Buy, Hack, or Build:
Optimizing your Systems for Your Users and Your Sanity

Tuesday, 15 November 2005, 9:45am-4pm (registration/breakfast 8:30-9:45am)
E15-070 (Bartos Theater) MIT, Cambridge, MA

Campus Map / Public Transit / Driving Directions + Parking

Detailed Program Schedule

NEASIST Events blog

In a world where a limited number of "out of the box" information systems are used to meet millions of unique information scenarios, some people have learned how to customize their systems to meet their individual needs. OPACs, search engines, and many other information systems have been altered to behave and function in ways specific to supporting the needs of individuals and institutions.

The New England chapter of the American Society for Information Science and Technology is pleased to bring three creative problem solvers to Cambridge in November to show you how existing systems can work better – legally, efficiently, and brilliantly.

Web 2.0 for the Rest of Us

Joshua Porter is Director of Web Development at User Interface Engineering (UIE), a usability and online behavior research firm based in Middleton, Massachusetts. Josh is a researcher on topics such as on-site search systems and cross-browser compatibility issues and a contributor to the Brain Sparks and Bokardo blogs dedicated to interface design.

UIE on Web 2.0: “Web 2.0 isn't a 'thing', but a collection of approaches, which are all converging on the development world at a rapid pace. These approaches, including APIs, RSS, Folksonomies, and Social Networking, suddenly give application developers a new way to approach hard problems with surprisingly effective results.”

Josh will outline the fundamentals of what a shift to Web 2.0 would mean to us as searchers, users, content providers and designers, wow us with demos and help prepare us for this brave new web world.

The ‘Future’ of Findability is Now

Pete Bell is co-founder of Endeca Solutions, a Cambridge-based Information Access software company. Endeca pioneered the combination of Search and Guided Navigation, a form of faceted navigation, which is now the most effective way to search and browse for enterprise content. This new way to find information takes search results and wraps them in the context of all the browse paths that can help people refine and explore further. For a brief animated demo of Guided Navigation in action, please visit http://endeca.com/demos/ (flash demo, requires registration). Pete will give us an overview of how Endeca’s “out of the box” solutions, like its guided navigation with “meta-relational indexing,” are helping to revolutionize OPACs and the user experience. Pete’s presentation will include a discussion of basic retrieval architecture, information retrieval challenges, and the power of hierarchical facets.

Pete will guide us through an exploration of Endeca’s cutting edge implementations in libraries and information service organizations to demonstrate what is currently possible and available to forward looking information organizations.

Pete Bell has spoken at the annual Search Engine Meetings, at Simmons Graduate School of Library and Information Science, and many knowledge management conferences. He graduated from Princeton University, and before Endeca, worked as a journalist and editor in NYC.

OPAC Hacks

Casey Bisson is an E-Learning Application Developer at the Lamson Library of Plymouth State University where he uses more than a few hacks to seamlessly integrate the library catalog (Innovative Interfaces) with the campus portal (SunGard/SCT's Luminis) and the course content system (WebCT). The result -- and driving goal -- is a comprehensive online presence that puts the library where the patrons are.

Casey will trace the process of the library system transformation, from its genesis as a nagging desire for something better, through the learning, planning and cooperative processes, to the launch and ongoing development currently underway. Casey will also discuss ways to make use of OPAC data outside the catalog. Casey is author of the MaisonBisson blog which explores technology and other topics.

Panel Discussion

Regularly the juiciest part of NEASIST events, the panel discussion with all three presenters is rarely just a question and answer session and usually becomes a lively conversation among all attendees – synthesizing the day, highlighting specific “take-aways” for people, and generating lots of new and exciting ideas.

Joshua Porter
Director of Web Development, User Interface Engineering (Middleton, MA)
Contributor: Brainsparks, Bokardo

Pete Bell
Co-Founder, Endeca Solutions (Cambridge, MA)

Casey Bisson
E-Learning Application Developer, Lamson Library at Plymouth State University (Plymouth, NH)

Registration:

Pay/register via US Mail (credit card or check)

or

Pay/register online via PayPal:

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Details:

• Registrations must be received by November 8, 2005.
• Registration fee includes lunch and refreshments.
• Registrations will be processed on a first come, first served basis. Online registration is encouraged.

Questions about registration? Email: Caryn Anderson, caryn.anderson@simmons.edu

Questions about the program? Email: Beatrice Pulliam, bpulliam@providence.edu

 

NEASIST Upcoming Events

cquirion@mit.edu
27 September 2005