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--- playground:playground [2009/09/26 09:14] – eoghan.ocarragain
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-====== PlayGround ======
-====== Till Kinstler ======
-**Institution:** Service Center of the Common Library Network (GBV)
-**Role Profile:**
-I am working in the digital libraries department. My main fields of action are "emerging technologies" in the digital libraries field and their application to our existing library consortium infrastructure. That includes systems analysis and design, systems integration and customization as well as coding (customization of existing code and implementation of interfaces). I deal with search technology, data interfaces (OAI-PMH, SRU, unAPI...) and some authentication stuff (Shibboleth).
-**Briefly outline your experience with Vufind to date.:**
-In summer 2008 we gained a funded project (called "Suchkiste") to develop a search engine for large integrated bibliographic and fulltext data sets fed from various sources. We decided to do that with Solr instead of our legacy search
-technology. Shortly after project start we needed a prototype user frontend to
-demonstrate the power of Solr to end users and librarians. We choose VuFind as an easily customizable, open user frontend for that Solr index. Because we had some requirements not in mainline VuFind (eg. rights management, fulltext indexing), we somewhat branched/forked(?) out of the mainline development first. But finally we understood, that it is important to participate as much as possible in the mainline development (for the success of both our "Suchkiste" as well as of VuFind). That's the essence of open source projects. I think, I have a good overall overview of the VuFind architecture (including Solr and solrmarc) and some in depth knowledge of the code.
-**Current/short-term availability:**
-VuFind is part of my day-job. Apart from some vacation in the next months, I'd say
-I spend about 15 to 30 hours a week on VuFind and our VuFind based "Suchkiste" project (of course, not all time being spent on "Suchkiste" is contributing to mainline
-VuFind directly, but there are more and more synergies). So count on me on a daily
-basis. My time with VuFind isn't limited to office hours.
-**Longer term availability**
-The first phase of our VuFind based project will be finished in Summer 2010. Until that I will be available for VuFind as described above. After that, engagement in VuFind may increase (if our project is extended beyond the scope of "Suchkiste" into a general VuFind based discovery solution for our consortium we proposed) or decrease (but not to zero, because I will have to keep "Suchkiste" running anyway).
-| **Area of expertise/experience** | **Rating** |
-| Coding | 4 |
-| Interface implementation | 4 |
-| Interface planning | 1 |
-| Solr configuration | 4 |
-| ILS integration | 3 |
-| Metadata crosswalking | 4 |
-| Metadata & cataloguing issues | 3 |
-| Performance tuning & deployment | 4 |
-| Other relevant areas of experience | some experience with development tools like version control (svn, bazaaz, git) and debuggers. broad knowledge on library technology, especially (meta-)search engines |
-**Development Skills**
-PHP, Java, Javascript, Perl, SQL, XSLT, CSS, shell scripting
-**How would you rate your development skills/experience?**
-//(0 = novice; 5 = expert)//
-**What skills can bring to the project, other than development skills and the areas of expertise mentioned above?**
-I organized a workshop that brought together (potential) VuFind users in Germany in June 2009. I submitted an application for a speach on VuFind at the German "Bibliothekskongress 2010" (biggest library venue in Germany) in March 2010
-and proposed a workshop on NGCs (including VuFind) for ELAG 2010 conference at Helsinki next June.
-I am no (traditional) project management specialist, but pretty good at keeping an oversight over and working in dynamic project evolution in teams (hmmm, on "agile projects"?) and may contribute my experience there.
-**Briefly describe your experience on similar projects:**
-As part of my job I developed the (meta-)search modules of several virtual libraries (eg. ViFa Recht, Crossasia) and some library search portals in the last years. I had to use a commercial metasearch engine toolset for that. My job was customizing it (on source code level) to specific requirements and integrating it in heterogeneous infrastructures.
-Before joining the library scene I did some contributions to the open source virtual learning system Moodle in its early days (around 2003).
