Elias Tzoc blog!

Apparently, the above error messages were caused by an upgrade to a recent PHP version (5.3.3-7) on the machine where my WordPress blog is hosted.  Initially, I thought about just commenting the lines indicated in the error message, but that didn’t work.  So after a couple of unsuccessful tries and before messing up with my wp-settings and includes files, I decided to do what I’ve should done first, search for a possible solution on the WordPress support site … and YES, I found a few entries about PHP Deprecated warnings!  A very useful page I found is available at:
http://wordpress.org/support/ or maybe just Google it.

Basically, I had to add a line at the very beginning of the wp-config.php file

error_reporting(0);

And change a value around line 200 in the wp-settings.php file

//error_reporting(E_ALL ^ E_NOTICE ^ E_USER_NOTICE);
error_reporting(0);

…and that seems to fix all errors/warnings!

I guess this was a good reminder too that it must be time for an upgrade to this blog installation; although since that will most likely require an upgrade for the theme folder, I’d rather wait a bit and get done with other things first.  In short, I’m not upgrading it today, but I’ve added it to my to-do list for the near future.

…feliz tarde de viernes!

.

A couple of weeks ago -thanks to a scholarship- I was in Bloomington, IN attending the 2011 Code4Lib Conference. I think the conference organization was great and it was well attended too -even with some international attendees. Two main characteristics of the conference were: the single-track method allowed new comers to avoid the problems of choosing between breakout sessions; and many participants were not only taking notes, commenting or twitting about the sessions, but also coding. It was also great to hear that some of the projects presented were actually “ideas gathered” at the previous conference; in short, Code4Lib seems to be a great place for brainstorming and initiating new projects that can produce deliverables for real-life projects in matter of months.

Some of my favorite presentations were:

• Drupal 7 as Rapid Application Development Tool, the overview was very informative; it has re-inspired a work in progress where we plan to create a front-end for digital collections by re-indexing metadata files using the Content Construction Kit module and a timeline widget developed by the SIMILE project.
• Enhancing the Mobile Experience: Mobile Library Services at Illinois, it was great to hear about the ongoing need for designing/evaluating/combining sites for both small and normal (big) size screens -particularly when dealing with special type of content such as manuscripts or large images.
• One Week, One Tool: Ultra-Rapid Open Source Development Among Strangers, this presentation was an excellent example of a one-week work that can automate the transformation of regular text files (blog entries) into new multiple formats such as PDF, ePUB or TEI. A possible adaptation of Anthologize for digital collections with transcripts may be an option for creating new format for end-users.
• A Community-Based Approach to Developing a Digital Exhibit at Notre Dame Using the Hydra Framework, the combination of Fedora, Solr, and the Hydra Framework seems to be a suitable option for large and diverse type of collections; now I just hope to have the time/patience to learn more about Solr and Hydra.
• Let’s Get Small: A Microservices Approach to Library Websites, the use and combination of JSON, Compass, jQuery, PHP, and other technologies seem to be a great alternative to the ongoing work in updating small (critical) sections of institutional websites; a recent DSpace plug-in idea/project seems to be a good candidate for testing this work.
• Mendeley’s API and University Libraries: Three Examples to Create Value, the examples presented seem to be of great benefits for both IR’s administrators and scholars; moreover, the announcement of a plug-in based on SWORD that will work with major repository systems was also good news.

The Lightning Talks seems to be an excellent method for learning about a variety of topics in a short period of time, some of my favorites included: AjaxyDialog jquery-ui widget, Blacklight and Hydra at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Open data and the Biodiversity Heritage Library experience, Mobile Web Apps for Library Exhibits, Digital Humanities and Libraries, and A Guide for the Perplexed.

The Ask Anything session was also an interesting one, questions and answers ranged from basic to advanced, from on-site to online, from short to long; as a new comer, the question of the day was “What should we teach new librarians about coding/programming/hacking?” The answers included: learn and try something simple and quickly, install LINUX, find an interesting and short-term project, use the command line … and I think we could also add one more: join Code4Lib -which could be as simple as joining the listserv, attending a conference, checking the Journal or maybe just making time to watch the archived videos from the 2011 Conference.

