Content Management Systems for Dummies (or busy smarties looking for fast, simple solutions)
PODCASTS FROM THIS MARCH 9, 2011 EVENT NOW AVAILABLE:
- Theresa Maturevich (Head of Reference, Bedford Free Public Library) speaks about WordPress
- Michael Witwicki (Principal, Booyant) speaks about ExpressionEngine
- Steve Sanzo (Director of Marketing and Business Development, Isovera) speaks about Drupal
- Anna Burke (Manager of Community & Training, Springshare) and Talia Resendes (Community Specialist & Trainer, Springshare) speak about LibGuides
Wednesday, March 9th, 2011 (register by March 4th!)
8:30am – 12:00 speaker talks and panel discussion
12:00 – 4:00pm optional lunch and workshop (space limited)
Simmons College, 300 The Fenway, Boston, MA
Morning session: Room M501/502 (building #4 on map)
Afternoon workshop: GSLIS Lab, Room P-213 (building #5 on map)
Co-Sponsored by the Simmons Student Chapter of ASIS&T
As librarians and information professionals, we often find ourselves responsible for creating or organizing online content, but without the tools, budget or technical skills to make it an efficient or sustainable process.
Setting up a new web site. Organizing e-content. Training non-techie staff to edit HTML. Enforcing style guidelines. Maintaining some semblance of control over our web sites.
Having a content management system (CMS) would make our lives easier, but we’re so busy we don’t have time to do the research, nor the money to hire a developer to set one up. What’s a busy librarian/information professional to do? This program will introduce you to a handful of CMS systems (some free!) that can be used for simple or complex projects, depending on your needs.
In the morning, there will be expert speakers and a panel discussion comparing and contrasting different CMSs (WordPress, Expression Engine, Drupal, and Springshare’s LibGuides/CampusGuides), with presentations of actual projects to give you a sense of what CMSs can do.
In the afternoon, NEASIST will offer an optional hands-on workshop for attendees who wish to get their feet wet using WordPress.
A continental breakfast is included for everyone and a tote lunch will be provided to those staying for the afternoon workshop.
Schedule:
| 8:30 - 9:00 | Registration & continental breakfast |
| 9:00-9:15 | Welcome & introduction |
| 9:15 – 9:45 | Theresa Maturevich -Head of Reference, Bedford Free Public Library.Maturevich Presentation Slides: WordPress as a Content Management SystemTheresa will speak about how WordPress works and will highlight the benefits of using it as a content management system. |
| 9:45 – 10:15 | Michael Witwicki- Principal, BooyantFlexible Web Publishing with ExpressionEngine: A high level discussion about the features and functionality which make ExpressionEngine the most flexible content management system on the market today. |
| 10:15 – 10:45 | Steve Sanzo- Director of Marketing and Business Development, IsoveraThe Drupal Decision So you have made the leap to embrace an open source content management system for your website project. In most cases, WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal are the top three names tossed out as viable options. This presentation will discuss what makes Drupal a truly robust and flexible solution and how it compares to WordPress and Joomla. We will also take a look at what organizations are using Drupal and key decisions that need to be made before you get started.Sanzo Presentation Slides: The Drupal Decision (PDF)Scot will unfortunately not be able to speak at the session.Scot Colford - Web Services Manager, Boston Public Library Scot will discuss using an open source CMS as Middleware. As information professionals, we love our data. We love to drink it in, show it off, and hold on to it lest we need it later. Content management systems provide the perfect platform for ingesting, manipulating, and presenting all manner of data, from user suggestions to digital objects. |
| 10:45 – 11:00 | Break |
| 11:00 – 11:30 | Anna Burke - Manager of Community & Training, Springshare (LibGuides) Talia Resendes- Community Specialist & Trainer, Springshare (LibGuides)Burke/Resendes Presentation Slides: LibGuides/CampusGuides as WCMS (PDF)Anna and Talia will show how you can use the LibGuides/CampusGuides platform as a CMS designed for the needs of libraries. The session will cover the customization features within these platforms as well as the built-in reusability functions that are CMS-like. Create templates and A-Z Lists that can be reused throughout your system without needing to know PHP or JavaScript. Syndicate your content, run and export usage statistics and export your data for use in other sites – all without having to maintain any hardware. The session will showcase other libraries that are using LibGuides/CampusGuides as a Web-Content Management System as well. |
| 11:30 – 12:00 | Panel discussion & audience questions |
| 12:00 – 1:00 | Tote lunch provided for afternoon WordPress workshop attendees |
| 1:00 – 4:00 | Optional workshop:Getting Started with WordPress /Theresa Maturevich Maturevich Workshop Presentation Slides: Building a Web Site with WordPress |
Morning session (includes continental breakfast)
ASIST members / SLA members / Students / Retirees: $25
General public: $35
Simmons GSLIS students: free
Afternoon WordPress workshop (includes tote lunch)
ASIST members / SLA members / Students / Retirees: $35
General public: $45
Note: there are a limited number of free spots for Simmons GSLIS students.