-**Anything else you'd like to add?**
-----
-====== Demian Katz ======
-**Institution:** Villanova University
-**Role Profile:**
-My title is "Library Technology Development Specialist."  My primary responsibility is VuFind development, though I am also involved in other library technology projects, and I do a little bit of public service to stay involved with the broader library community.  My professional background is mixed -- I have an undergraduate degree in Computer Science and a master's degree in Library/Information Science.  I have worked in both library (a large public library) and pure-computer (web development consulting) environments in the past.
-**Briefly outline your experience with Vufind to date.:**
-I first heard of VuFind when applying for my current position at Villanova.  This was my first encounter with faceted searching in a library catalog, and I was immediately impressed by the way this mixes Google-like simplicity with some of the power of the traditional structure inherent in catalogs.  In getting this job, I have inherited the original VuFind implementation.  I've only been here a few months, but I've spent the majority of my time diving into VuFind, so I'm already fairly familiar and comfortable with its code.  I can't take credit for what is already here, but I certainly look forward to helping to polish it in the future.
-**Current/short-term availability:**
-VuFind is the primary responsibility of my day job, so my long-term availability is not in question.  The exact amount of time I have available for VuFind coding may sometimes fluctuate as other projects come up, but I expect to be devoting at least a couple of hours (and usually more than that) to VuFind on every work day.
-**Longer term availability**
-My long-term availability is more or less the same as my short-term availability.  Villanova is very proud of its institutional role in the development of VuFind, and I don't expect its commitment to fade any time soon.
-| **Area of expertise/experience** | **Rating** |
-| Coding | 5 |
-| Interface implementation | 4 |
-| Interface planning | 2 |
-| Solr configuration | 1 |
-| ILS integration | 3 |
-| Metadata crosswalking | 3 |
-| Metadata & cataloguing issues | 3 |
-| Performance tuning & deployment | 4 |
-| Other relevant areas of experience | I have four years of experience working as a single programmer doing relatively small-scale projects in a library environment.  I also have four years of experience as part of a team doing large-scale web development work in a multi-server environment.  I'm comfortable with MARC.  I've got a lot of troubleshooting experience (and a healthy degree of paranoia about security and other potential problems).  I'm fairly good at reading a book and getting up to speed on a new technology -- currently waiting for my copy of the new Solr book so I can improve my score in that area! I also normally show more modesty -- but this is a skills survey, after all! :-) |
-**Development Skills**
-PHP, Java, Javascript, C/C++, Perl, Visual Basic, SQL, CSS
-**How would you rate your development skills/experience?**
-//(0 = novice; 5 = expert)//
-**What skills can bring to the project, other than development skills and the areas of expertise mentioned above?**
-I enjoy providing troubleshooting support -- I try to respond to every question on the mailing lists that I can reasonably answer.  My work at Villanova puts me in a good position for advocacy.  I dislike unnecessary politics and don't tend to take development-related debates personally, so I can be helpful in conflict resolution (though that hardly seems necessary in the current friendly and collaborative environment I've seen on the VuFind lists!).
-**Briefly describe your experience on similar projects:**
-At my first job, I wrote a simple OPAC (a clone of the III system) for use as a backup in case of emergency.  It just ingested MARC records into a simple MySQL database and displayed via PHP.  We never had need for it, so it was never put to the test, but it was a good learning experience.
-I've already mentioned my previous experience with large-scale web development.
-I also have a personal project at www.gamebooks.org -- this demonstrates my ability to completely design and implement an application from scratch.  Please don't judge my CSS/HTML based on this, though -- I would do a lot differently if I had time to change it all!
-**Anything else you'd like to add?**
-I certainly hope to get enough votes to be part of the core admin team...  but even if I don't, you can't get rid of me that easily!  I look forward to working with everyone regardless of how things turn out. :-)
-----
-====== Michael Friscia ======
-**Institution:** Yale University Library
-**Role Profile:**
-Sr. Systems Programmer. I primarily work with digitized content with my main focus on developing search interfaces. I run servers and software for digital asset management, GIS, and web applications. I act as the DBA for our database applications and also handle server security. I am also in charge of our Microsoft SharePoint implementation.
