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- A Sneak Peek at GloWorm
- Last Registration Day! -- Plone Symposium East
- Social Networking and Plone Symposium East
- 2 days to register for Plone Symposium East!
- Plone Symposium Afoot
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A Sneak Peek at GloWorm
Or "How I wanted to stop worrying and ignore the ZMI."
After completely misunderstanding the intended end-results behind Lennart's "What would you want from a component Introspector / debugging tool?" post, I found myself creating a Plone debugging tool as a proof-of-concept. What I've wound up with is something we're tentatively calling "GloWorm."
It's garnered a "crikey!" rating from our in-house Englishwoman, so I thought I'd share what I've got so far with the rest of you.
Quicktime Movie (4 MB)
This is still very much in a proof-of-concept state, so my question to the Plone public is "Would you find this useful and what would you want GloWorm to tell you about Plone?"
Last Registration Day! -- Plone Symposium East
This is the last day to register for the Plone Symposium East 2008. Don't wait... Register now.
"Your meter has expired". Yes... It has got to this. The last day.... registration will close tomorrow at 11 PM.
So don't miss this opportunity to participate in this exciting Plone event! Plone Symposium East 2008. All your Plone buddies will be assembling on March 10-13 at Penn State. So don't miss it...
If you haven't heard, Plone Symposium East is a week- long bonanza at Penn State University, in central Pennsylvania, U.S.
It'll feature...
- Fab training by Joel Burton
- 30 great presentations by some of the guiding lights of the Plone community
- Several brain-stretching sprints
Register now: http://plone.org/events/regional/plone-symposium-2008
(In case plone.org goes down, another link is http://tinyurl.com/2xeu49.)
Social Networking and Plone Symposium East
Plone Symposium East is hitting several different social networking sites.
Plone Symposium East is going social! Join in the fun at del.icio.us, flickr, LinkedIn, and Facebook.And don't forget, registration ends tomorrow at 11PM! Register now!
2 days to register for Plone Symposium East!
Read this, you fools! (How’s that for a hook?)
"There are only 2 days left to register for Plone Symposium East?" you inquire.
"Yes!" I reply.
"Oh noes!!!111!1" you should rightly cry! After righting whatever you knocked over with your horrorified flailing, you should head directly tohttp://tinyurl.com/2xeu49 and register, lest you miss these gems:
- Deliverance: Humane Approaches to Web Design for Plone, by Paul Everitt, founder of Zea Partners
- Plone on a Budget: How we do it at the University of Washington, by Melody Winkle
- SchemaExtender Extends Your Mind, by Erik Rose (yours truly)
- 30 other cool sessions
...not to mention Joel-Burton-led training along with sprints on Plone4Artists, Faculty/Staff Directory, Plone docs, and SubPlone. You read this far? You deserve a registration link to a really cool Plone event:http://tinyurl.com/2xeu49
The full program is here:http://www.openplans.org/projects/plonesymposiumeast2008/sessions www.openplans.org/projects/plonesymposiumeast2008/sessions
Sprints are here:http://www.openplans.org/projects/plonesymposiumeast2008/sprints www.openplans.org/projects/plonesymposiumeast2008/sprints
You should be there!
Plone Symposium Afoot
Register for Plone Symposium East, and maybe win a pony!
All you wacky Plonistas—
There remain only 5 days to register for Plone Symposium East! You don't want to miss...
- Brain-enhancing training sessions March 10-11 by Joel Burton of Plone Bootcamps fame
- Scintillating presentations March 12-13 by Plone luminaries including Alan Runyan, Paul Everitt, Tres Seaver, Donna Snow, and Nate Aune
- Life-changing sprints March 8-16
- Personally validating socialization with your fellow Plonistas
- 70% more electrolytes, all the caffeine, and twice the fat!
Why are you still reading this? Get over to http://plone.org/events/regional/plone-symposium-2008 and register!
The Symposium is conveniently located at Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania, which is within easy driving distance of major east-coast metropolitan areas. It's also within easy moped distance of major west-coast population centers, but you'd better start now.
Procrastinators Window (-;
Procrastinators -- Start Writing .... There is a window of opportunity for speakers to submit *last minute* speaker proposals for Plone Symposium East 2008. --> Do it now!
All you potential speakers that would like a last opportunity to submit a speaker proposal for the Plone Symposium East 2008, ---the window is still open until noon Monday, February 18, when presentations will be evaluated. Hurry up, we need you.