Once again, thanks Code4Lib organizers!

.

Yes, it seems like we’re finally wrapping up some good results for this “much needed” project! Between the summer and fall of 2010, I spent some time learning/testing/understanding/implementing a few customizations for DSpace -using the Manakin or XMLUI framework.  A more detailed documentation will be available -soon- on the Customizing DSpace page.

The ultimate goal is to develop a set of themes primarily for non-text collections; which undoubtedly brings a set of challenges especially when dealing with file viewers or players. For instance, the lack of an easy mechanism to access a set of files or “bitstreams” associated with a single record forced us to investigate and implement an alternative method for embedding a flash-based image viewer for the Miami Student Newspaper collection.

The trick was to write an XSLT template that takes the the filename of the primary bitstream in DSpace and calls an external PHP file; which then reads an external folder with JP2 files and displays the images using an open source image viewer -OpenZoom. This technique seems to work well, in fact, it could be customized for embedding DjVu files or maybe e-books from the Open Library.

For an image collection, we decided to work on an existing theme customization work initially developed by NITLE; which uses a TJPzoom viewer with a magnifier feature -very cool! This theme seems to work great for the Frank Snyder Photograph collections with single images; a possible change (upgrade) for this theme would be to add a navigation option (perhaps based on JavaScript) for displaying multiple images associated with a single record. For this theme, we also added a custom XSLT template for displaying local metadata labels -including some linkable terms in the subject field.

Last, we also created a video theme, which embeds videos from Vimeo and we’re currently testing it for the new Dalai Lama Video collection. Here we used a method similar to what CONTENTdm does for video collections; we uploaded an image with a filename that matches the vimeo ID file; then create an XSLT template that takes the filename (primary bitstream) and create a custom URL which then calls and embeds the vimeo player in DSpace.  For some collections, we also have the transcripts and with this technique, we could easily add the transcript next to the video … but that’s in the next theme upgrade!

Ok, that’s it for now; part of the next steps will be to “formally” document the process of installing the new themes and get them installed in our production instance hosted at OhioLINK.

.

Last week, I attended three orientation sessions at the ALA Midwinter conference in San Diego, CA.  The sessions were part of the official start of the ALA Discovering Librarianship program, which aims to build a network of early career librarians who can work with the ALA-Diversity Office to identify and help college students pursue careers in librarianship.

We had three sessions; the first one started with messages from three ALA leaders: Roberta Stevens, Camila Alire, and Molly Raphael.  They spoke about the commitment of ALA to support this type of diversity initiative; they also emphasized on the ongoing need to support similar programs with a focus on people who are already in the profession.  It was definitely great to hear what they think about ALA’s goal towards diversity in the profession, especially in tough economic times.  Next, we talked in groups about the decisions that led us to pursuing a degree in librarianship.  I was particularly happy to meet another librarian with an interest in the changing roles of technology in librarianship and information access.

The second session was focused on the need and opportunities for new professionals from underrepresented groups.  At my table, we talked about some of the regional, national, and ALA programs and conferences that support early career librarians from diverse groups.  I shared with my group two recent personal examples: the Minnesota Institute and the Code4Lib Diversity Scholarships.  Then, Lorelle Swader from the ALA Office of Human Resources and Development talked about career paths; which reminded me of a possible addition to a working manuscript about Technical Skills for New Digital Librarians.

The third and last session started with a presentation about Benefits and Rewards; I think some of the topics that came up in this discussion could be incorporated into materials for advocacy, outreach, and recruiting activities.  We also worked on a template for writing personal stories and on a pre-draft of an Elevator Speech.  In the next few months, we will continue to work on the promotion and marketing materials; we will also start looking for possible career fairs to attend in late 2011 or early 2012.

Last but not least, despite the great winter weather in San Diego, I also managed to attend two LITA sessions: Technology Trends in Academic Libraries and Drupal for Digital Library Programs.  It was interesting to learn about projects where developers are using Drupal on top of DSpace or Fedora.  But for now, I just need to get done with a couple of XSLT files for a workshop later this week!

.