Code4Lib - User contributions [en]

How To Plan A Code4LibCon

2012-03-08T19:57:23Z

Elizabeth:

* Apply to be a host

* Consider your action plan
** Identify your venues for both the conference and the hotel (if different). This is critical, as you'll want to get some cost estimates from each. When we hosted in Corvallis, the campus provided the conference space at a low cost, and this made running the conference much more affordable. When we hosted the conference in Portland, and held everything in a single hotel, we had to acquire 2x the amount of sponsorship than what appears to be normal.
** Speaking of sponsorship, I believe we average around 20k per year in sponsorships to help run the conference and keep the registration low. Factor this into your budget.
** Also, when you get cost estimates, don't forget to include food costs.
** WIRELESS: Always an issue it seems. If you are proposing to host the conference on a campus, check with your IT folks about any additional costs. If you are looking at a hotel or other venue, make sure you talk to them about bandwidth and costs. IMHO, the two things that really need to be addressed each year are connectivity and food - everything else generally manages itself in terms of facilities.
*** make sure VPN is allowed
** See if your institution has a conference planning services group or something similar - if it does, then I highly recommend using them. They'll handle registration, budgeting, contracts, etc, and really make life easy.
** Regarding conference hotel, you'll want to make sure that there are blocks of rooms available - not usually too bad an issue in larger towns, but in some college or smaller towns, hotel rooms may be limited.
*** prepare the hotel for deluge via web when announcement is made about hotel registration available. We overwhelmed the Seattle hotel in 2012
** Remember, your institution is taking the risk of covering any costs not covered by registrations and sponsorships. To this point, I believe the conference has always ended up in the black, but there is always a chance it won't in a given year. Drafting a rough budget before submitting a proposal is critical.

* Get approved by the community
* Find a hotel, negotiate and sign a contract with them. [[Sample RFI]]
* Invite the community to help with
* Have a timeline
*[[Useful information from 2012]]

== Important Public Resources ==
* Past calls for host sites: [http://code4lib.org/node/275 2010] -
* [http://dewey.library.nd.edu/mailing-lists/code4lib/ Code4Lib listserv]
* [http://groups.google.com/group/code4libcon Code4LibCon listserv]
* Sponsorship info (public)
* [http://code4lib.org/logo/ Logos]

== Important Private Resources ==
* Code4LibCon-hostsite listserv
* Budgets from previous years
* Sponsorship info (private)

==Gender Diversity & Minority Scholarship Committee==
The scholarship committee is a self-selected group that manages the gender diversity & minority scholarships. Separate groups handle AngelFund and Code4LibJapan scholarships.

===Suggestions received===
* Send to a wider bunch of listservs, including for national orgs (ALA/SLA/MLA) & relevant sections? & student chapter

===Process===
# Put out a call
# Receive and coordinate applications
# Distribute applications to the committee
# Select awardees
# Inform selected candidates
# Notify unsuccessful candidates
# Announce to Code4Lib main listserv and post on code4lib.org (e.g. http://code4lib.org/node/274 )
# Hosts work with awardees on reimbursement, registration, etc.
# Follow up with awardees after the conference -- receive report, ask for suggestions, etc.

== Program Committtee==
The program committee is a self-selected group that manages talk proposals and other aspects of the program.

(Add more info for the program committee here!)

===Talk Acceptance Letter (samples)===

<pre>
Dear <<first name last name>>,

On behalf of the Code4Lib Program Planning Committee, I am pleased to
notify you that your proposal, <<proposal title>> has been accepted for
the Code4Lib <<year>> in <<location>>. Please reply to this message to
confirm your intention to present the approved session at the Conference.
If at any time in the future you need to bow out or have any program
changes, please notify us immediately. You will be sent a letter of
agreement soon.

The schedule for the conference is here:

http://code4lib.org/conference/2011/schedule

You will have 20 minutes for your talk, including questions and answers.
A quick transition between speakers will be necessary.

It is very important that you focus your presentation on the more unique
and technical aspects of your topic whenever possible. Although Code4Lib
attendees come from many different work environments, they attend Code4Lib
events for information technology education.

Experts like you are the heart of Code4Lib. We really appreciate your contribution
and look forward to working with you.

Sincerely,

</pre>

===Talk Rejection Letter (sample)===
<pre>
I'm sorry, but your prepared talk proposal for the 2010 Code4Lib Conference in Asheville, NC did not receive enough votes to make it into the program. But here are a couple things you should know:

- The field of presentations was very large (probably the largest we have had so far) and very strong, so you should not take it too hard.
- Please remember that there are many additional opportunities for participating, including lightning talks (open to anyone), breakout sessions (open to anyone to suggest and/or participate), and a special "Ask Anything" (or reply anything) open session. Also, the evening socializing opportunities are considered some of the most rewarding times of the event.

Again, my condolences on not having your talk proposal accepted, but I hope we still see you in Asheville, NC in February.
Roy
</pre>

== Sponsorship Committee ==
===Sample Sponsorship Request Letter===
As you know, Code4Lib is a group of library technologists, programmers, system administrators, web designers, and librarians. Started in 2003, the group continues to grow--with a journal, a mailing list, and an active IRC channel. Since 2005, Code4Lib has sponsored an annual conference, which has attracted programmers and librarians from around the world.

Topics at past conferences have included library information systems, new directions in library research, semantic web applications, and
information technology standards, among many others. More details about the conference, including schedules of previous conferences, can be found from
http://www.code4lib.org/conference/

Our <> conference will be held in <> from <>. Be a part of this library success story by underwriting the conference!

We have several sponsorship levels:

<>
I look forward to hearing from you, and can be reached at <>.

Best,

<>
http://code4lib.org/

== Money==
* [[Conference_Financial_History_At_A_Glance]]
* private conlist has budget info

== Shortly before the Conference ==

=== Keynotes ===
# Contact speakers in advance to ask if they need anything, arrange airport pickup, etc

=== Freenode IRC connection ===
Historically, conference attendees have had trouble maintaining persistent connections to the #code4lib IRC channel. We'd always assumed we were overwhelming the conference facility's Internet connection, but we were actually running into Freenode's IP-based connection limits. Freenode is supportive of the IRC-as-backchannel model, however, and they're happy to work with organizers to raise the connection limit.

Contact the conference facility in advance and see if you can find out what your ''public IP address range'' will be during the conference. (If it starts with 10.*, 192.168.*, or 172.16.*, ask again -- those are "private" IP ranges used for connection sharing.)

Once you have the IP address or range, send an email to [mailto:ilines@freenode.net ilines@freenode.net] containing a request to raise the connection limit. Include conference info, IP range(s), and the expected number of connections. For example:

To: ilines@freenode.net

Hello,

I'm helping plan the code4lib 2010 conference, taking place in Asheville, NC next week.
Since our backchannel runs through #code4lib on Freenode, we're trying to plan ahead
to avoid running up against the connection limit. Would it be possible to raise the cap
for us during the conference? Details follow.

Conference: code4lib 2010 < http://code4lib.org/conference/2010/ >
Dates: February 22-26, 2010
Attendees: 250
Location: Renaissance Asheville Hotel, Asheville, NC
IP Ranges: 12.21.216.106 and the entire 12.21.217.0/24 block

We encourage in-channel participation, so we expect a high percentage of attendees to
be connected at once. We'll also have two or three channel bots connected from the
conference for the lobby monitors.

Please let me know if you need any further information, and thanks very much for
your help!

