garden project, “How do you feel when you are in the garden?” http://www.archive.org/details/ShowDontTellGuerillaUsabilityTesting

Computers In Libraries Sarah Houghton-Jan’s presentation gave concrete advice about her website redesign, such as determining how long the website redesign process will take start to finish, and double it… www.slideshare.net/librarianinblack/cil2010-website-redesign-a-public-library-website-redesign-aka-the-trip-to-hades-back

THE BEST RESOURCES ARE IN THIS ROOM By Far…

Behind the scenes at northbrook.info Brief Overview: RFP in September, 6 responses received Conducted phone interviews Cardsorting with Staff and Teen Advisory Board Chose a consultant at the end of November; began development early December Web Committee Meetings (bi-monthly) Meetings with assistant director, graphic designer, myself.

Behind the scenes at northbrook.info Brief Overview: Our graphics designer mocked up wireframes Agreed on “content areas” that we wanted Consultants provided excel spreadsheet to describe whether or not content would be available in new website

Behind the scenes at northbrook.info Staging site created by March 18 Discussion about staging site Homepage originally featured events; I changed it to show our survey, the director’s blog, and a “News Feature” Launched May 12

Advice (or, how Gwyn saved you money and time) Think about the WHOLE project, not just one piece (marketing, usability, editing content for grammar and accuracy) Perform usability studies in all phases of the project, and it can be fun; it does not have to be elaborate. Create time to analyze and present data.

Advice Have a style guide in place before you let the website loose to everyone Make plans for all major landing pages Find a friend who totally supports the mission Begin thinking about how your website will play nice with Webfeat, Serials Solutions, eResources, and most importantly, the Catalog Develop a system for people to track website problems on the onset

Advice: (or Gwyn rambling on more…) Give yourself time to learn what Drupal can do to solve problems in your organization, then pitch the plan. (Most learning happened after pitching the plan) Full-Time Learning is ½ the battle

Roadblocks… Learning to install Drupal on Linux Not knowing all the possibilities with Drupal What is the role of the Web Committee? Expectations of what Drupal can do, what the consultants can do, where they end and we begin, etc.

The Elaborate Diagram of How Drupal Works… and a Meeting Nightmare The *story* General consensus: “Drupal isn’t as easy as it looks…” Wisdom: Give yourself time to learn what Drupal can do to solve problems in your organization, then pitch the plan.

“ Most People Don’t Want Drupal- They Just Want What Drupal Does…”-Jeff Robbins, Lullabot

Get People To Think Like Drupal Example: Job Page Static List of Jobs? Content Form that can sort in different ways, with an RSS feed Repurpose Modules (domesticat example)

Web Design Projects Aren’t Linear… They Are Explosions. Consider Everything. We’ll do this…then this…then this… It’s more like this:

Agree Agree to support one idea (think deli, not shoe store) Whether or not to be above the fold Navigation Blogs or No Blogs? Should EVERYONE do blogs, or only some departments?

Bug Your Colleagues Leo: Views/Being Afraid of Views Mick: Tags Brian: Sign-Up Module Geneva Public Library: Google Map John

Caution Drupal works for displaying content in different ways and limiting duplication of effort, but you must be consistent for this to work. Room analogy: you must realize that removing something from one room changes the whole décor of another room.

THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS POSSIBLE -postsecret.com “ Inherent in every intention and desire are the mechanics for its fulfillment.”-Chopra

Live Demo: http://www.northbrook.info/

Continuing-Ed Opportunities with Drupal

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