I Dunno - You Tell Me!
Things I find waiting for me when I walk into the office.
Chicago
Posted in Submitted by Leo Klein on Thu, 07/15/2010 - 2:04pm.
The Joys of Content Management - In the Business of Dramatic Improvement
The best definition of a trade or skill that I can think of is being able, through your 'expertise', to make a significant improvement either in people's lives or in how they get things done. This applies to many things; it even applies to Content Management.
I remember the website I did for a relatively large non-profit organization. The original site consisted of nothing but a drab collection of web links and PDF files. It didn't take much work on my part to automate the site. But this minor yet significant change fundamentally altered, it turned out, how the people in that organization approached their online content -- to the extent that the energy and dynamism of their activities in the real world were finally reflected in their web presence as well.
I was reminded of this again a week or two ago at UIC. A number of people from Classroom Scheduling were looking at an application I had put together that told students what room their final exam would be in (see page here). Since we were getting close to the end of the Semester, something like this was bound to be handy.
The demonstration with the scheduling people went well. I had promised that the application would be easy as hell to maintain and it was. But what they really liked were the feeds -- not the usual RSS feeds but the ones specially formatted as MS Word and Excel files (thank you, Views Bonus Pack module). This meant that every time they had an edit, they no longer had to distribute or print out for the entire University a completely new Word or Excel file. They could just point to the feed which like all feeds would be updated on-the-fly -- only again not as RSS but as a Word or Excel file. This they really liked!
Anyway, the time it had taken me to put this feature together was a little itty bitty second. In fact, the whole project didn't take me more than a day or two. So what's most gratifying then is the positive effect it produced in others -- almost sinfully out of proportion to the amount of effort I put into it. And that's a wonderful thing!
Posted in Submitted by Leo Klein on Sun, 05/30/2010 - 12:28pm.
Beware of What You Ask
A student came by as I was closing up wanting to know if we kept records of people's searches. His hard drive had crashed and all the work he had done the day before, researching for a paper, was now lost.
I explained that the only way to do this is by creating an account on the individual databases (where possible) and then saving the search results to that. Beyond that, there's little record of what people do. And that's a good thing.
(And as consolation, I did mention that it would probably be easier to do the search one more time now that he was familiar with the database and search terms.)
Posted in Submitted by Leo Klein on Tue, 05/18/2010 - 9:15am.
Avalanche of abandoned flash drives turn up at Reference
Hot News from Reference: an avalanche of flash drives left abandoned in lab computers by forgetful students have been turning up at the Reference Desk. Will there be no end to this deluge? Our only hope: microchips implanted in all of us coming with at least 16 gb of disk space.
Posted in Submitted by Leo Klein on Sat, 05/08/2010 - 11:11am.
Taking Spring Pix at UIC
It's near the end of classes -- in fact, we're in finals week -- and I always like to go around campus taking pictures of students -- which I can then use for the UIC OAR website. Here I am on the West Side in the Medical District -- looking for someone, anyone, in scrubs or a white jacket.
Posted in Submitted by Leo Klein on Tue, 05/04/2010 - 2:41pm.
2010 UIC Richard J. Daley Urban Forum
The annual UIC Urban Forum took place today. Mayor Daley spoke at the opener and then took part in one of the panel discussions later on. Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel also was there -- participating in a lively discussion along with Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, Motorola CEO Greg Brown and moderator Judy Woodruff.
Discussion at these things tends to lead to platitudes ("collaboration", "shared resources" -- and considering the venue -- "more support for education"). My favorite moment came when Woodruff went on and on about people's "anger" and Rahm pointed out that it might have something to do with the economic situation. "But why does the press focus on it then," Woodruff asked. Rahm looked at her and smiled: "that's the subject for another panel".*
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* Quoted from memory.
Posted in Submitted by Leo Klein on Tue, 04/27/2010 - 1:38pm.
Shooting Video at the 2010 IRA Convention
So what am I doing on a Sunday morning? Why shooting video at the annual convention of the International Reading Association at McCormick Place, of course! Partnership READ, a joint UIC-CPS program to improve literacy in the Chicago Public Schools is doing a whole series of presentations throughout the day and I got volunteered to videotape at least three sessions.
Posted in Submitted by Leo Klein on Sun, 04/25/2010 - 12:32pm.
Springtime at UIC
It's that precious moment in Chicago when the trees start to bloom.
Posted in Submitted by Leo Klein on Tue, 04/06/2010 - 9:23pm.
Live-Blogging the Empty Library
10:30am: What do you do as a reference librarian when you're the only one who showed up for work (hello Circulation)?
11:00am: The person supposed to be at Circulation just called saying he was stuck at the Airport in Minneapolis.
11:26am: Problem: A student came by wanting to charge out a book. I explained we didn't have anyone with access to the system. He said he'd come back later in the day.
11:35am: A female student wants to make some copies. Problem is, the copy room is normally opened by whoever opens up at Circ -- and as the world now knows, that person is trapped at the Airport in Minneapolis.
11:42am: The security guy came over to open the copy room. He says he's going to Minneapolis next week. Is there a pattern emerging here?
11:46am: Yea, hallelujah! Jim the Circ. person just came in. He's the back-up guy at Circulation. We have lift-off.
Posted in Submitted by Leo Klein on Sat, 03/27/2010 - 10:38am.
Things I Noticed While Filling out the U.S. Census 2010 Form
- It looks like the mailman just dumped a form into everyone's mailbox without really checking apt. #s.
- I notice they only have three digit spaces for age.
- It looks like a hell of a long form -- until you realize that most of it is for "Person 2" to "Person 12".
- What about "Person 13"?