Michael

I received an automated reply with a ticket number almost instantly, but didn't hear back after that. I sent a quick followup early on the morning of the 22nd, and received a response (from a human) letting me know that it had been taken care of. (Follow-up, one year later: Same experience. Immediate automated reply, but with a need to follow up with Freenode staff in the #freenode channel to get the ticket resolved.)

Additional support is available from the helpful volunteer Freenode staff in the #freenode channel.

== At the Conference ==

===Keynotes===
# Water at the podium
# Speaker gifts
# Dinner plans

=== Timers ===
* Sit in the front of the room
* Have several people
* You may want to use an extra machine
* Here's what some of the software looks like: http://www.flickr.com/photos/schwartzray/4393891356/ (ask Ed Corrado for details)
* Dan Chudnov says the best free timer app for OSX is http://www.apimac.com/timer/

=== Lightning Talks ===
* Everybody lines up ahead of time (image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/schwartzray/4393881044/ )

===PreConf===
# make sure projector avail for each session
# whiteboards or reasonable facsimile thereof
# everyone wants a power outlet

=== Conference ===
# power - everyone would like to plug in their laptop

=== Video ===
# live stream is awesome
# join.me ??

=== Ask Anything===
* Need mics for people to line up at (image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/schwartzray/4393838640/ )

===Book Raffle===
* (image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/schwartzray/4393619144/ with people for context: http://www.flickr.com/photos/schwartzray/4393623802/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/schwartzray/4384550127/ ), better if there's a table

=== Flipcharts ===
Flipcharts can be useful, but it's important to decide what to put on the wiki/website and what to put on a flipchart:
images: http://www.flickr.com/photos/schwartzray/4392998501/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/47860563@N05/4388430079/

=== Hospitality Suite ===
# having a few people with room keys, any of whom might need to be available to open up or close down the room at the beginning or end of the evening
# making sure the mess left for cleaning staff is an appropriate mess
# making sure the noise made near other hotel guests is an appropriate noise
# having someone act as a point person to gather a gratuity for the housekeeping staff maintaining the suite

== Suggested Timeline ==
* See [[C4L2010planning]] for an example
* Ideal to have program set before registration, including pre-conf
** also allows clarity for how many spots are avail for non-presenters

[[Category: Code4Lib2010]]
[[Category: Code4Lib2011]]

===Calls for Hosting===
* 2008:
* 2009:
* 2010:
* 2011: March 5, 2010
* 2012:
* 2013:

Useful information from 2012

2012-03-08T19:55:37Z

Elizabeth:

=='''Suggestions for streamlining registration:'''==

*Have the pre-conference and conference presentations and presenters voted on before the registration opens.
**This will decrease the chaos that results in having presenters joining in the open registration and then having to account for their spots at a later date.

*Do not open the hotel or the payment links to whomever registers. Open registration and then those who get into the allotted spots would be contacted with the links for payment and hotel reservation.
**This will decrease the need for refunds (which cost time and money).
**This will decrease the chaos of needing to account for people who have hotel rooms who did not get into the conference.
*Guest room counts and other information useful for venue negotiations are at the end of the document

===How Code4Lib National was handled for 2012.===
'''''These are not recommendations. Registration was a nightmare.'''''

*Presentations were not chosen before open registration.
**In 2010 there was a demand to have an earlier registration release date to accommodate for bureaucratic slowness at institutions.
**The voting for the presenters went for another 2 weeks beyond the registration opening. This seriously delayed the finalization of the participant list and the release of the wait list.
**Each presenter (or person on the wait list who then could fill the space left vacant) had to be individually contacted to get their payment and connect with the hotel about their lodging.

*We started with 213 spots open for general registration because pre-conference, conference presentations were not chosen yet and we didn’t know who the sponsors would be.
**This was an issue because some pre-conference and conference presentations had more than one presenter and some sponsors get more than one spot, so, again, having presentations chosen before registration would preclude those issues.

*We opened registration at a certain time and date. The payment and hotel reservation links were open to whomever registered.
**Opening conference registration and hotel registrations at the same time proved difficult for several reasons:
***People who did not get into the conference made hotel reservations. These individuals needed to be individually contacted to cancel their reservations.
***The hotel had difficulty tracking the cancellations, and opening those spots for other participants.
***Based on the information from the 2011 host, the need for hotel rooms was seriously under estimated creating the need for several different blocks of rooms with several rooming contracts with different rates and different deadlines.
***The hotel reservation system was not prepared for the onslaught and we broke their registration system, creating more chaos.

*Those 213 spots were filled in within the hour. The payment and hotel information was then moved so that no one else could access it. This created issues with registrations bouncing.

*Around 15 people canceled their registrations 2 weeks before the conference which necessitated individually contacting those on the wait list and arranging for payment.

*The participants list was not finalized until 7 working days before the conference.
**There continue to be messages on the lists offering spots even up to the Thursday and Friday before the start of the conference. Keeping track of dietary needs and cancellations have taken considerable Administrative time.

*Original projection of Admin time was grossly under estimated. Based on other conventions of generally the same size and geographically diverse, the Admin time was estimated at 10 working days, not including actual time/overtime at the conference. Actual time was about 29 full working days, again, not including the actual time/overtime at the conference.

===Statistics to help with 2013 Code4Lib Hosting===

*Strict 250 participant cap – mandate from the community
*Adequate bandwidth for wireless usage at conference is vital
**Ended up needing wired internet access for streaming – was not part of the original negotiations
**Some questions that we asked the venues:
***Is your venue able to provide at least 8 mb/sec guaranteed service, either through a dedicated connection or a private VLAN?
***Can you provide multi-band access points that support both 24 & 5 Ghz service -- 802.11b, g, n and, ideally, 802.11a?
***Can your system accommodate at least 300 simultaneous connections?
*Make sure there are Vegetarian meals (30 Vegetarians; 4 Vegans; 3 Gluten-free; 12 Food Allergies)
*Anticipated Admin time usage (Not including actual time at conference): 10 working days
*Actual Admin time usage (Not including actual time at conference): 29 working days

===Guest Room Pick up===
'''''We have use of the same room rate 2 days on both sides of the conference.'''''

Total room Pick-up: 633

:Feb 4 - 9 (2 days before conference)
:Feb 5 - 102 (day before pre-conference)
:Feb 6 - 155 (Pre-conference)
:Feb 7 – 156 (Conference)
:Feb 8 – 155 (Conference)
:Feb 9 – 47 (Last ½ day of conference)
:Feb 10 – 7
:Feb 11 – 2

===T-shirt Amounts and Sizes===
'''''This is to give you an idea of what quantities you are looking for if you decide to do T-shirts again.'''''

:Did not want a T-shirt - 9
:Small - 32
:Medium - 82
:Large - 66
:X-large - 52
:2x - 9
:3X - 3
:4X - 1

===Budgetary Considerations===
'''''This is not a comprehensive list'''''

When budgeting, things to account for are:
*Credit Card Charges (how much it will cost to take credit cards)
*Scholarships
*T-shirts (this are more expensive than originally thought)
*Loss from Cancellations (Credit Card refund costs, lost revenue, other things such as T-shirts and lowering minimum participant counts for hotel contracts)
*Internet usage and Networks
*Video and Streaming
*Key Note Speaker Costs, Complimentary registrations
*Logistics of payments and refunds for out of Country participants

===Things to think about…===

*Not having A/V available for the pre-conference did not work well. There were numerous requests for projectors and screens
*Don’t forget the need for extra extension cords and surge protectors. It was much less expensive to purchase the power cords than to pay for the use through the hotel
*The Hospitality suite needs to have room for around 50 people and the ability to bring alcohol
*Think about getting a list of programs and software needed for presenters before the beginning of the conference and setting up an equipment check when the A/V is set up or the night before the beginning of the conference
*The ‘Ask Anything’ sessions needs 3 microphones – 1 for the presenter and 2 for the audience
*There was a request for a Book/Magazine exchange

Useful information from 2012

2012-03-08T19:54:53Z

Elizabeth: New page: =='''Suggestions for streamlining registration:'''== *Have the pre-conference and conference presentations and presenters voted on before the registration opens. **This will decrease the...