We are particularly interested in proposal in the following areas:
- WSGI-compliant applications (Deliverance, Repoze, etc)
- eggification
- core optimizations
- Limi's "18 things I wish Plone did
- Zope 3 stuff
- future of content type authorship (Archetypes future directions, Zope 3 schemas)
- Grok and Plone
Act now! -- submit your proposal here !
Register for Plone Symposium East
Your *Very* Last Chance to Speak, Really!
The proposal deadline for speakers for the 2008 Plone Symposium East has arrived. Send your proposal in today!
Plonistas, you have done it again! Waited until the last minute to get your talk proposal submitted for the Plone Symposium East 2008 at Penn State March 12-13, 2008.
Really, today is the last day to get your proposal in for consideration. Don't hesitate. Join in the fun.
Sessions to include:
- Panel discussions
- Case studies
- Product overviews
One session track will be devoted to the unique needs of higher education institutions.
Send your proposal in now by using this link!
Last Chance, (well maybe)
Plone Symposium East 2008 attendees, guarantee room block will end on Friday, February 15, 2008.
Plone Symposium East 2008 speakers and attendees --- the guaranteed room block for the conference will end on Friday, February 15, 2008 and rooms will be released. If you call after Friday, ask for the Plone Symposium rate and they will give you the conference rate.Call or register on-line before the end of the day on Friday to guarantee the best price and avoid the hassle.
Here is the link for the Nittany Lion Inn, where the Symposium will be held.
Here is the link if you want to register on-line before Friday:
Or call: 1-800-233-7505
More information on registration and Plone Symposium East 2008 here.
Time Running Out
Deadlines for Speaker Proposals for Plone Symposium East 2008 to close on February 15, 2008.
Time is running out to submit your ideas for talks for the Plone Symposium East 2008 to be held at Penn State University on March 10-14.
The deadline for getting proposals is Friday, February 15, 2008.
Looking fro presentations in the following areas:
- Feedback from the Plone Strategic Planning summit
- Case studies of Plone deployment in universities
- How to sell Plone to the rest of your organization
- Plone from the implementers viewpoint
- Overviews of specific products
Don't be left out... get that proposal submission in immediately.
Plone Symposium East 2008 Training Offerings
PloneBootCamps and friends to offer Training courses at Plone Symposium East 2008 at Penn State University on March 10-11.
A fine selection of training offerings will kick-off Plone Symposium East 2008 to be held at Penn State University on March 12-13.
Training courses to be offered prior to the Symposium on March 10-11.
Joel Burton, of PloneBootcamps says, "Of all the Plone events scheduled so far in 2008, the one that excites me most is the Plone Symposium East 2008 at Penn State." He continues, "It's the first time we've had a major event in co-sponsorship with a
university, and this promises to be a very affordable and informative
conference. While not exclusively for universities, there will be at
least one special track for universities, plus material for
new-to-Plone, experienced-Plone users, nonprofit users, corporate
users, and more. Do consider coming!"
What better endorsement could we get!
As offered at the last few Plonr conferences, training offerings are 2-day,
value-priced courses open to both conference participants and the
general public. There will be 3 courses offered on March 10-11:
Plone 3 Techniques: a two-day, hands-on course on "How do I use all this great new stuff in Plone 3?" Presented to much acclaim in Naples, Joel Burton
will be offering this course again. This is aimed for experienced
developers/integrators who understand Plone 2.x, but want to ramp up
their skills on Plone 3.
Cost $250.
Register here!
Successful Content Management for Plone: an excellent introductory course on how to evaluate Plone, how to use Plone, and a strong sense of what building a Plone site will feel like. There will be case studies of existing sites, and lots of information about how Plone may be right for you, and how to best
use it. This is an excellent course for your boss/colleagues/clients that need to get up to speed on content management!
Cost $250.
Register here!
Skinning Plone: Ever popular! This course covers skinning Plone, focusing onbest-of-breed, proven techniques, with a special focus on new technologies in Plone 3.
Cost $250,
More information on Plone Symposium East 2008 look here!
Composition Program to Use WebLion to Improve Communications
Composition Program seeks to use WebLion to improve communications and efficiency for Program.
It's official --- the Composition Program in the Department of English in the College of Liberal Arts has now joined the WebLion Partnership.
