PLL - SIS
Technology Committee
Annual Report 1999-2000
The Technology Committee got off to a great start with several AALL members
volunteering to join the committee. Unfortunately their talents and energies
were not utilized to any great extent. Some ideas will be presented at the end
of this report and maybe a method can be found to implement these in the coming
year.
Thanks to the efforts of Roger Skalbeck and Terry Psarras, the PLL web page, http://www.aallnet.org/sis/pllsis/
got updated, as well as a more contemporary look. A search engine was
added so that members and others can search the site for information. Minutes
from previous annual meetings, selected articles appearing from PLL
Perspectives, and the PLL Strategic Plan 1996-2000 were organized for
easier access. Some email discussion among PLL board members and among the
Technology Committee generated some very good ideas that I think can be
implemented next year.
Update the information of the Technology Committee�s responsibilities at http://www.aallnet.org/sis/pllsis/commgrp/techcomm.html
This will always change as other goals are identified.
Create a set of links to chapter newsletters that can be accessed on the
web. Both MALL and LLSDC newsletter committees have expressed positive support
for this idea.
The web site has become complicated enough so that an index and/or sitemap
is needed. Other items to consider putting on the website are the Procedures
Manual and the new Strategic Plan once it is created.
It may be a good idea to have the webmaster act as a gatekeeper, i.e., have
other individuals handle the editing of a set of pages or information. The
webmaster would have to mount it on the website and maintain the website�s
consistency.
The Technology Committee continues to need both a webmaster and a chair,
the former to handle the technical details, the latter to coordinate content
and act as a sounding board as to what can be accomplished.
The chair has to be responsible for nagging other committee chairs to send
a "committee briefing" which would update what is happening in PLL.
The "PLL Perspectives" does not come out often enough for members to
appreciate all that is going on behind the scenes ( I admit I didn�t do
enough in this dept.)
Finally do we need a sustained discussion about placing the complete issue
of each "PLL Perspectives" newsletter on the website. Will this be a
financial savings? Does PLL want the newsletter in pdf format or html? What
should it look like and how should it be accessed?
Please note these are my own observations which are based on messages
received over the past several months. People may recognize some of the agenda
as their own and more than one person has come up with similar ideas. The PLL
website has gone through several constructive changes and the committee just has
to make sure it keeps getting better. This will be relatively easy because Terry
Psarras has volunteered another year to act as webmaster.
Respectfully submitted
Janice Leichter, co-chair
PLL Technology Committee
12 May 2000
19 May 2000: Addenda to Report after submission to the Technology Committee
Janice, my thoughts.
1. I would like to continue taking care of the site. It has been an
interesting experience, and I would like to be responsible for another year.
2. Procedures Manual, New strategic plan, links to other chapter newsletters,
all would be easy enough to implement, we just need to be given the go-ahead.
3. Ditto on the Index/sitemap.
4. Martha Brown has had some preliminary discussions with me about placing
the entire PLL Perspectives on the site. I seem to recall that she get's it from
West in PDF format, so she could easily email it on, and then it could be posted
as is.
5. The site (other than redesigning the look) has not been that much work. As
a result, when people ask for changes, the turnaround is usually quite fast, and
centralized control over the final process works well. People already make
changes to the documents they are responsible, and then ask me to change the
actual web pages and upload the latest version. I think the current method works
pretty well, and since the webmaster would have to go in and actually confirm
conformity to style/look, having others do their own web pages would not be the
best solution.
I hope these remarks are useful. Please let me know if you have any
questions. See you in Philly.
thanks
Terry Psarras