How To Plan A Code4LibCon

2012-03-08T19:35:01Z

Elizabeth:

* Apply to be a host

* Consider your action plan
** Identify your venues for both the conference and the hotel (if different). This is critical, as you'll want to get some cost estimates from each. When we hosted in Corvallis, the campus provided the conference space at a low cost, and this made running the conference much more affordable. When we hosted the conference in Portland, and held everything in a single hotel, we had to acquire 2x the amount of sponsorship than what appears to be normal.
** Speaking of sponsorship, I believe we average around 20k per year in sponsorships to help run the conference and keep the registration low. Factor this into your budget.
** Also, when you get cost estimates, don't forget to include food costs.
** WIRELESS: Always an issue it seems. If you are proposing to host the conference on a campus, check with your IT folks about any additional costs. If you are looking at a hotel or other venue, make sure you talk to them about bandwidth and costs. IMHO, the two things that really need to be addressed each year are connectivity and food - everything else generally manages itself in terms of facilities.
*** make sure VPN is allowed
** See if your institution has a conference planning services group or something similar - if it does, then I highly recommend using them. They'll handle registration, budgeting, contracts, etc, and really make life easy.
** Regarding conference hotel, you'll want to make sure that there are blocks of rooms available - not usually too bad an issue in larger towns, but in some college or smaller towns, hotel rooms may be limited.
*** prepare the hotel for deluge via web when announcement is made about hotel registration available. We overwhelmed the Seattle hotel in 2012
** Remember, your institution is taking the risk of covering any costs not covered by registrations and sponsorships. To this point, I believe the conference has always ended up in the black, but there is always a chance it won't in a given year. Drafting a rough budget before submitting a proposal is critical.

* Get approved by the community
* Find a hotel, negotiate and sign a contract with them. [[Sample RFI]]
* Invite the community to help with
* Have a timeline
*[[Useful information from 2012 Code4Lib]]

== Important Public Resources ==
* Past calls for host sites: [http://code4lib.org/node/275 2010] -
* [http://dewey.library.nd.edu/mailing-lists/code4lib/ Code4Lib listserv]
* [http://groups.google.com/group/code4libcon Code4LibCon listserv]
* Sponsorship info (public)
* [http://code4lib.org/logo/ Logos]

== Important Private Resources ==
* Code4LibCon-hostsite listserv
* Budgets from previous years
* Sponsorship info (private)

==Gender Diversity & Minority Scholarship Committee==
The scholarship committee is a self-selected group that manages the gender diversity & minority scholarships. Separate groups handle AngelFund and Code4LibJapan scholarships.

===Suggestions received===
* Send to a wider bunch of listservs, including for national orgs (ALA/SLA/MLA) & relevant sections? & student chapter

===Process===
# Put out a call
# Receive and coordinate applications
# Distribute applications to the committee
# Select awardees
# Inform selected candidates
# Notify unsuccessful candidates
# Announce to Code4Lib main listserv and post on code4lib.org (e.g. http://code4lib.org/node/274 )
# Hosts work with awardees on reimbursement, registration, etc.
# Follow up with awardees after the conference -- receive report, ask for suggestions, etc.

== Program Committtee==
The program committee is a self-selected group that manages talk proposals and other aspects of the program.

(Add more info for the program committee here!)

===Talk Acceptance Letter (samples)===

<pre>
Dear <<first name last name>>,

On behalf of the Code4Lib Program Planning Committee, I am pleased to
notify you that your proposal, <<proposal title>> has been accepted for
the Code4Lib <<year>> in <<location>>. Please reply to this message to
confirm your intention to present the approved session at the Conference.
If at any time in the future you need to bow out or have any program
changes, please notify us immediately. You will be sent a letter of
agreement soon.

The schedule for the conference is here:

http://code4lib.org/conference/2011/schedule

You will have 20 minutes for your talk, including questions and answers.
A quick transition between speakers will be necessary.

It is very important that you focus your presentation on the more unique
and technical aspects of your topic whenever possible. Although Code4Lib
attendees come from many different work environments, they attend Code4Lib
events for information technology education.

Experts like you are the heart of Code4Lib. We really appreciate your contribution
and look forward to working with you.

Sincerely,

</pre>

===Talk Rejection Letter (sample)===
<pre>
I'm sorry, but your prepared talk proposal for the 2010 Code4Lib Conference in Asheville, NC did not receive enough votes to make it into the program. But here are a couple things you should know:

- The field of presentations was very large (probably the largest we have had so far) and very strong, so you should not take it too hard.
- Please remember that there are many additional opportunities for participating, including lightning talks (open to anyone), breakout sessions (open to anyone to suggest and/or participate), and a special "Ask Anything" (or reply anything) open session. Also, the evening socializing opportunities are considered some of the most rewarding times of the event.

Again, my condolences on not having your talk proposal accepted, but I hope we still see you in Asheville, NC in February.
Roy
</pre>

== Sponsorship Committee ==
===Sample Sponsorship Request Letter===
As you know, Code4Lib is a group of library technologists, programmers, system administrators, web designers, and librarians. Started in 2003, the group continues to grow--with a journal, a mailing list, and an active IRC channel. Since 2005, Code4Lib has sponsored an annual conference, which has attracted programmers and librarians from around the world.

Topics at past conferences have included library information systems, new directions in library research, semantic web applications, and
information technology standards, among many others. More details about the conference, including schedules of previous conferences, can be found from
http://www.code4lib.org/conference/

Our <> conference will be held in <> from <>. Be a part of this library success story by underwriting the conference!

We have several sponsorship levels:

<>
I look forward to hearing from you, and can be reached at <>.

Best,

<>
http://code4lib.org/

== Money==
* [[Conference_Financial_History_At_A_Glance]]
* private conlist has budget info

== Shortly before the Conference ==

=== Keynotes ===
# Contact speakers in advance to ask if they need anything, arrange airport pickup, etc

=== Freenode IRC connection ===
Historically, conference attendees have had trouble maintaining persistent connections to the #code4lib IRC channel. We'd always assumed we were overwhelming the conference facility's Internet connection, but we were actually running into Freenode's IP-based connection limits. Freenode is supportive of the IRC-as-backchannel model, however, and they're happy to work with organizers to raise the connection limit.

Contact the conference facility in advance and see if you can find out what your ''public IP address range'' will be during the conference. (If it starts with 10.*, 192.168.*, or 172.16.*, ask again -- those are "private" IP ranges used for connection sharing.)