Stuart Selber, Composition Director and Associate Professor of English and STS, has champion the project within the College. The initial goals for the project are to: 1) provide a portal for teacher and student resources; 2) contextualize Penn State resources for writers; 3) improve support for the Teaching with Technology Certificate; and 4) upgrade our Web presence for both local and national audiences.
Support for the development of these capabilities will be provided by the Liberal Arts IT Group, headed up by Sandra Wingart with developer Christopher Thomas working directly with the WebLion developers community. This is the first partner within the College of Liberal Arts.
Catherine Williams Joins the WebLion Team
Researcher, Catherine Williams, to Join the WebLion development team.
Catherine Williams joined the Weblion Team on February 1. Catherine has worked at Penn State for 3 years, most recently as a Research Associate at The Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, where she was responsible for a major website revamp. She has also designed and managed a variety of other websites for academic groups at Penn State and elsewhere, mainly in the area of science education outreach. Before joining Penn State, she spent several years in marketing research / planning and e-marketing / e-fundraising at a leading British environmental NGO. (Yes, she has an English accent). Please join us in welcoming her to our group!
Computer Science & Engineering Latest Department to Join WebLion Project
The Department of Computer Science and Engineering is the latest Penn State group to join the WebLion Partnership.
The Department of Computer Science and Engineering, in the College of Engineering, is the latest group to join the WebLion Partnership. Department developer, Eric Prescott will act as lead developer for the initiative assisted by Matt Schmell. According to John Domico, Assistant Director of IT, the first efforts will be to move the department website into the newly adopted College of Engineering design templates and to migrate existing website content and service to the WebLion CMS platform.
Plone Symposium: Light on Education
Plone Symposium East 2008 will include events to raise awareness of Plone in educational institutions.
The Symposium follows close on the heals of the Ploneability Higher Ed conference, increased traffic of the Plone Education List, the Plone4Universities project, and other initiatives. Education-centric activities are also being organized at the Symposium to maintain the momentum.
We hope to cajole enough colleagues to present sessions that we can create a Plone in Education track. Lessee... roughly 6 sessions per track for two days... can we get 12 folks from Louisville, UTexas, U Washington, U Wisconsin/Oshkosh, Technische Universität München, to name only a few, to propose edu-centric sessions? We're shaking the trees as we speak. A Birds of a Feather session on Plone in Education has been proposed. Don't be shy - add your ideas and propose other sessions.
And how about a sprint to build extensions to the FacultyStaffDirectory. There's been much discussion on a more robust calendar solution, including the Plone + CalDAV PLIP proposal; in fact, an improved calendar was identified at Ploneability as one of the next killer applications for educational institutions. A calendar is a fine candidate for sprints, a BoF, or sessions. Let's talk about it.
Announcing Plone Symposium East
We're delighted to announce that the Plone Symposium East 2008 will be held at Penn State on Wednesday and Thursday, March 12-13, 2008. Training sessions will be held at the start of the week, March 10-11, and we plan to host sprints any time during March 8-16 - come to the wiki to propose and organize your sprint. This is the first regional symposium to be held on the east coast of North America, and since we're close to New York, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and other big places, we're expecting a great turnout. We can handle up to 200 people, and registration is now open. More information is available at Plone.org.
Innovation within the Plone development community has been staggering of late, and now that Plone 3 has been released, everyone is busy implementing new user interface technologies, content types and views, features and extensions, coding patterns, and performance enhancements. We're looking for the brilliant people at the core of this innovation - submit a presentation proposal.
FacultyStaffDirectory 2.0 alpha released
The long-awaited first alpha release of FacultyStaffDirectory is out! Among the new baubles are Plone 3 compatibility, integration with users and groups, and a new extensibility framework.
An initial alpha release of FacultyStaffDirectory, WebLion's product for creating personnel directories in Plone, is now available. Major attractions are...
-
Integration with Plone users and groups
Persons act as users; you can (optionally) log in as them, and people by default have the right to edit their own directory entries. Also, Committees, Departments, Specialties, and other directory groupings act as groups.
-
A new extensibility framework
We replaced our b-org-adapted extensibilty scheme with Archetypes' schemaextender mechanism. This means more than one extender can be active at a time. In addition, all content types can now be extended, not just Person.
-
Plone 3 compatibility,
including support for versioning
Other changes include speed increases, better Smart Folder support, bug fixes, and lots of under-the-hood improvements. See the Version History section of the readme for details.
We invite you to try this preview release in non-production environments and report bugs. If all goes well, a final 2.0 release will follow by the end of the month.
