beTech :: Evolve Already

One of the hottest communication tools around the University these days is digital signage. While digital signage may range in size, cost, and complexity from a single LCD panel to multiple syncronized LCD or plasma panels, all flavors need content and a means to manage that content.

We spent a bit of time in the Brown Science and Engineering Library trying to decide on the best method for keeping the content on our single 32-inch LCD panel regularly updated. We identified a few key characteristics to focus on:

1. Dynamic content: Content should be refreshed regularly to keep the viewers interested.
2. Simple administration tools: Any content that is going to be updated frequently needs a simple means for inputting and editing so it doesn’t become a burden on the people managing it.
3. Consistent and coherent design: Despite the constantly changing content, the presentation should maintain a consistent appearance and brand.

Our solution for managing our digital signage content?… a WordPress blog.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve just spent the majority of my weekend trying to install and learn about Joomla CMS, only to be disheartened when I came to learn how pitifully it supports web standards and Web 2.0 style app development. By the sizes of its developer and user communities (aka the “Joomlasphere”), and the near-fanatical loyalty and enthusiasm I detected as I visited Joomla-related sites, I assumed Joomla would have long been tweaked to rock out with things like CSS layout and integration of some of the new-fangled javascript dhtml/ajax/animation libraries. Not so, at least not without undue hacking and headaches. Read this and weep (look under the “Mambo” entry, as Joomla is a branch of Mambo.) I did, after successfully installing Joomla and spending about 10 hours this weekend reading documentation, installing extensions, and configuring the bastard.

After looking at the PHP code of the main Joomla content component, and seeing how riddled it was with tables, and realizing how inextricable tables were from its core, I proceeded to search for another CMS. This time I was going for something that was built to support web standards and Web 2.0. A quick Google search landed me at the MODx site. Wow! It seemed too good to be true. From their website:

“MODx is 100% buzzword compliant, and makes child’s play of building content managed sites with validating, accessible CSS layouts—hence Ajax CMS. It empowers its users to build engaging “Web 2.0″ sites today, with its pre-integrated Scriptaculous and Prototype libraries. If you’re a CSS designer or Ajax aficionado, this is the CMS for you; and if you like what you see today, you’ll love what’s coming.”

MODx is written in PHP—support requirements are minimal enough for it to work on the UVa unix web cluster—it’s open-source, it’s free, and it looks remarkably well organized. I successfully installed it in the twilight hours yesterday, and have yet to really take it for a test drive. When I do, I’ll post my impressions and/or battle stories. One quick note: if you install it on the UVa web cluster you’ll want to rename some of the files to have .suphp extensions and put a little rewrite hack in an .htaccess file in your root. I’ll post specific instructions for this in the next few days.

Thanks to Leslie Johnston for giving us the latest scoop on the UVa Digital Library Repository and Fedora projects. The repository currently holds 15,000 images and over 700 electronic texts and is set to ramping up to go live this summer! If you’re On Grounds, take a look at the digital collection tools and give Leslie and her team some feedback.

Join the beTech bunch once again this Thursday as Leslie Johnston presents Fedora and the University’s Digital Library Repository. For the last two years, the UVa Libraries have been developing the Digital Library Repository to manage, preserve, and deliver digital collections. The digital asset management architecture is built on top of the open source Fedora system, developed jointly by the UVa Library and Cornell University; the delivery infrastructure makes use of XSLT, XPAT, and Cocoon. The system is meant to launch for the University community in fall 2006â??this presentation will preview the service and discuss aspects of the implementation.

Leslie Johnston is Head of Digital Access Services for the UVa Library, a unit responsible for managing online access to Library digital collections. Members of the development team will also be available to answer questions.

Fedora and the University’s Digital Library Repository

• Thursday, March 16
• 2:00pm-3:30pm
• Newcomb Hall, Room 389

Leslie Johnston presents the Fedora digital content management system next Thursday (March 16) at 2:00. More information to follow.

Thank you Doug Chestnut for the yesterday’s fantastic beTech presentation on Apache Lenyaâ??the XML-based content management solution. Even with a video projector maladjustment that made it a bit hard to see some of the presentation, Doug did a great job of introducing the power and capabilities of Lenya’s upcoming 1.4 release. If you’d like more information about Lenya, check out MIT’s CMS Discovery Project Report for their analysis of the CMS field (which led them to Lenya).

Our next big show will be Apache Luceneâ??the open source search solutionâ??presented by Erik Hatcher on November 16. We hope to see you then!

Next Wednesday, October 19, Doug Chestnut will present on the Apache Lenya Content Management System, which is currently being implemented at the U.Va. Library. The presentation will be held in Newcomb’s Commonwealth Room, 2pmâ??3:30pm. Mark your calendars!

Doug will walk you through the steps of importing/creating a Web site in Apache Lenya. Revision control, site management, scheduling, WYSIWYG editors, workflow, webDAV, and asset management are some of the Lenya Features that Doug will present. If time permits, Doug will also highlight some of the more advanced features (Usecase Framework, Publication Templating, Modules) and future goals (JCR repository) of Lenya.

Doug Chestnut is the Senior Web Programmer for the U.Va. Library. Doug is also a Apache Lenya committer and Apache Lenya PMC member.

For those who can’t wait for the presentation, check out the Lenya website and these online demos.