Once you have the IP address or range, send an email to [mailto:ilines@freenode.net ilines@freenode.net] containing a request to raise the connection limit. Include conference info, IP range(s), and the expected number of connections. For example:

To: ilines@freenode.net

Hello,

I'm helping plan the code4lib 2010 conference, taking place in Asheville, NC next week.
Since our backchannel runs through #code4lib on Freenode, we're trying to plan ahead
to avoid running up against the connection limit. Would it be possible to raise the cap
for us during the conference? Details follow.

Conference: code4lib 2010 < http://code4lib.org/conference/2010/ >
Dates: February 22-26, 2010
Attendees: 250
Location: Renaissance Asheville Hotel, Asheville, NC
IP Ranges: 12.21.216.106 and the entire 12.21.217.0/24 block

We encourage in-channel participation, so we expect a high percentage of attendees to
be connected at once. We'll also have two or three channel bots connected from the
conference for the lobby monitors.

Please let me know if you need any further information, and thanks very much for
your help!

Michael

I received an automated reply with a ticket number almost instantly, but didn't hear back after that. I sent a quick followup early on the morning of the 22nd, and received a response (from a human) letting me know that it had been taken care of. (Follow-up, one year later: Same experience. Immediate automated reply, but with a need to follow up with Freenode staff in the #freenode channel to get the ticket resolved.)

Additional support is available from the helpful volunteer Freenode staff in the #freenode channel.

== At the Conference ==

===Keynotes===
# Water at the podium
# Speaker gifts
# Dinner plans

=== Timers ===
* Sit in the front of the room
* Have several people
* You may want to use an extra machine
* Here's what some of the software looks like: http://www.flickr.com/photos/schwartzray/4393891356/ (ask Ed Corrado for details)
* Dan Chudnov says the best free timer app for OSX is http://www.apimac.com/timer/

=== Lightning Talks ===
* Everybody lines up ahead of time (image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/schwartzray/4393881044/ )

===PreConf===
# make sure projector avail for each session
# whiteboards or reasonable facsimile thereof
# everyone wants a power outlet

=== Conference ===
# power - everyone would like to plug in their laptop

=== Video ===
# live stream is awesome
# join.me ??

=== Ask Anything===
* Need mics for people to line up at (image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/schwartzray/4393838640/ )

===Book Raffle===
* (image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/schwartzray/4393619144/ with people for context: http://www.flickr.com/photos/schwartzray/4393623802/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/schwartzray/4384550127/ ), better if there's a table

=== Flipcharts ===
Flipcharts can be useful, but it's important to decide what to put on the wiki/website and what to put on a flipchart:
images: http://www.flickr.com/photos/schwartzray/4392998501/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/47860563@N05/4388430079/

=== Hospitality Suite ===
# having a few people with room keys, any of whom might need to be available to open up or close down the room at the beginning or end of the evening
# making sure the mess left for cleaning staff is an appropriate mess
# making sure the noise made near other hotel guests is an appropriate noise
# having someone act as a point person to gather a gratuity for the housekeeping staff maintaining the suite

== Suggested Timeline ==
* See [[C4L2010planning]] for an example
* Ideal to have program set before registration, including pre-conf
** also allows clarity for how many spots are avail for non-presenters

[[Category: Code4Lib2010]]
[[Category: Code4Lib2011]]

===Calls for Hosting===
* 2008:
* 2009:
* 2010:
* 2011: March 5, 2010
* 2012:
* 2013:

Main Page

2012-02-13T21:48:36Z

Elizabeth: /* Earlier Conferences and events */

{|align=right
|__TOC__
|}

== About Code4Lib ==

* [[About Code4Lib]] - Background and history of the community
* [[A Guide for the Perplexed]] - Building skills for working with library technologies
* [[How to hack code4lib]] - For those newer to the community

== Code4Lib 2012 Conference ==

''See also the [http://wiki.code4lib.org/index.php/Category:Code4Lib2012 Code4lib2012 category]''

* [http://code4lib.org/conference/2012/ 2012 home]
* [[During_the_Conference_Volunteers|Volunteer to help at code4lib 2012]]
* [[2012_committees_sign-up_page|Volunteer to help plan 2012 conference]]
* [[2012_preconference_proposals|2012 Preconference Proposals]]--due Sunday, November 20
* [[2012_talks_proposals|2012 Talk Proposals]]--due Sunday, November 20
* [[2012_c4l2012_social_activities|Social Activities]] - ideas and sign-up
* [[c4l2012_rideshare|Rideshare-Roomshare]]
* [[c4l2012_t-shirtcontest|T-shirt contest]]
* [[ideas_for_2012|Put your ideas for 2012 here!]]
* [[C4L2012_Call_For_Host|2012 Call For Host]]
* [[How To Plan A Code4LibCon]]
* [http://linkd.in/unhJsR LinkedIn Event]
* [[2012_twitter_list|List your Twitter handle here]]
* [[2012_Lightning_Talks_Signup|Lightning Talks Signup]]
* [http://irc.code4lib.org/ IRC Channel Timeline & Log]
* [http://www.livestream.com/code4lib Conference Livestream] (non-attendees only, please!)

== Local / Regional Groups ==

* [[NYC|Code4LibNYC]] - NYC and surrounding areas
* [[NEC4L|New England Code4lib]] - New England
* [[NL|Code4Bib]] - Dutch Code4Bib
* [[MDC|Code4libMDC]] - Maryland, Washington D.C and surrounding areas
* [http://groups.google.com/group/pnwcode4lib?hl=en PNWCode4Lib] - Pacific Northwest
* [[North|code4lib North]] - Ontario and surrounding areas ''(new for Jan 2010!)''
* [[Midwest|Code4Lib Midwest]] - Wherever that is...
* [http://groups.google.com/group/ikr-fejlesztok/ Code4lib.hu] - Group of Hungarian library developers
* [http://www.code4lib.jp/ Code4Lib Japan] - ''(new in 2010!)'', see also [http://twitter.com/yesonline/statuses/28561046501 tweet from Jerry Lee]
* [http://groups.google.com/group/code4glam Code4GLAM Australia] - coders, hackers, developers and technologists in the Australian GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives & Museums) sector.

== Interest Groups ==

* [[ILS_Interop|ILS Interoperability]] - A group working to develop an infrastructure for interoperating between discovery layers and integrated library systems.
* [[Open_Source_Book_Widgets|Open Source Book Widgets]] - A list of open source book widgets
* [[Discovery|Open Source Discovery]] - Open Source application to enhance and support "discovery" in libraries
* [[Mobile_Apps|Mobile Applications]] - A group interested in mobile web and native application development for libraries
* [[Sources_Of_Metadata|Sources Of Metadata]] - list of api's and sources of interest to libraries

== Software Usage and Documentation ==

* [[Umlaut]] - OpenURL link resolving middleware
* [[:Category:Patterns|Patterns for Collaborative Code]] - Patterns to make your open source 'more open', more amenable to distributed development and use at multiple institutions without forking.
* [[ILS Documentation]]
* [[OSS Directory]]
* [[Working with MaRC]]
* [[Rogue]] - principles for standards creation

== Code4Lib Journal ==

* [[:Category:Code4Lib Journal|Code4Lib Journal]] - information and working documents

== Current topics ==

* [[Code4Lib Website Update]]
* [[OCLC Policy Change]]
* [[SirsiDynix: Integrated Library System Platforms on Open Source]]
* [[Parsing Library Data]]

== Other Code4Lib Sites ==

* [http://www.code4lib.org/ code4lib.org]
* [http://planet.code4lib.org planet.code4lib.org]

== Earlier Conferences and events ==
[[Conference Financial History At A Glance]]