Huck Institutes Develops App for Evaluating Graduate Applications
Huck Institutes has developed a 'back office" application for evaluating potential applicants for graduate study.
Michael Hand at the Huck Institutes, working with core developers from the WebLion team, have developed a Plone-based 'voting system' that enables faculty to evaluate applications for graduate study submitted by prospective students.
Faculty and staff conducting the evaluation are assigned particular roles. These roles determine what actions each person can take, when, in the multi-stage process of deciding whether or not a candidate should be offered a place for graduate study. Custom scripts enable student details to be retrieved, viewed, commented on, and processed according to custom workflows. The system automatically sends emails to relevant people at key points, letting them know that they need to log in to take action or make a decision.
Michael decided to develop the 'voting system' using Plone, rather an alternative technology (such as PHP), for several reasons. Key among these were the ability that Plone affords to control security and workflows. Only people who have logged in with appropriate credentials can see candidate details, and only a defined subset of these people can initiate a transition from one workflow state to another (for example, to move a student from a state of "under consideration" to "offered an interview").
An alpha version of the 'voting system' is now being used by graduate programs associated with the Huck Institutes. Once the system has been in use for a few months, and bugs have been ironed out, the plan is to generalize the system into a product that could be adopted by other Penn State departments and colleges.
Watch this space!
Plone for Education: "Let's get Organized!"
Small group of colleges and universities discuss how Plone in Education needs to get organized.
Houston, TX. (November 9, 2007). A small group of Plone developers from the education community met at Rice University following the Ploneability Higher Education Conference to discuss efforts to formalized a Plone in Education group, how to unify ongoing activities within the larger Plone community and creation of a roadmap for development specific to the needs of the education sector. The group agreed that coordination with several other initiatives is essential for success. Several items were discussed and initial action items were agreed upon. For more information see the meeting notes.
WebLion and Ploneability Higher Ed
WebLion team presents at Ploneability Higher Ed Conference to discuss The WebLion Project: Bringing Open Source to Higher Education Institutions.
Houston, TX. Over 40 participants from a variety of Higher Education institutions converged on the University of Houston for a one-day Ploneability Higher Ed conference. Institutions discussed the merits of how each are using the Plone content management system at there institutions. The WebLion team present at and discuss The WebLion Project: Bringing Open Source to Higher Education Institutions. The presentation discussed how the WebLion Project has used open source strategies and technologies to engage the Penn State community.
WebLion at EDUCAUSE: New Collaborations
We had two goals in mind for the trip to EDUCAUSE. First, to bring attention to our ideas on the benefits of collaboration with other institutions for open source software development and in particular, the Zope framework and the WebLion extensions. The second goal was keep our ears to the ground and listen and seek out trends that may influence the direction of collaborative relationships WebLion development.
As I write this, I'm still thrilled by the enthusiastic response to the team's goals and accomplishments. It seems that knowledge of the WebLion project is spreading, and discussion of collaboration quickly jumps to the "next steps" phase. To wit:
- Our presentation and discussion at the University of Washington Plone Users Group drew crowd of more than twenty developers, including people from a Seattle arts college, University Oregon, Rutgers, and Boise State University. We'll be contacting attendees to encourage next steps in the collaboration process.
- Jon Gunderson from University of Illinois, well known for his work in web document accessibility, will be working with us to test small deployments at Illinois. There is a great opportunity to work together to develop finer grained semantic structure through building support for microformats and WAI-ARIA accessibility metadata into Plone. The semantic web is a key technology to bridging the the Web and for disabled people.
- We were busy at the EDUCAUSE poster session. Web content management is still a hot topic, and there was a lot of interest in Plone; the interest extended to how we are developing the business model, and the community is organizing itself.
- With the help of the folks at Enfold Systems and the Plone Foundation, we are planning an event in March to organize collaborations in higher education around the Zope/Plone platform.
Since the EDUCAUSE event and our activities centered on the WebLion project, traffic on our IRC channel has noticably increased. Indeed, attendees from University of Washington are now joining the #weblion chat room and participating in conversations.
The nature of these collaborations is most interesting. Their existence and growth has an organic character in that they are self organizing around active projects; they are not prearranged from the management layer down. It "just happens" among developers, just as we see in active communities of open source projects. Collaborations lead to deployments, as we see the Faculty Staff Directory is now being used in a German university with more to follow.
I'd like to think that the WebLion project will be an instructive experiment on the role that open source software and community development methods can play in the future of information technology.