Comments on: It’s back! And now it’s official!

By: Michael Golrick

Michael Golrick — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 21:56:21 +0000

Thanks for taking this on. As an Executive Board member, I appreciate some of the issues with moving the Association. Thank you for your efforts.

By: Meredith

Meredith — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 15:05:45 +0000

Yes, they had asked me Friday afternoon if it was ready to be linked to and I told them it was. I guess then they have to get their Web folks on the case first, but yes, there will be a link from the conference Web site.

By: Martin

Martin — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 14:18:04 +0000

Although I am not from the US, I have been following with interest some of the blog discussions about the ALA and its relevance to 21st century librarians and information professionals. I think the wiki looks great and will be of great use to conference attendees. However, picking up on Lisa’s final point above, I could not find any mention or link from the main ALA conference page to Meredith’s wiki. I am sure this is something the ALA will rectify very soon.

By: Lisa Hinchliffe

Lisa Hinchliffe — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 00:58:10 +0000

Sorry, I was more obscure in my comment than I intended. I certainly understand that one person can do things faster in many cases than a committee. But – lots of things about the ALA conferences (and other ALA things as well) don’t go through a committee – they are staff functions. My real point is that the fact that the ALA staff aren’t able to do this (don’t know how at this point and don’t have the tools?) is also part of the frustrations with ALA expressed in other postings/replies. I’m not unhappy to see ALA seek out a volunteer (Meredith) to get this to happen. Personally, I’ve used the “unofficial” wikis quite a bit for the last two conferences – and been quite happy to have them! I’m just reflecting on the fact that it was necessary to have a volunteer in order for it to happen. What I’ll be watching for is for ALA to highlight the wiki in its future conference marketing materials…

By: Meredith

Meredith — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 00:39:34 +0000

well, I think that’s the case in almost any organization, Lisa. If I do it, all it takes is me installing the software. If it’s on ALA’s servers there are committees that have to be consulted, Web people who have to be involved, people who need to get up to speed, software that needs to be evaluated, etc. (It’s the same at most academic and some public libraries too.) Even if all that wasn’t the case, the people at ALA have never created a wiki, and it’s not the most intuitive thing the first time around. For me, after all this time, it’s a cakewalk.

With tech stuff, it is almost always quicker for one knowledgable person to do things than to have a committee work on it. Committees are very valuable at times, but sometimes they just slow things down.

By: Lisa Hinchliffe

Lisa Hinchliffe — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 00:30:29 +0000

This is good for reflection: “we decided that things could probably get done much faster if I set up the wiki on my server” relative to a few other posts on this blog and the many replies. Even with Mary involved it is quicker to get someone to do it as a volunteer?!?!?

By: Rachel

Rachel — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 15:43:42 +0000

This is so cool! Both that you’re doing it and that ALA saw the need…

By: Meredith

Meredith — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 02:10:20 +0000

Yes, there is an RSS feed for recent changes: http://meredith.wolfwater.com/ala2006/index.php?title=Special:Recentchanges&feed=rss

By: Stephanie Zimmerman

Stephanie Zimmerman — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 00:48:59 +0000

Hi Meredith,

Is there an RSS feed for this Wiki? I can’t seem to find a feed on the page. Thanks!