NPSTAC-org Support
Members of this group are focused on supporting others who use the npstac.org website for strategic technology planning for Newton Public Schools. In addition to answering questions, this group describes best practices for how to use this site and implements new functionality to support evolving needs.
Please edit the Task List and make your updates of things to do and things completed!
Free Software Speeches and Documentaries
Submitted by DPic on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 4:35am.
There aren't super-recent but they are seriously worth viewing.
Speeches:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1647626314188526128 - The Free Software Movement
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6390784544771380326 - The Danges of Software Patents
Documentaries:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3498228245415745977 - The Code Linux
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7707585592627775409 - Revolution OS
Free Software for Schools: Success Stories
Submitted by DPic on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 4:23am.
Please look into these stories:
http://www.sd73.bc.ca/district-operations.php/page/linux-in-education/
http://www.linux.com/articles/62285
http://searchenterpriselinux.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid39_...
http://www.itinfusion.ca/linux/school-district-ditches-windows-for-linux...
Also look at entire public school systems, governments, and big businesses switching to Linux:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_adoption#Government
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_adoption#School_and_education
Exploration Ubuntu
Submitted by DPic on Thu, 04/03/2008 - 5:43am.
Where: Wiesner Building, E15 (in other terms, "the lower atrium of the Media Lab")
[map] Streetview
20 Ames Street
Cambridge, MA 02139
Free & Open Source Software in K-12 Education
Submitted by DPic on Thu, 04/03/2008 - 5:36am.
On April 29th, 2008, Saint Stephen's Armenian Elementary School is
opening its doors to the community for a special event focusing on
"Free & Open Source? Software in K-12 Education." We are inviting
teachers, IT personnel, and school administrators from Boston and
nearby suburbs to come and see for themselves how FOSS can help them
to meet all of their educational computing needs. They will be able
to "test drive" Open Office.org and other apps in our 100% Linux
computer lab, and to learn from local experts how to introduce FOSS
Need a better web host!
Submitted by Erik on Wed, 04/02/2008 - 9:35pm.
In case you haven't noticed, this web site is dog slow these days. I have a cheap (=free) account with Dreamhost, and I'm getting what I'm paying for.
Does anyone have connections that can get us better performance? Preferrably at the same price (free to npstac)?
HELP please! Thanks.
TAC site navigation... how can it be improved?
Submitted by matt_anderson on Fri, 03/07/2008 - 12:07pm.
One of my frustrations with this site is the difficulty in finding things, and I've come up with a couple concrete suggestions for improvement. I'm not sure if they can be implemented, but I'm hoping we can improve the navigation.
One thing is that it is unclear WHAT is on the site, and how to find things.
One major thing is that the site layout doesn't follow a common model. By this I mean that people haven't seen things organized this way before, which makes it very hard to find stuff. Consider Windows Explorer and/or Mac Finder. They follow a common format. Top level choices are listed vertically. If if has a + sign (windows) or triangle (Mac), you know there are sub-folders. Everything in the computer is accessible from these few highest choices.
Joint Meeting of Board of Alderman's Program, Services, and Finance Committees
Submitted by janetsville on Wed, 02/20/2008 - 2:48pm.
The joint meeting of the Aldermen's Programs & Services and Finance Committees will be held on FEBRUARY 27 at 7:45 p.m. in the Aldermanic Chamber. For the first time, the aldermen will consider the override budget. This is a critical opportunity for voters to be involved with the override process.
Wednesday, Feb. 27
7:45-10:45 p.m.
Aldermanic Chamber, 2nd floor of City Hall
Need help improving npstac.org!
Submitted by Erik on Tue, 02/12/2008 - 11:01am.
Hello fellow TACers,
I could really use some help improving the content orientation and performance of this npstac.org site. Is there anyone out there interested in helping?
For instance, right now the site seems more oriented towards function--WHAT you can do on the site, like create events, groups, FAQs, etc. I think it would be more useful if we could reorient it to focus on the important/hot content currently being developed on the site.