$5 discount if you promote us on the web!
All you have to do is mention this event on your blog, website, or one of your social networks - use this discount code (case-sensitive): Promote-event. If you tweet, please use the #hashtag: #neasist11 for this event.
Speaker Bios
Anna Burke completed her MLIS from Simmons College in 2003 and has been rockin' in the library world since. She started her library career at Babson College, working with reserves, student management, a little reference, and a lot of web site fun over 8 1/2 years. It was there she completed a massive web site redesign, moving a 600+ page website into LibGuides. She's currently the Manager of Community & Training at Springshare, the folks who created LibGuides. There she gets to work with all of Springshare's customers, creating guides and training programs to meet their needs, getting excited about all of the awesome ways people use their products, and generally having amazing experiences with both customers & coworkers. In addition to her Springshare fun, she also volunteers with the Special Libraries Association and is currently immediate past chair of the Academic Division as well as a past president of the Boston Chapter.
Scot will unfortunately not be able to speak at the session.
Scot Colford, as web services manager, has overseen all patron-facing web technologies for the Boston Public Library since 2008. Before that, he served as applications manager for the BPL, chaperoning a naughty integrated library system and manhandling cantankerous data. Scot has written articles on free and open source software for the ASIS&T Bulletin and the anthology More Technology for the Rest of Us. Occasionally, Scot blogs at http://libniblets.justgiblets.com and has taught the class "Technology for Information Professionals" for the Simmons College GSLIS program. In his spare time, he serves as technology coordinator for the Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film and sings karaoke.
Theresa Maturevich is a Simmons GSLIS alum and currently serving as the Head of Reference at the Bedford Free Public Library in Bedford, MA. She has spoken at state and regional library conferences on emerging technologies and content management systems. Her WordPress website for the Beverly Public Library (MA) was awarded a Massachusetts Library Association's Public Relations Award in 2009.
Talia Resendes, a die-hard Patriots fan, completed her MLIS from the University of Rhode Island in 2006. She has recently completed a thesis on Second Life towards an MS in Information Systems/Operations Management from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. From 2004-2010, Talia worked for the Johnson & Wales University Library and was adjunct faculty member within the School of Technology. Talia has recently made a career-change and now works for Springshare, Inc. as a Community Specialist & Trainer. Talia is always excited by finding new ways to utilize web technologies for the advancement of library services in support of higher learning. In addition to being administrator for several library services, she also oversaw all implementation of virtual reference services at JWU. Lastly, she is the 2010-2011 co-chair of ITIG, the ACRL-NEC special interest group dedicated to researching and discussing the latest technologies.
Steve Sanzo currently serves as Director of Marketing and Business Development for Isovera. In this role he directs all marketing, communications, and business development functions for the company. Mr. Sanzo has an extensive background in marketing for non-profits and libraries. Previously, he served as Sr. Products and Services Consultant for LYRASIS--the nation’s largest regional library network--and Manager of Communications and Development for Communities United. He has led numerous speaking engagements and workshops on the importance of marketing and customer service for non-profits and libraries. Stephen was also the founder of an architecture magazine, Visual Architecture, and the author of a children’s picture book, Cranky Pants. He holds a B.A. in Communications from the University of Massachusetts/Amherst and is a member of the MBA program at Babson College.
Michael Witwicki: With a background primarily in content management development, Michael Witwicki co-founded Booyant with Johannes Booy in 2007. Although his heart is firmly planted in open-source technologies (such as Linux, Apache, MySQL & PHP) he has significant .NET/SQL experience as well. Michael’s greatest strength however, may lie in his ability to combine technologies to create delightful user experiences with AJAX. Over the past two years Michael has become increasingly active in the ExpressionEngine community, having developed popular Addons such as NavEE and LikEE.