-**Briefly outline your experience with Vufind to date.:**
-I was brought into Vufind last spring when I was asked to connect our CAS authentication to the system so we could activate the MyResearch components. I had a very small amount of time allowed to perform the work and spent most of it learning the web application side of the system. My involvement has grown and as we settle into new roles I expect that I will increase my participation beyond just working with the PHP files.
-**Current/short-term availability:**
-Currently I commit 10% of my time (2 days a month) to the project for programming and administrative tasks at yale. I'm willing to commit an additional 10% of my time to work in a Vufind administrative role. Vufind is part of my day job but I'm also of the type that doesn't stop writing code because a weekend or break pops up.
-**Longer term availability**
-I expect to be involved in Vufind at Yale as long as the library here is committed to using the product. I am also hiring a new programmer as the junior programmer in my department under my supervision. This new programmer will also be applying 10% of their time to the product.
-| **Area of expertise/experience** | **Rating** |
-| Coding | 5 |
-| Interface implementation | 5 |
-| Interface planning | 3 |
-| Solr configuration | 1 |
-| ILS integration | 1 |
-| Metadata crosswalking | 1 |
-| Metadata & cataloguing issues | 3 |
-| Performance tuning & deployment | 4 |
-| Other relevant areas of experience | SQL Security and general SQL/URL injection attack prevention and monitoring. |
-**Development Skills**
-PHP, Java, Javascript, C/C++, C#, Perl, Visual Basic, SQL, XSLT, CSS, PL/SQL
-**How would you rate your development skills/experience?**
-//(0 = novice; 5 = expert)//
-**What skills can bring to the project, other than development skills and the areas of expertise mentioned above?**
-I've done a lot with project management and also have experience with microsoft project and similar open office flavor. I have experience in hosting events, training sessions and have presented on numerous occassions in venues such as NERCOMP.
-**Briefly describe your experience on similar projects:**
-I worked on Connecticut College's student electronic portfolio project. During this time I spent a lot of time working with the open source portfolio initiative. We did not use the product at Connecticut College but I stayed on the project as a developer and worked out a lot of the integration problems between SCT Banner/PeopleSoft and third party products.
-**Anything else you'd like to add?**
-The Yale University Library has a large number of staff committeed to this project. For me, it was an easy sell. Once an opportunity came up, I was quick to jump onboard to begin participating in the development.
-My primary development environment is .Net but I've been a PHP programmer since 1998. I worked primary on unix systems from 1985 to 1999 when I switched over to Windows/ColdFusion/.Net. The onyl reason I gave my performance tuning skills a 4 and not a 5 is that I have not done much on unix systems at all in a number of years. But on my desk I run a Fedora 10 machine, windows xp and an iMac. I consider myself to be "platform neutral" and don't bother with the anti mac, anti java, anti .net arguments and all the other politics in computing. I just like to write code and don't care what system it is on.
-----
-====== Andrew Nagy ======
-**Institution:** Serials Solutions
-**Role Profile:**
-Software Engineer, Market Expert, Product Manager.
-**Briefly outline your experience with Vufind to date.:**
-Founder and Lead Developer
-**Current/short-term availability:**
-% of my day job.  Plus random nights and weekends.
-**Longer term availability**
-Full commitment.