===Code4Lib 2012 Conference===

=== Code4Lib 2011 Conference ===
''See also the [http://wiki.code4lib.org/index.php/Category:Code4Lib2011 Code4lib2011 category]''

* [http://code4lib.org/conference/2011 C4L2011 Home]
* [[C4L2011_registration | Registration Information!]]
* [[2011_committees_sign-up_page | 2011 Committees Sign-Up]] - '''Volunteer to help'''
* [[How To Plan A Code4LibCon]]
* [[C4L2011_social_activities|Social Activities]] - ideas & sign-up
* [[C4L2011_planning_wishlist|'''Put your ideas for 2011 here!''']]
* [http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=161853827200024 Facebook Event Page]
* [http://events.linkedin.com/Code4Lib-2011/pub/448897 LinkedIn Event Page]

* [[C4L2011_rideshare|Airport Ride Share and Carpooling]]
* [[C4L2011_roomshare | Hotel room share]]

=== Code4Lib 2010 Conference ===

''See also the [http://wiki.code4lib.org/index.php/Category:Code4Lib2010 Code4lib2010 category]''
* [http://code4lib.org/conference/2010/schedule Finalized schedule]
* [[2010 Lightning Talks Signup]] - sign up to give a lightning talk
* [[2010 Breakout Sessions]] - suggest a breakout here
* '''[[2010 Conference Buzz]] - Conference announcements and a place for code4libbers to plan stuff'''
* [[C4L2010_social_activities|Social Activities]] - ideas & sign-up
* [[Committees sign-up page]] - '''Volunteer to help'''
* [[C4L2011_planning_wishlist|'''Put your ideas for 2011 here!''']]
* [[Asheville Airport to Hotel Van Manifest]]
* [[C4L2010rideshare|General shared travel/transportation planning]]
* [[C4L2010planning:RoommatesRidesEtc|Roommates, Rides, Etc]]
* [[C4L2010_manning_discount|Manning Publications Discount]] - discount code (40% off) for use by attendees through Feb. 28, 2010
* Thanks also to our other sponsors!
* [[C4L2010planning|2010 Planning]]
* [[C4L2010planning:_wishlist | 2010 Planning Wishlist]] - planning page for issues, expectations, etc. for the 2010 conference

=== Code4Lib 2009 Conference ===

* [[BookRaffle]] - coordinate begging publishers for books to raffle off at the conference
* [http://inkdroid.org/c4l2009/attendees Get FOAFed] - add your FOAF profile to the network of c4l2009 attendees
* PreConferences:
** [[GIS_preconf_code4libcon2009]] - Open source GIS just like mom used to make
** [[LinkedData]] - A proposal for a linked-data code4lib2009 pre-conference
** [[LibX_Preconference]] - Proposal for a half-day pre-conference targeted at developers who wish to use the LibX 2.0 platform
** [http://code4lib.org/2009/oclc-precon OCLC Grid Services Preconference]
* [[RoommatesRidesEtc]] - Find roommates for Code4Lib 2009, share rides, etc.
* [[2009 Conference Buzz]] - Conference announcements and a place for code4libbers to plan stuff

=== Other workshops ===
* [http://barcamp.org/SearchCampDC SearchCampDC] - barcamp style event in DC with usual suspects from code4lib
* [[code4lib/elag2010]] - 1-day code4lib preconference at elag2010

== Archived topics ==

* [[Logo Design Process]]

[[AdminToDo]] - ideas and tasks for maintaining the Code4Lib sites

How To Plan A Code4LibCon

2012-02-13T21:47:00Z

Elizabeth:

* Apply to be a host

* Consider your action plan
** Identify your venues for both the conference and the hotel (if different). This is critical, as you'll want to get some cost estimates from each. When we hosted in Corvallis, the campus provided the conference space at a low cost, and this made running the conference much more affordable. When we hosted the conference in Portland, and held everything in a single hotel, we had to acquire 2x the amount of sponsorship than what appears to be normal.
** Speaking of sponsorship, I believe we average around 20k per year in sponsorships to help run the conference and keep the registration low. Factor this into your budget.
** Also, when you get cost estimates, don't forget to include food costs.
** WIRELESS: Always an issue it seems. If you are proposing to host the conference on a campus, check with your IT folks about any additional costs. If you are looking at a hotel or other venue, make sure you talk to them about bandwidth and costs. IMHO, the two things that really need to be addressed each year are connectivity and food - everything else generally manages itself in terms of facilities.
*** make sure VPN is allowed
** See if your institution has a conference planning services group or something similar - if it does, then I highly recommend using them. They'll handle registration, budgeting, contracts, etc, and really make life easy.
** Regarding conference hotel, you'll want to make sure that there are blocks of rooms available - not usually too bad an issue in larger towns, but in some college or smaller towns, hotel rooms may be limited.
*** prepare the hotel for deluge via web when announcement is made about hotel registration available. We overwhelmed the Seattle hotel in 2012
** Remember, your institution is taking the risk of covering any costs not covered by registrations and sponsorships. To this point, I believe the conference has always ended up in the black, but there is always a chance it won't in a given year. Drafting a rough budget before submitting a proposal is critical.

* Get approved by the community
* Find a hotel, negotiate and sign a contract with them. [[Sample RFI]]
* Invite the community to help with
* Have a timeline
*Useful information from 2012 Code4Lib

== Important Public Resources ==
* Past calls for host sites: [http://code4lib.org/node/275 2010] -
* [http://dewey.library.nd.edu/mailing-lists/code4lib/ Code4Lib listserv]
* [http://groups.google.com/group/code4libcon Code4LibCon listserv]
* Sponsorship info (public)
* [http://code4lib.org/logo/ Logos]

== Important Private Resources ==
* Code4LibCon-hostsite listserv
* Budgets from previous years
* Sponsorship info (private)

==Gender Diversity & Minority Scholarship Committee==
The scholarship committee is a self-selected group that manages the gender diversity & minority scholarships. Separate groups handle AngelFund and Code4LibJapan scholarships.

===Suggestions received===
* Send to a wider bunch of listservs, including for national orgs (ALA/SLA/MLA) & relevant sections? & student chapter

===Process===
# Put out a call
# Receive and coordinate applications
# Distribute applications to the committee
# Select awardees
# Inform selected candidates
# Notify unsuccessful candidates
# Announce to Code4Lib main listserv and post on code4lib.org (e.g. http://code4lib.org/node/274 )
# Hosts work with awardees on reimbursement, registration, etc.
# Follow up with awardees after the conference -- receive report, ask for suggestions, etc.

== Program Committtee==
The program committee is a self-selected group that manages talk proposals and other aspects of the program.

(Add more info for the program committee here!)

===Talk Acceptance Letter (samples)===

<pre>
Dear <<first name last name>>,

On behalf of the Code4Lib Program Planning Committee, I am pleased to
notify you that your proposal, <<proposal title>> has been accepted for
the Code4Lib <<year>> in <<location>>. Please reply to this message to
confirm your intention to present the approved session at the Conference.
If at any time in the future you need to bow out or have any program
changes, please notify us immediately. You will be sent a letter of
agreement soon.

The schedule for the conference is here:

http://code4lib.org/conference/2011/schedule

You will have 20 minutes for your talk, including questions and answers.
A quick transition between speakers will be necessary.

It is very important that you focus your presentation on the more unique
and technical aspects of your topic whenever possible. Although Code4Lib
attendees come from many different work environments, they attend Code4Lib
events for information technology education.

