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TechAtlas Feedback
2:40 PM EST 2/21/05
WebJunction would like feedback to better inform how we can make TechAtlas more effective for libraries as an Advocacy and Technology Budgeting and Planning tool. If you recently participated in a Focus Group and have additional thoughts you'd like to voice please post your comments here. If you didn't participate in a focus group, but would like to add your ideas, feel free to do so!
Message was edited by: laurastaley
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Thank you to all Focus Group Participants!
6:48 PM EST 2/23/05
as a reply to Laura Staley.
Again, I just want to thank all of you that have joined us and are planning to join us for our TechAtlas Focus Groups. We have completed 2 and have 3 more to go. We have collected some great feedback and look forward to more.
Thanks again-
Anna
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Places to provide more TechAtlas Feedback
7:43 PM EST 2/23/05
as a reply to Laura Staley.
1. Respond to this post.
2. TechAtlas User Testing: Please let me know if you are interested in taking part in NPowers User Testing of the new Library customizations of TechAtlas. It is scheduled to go from March 21 to April 15. If you are interested, please send me an email and Ill keep you posted.
3. TechAtlas User Group: I will be hosting a TechAtlas User group meeting at ALA in Chicago in June. It will be in the OCLC Blue suite from 8-10:00 a.m. on Monday, June 27 at ALA in Chicago. Please mark your calendars and come join me for some breakfast and share your experiences with TechAtlas.
4. Professional Development Focus Groups my colleague, Susan Golden, is looking for Librarians who have either:
Taken online graduate level LIS courses OR
Taken online Continuing Education courses - either graduate level or through state library or other venues - OR
Taken AA courses online at through a community college - or
Ever considered any of the above
Please email myself or Susan (goldens@oclc.org) if you are willing to participate and/or share your thoughts.
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Resources Discussed in the Focus Groups
7:46 PM EST 2/23/05
as a reply to Laura Staley.
I will add to these as more Focus Groups are held: 1. Florida State Return on Investment (ROI) Study: http://www.webjunction.org/do/DisplayContent?id=8495 2. More Information on Deep Freeze: <ul><li>Article on protecting and restoring software (including link to Deep Freeze and other like software): http://www.webjunction.org/do/DisplayContent?id=978</li> <li>Link to Deep Freeze info directly: http://www.faronics.com/</li></ul> Message was edited by: annanoel
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Basic Technology Assessment Feedack
3:07 PM EDT 6/16/05
as a reply to Laura Staley.
Hello!
If you haven't heard, we are seeking input on our Basic Technology Assessment in TechAtlas, and would love for you to provide your feedback here. Please see:
http://webjunction.org/forums/ann.jspa?annID=11
for details.
Thanks and we look forward to your input.
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Re: Basic Technology Assessment Feedack
11:45 AM EDT 6/20/05
as a reply to Anna Leavitt.
This is lookin' great! A couple of thoughts (mostly nits) about the basic assessment:
For question #7, would the question also apply to application differences between staff and patrons? You might say "For example, do library staff and patrons use..."
Can question #10 be multi-select? For our wireless focus we're running into some libraries that have more than one connection.
12: at first I thought "network notebook" referred to a notebook PC. Maybe use "log" or something.
13: are you asking specifically about external web sites? that might be worth clarifying.
22: I thought ILS was a superset of "online catalog" (but I could be wrong)
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Re: Basic Technology Assessment Feedack
12:59 PM EDT 6/20/05
as a reply to Anna Leavitt.
This is a very well organized survey. I like that it is segmented into clear categories with 3 questions in each section -- the headings give context to the questions and make it easy to follow. The explanation at the beginning is clear as to why I would want to fill out the survery, but is it possible to use a larger font? The type is so small that I can imagine people skipping right past it. I agree with Joe on ?#7 about differentiating between staff and public access computer systems. I would apply this differentiation to ?#4 as well about the adequacy of performance. I think the two systems serve such different purposes that they should be considered somewhat separately. I agree with Joe on ?#10. I was also confused about what is meant by "network notebook" in ?#12. Is this a specific software program or just any method of recording the information, even writing in a hard copy log? Overall, it's a good survey. Keep up the good work. 
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Re: TechAtlas Feedback
12:39 PM EDT 6/23/05
as a reply to Laura Staley.
Thanks for the great feedback so far - all of these comments are very helpful. Please keep 'em coming! We want to make these assessments as useful as we can for members of the WebJunction community.
Jeff Hall
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Re: TechAtlas Feedback
7:47 PM EDT 6/23/05
as a reply to Jeff Hall.
I am very impressed by how clear, concise, and well organized it is! I think you did an remarkable job of keeping the questions focused on just what would be appropriate for this initial level of assessment.
I noticed that in the instructions it says that you can skip any questions that are not relevant. If you answer a question and then decide that you don't want to answer it I did not see any way to "erase" the response. You can change the response--but you can't go back to no response for a question you've already answered. (This may not be something real users would ever want to do--so please feel free to ignore!) Probably more important is that you have made it so easy to change responses if you don't like what you put or made a mistake.
Other things that came to mind as I went through the assessment I realize on reflection would not be appropriate at this basic level. (I'm thinking of things like: Do you offer digital reference services by email or chat? or Do you provide your users with remote access to databases and digital content?)
Great work!!
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Re: TechAtlas Feedback
3:50 PM EDT 6/27/05
as a reply to Steve DelVecchio.
Just a note to announce that we've "gone live" today with a beta version of the new "Public Access Computing" assessment. This is the first in a series of detailed topic-specific assessments being developed by WebJunction as logical "next steps" after the Basic Technology Assessment.
Any and all feedback is very welcome!
Jeff Hall
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Re: TechAtlas Feedback
2:01 PM EDT 7/6/05
as a reply to Jeff Hall.