One person can't do this. It needs multiple perspectives. Please comment? if you're interested in helping.
If I join the site, will I receive automatic email notifications from the site?
Submitted by janetsville on Sat, 02/02/2008 - 10:27am.
Once you join the site and have been approved, you can log in and edit various options. On the top right hand screen is a set of menu choices, click on My account. Once in your account screen, click on the Edit tab. There you can make various changes including the option to turn off Email notifications if desired.
How do I join the NPS TAC site?
Submitted by janetsville on Sat, 02/02/2008 - 10:22am.
When you go to the opening page of the site, enter in a user name or email and a password and click on Create New Account. You will come to a My Account screen where you are required to enter a Username, enter your email address, your real name, and your Relationship to Newton Public Schools. You have the option of subscribing to selected groups to help focus your area of interest. You also have the option of entering some personal information to help other members get to know you. The last step is to click create new account. You will then receive an email notification where you much click on the links provided to verify that your email address works. Once your registration has been approved, you will be set to join the conversations and collaborations on our site.
table module
Submitted by mfidelman on Tue, 01/29/2008 - 7:51pm.
if you want to insert tables (not quite spreadsheets) into a book page, you might want to check out the table module at http://drupal.org/project/tablemanager
might be a way, for example, to include the requirements spreadsheet directly in the portal book
Glossary and definitions for FAQ's
Submitted by janetsville on Mon, 01/28/2008 - 7:22am.
The site now has a glossary which is slowly getting populated with terminology. Once a term has been entered into the glossary, it is automatically marked with a small red question mark throughout the site. If the user hovers over that symbol with the mouse, the definition pop's up.
In the FAQ's section, there is some overlapping definitions which are more geared toward how to use the content item.
Help using NPSTAC.org
Submitted by Erik on Mon, 01/21/2008 - 8:02pm.
These HELP resources describe how to use this site for many of the tasks associated with strategic technology planning for the Newton Public Schools.
Help Book
This help book contains some pages, organized in a chapter / section format, just like a book. You can see the entire book by clicking on Printer Friendly version near the page bottom.
Glossary
We've also begun to develop a glossary of terms. Anytime one of these terms appears on page on this site, the first instance on the page will be followed by a Glossary ? mark that provides a hover description of that term.
User Registration Confirmed
Submitted by Erik on Fri, 01/18/2008 - 4:04pm.Thank you! Your email address for your account has now been approved.
You have completed step 1 as described in the User Registration Pending. See that page for the remaining steps.
User Registration Pending
Submitted by Erik on Fri, 01/18/2008 - 3:57pm.Thank you! Your user registration has been received and is now pending approval.
Here are the next steps:
1. You will receive an email from the site. Click on the link provided to verify that your email address works.
2. Site Administrator will approve/deny your registration
3. If you have subscribed to any groups, the group owners will approve/deny those subscriptions
Then you'll be set to join the conversations and collaboration on our site.
If you have any questions, feel free to refer to the Help Book or to Contact us.
Task list for NPSTAC.org
Submitted by Erik on Fri, 01/18/2008 - 3:40pm.We need all the help we can get testing, fixing and documenting the NPSTAC.org site that is now starting to take shape. Here is a list of things in the queue:
To Do - High Priority
- Help/Documentation
- Who? - Document when/why to use the key content types (blog?, book page, wiki? page, talk page, event, etc.)
- Who? - Document how to associate a post with a group
- Who? - Document how groups work
- Who?
- Document process for holding a meeting/event (create event,
invite/sign-up, confirm attendance, send reminder, capture notes after
the fact) - Who? - Document how to work with calendar/table
- Who? - Document how to subscribe to site RSS? feeds so you can track activity via RSS reader
- Who? - Document how/why to blog
- Who? - Document how access control works
- Who? - Document list of modules used in this site
- Calendar & Events
- Who? - Replace basic event content type (from basic event module) with a CCK event content type so that we have more control over how the fields work -- e.g., make the date field a JS-dropdown widget.
- System Admin