Experts like you are the heart of Code4Lib. We really appreciate your contribution
and look forward to working with you.

Sincerely,

</pre>

===Talk Rejection Letter (sample)===
<pre>
I'm sorry, but your prepared talk proposal for the 2010 Code4Lib Conference in Asheville, NC did not receive enough votes to make it into the program. But here are a couple things you should know:

- The field of presentations was very large (probably the largest we have had so far) and very strong, so you should not take it too hard.
- Please remember that there are many additional opportunities for participating, including lightning talks (open to anyone), breakout sessions (open to anyone to suggest and/or participate), and a special "Ask Anything" (or reply anything) open session. Also, the evening socializing opportunities are considered some of the most rewarding times of the event.

Again, my condolences on not having your talk proposal accepted, but I hope we still see you in Asheville, NC in February.
Roy
</pre>

== Sponsorship Committee ==
===Sample Sponsorship Request Letter===
As you know, Code4Lib is a group of library technologists, programmers, system administrators, web designers, and librarians. Started in 2003, the group continues to grow--with a journal, a mailing list, and an active IRC channel. Since 2005, Code4Lib has sponsored an annual conference, which has attracted programmers and librarians from around the world.

Topics at past conferences have included library information systems, new directions in library research, semantic web applications, and
information technology standards, among many others. More details about the conference, including schedules of previous conferences, can be found from
http://www.code4lib.org/conference/

Our <> conference will be held in <> from <>. Be a part of this library success story by underwriting the conference!

We have several sponsorship levels:

<>
I look forward to hearing from you, and can be reached at <>.

Best,

<>
http://code4lib.org/

== Money==
* [[Conference_Financial_History_At_A_Glance]]
* private conlist has budget info

== Shortly before the Conference ==

=== Keynotes ===
# Contact speakers in advance to ask if they need anything, arrange airport pickup, etc

=== Freenode IRC connection ===
Historically, conference attendees have had trouble maintaining persistent connections to the #code4lib IRC channel. We'd always assumed we were overwhelming the conference facility's Internet connection, but we were actually running into Freenode's IP-based connection limits. Freenode is supportive of the IRC-as-backchannel model, however, and they're happy to work with organizers to raise the connection limit.

Contact the conference facility in advance and see if you can find out what your ''public IP address range'' will be during the conference. (If it starts with 10.*, 192.168.*, or 172.16.*, ask again -- those are "private" IP ranges used for connection sharing.)

Once you have the IP address or range, send an email to [mailto:ilines@freenode.net ilines@freenode.net] containing a request to raise the connection limit. Include conference info, IP range(s), and the expected number of connections. For example:

To: ilines@freenode.net

Hello,

I'm helping plan the code4lib 2010 conference, taking place in Asheville, NC next week.
Since our backchannel runs through #code4lib on Freenode, we're trying to plan ahead
to avoid running up against the connection limit. Would it be possible to raise the cap
for us during the conference? Details follow.

Conference: code4lib 2010 < http://code4lib.org/conference/2010/ >
Dates: February 22-26, 2010
Attendees: 250
Location: Renaissance Asheville Hotel, Asheville, NC
IP Ranges: 12.21.216.106 and the entire 12.21.217.0/24 block

We encourage in-channel participation, so we expect a high percentage of attendees to
be connected at once. We'll also have two or three channel bots connected from the
conference for the lobby monitors.

Please let me know if you need any further information, and thanks very much for
your help!

Michael

I received an automated reply with a ticket number almost instantly, but didn't hear back after that. I sent a quick followup early on the morning of the 22nd, and received a response (from a human) letting me know that it had been taken care of. (Follow-up, one year later: Same experience. Immediate automated reply, but with a need to follow up with Freenode staff in the #freenode channel to get the ticket resolved.)

Additional support is available from the helpful volunteer Freenode staff in the #freenode channel.

== At the Conference ==

===Keynotes===
# Water at the podium
# Speaker gifts
# Dinner plans

=== Timers ===
* Sit in the front of the room
* Have several people
* You may want to use an extra machine
* Here's what some of the software looks like: http://www.flickr.com/photos/schwartzray/4393891356/ (ask Ed Corrado for details)
* Dan Chudnov says the best free timer app for OSX is http://www.apimac.com/timer/

=== Lightning Talks ===
* Everybody lines up ahead of time (image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/schwartzray/4393881044/ )

===PreConf===
# make sure projector avail for each session
# whiteboards or reasonable facsimile thereof
# everyone wants a power outlet

=== Conference ===
# power - everyone would like to plug in their laptop

=== Video ===
# live stream is awesome
# join.me ??

=== Ask Anything===
* Need mics for people to line up at (image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/schwartzray/4393838640/ )

===Book Raffle===
* (image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/schwartzray/4393619144/ with people for context: http://www.flickr.com/photos/schwartzray/4393623802/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/schwartzray/4384550127/ ), better if there's a table

=== Flipcharts ===
Flipcharts can be useful, but it's important to decide what to put on the wiki/website and what to put on a flipchart:
images: http://www.flickr.com/photos/schwartzray/4392998501/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/47860563@N05/4388430079/

=== Hospitality Suite ===
# having a few people with room keys, any of whom might need to be available to open up or close down the room at the beginning or end of the evening
# making sure the mess left for cleaning staff is an appropriate mess
# making sure the noise made near other hotel guests is an appropriate noise
# having someone act as a point person to gather a gratuity for the housekeeping staff maintaining the suite

== Suggested Timeline ==
* See [[C4L2010planning]] for an example
* Ideal to have program set before registration, including pre-conf
** also allows clarity for how many spots are avail for non-presenters

[[Category: Code4Lib2010]]
[[Category: Code4Lib2011]]

===Calls for Hosting===
* 2008:
* 2009:
* 2010:
* 2011: March 5, 2010
* 2012:
* 2013:

2012 talks proposals

2011-11-14T21:19:09Z

Elizabeth: /* So... you think you want to Host a Code4Lib National Conference, do you? */

Deadline for talk submission is ''Sunday, November 20''.

Prepared talks are 20 minutes (including setup and questions), and focus on one or more of the following areas:
* tools (some cool new software, software library or integration platform)
* specs (how to get the most out of some protocols, or proposals for new ones)
* challenges (one or more big problems we should collectively address)

The community will vote on proposals using the criteria of:
* usefulness
* newness
* geekiness
* diversity of topics

Please follow the formatting guidelines:

<pre>

== Talk Title: ==

* Speaker's name, affiliation, and email address
* Second speaker's name, affiliation, email address, if second speaker

Abstract of no more than 500 words.
</pre>

== VuFind 2.0: Why and How? ==

* Demian Katz, Villanova University, demian.katz@villanova.edu

A major new version of the VuFind discovery software is currently in development. While VuFind 1.x remains extremely popular, some of its components are beginning to show their age. VuFind 2.0 aims to retain all the strengths of the previous version of the software while making the architecture cleaner, more modern and more standards-based. This presentation will examine the motivation behind the update, preview some of the new features to look forward to, and discuss the challenges of creating a developer-friendly open source package in PHP.