Hello,
I went through the various TechAtlas surveys. I think this is a great set of questions to ask regarding technology planning. Anna asked for specific feedback on the Basic Technology Assessment. I do think those 11 areas cover basic technology. The only other item you might consider addressing is patron privacy. For example, how often do libraries delete patron records? Do they have programs such as Fortres or other ways of securing public computers? Privacy is an area that we address in the CO Technology Standards for Libraries. We recommend that libraries delete patron records every three years and have policies on privacy and security.
The questions don't have lots of acronyms or technical jargon that would make them difficult to answer. I think you are targeting the appropriate level for your audience. I think it would be helpful to have a notes box for the section since most of the questions are multiple choice. The one question you might need some explanation on is VOIP. I think this one is still new enough to libraries that you might need to state that it's running your phone service over the internet connection.
Overall, it looks good to me.
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Re: Basic Technology Assessment Feedack
2:04 PM EDT 7/6/05
as a reply to Betha Gutsche.
Oops, I posted my response to another thread. Here is my feddback regarding the Basic Tech Assessment Inventory:
Hello,
I went through the various TechAtlas surveys. I think this is a great set of questions to ask regarding technology planning. Anna asked for specific feedback on the Basic Technology Assessment. I do think those 11 areas cover basic technology. The only other item you might consider addressing is patron privacy. For example, how often do libraries delete patron records? Do they have programs such as Fortres or other ways of securing public computers? Privacy is an area that we address in the CO Technology Standards for Libraries. We recommend that libraries delete patron records every three years and have policies on privacy and security.
The questions don't have lots of acronyms or technical jargon that would make them difficult to answer. I think you are targeting the appropriate level for your audience. I think it would be helpful to have a notes box for the section since most of the questions are multiple choice. The one question you might need some explanation on is VOIP. I think this one is still new enough to libraries that you might need to state that it's running your phone service over the internet connection.
Overall, it looks good to me.
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Re: TechAtlas Question
2:16 PM EDT 7/6/05
as a reply to Rose Nelson.
Here is some general feedback about TechAtlas:
Are you considering letting states customize this tool for their particular needs? We gather technology data through several venues--public library survey, library automation projects, technology plans that libraries submit to the state library, etc. The problem is that we don't have one central database for all this data and we don't have complete datasets for all public libraries. This might be a far out idea, but it would great if we could add our own questions to TechAtlas and have libraries complete the survey and we could upload it into a database. This way, we would have one consistent data source for libraries and we could use it for everything--the public library annual survey, technical data on libraries. The other benefit is that libraries (assuming TechAtlas is E-rate compliant) could use TechAtlas to fulfill E-rate tech plan requirements.
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Re: Basic Technology Assessment Feedack
4:39 PM EDT 7/6/05
as a reply to Rose Nelson.
Rose, Thanks for your great feedback on the TechAtlas Basic Technology Assessment. Incorporating patron privacy into the mix is a great suggestion, and we'll definitely do some re-work to address that issue.
Your suggestion about adding a "notes box" is a great idea - we should be able to do that without a problem.
Likewise for your comment on VOIP - that does need to be more clearly defined, since it's a relatively new technology. Thanks for catching that!
Jeff Hall
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Re: TechAtlas Question
6:22 PM EDT 7/6/05
as a reply to Rose Nelson.
Rose-
Thank you so much for your feedback. To answer your questions:
Yes, you are right on in our thinking about TechAtlas. We see offering states the ability to have a "partner" account. This account allows states the ability to create and customize assessments as well as view the answers in aggregate. And, we are aiming it to be "E-rate Friendly". Let's chat about what you are interested in doing, and possibly we can test it out and get feedback from you. I'll send you an email to set up a time to chat.
Again, thanks for all of your feedback Rose.
Anna
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Re: TechAtlas Feedback
2:30 PM EDT 8/25/05
as a reply to Laura Staley.
We've posted the first set of revised TechAtlas assessments. This is one of three planned groups of assessments that WebJunction is in the process of re-writing to make them (hopefully!) more useful for our community. Any and all feedback is welcome - please post your comments to this forum!
The following assessments are now available:
WebJunction's Basic Technology Assessment
WebJunction's Hardware Assessment
WebJunction's Public Access Computing Assessment
WebJunction's Software Assessment
If you don't have a TechAtlas account already, you can create one at no charge using the blue TechAtlas button in the right rail of every WebJunction page.
Jeff Hall
WebJunction
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Re: TechAtlas Feedback
2:05 PM EDT 9/26/05
as a reply to Laura Staley.
A new group of three TechAtlas assessments has just been posted . This is the second out of a total of three planned groups of new and revised assessments, all written with the needs of the WebJunction community in mind.
Our goal is to make sure that all of the WebJunction TechAtlas assessments are genuinely useful for our community, so please use this forum to send any feedback you might have.
The following new assessments are now available:
WebJunction's Networking and Telecommunications Assessment
WebJunction's Security Assessment
WebJunction's World Wide Web Assessment
TechAtlas is a free resource for all WebJunction members - if you don't already have an account, you can use the blue TechAtlas button on the right rail of all WebJunction pages to sign up. Please join us!
Jeff Hall
WebJunction
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Re: TechAtlas Feedback
2:24 PM EST 12/21/05
as a reply to Jeff Hall.
The final group of TechAtlas assessments has now been posted. The new assessments are the following:
WebJunction's Integrated Library System Assessment
WebJunction's Staff Professional Development Assessment
WebJunction's Patron Technology Training Assessment
TechAtlas is a free resource for all WebJunction members - if you don't already have an account, you can click on the TechAtlas logo on the right rail of any WebJunction page to sign up.
Jeff Hall
WebJunction
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