-| **Area of expertise/experience** | **Rating** |
-| Coding | 5 |
-| Interface implementation | 5 |
-| Interface planning | 3 |
-| Solr configuration | 5 |
-| ILS integration | 5 |
-| Metadata crosswalking | 5 |
-| Metadata & cataloguing issues | 4 |
-| Performance tuning & deployment | 3 |
-| Other relevant areas of experience |   |
-**Development Skills**
-PHP, Java, Javascript, SQL, XSLT, CSS
-**How would you rate your development skills/experience?**
-//(0 = novice; 5 = expert)//
-**What skills can bring to the project, other than development skills and the areas of expertise mentioned above?**
-Administration, Outreach, Marketing, Event Organization
-**Briefly describe your experience on similar projects:**
-PEAR::Structures_DataGrid
-SolrMarc
-**Anything else you'd like to add?**
-----
-====== Mark Sandford ======
-**Institution:** William Paterson University
-**Role Profile:**
-Special Formats Cataloger (Librarian)
-**Briefly outline your experience with Vufind to date.:**
-First installation was about a year ago.  We recently started testing VUFind in-house for usability as a replacement for Voyager OPAC.  I am in charge of the installation, customization, etc.
-**Current/short-term availability:**
-**Longer term availability**
-The library is committed to implementing VUFind as soon as it is feasible.  This is a slow process because I am solely responsible for it right now, though that will change as we near production.  I can dedicated several hours per week to VUFind as a part of my job.
-| **Area of expertise/experience** | **Rating** |
-| Coding | 2 |
-| Interface implementation | 4 |
-| Interface planning | 1 |
-| Solr configuration | 2 |
-| ILS integration | 3 |
-| Metadata crosswalking | 1 |
-| Metadata & cataloguing issues | 5 |
-| Performance tuning & deployment | 1 |
-| Other relevant areas of experience |   |
-**Development Skills**
-PHP, CSS
-**How would you rate your development skills/experience?**
-//(0 = novice; 5 = expert)//
-**What skills can bring to the project, other than development skills and the areas of expertise mentioned above?**
-I am primarily a cataloger, though I perform a lot of duties that would normally fall to a Systems Librarian.  I have a very good understanding of how Voyager's database structure works and how that connects to the MARC record.
-**Briefly describe your experience on similar projects:**
-None
-**Anything else you'd like to add?**
-I would view my work in the admin group as primarily being a voice for catalogers (and uers) and to lend my expertise to the group in that respect.  However, I can handle basic coding well enough to understand the developer side of the conversation as well.
-----
-====== Clay Hill ======
-**Institution:** Mississippi State University
-**Role Profile:**
-I manage a team of web developers. I am also a developer myself.
-**Briefly outline your experience with Vufind to date.:**
-I have installed it and tweaked it to work with sip2 and sirsi unicorn.
-**Current/short-term availability:**
-I think I'll be able to contribute a few hours a week. hopefully more. This is a part of my day-job.
-**Longer term availability**
-Once we get this thing working to our likeing. We will be committed to vufind. I am working on Vufind daily. I see Vufind being with Msstate for a long time.
-| **Area of expertise/experience** | **Rating** |
-| Coding | 4 |
-| Interface implementation | 5 |
-| Interface planning | 4 |
-| Solr configuration | 2 |
-| ILS integration | 3 |
-| Metadata crosswalking | 2 |
-| Metadata & cataloguing issues | 3 |
-| Performance tuning & deployment | 3 |
-| Other relevant areas of experience | I know a fair amount about a bunch of stuff. Expert at none. :) |
-**Development Skills**
-PHP, Java, Javascript, C/C++, C#, Perl, Ruby, Visual Basic, Python, SQL, XSLT, CSS, classic asp and .net :)
-**How would you rate your development skills/experience?**
-//(0 = novice; 5 = expert)//
-**What skills can bring to the project, other than development skills and the areas of expertise mentioned above?**
-I am a project manager, a heck of a publicist. I can make a great alfredo sauce.
-**Briefly describe your experience on similar projects:**
-I have beta tested software since the early 90's.
-**Anything else you'd like to add?**
-I have a candid attitude, I hope that's not misinterpreted. I am commited to Vufind. I have been using it for a short 2 months. I am extremely impressed and I am eager to get up to speed and help out.
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-Use this space to mess with the wiki syntax
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