== Open Source Software Registry ==

* [[User:DataGazetteer|Peter Murray]], LYRASIS, Peter.Murray@lyrasis.org

LYRASIS is creating and shepherding a [[Registry_E-R_Diagram|registry of library open source software]] as part of its [http://www.lyrasis.org/News/Press-Releases/2011/LYRASIS-Receives-Grant-to-Support-Open-Source.aspx grant from the Mellon Foundation to support the adoption of open source software by libraries].
The goal of the grant is to help libraries of all types determine if open source software is right for them, and what combination of software, hosting, training, and consulting works for their situation.
The registry is intended to become a community exchange point and stimulant for growth of the library open source ecosystem by connecting libraries with projects, service providers, and events.

The first half of this session will demonstrate the registry functions and describe how projects and providers can get involved.
The second half of the session will be a brainstorming suggestion of how to expand the functionality and usefulness of the registry.

== Property Graphs And TinkerPop Applications in Digital Libraries ==

* Brian Tingle, California Digital Library, brian.tingle.cdlib.org@gmail.com

[http://www.tinkerpop.com/ TinkerPop] is an open source software development group focusing on technologies in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graph_database graph database] space.
This talk will provide a general introduction to the TinkerPop Graph Stack and the [https://github.com/tinkerpop/gremlin/wiki/Defining-a-Property-Graph property graph model] is uses. The introduction will include code examples and explanations of the property graph models used by the [http://socialarchive.iath.virginia.edu/ Social Networks in Archival Context] project and show how the historical social graph is exposed as a JSON/REST API implemented by a TinkerPop [https://github.com/tinkerpop/rexster rexster] [https://github.com/tinkerpop/rexster-kibbles Kibble] that contains the application's graph theory logic. Other graph database applications possible with TinkerPop such as RDF support, and citation analysis will also be discussed.

== Security in Mind ==

* Erin Germ, United States Naval Academy, Nimitz Library, germ@usna.edu

I would like to talk about security of library software.

Over the Summer, I discovered a critical vulnerability in a vendor’s software that (verified) allowed me to assume any user’s identity for that site, (verified) switch to any user, and to (unverified, meaning I didn’t not perform this as I didn’t want to “hack” another library’s site) assume the role of any user for any other library who used this particular vendor's software.

Within a 3 hour period, I discovered a 2 vulnerabilities: 1) minor one allowing me to access any backups from any library site, and 2) a critical vulnerability. From start to finish, the examination, discovery in the vulnerability, and execution of a working exploit was done in less than 2 hours. The vulnerability was a result of poor cookie implementation. The exploit itself revolved around modifying the cookie, and then altering the browser’s permissions by assuming the role of another user.

I do not intend on stating which vendor it was, but I will show how I was able to perform this. If needed, I can do further research and “investigation” into other vendor's software to see what I can “find”.

''If selected, I will contact the vendor to inform them that I will present about this at C4L2012. I do not intend on releasing the name of the vendor.''

== Search Engines and Libraries ==

* Greg Lindahl, blekko CTO, greg@blekko.com

[https://blekko.com blekko] is a new web-scale search engine which enables end-users to create vertical search engines, through a feature called [http://help.blekko.com/index.php/category/slashtags/ slashtags]. Slashtags can contain as few as 1 or as many as tens of thousands of websites relevant to a narrow or broad topic. We have an extensive set of slashtags curated by a combination of volunteers and an in-house librarian team, or end-users can create and share their own. This talk will cover examples of slashtag creation relevant to libraries, and show how to embed this search into a library website, either using javascript or via our API.

''We have exhibited at a couple of library conferences, and have received a lot of interest. blekko is a free service.''

== Beyond code. Versioning data with Git and Mercurial. ==

* Stephanie Collett, California Digital Library, stephanie.collett@ucop.edu
* Martin Haye, California Digital Library, martin.haye@ucop.edu

Within a relatively short time since their introduction, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributed_Version_Control_System distributed version control systems] (DVCS) like [http://git-scm.com/ Git] and [http://mercurial.selenic.com/ Mercurial] have enjoyed widespread adoption for versioning code. It didn’t take long for the library development community to start discussing the potential for using DVCS within our applications and repositories to version data. After all, many of the features that have made some of these systems popular in the open source community to version code (e.g. lightweight, file-based, compressed, reliable) also make them compelling options for versioning data. And why write an entire versioning system from scratch if a DVCS solution can be a drop-in solution? At the [http://www.cdlib.org/ California Digital Library] (CDL) we’ve started using Git and Mercurial in some of our applications to version data. This has proven effective in some situations and unworkable in others. This presentation will be a practical case study of CDL’s experiences with using DVCS to version data. We will explain how we’re incorporating Git and Mercurial in our applications, describe our successes and failures and consider the issues involved in repurposing these systems for data versioning.

==Design for Developers==

*Lisa Kurt, University of Nevada, Reno, lkurt@unr.edu

Users expect good design. This talk will delve into what makes really great design, what to look for, and how to do it. Learn the principles of great design to take your applications, user interfaces, and projects to a higher level. With years of experience in graphic design and illustration, Lisa will discuss design principles, trends, process, tools, and development. Design examples will be from her own projects as well as a variety from industry. You’ll walk away with design knowledge that you can apply immediately to a variety of applications and a number of top notch go-to resources to get you up and running.

==Building research applications with Mendeley==

William Gunn, Mendeley william.gunn@mendeley.com (@mrgunn)

This is partly a tool talk and partly a big idea one.

Mendeley has built the world's largest open database of research and we've now begun to collect some interesting social metadata around the document metadata. I would like to share with the Code4Lib attendees information about using this resource to do things within your application that have previously been impossible for the library community, or in some cases impossible without expensive database subscriptions. One thing that's now possible is to augment catalog search by surfacing information about content usage, allowing people to not only find things matching a query, but popular things or things read by their colleagues. In addition to augmenting search, you can also use this information to augment discovery. Imagine an online exhibit of artifacts from a newly discovered dig not just linking to papers which discuss the artifact, but linking to really good interesting papers about the place and the people who made the artifacts. So the big idea is, "How will looking at the literature from a broader perspective than simple citation analysis change how research is done and communicated? How can we build tools that make this process easier and faster?" I can show some examples of applications that have been built using the Mendeley and PLoS APIs to begin to address this question, and I can also present results from Mendeley's developer challenge which shows what kinds of applications researchers are looking for, what kind of applications peope are building, and illustrates some interesting places where the two don't overlap.

==Your UI can make or break the application (to the user, anyway)==

* Robin Schaaf, University of Notre Dame, schaaf.4@nd.edu

UI development is hard and too often ends up as an after-thought to computer programmers - if you were a CS major in college I'll bet you didn't have many, if any, design courses. I'll talk about how to involve the users upfront with design and some common pitfalls of this approach. I'll also make a case for why you should do the screen design before a single line of code is written. And I'll throw in some ideas for increasing usability and attractiveness of your web applications. I'd like to make a case study of the UI development of our open source ERMS.

==Why Nobody Knows How Big The Library Really Is - Perspective of a Library Outside Turned Insider==

* Patrick Berry, California State University, Chico, pberry@csuchico.edu

In this talk I would like to bring the perspective of an "outsider" (although an avowed IT insider) to let you know that people don't understand the full scope of the library. As we "rethink education", it is incumbent upon us to help educate our institutions as to the scope of the library. I will present some of the tactics I'm employing to help people outside, and in some cases inside, the library to understand our size and the value we bring to the institution.

