Despite currently suffering from CCC (Christmas Cookie Coma) and a bit of general hum-buggedness (you know that's a word, really should be anyway) I did my homework. It DIDN'T help the mood issues, but I'm now recovered enough to report back--the swearing has subsided to a dull roar now.
So I went into the Technical Services page and added the info that we are not IT--since periodically that is forgotten and we get phone calls/emails about computer problems. I also linked to the staff web page, the TS portion of the staff page network (or labyrinth or whatever), and to the wiki page I created about spine label formats called (creatively enough) spine label formats.
This created page was the bane of my morning. These wiki pages are great to just add paragraphs or lists, but for stuff that needs careful formatting--it BITES BIG ROCKS. See, the thing is that spine labels have a stack of information in a specific way. So to give information about how things need to look--they need to look that way.
So here's how it went: copy out of Word file; go into editing page and paste; look at wiki page; swearing starts--OK, I'll skip the blow-by-blow (since "swearing starts" would end up being frequently inserted). Basically, it looked awful. I tried to see if I could get the sidebar off this page (help was not helpful; web search info gave me code, but it didn't work--it seems that the more you pay to do the wiki, the better editing capabilities you have).
Once I resigned myself to the sidebar I commenced editing manually to make it look good. This was incredibly frustrating because the edit mode and read mode look absolutely different. I tried to put screenshot here, but can't seem to get that to work. You'll either have to just believe me or go look and compare the pretty and the really weird (edit mode) on the wiki page.
Basically I just think this is probably not the place for this. I got it done but it was frustrating and could easily be screwed up by anyone. It's not the kind of thing that needs a bunch of people screwing around with it. On the page I did also upload and attach a file version that you can click on and a Word document will show the info for printing or whatever purposes. I also put a link back to the TS page just for handiness.
I think the concept of the wiki is fine and will work for some things--stuff that needs more revising, but like all tools...use the right tool for the job. My brain is a bit fried from fighting with it so I'm having some trouble imagining exact uses beyond what I mentioned last time (events calendars and such). I do still have the lingering mistrust for how easily it can be abused--I realize it's supposed to be self-policing, but how often are people going to have to monitor it and how much time will it take/waste vs. the other ways we have of disseminating information? I'm a bit concerned that some of this is progress for its own sake. Rather than the technology meeting an existing need, are we attempting to find a use for some of this stuff just because it's neat? Just because we can do something doesn't mean we need to do it (I bring up the fashions of several decades as proof...oh, and stuff like cloning fits too).
On that pleasant note (the cloning) I'm back to my hole.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Monday, December 10, 2007
wiki, wiki, try to make some info sticky
Well, after last week's chaos (floods and jury duty in the same week...who'd a thunk it--I was keeping my eyes peeled for locusts by Friday, let me tell you) I look forward to a boring (hopefully), normal (well, on a relative scale), regular work week.
So, back in the groove and ready to get wiki (I'm sure there's got to be a dance for this, perhaps if we search on YouTube).
Viewed screencast (check)--good basic info; well-narrated by Jeannie; one complaint--I hate web pages that are too wide so you have to scroll back and forth all the time, this is a general problem but the screencast was too tall to all be seen at once too--so, WHINE.
OK, step 2 looking at Stevens County wiki--I liked the idea of the events calendars being wiki-able, that way groups can post there stuff without going through some type of 'coordinator', and some of the stuff that happens there looks like fun (not actually driving 8 hours fun, but, you know, virtually fun). Also checked out the Book Lust wiki (because Nancy Pearl rocks, duh) I did notice that no matter how many people can post on a wiki, somebody still needs to update the fact that Book Crush has been published...not to be published in April 2007 (unless the breach in the time-space continuum got me again). Through that wiki I ended up on a page reviewing a biography of Mary Shelley, which could have led me to many other things--but I resisted the suck of the Internet and used my back button.
So, then it's off to the fancy new KRL wiki (I have to admit, I like the word--plus it rhymes with a lot, we could make a great Dr. Seuss parody...but I digress). Looked around, messed with stuff. I thought I'd leave fixing spelling errors to those people who get all squirmy and freaked out by that stuff (you know who you are...there might be a support group, but I'm not absolutely sure) and be silly. I added a picture of the Taj Mahal as the fake branch's building and linked the Peter Pan reference to the Wikipedia page on him (the character, I do know he's not real--Tinkerbell is real [clap, clap, clap]) in case people didn't catch it right off.
And here I am blogging about the whole wiki thang. I can see where a wiki might be useful for some of the stuff we currently have on the staff web page and the transfer file. That seems the most likely use in-house. For the public side: events calendars, general area information, suggestions about places to go, etc. have potential. My big concern is the whole 'horse by committee' problem (punchline--camel)...accuracy is maintained with a lot of diligence...who's going to do that part? Plus, of course we have that old friend Paranoia tapping on my shoulder asking just what the people without the best intentions (can we say SALMON) might do if they got going. Anyway, I see wiki potential in both good and bad directions. Being a cynical optimist (basically, I hope for the best but ain't all that shocked when a certain bodily refuse hits a certain air-circulating device) I hope we can find a good use for getting wiki (really, it sounds like there should be a dance) AND I hope we can avoid the camel humps.
Hope everyone has dried out. I'm for my hole.
So, back in the groove and ready to get wiki (I'm sure there's got to be a dance for this, perhaps if we search on YouTube).
Viewed screencast (check)--good basic info; well-narrated by Jeannie; one complaint--I hate web pages that are too wide so you have to scroll back and forth all the time, this is a general problem but the screencast was too tall to all be seen at once too--so, WHINE.
OK, step 2 looking at Stevens County wiki--I liked the idea of the events calendars being wiki-able, that way groups can post there stuff without going through some type of 'coordinator', and some of the stuff that happens there looks like fun (not actually driving 8 hours fun, but, you know, virtually fun). Also checked out the Book Lust wiki (because Nancy Pearl rocks, duh) I did notice that no matter how many people can post on a wiki, somebody still needs to update the fact that Book Crush has been published...not to be published in April 2007 (unless the breach in the time-space continuum got me again). Through that wiki I ended up on a page reviewing a biography of Mary Shelley, which could have led me to many other things--but I resisted the suck of the Internet and used my back button.
So, then it's off to the fancy new KRL wiki (I have to admit, I like the word--plus it rhymes with a lot, we could make a great Dr. Seuss parody...but I digress). Looked around, messed with stuff. I thought I'd leave fixing spelling errors to those people who get all squirmy and freaked out by that stuff (you know who you are...there might be a support group, but I'm not absolutely sure) and be silly. I added a picture of the Taj Mahal as the fake branch's building and linked the Peter Pan reference to the Wikipedia page on him (the character, I do know he's not real--Tinkerbell is real [clap, clap, clap]) in case people didn't catch it right off.
And here I am blogging about the whole wiki thang. I can see where a wiki might be useful for some of the stuff we currently have on the staff web page and the transfer file. That seems the most likely use in-house. For the public side: events calendars, general area information, suggestions about places to go, etc. have potential. My big concern is the whole 'horse by committee' problem (punchline--camel)...accuracy is maintained with a lot of diligence...who's going to do that part? Plus, of course we have that old friend Paranoia tapping on my shoulder asking just what the people without the best intentions (can we say SALMON) might do if they got going. Anyway, I see wiki potential in both good and bad directions. Being a cynical optimist (basically, I hope for the best but ain't all that shocked when a certain bodily refuse hits a certain air-circulating device) I hope we can find a good use for getting wiki (really, it sounds like there should be a dance) AND I hope we can avoid the camel humps.
Hope everyone has dried out. I'm for my hole.
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