==Building a URL Management Module using the Concrete5 Package Architecture==

* David Uspal, Villanova University, david.uspal@villanova.edu

Keeping track of URLs utilized across a large website such as a university library, and keeping that content up to date for subject and course guides, can be a pain, and as an open source shop, we’d like to have open source solution for this issue. For this talk, I intend to detail our solution to this issue by walking step-by-step through the building process for our URL Management module -- including why a new solution was necessary; a quick rundown of our CMS ([http://www.concrete5.org Concrete5], a CMS that isn’t Drupal); utilizing the Concrete5 APIs to isolate our solution from core code (to avoid complications caused by core updates); how our solution was integrated into the CMS architecture for easy installation; and our future plans on the project.

==Building an NCIP connector to OpenSRF to facilitate resource sharing==

* Jon Scott, Lyrasis, jon_scott@wsu.edu and Kyle Banerjee, Orbis Cascade Alliance, banerjek@uoregon.edu

How do you reverse engineer any protocol to provide a new service? Humans (and worse yet, committees) often design verbose protocols built around use cases that don't line up current reality. To compound difficulties, the contents of protocol containers are not sufficiently defined/predictable and the only assistance available is sketchy documentation and kind individuals on the internet willing to share what they learned via trial by fire.

NCIP (Niso Circulation Interchange Protocol) is an open standard that defines a set of messages to support exchange of circulation data between disparate circulation, interlibrary loan, and related applications -- widespread adoption of NCIP would eliminate huge amounts of duplicate processing in separate systems.

This presentation discusses how we learned enough about NCIP and OpenSRF from scratch to build an NCIP responder for Evergreen to facilitate resource sharing in a large consortium that relies on over 20 different ILSes.

==Practical Agile: What's Working for Stanford, Blacklight, and Hydra==

* Naomi Dushay, Stanford University Libraries, ndushay@stanford.edu

Agile development techniques can be difficult to adopt in the context of library software development. Maybe your shop has only one or two developers, or you always have too many simultaneous projects. Maybe your new projects can’t be started until 27 librarians reach consensus on the specifications.

This talk will present successful Agile- and Silicon-Valley-inspired practices we’ve adopted at Stanford and/or in the Blacklight and Hydra projects. We’ve targeted developer happiness as well as improved productivity with our recent changes. User stories, dead week, sight lines … it’ll be a grab bag of goodies to bring back to your institution, including some ideas on how to adopt these practices without overt management buy in.

==Quick and <strike>Dirty</strike> Clean Usability: Rapid Prototyping with Bootstrap==

* Shaun Ellis, Princeton University Libraries, shaune@princeton.edu

''"The code itself is unimportant; a project is only as useful as people actually find it." - Linus Torvalds'' [http://bit.ly/p4uuyy]

Usability has been a buzzword for some time now, but what is the process for making the the transition toward a better user experience, and hence, better designed library sites? I will discuss the one facet of the process my team is using to redesign the Finding Aids site for Princeton University Libraries (still in development). The approach involves the use of rapid prototyping, with Bootstrap [http://twitter.github.com/bootstrap/], to make sure we are on track with what users and stakeholders expect up front, and throughout the development process.

Because Bootstrap allows for early and iterative user feedback, it is more effective than the historic Photoshop mockups/wireframe technique. The Photoshop approach allows stakeholders to test the look, but not the feel -- and often leaves developers scratching their heads. Being a CSS/HTML/Javascript grid-based framework, Bootstrap makes it easy for anyone with a bit of HTML/CSS chops to quickly build slick, interactive prototypes right in the browser -- tangible solutions which can be shared, evaluated, revised, and followed by all stakeholders (see Minimum Viable Products [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_viable_product]). Efficiency is multiplied because the customized prototypes can flow directly into production use, as is the goal with iterative development approaches, such as the Agile methodology.

While Bootstrap is not the only framework that offers grid-based layout, development is expedited and usability is enhanced by Bootstraps use of of "prefabbed" conventional UI patterns, clean typography, and lean Javascript for interactivity. Furthermore, out-of-the box Bootstrap comes in a fairly neutral palette, so focus remains on usability, and does not devolve into premature discussions of color or branding choices. Finally, using Less can be a powerful tool in conjunction with Bootstrap, but is not necessary. I will discuss the pros and cons, and offer examples for how to getting up and running with or without Less.

==Search Engine Relevancy Tuning - A Static Rank Framework for Solr/Lucene==

* Mike Schultz, Amazon.com (formerly Summon Search Architect) mike.schultz@gmail.com

Solr/Lucene provides a lot of flexibility for adjusting relevancy scoring and improving search results. Roughly speaking there are two areas of concern: Firstly, a 'dynamic rank' calculation that is a function of the user query and document text fields. And secondly, a 'static rank' which is independent of the query and generally is a function of non-text document metadata. In this talk I will outline an easily understood, hand-tunable static rank system with a minimal number of parameters.

The obvious major feature of a search engine is to return results relevant to a user query. Perhaps less obvious is the huge role query independent document features play in achieving that. Google's PageRank is an example of a static ranking of web pages based on links and other secret sauce. In the Summon service, our 800 million documents have features like publication date, document type, citation count and Boolean features like the-article-is-peer-reviewed. These fields aren't textual and remain 'static' from query to query, but need to influence a document's relevancy score. In our search results, with all query related features being equal, we'd rather have more recent documents above older ones, Journals above Newspapers, and articles that are peer reviewed above those that are not. The static rank system I will describe achieves this and has the following features:

* Query-time only calculation - nothing is baked into the index - with parameters adjustable at query time.
* The system is based on a signal metaphor where components are 'wired' together. System components allow multiplexing, amplifying, summing, tunable band-pass filtering, string-to-value-mapping all with a bare minimum of parameters.
* An intuitive approach for mixing dynamic and static rank that is more effective than simple adding or multiplying.
* A way of equating disparate static metadata types that leads to understandable results ordering.

==Submitting Digitized Book-like things to the Internet Archive==

* Joel Richard, Smithsonian Institution Libraries, richardjm@si.edu

The Smithsonian Libraries has submitted thousands of out-of-copyright items to the Internet Archive over the years. Specifically in relation to the Biodiversity Heritage Library, we have developed an in-house boutique scanning and upload process that became a learning experience in automated uploading to the Archive. As part of the software development, we created a whitepaper that details the combined learning experiences of the Smithsonian Libraries and the Missouri Botanical Garden. We will discuss some of the the contents of this whitepaper in the context of our scanning process and the manner in which we upload items to the Archive.

Our talk will include a discussion of the types of files and their formats used by the Archive, processes that the Archive performs on uploaded items, ways of interacting and affecting those processes, potential pitfalls and solutions that you may encounter when uploading, and tools that the Archive provides to help monitor and manage your uploaded documents.

Finally, we'll wrap up with a brief summary of how to use things that are on the Internet Archive in your own websites.

== So... you think you want to Host a Code4Lib National Conference, do you? ==

* Elizabeth Duell, Orbis Cascade Alliance, eduell@uoregon.edu

Are you interested in hosting your own Code4Lib Conference? Do you know what it would take? What does BEO stands for? What does F&B Minimum mean? Who would you talk to for support/mentoring? There are so many things to think about: internet support, venue size, rooming blocks, contracts, dietary restrictions and coffee (can't forget the coffee!) just to name a few. Putting together a conference of any size can look daunting, so let's take the scary out of it and replace it with a can do attitude!

Be a step ahead of the game by learning from the people behind the curtain. Ask questions and be given templates/ cheat sheets!

[[Category: Code4Lib2012]]

2012 talks proposals

2011-11-14T20:48:07Z

Elizabeth: