In a nutshell, we are going to use a freeware scripting language called AutoIt to run the gMigrate program for us, and then we are going to use the Windows Scheduled Tasks utility to automatically run the script.

AutoIt

AutoIt is a freeware scripting language, which can be used to automate the Windows graphical user interface. It will work on Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, and Windows Server 2008. One of AutoIt’s cool features is a Windows Info monitor, which you use to determine the ID numbers of command buttons. Once you know those IDs you can write an AutoIt script that will execute a program and interact with it by clicking specific command buttons. In addition, you can also complile the script into an executable file.

The download page for AutoIt is here: http://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/downloads.shtml.

Assuming that you have already configured your gMigrate with your GroupWise and GMail account information, here is a simple script that will run gMigrate and click the appropriate command buttons:

; gMigrate Automation by Roman Olynyk, 8/4/2009
Run ( “C:\Program Files\gMigrate\CompanionLink.exe”)
WinWaitActive(”gMigrate”, “”, 10)
ControlClick (”gMigrate”, “”, “[ID: 1881]“)
WinWaitActive ( “gMigrate”, “Completed Synchronization”, 20)
ControlClick (”gMigrate”, “”, “[ID: 2]“)
ControlClick (”gMigrate”, “”, “[ID: 1]“)

I saved my script with the name “automigrate.AU3.” Here’s what this script does:

1. Comments begin with semi-colons
2. The Run command needs the exact path. In this script I am using the default installation path for gMigrate. If your path is different, change it here.
3. The WinWaitActive command will wait for up to 10 seconds for the dialog box titled “gMigrate” to appear.
4. Once the dialog box appears, simulate a mouse click to the ” Migrate” command button (ID 1881).
5. After clicking, wait for up to 20 seconds for the message “Completed Synchronization” to appear.
6. When “Completed Synchronization” dialog appears, click the OK button (ID 2).
7. Finally, clicking the OK button (ID 1) on the gMigrate dialog causes that program to close.

That’s it. This is a bare-bones script. A more careful programmer can add proper error handling routines to allow for instances where the gMigrate program might fail. Also, this script will run as a foreground task, as I have not added any commands to hide its operation from the user.

You can test out the script by right-clicking over the AU3 file and selecting “Run Script” from the top of the menu. Once you are satisfied with the operation, you can go to the Tools menu of the SciTE4AutoIt3 program editor and run the complile command, which will convert your script into an executable file.

In a separate posting, we’ll talk about how you can configure Scheduled Tasks in Windows to periodically run your migration script.

1. In the Windows XP Control Panel, select the Scheduled Tasks command.
2. With Scheduled Tasks open, double-click on the “Add Scheduled Task” icon, which should be at the top of the list of tasks.
   
3. A Scheduled Task Wizard will appear; click Next> to continue.
4. The Scheduled Task Wizard will display a list of programs from which you can select. Your automigrate program will not be in this list, so you must use the Browse command button to locate and select it.
5. Once you have selected the program, the wizard will ask you to type in a name for the task, followed by a group of radio buttons for when you would like this task performed. I chose “Daily.”
   
6. After clicking Next> again, the Scheduled Task Wizard asks you to select the time and day when you would like the task to start. I’m configuring my task to run while I’m usually at work, so I chose a time in the morning after I’ve had a chance to settle in and possibly work with my calendar — say 9:30 a.m. Also, since I don’t normally work weekends, I can opt to run this task only on Weekdays.
   
7. The next dialog asks you to provide your username and password for you computer. When you have typed in that information, click the Next> button.
8. The wizard will display a dialog box, which confirms when Windows will run this task. Notice that there’s a checkbox where you can “Open advanced properties for this task when I click Finish.” Select this checkbox, because it will allow you to set how often you want this task to run. As an added precaution, note that you can choose to stop the task if it is still running at the time you’ve selected.
   
9. The Advanced Schedule Options let you set how many times a day you want the program to run.
   
10. Once you click the Apply button, your scheduled task will run under the conditions that you have set for it.

Anyway, he brings up some excellent food for thought on how universities should to revisit how we think about openness.  Not only in the types of systems and software we employ, but in our academic materials.  He reminds us that the fundamental reason we are in higher education is to educate and share knowledge.  What difference does it make, really, if people can download our course materials?  Why shouldn’t they?  Because they haven’t yet paid for them?  Why is that important?  To get any kind of degree the will actually need to enroll, so I fail to see how that would affect the school’s bottom line.

MIT has for a number of years now offered most if not all of their course materials online for free.  Think of the savings to students in not needing to purchase books every semester.  What if the students did have access to all of the course work ahead of time, wouldn’t that just make it easier for them to complete the work and do better?  Perhaps they would get more out of the course if they were prepared and could be ready when the semester “clock is ticking?”

Here is the video clip of his presentation.  I’d love to hear what the university community thinks about this.

Cultural Agoraphobia: What Universities Need to Know About Our Bias Against Openness
In this presentation, Professor James Boyle will argue that we have a cognitive bias–he calls it cultural agoraphobia–that leads us to underestimate the potential of open networks, open culture and open productive processes. What is the evidence for such a bias?  What should a university do about it–from the library to the classroom to the archive? Using examples ranging from the development of the World Wide Web to Wikipedia and open source software, this talk will try and answer those questions.

Watch the webcast

Call for Proposals

The West Virginia Higher Education Technology Conference is now accepting presentation, poster session, and workshop proposals for its September 28-30, 2009 conference at Lakeview Golf Resort and Spa in Morgantown, WV.

This conference brings together experts from all over West Virginia for three days to connect, discuss, and learn about the latest in technology and the future of education.

We look forward to building a fantastic program that covers a broad spectrum of topics pertaining to technology and higher education. We hope to see you at the conference and invite you to submit your proposal today! Proposals will be received through June 1, 2009.

Conference Theme: weLearn Technology facilitates learning in higher education every day – every minute. In higher education we are all connected by a common purpose of educating and learning. Students, faculty, staff – we are all linked through information technology. Through technology weLearn.

Presentation Tracks

• Teaching and Learning
• Technology and Sustainability; Green IT: What does it mean?
• Emerging Technologies
• Getting the Message Out
• Legal and Ethical Issues

Poster Sessions

Last year we received a lot of positive feedback about the poster sessions and would like to encourage you to consider participating with a poster session of your own. This flexible format allows for more direct Q&A and is great for networking.

Pre- and Post-Conference Workshops

If you have something you’d like to share in a more in-depth session, consider holding a pre- or post-conference workshop.

We look forward to hearing from you!

- WVHETC 2009 Conference Committee

Subscribe to Our Conference Updates

West Virginia Higher Education Technology Conference
Phone: 304-293-5192
Conference Website: http://wvconference.com

We’ll be there!  Will you?

How to Present While People are Twittering

by Tamar Weinberg

February 27, 2009

People used to whisper to each other or pass hand-scribbled notes during presentations. Now these notes are going digital on Twitter or via conference-provided chat rooms.

Up until now, this back-channel has been mainly confined to the Internet industry and technology conferences. However, a survey of leadership conferences from Weber Shandwick shows that there is a significant increase in blogging and twittering at conferences.

So the next time you present at a conference, instead of being confronted by a sea of faces looking at you, you may be phased by a sea of heads looking down at their laptops. The challenge is how to adapt to presenting with the back-channel.

Read more on how Twitter helps you and your audience during a presentation.

WVU.Encrypted is preferred for WVU faculty, staff, and students who use the wireless on a regular basis. The encrypted network eliminates any concerns about wireless eavesdropping. Instructions for setting up a computer to access the Encrypted Wireless are here.

Checklist:

-A 2nd generation iPhone or iPod Touch, or a 1st generation iPhone or iPod Touch with the latest system update installed (version 2.2).

- You’ll need your Master ID username and password. If you don’t know yours, start here
http://oit.wvu.edu/masterid/

- Make sure your device has an active connection to the internet.

1. Go to Settings
   
2. Select Wi-Fi
   
3. Choose Other…
   
4. The Name of the network is WVU.Encrypted
   
5. Security is WPA2 Enterprise
   
6. Your Username and Password are your Master ID and Master ID Password
7. After you enter your Username and Password, select Join
   
8. It may take a moment, but your device should connect to the WVU.Encrypted network *if* it is available in your location
   

Please note this does not apply to the GroupWise calendar. At this time, the best way to access your GroupWise calendar on your Apple device is through Safari via https://wvugw.wvu.edu

Checklist:

-A 2nd generation iPhone or iPod Touch, or a 1st generation iPhone or iPod Touch with the latest system update installed (version 2.2).

- You’ll need your username and password for the GroupWise email you want to access.

- You’ll need your Central ID username and password, too. If you don’t know yours, start here http://centralid.wvu.edu

- Make sure your device has an active connection to the internet.

1. Find and open Settings
   
   
2. Select Mail, Contacts, Calendars
   
3. Select Add Account…
   
4. Choose Other
   
5. Enter your account information:
   
   • Name = GroupWise
   • Address is your GroupWise email address.
   • Password is the password you use to access your GroupWise email.
   • Description should fill in automagically.
   • Tap Save to continue.
6. Under Incoming Mail Server, enter the Host Name gwpop.wvu.edu
   
   • User Name is the name you use to log in to your GroupWise email.
   • Password can be left alone. It carries over from earlier.
7. Under Outgoing Mail Server, enter the Host Name exsmtp.systems.wvu.edu
   
   • User Name is your Central ID.
   • Password is your Central ID password.
   • Tap Save to continue.

Now your device will attempt to log in and retrieve your email. Chances are, it will ask you to accept a security certificate. If it does, please do! Or, if it fails to access your account the 1st time, follow the prompts to try again.

Sometimes it takes a minute or two for everything to sync. Be patient =)

Creating a College Web Style Guide: Principles, Processes, and Prototypes
Jesse Racine, Web Designer and Developer for McHenry County College, entertainingly presented the importance of keeping things uniformed for your site. He explained the importance of creating a web style guide is to “improve quality of communications by being consistent.” Navigation will be more predictable this way making the site user-friendly. He also explained that having this guide will also save one their time and money.

Colors on the Web: Few Things, Great Results
Martha Carrer Cruz Gabriel presented on the fascinating subject of color. I am interested in this subject because of my interest and background in painting. She explained the importance of color and how we physically and psychologically react. Martha is the Director of Technology at New Media Developers, Ltd. She is also a professor of digital design and games design courses at Brazil’s Universidade Anhembi Morumbi. Martha explained that people will notice the interface first and that the color shapes the page’s meaning. So, color is something you feel when looking at many different mediums. So, think about those who will be utilizing the website. What is the best combination of colors for expressing this message?

New Initiatives in Web Standards Education
Chris Mills, Developer Relations Manager for Opera Software ASA, talked about the issue of websites and absence of web standards. He bluntly explained that the lack of education and lack of interest contributes to this issue. He is determined that the easiest clients to work with are web developers who are concerned.

It is interesting how he handles this difficult arena. Again, he stated the importance of education and training material. The group delivers an up-to-date free course on web standards. This free course can be found at http://www.opera.com/wsc which I have previously visited. So, his plans are giving web standards more credibility and providing certification for those who complete the course.

Internet Evolution Through the Eyes of a Deaf User and Web Professional
Svetlana Kouznetsova, Web Designer and Developer for Lehman College, began her presentation announcing the high 97 percent of inaccessible websites. She described a different perspective on the frustration of inaccessibility. She explained how similar having a disability is to handling a stroller in public, like at an airport. One may feel frustrated when he or she is unable to understand the dialogue of a foreign film or you may even be frustrated because of your outdated technology that you are stuck using. To have an accessible website, one can maintain clean codes and follow accessibility guidelines while having a creative design. Many people believe their site will be plain and unattractive which is not true. The presenter showed a video without the sound and captions. As you can imagine, it was impossible to grasp what was happening. I can relate to this because it is impossible for me to watch a foreign film or even a Shakespeare film without the captions. She explains that it is important to include captions with videos as well as include the transcripts for podcasts.

Accessible Video Interface
Many universities are now presenting videos on their websites. It is important that these videos include captions and are manageable. Gabriel McGovern, Web Designer for Portland Community College, explained that one is able to create high quality Flash videos that have a consistent design and is easy to update. By building the right interface, you are able to make changes that will automatically update all of your videos.

He talked about creating the captions using a free application called Media Access Generator (provided by the National Center for Accessible Media). In addition, the creator will need to time the captions along with the video. You are able to determine what is important for buttons (mute, forward, pause, captions, etc.) and customize the buttons in Flash. You are also able to create a transcript page for accessibility so all you see is text. Another feature that allows accessibility is the xml file (smil.xml) which determines what size video to load for an individual machine. The video can be for download or streaming.

What conferences have you recently attended?

How WordPress Changed My Life

Presentation by Sarah R. Barnes at the 2008 West Virginia Higher Education Technology Conference

My name is Sarah Barnes and I work for the WVU Office of Information Technology. Today I am going to talk about WordPress and how it changed my life.

Now this may seem like a rather melodramatic title, but when I was thinking about how I wanted to present on WordPress I started to examine why exactly it is that I have grown so fond of it.
To explain that, I need to put it in perspective.

I got into web design in 1996. I am primarily self-taught and my interest in web development has generally been on the design and usability of websites.  Before I got to know WordPress, my work had been primarily rooted in static html, usually using includes.

About a year and a half ago, I completed a major redesign of the Office of Information Technology website.  Since the site is still mostly static html with php includes right now, I was running into a problem with maintaining the news portion of our site. I was creating new static files for each new news story and saving it in a specific place, uploading it, adding it manually to an XML file (for our RSS feed) to make sure it appeared on the main page. Additionally, if I was not available, my supervisor could not add content.  Also – if both of us were out, no one could post a new story to the main page. Long story short, we had to find a way that we could

1. Update the main news stories easily,
2. When we were off-campus if necessary,
3. Would produce an RSS feed that could be pushed to subscribers and syndicated on our website wherever needed.

I’d known for awhile we needed something database-driven. Unfortunately, I didn’t know anything about creating databases. I’d always relied on “the server guy” to handle that.

Enter WordPress.  What exactly is it?

WordPress was originally designed as a blogging tool competing with other blogging tools like Blogger, Moveable Type, TextPattern, and others. It was created in 2003 and it is currently the largest self-hosted blogging tool in the world.

Though one of my colleagues at OIT (Justin) had mentioned WordPress to me before, I didn’t fully explore the option until after attending a presentation about setting up WordPress. The presenter demonstrated how easy it was to set up and use and integrated it into her website.  She even used a press release section of her website as an example.

So initially I asked Justin for help setting up WordPress so I could try it out to serve up press releases.  After I got in and saw what the fuss was about it was really eye opening. I was able, in a matter of a few hours, modify a WordPress theme to look exactly like the OIT website and incorporate it into our existing site structure.

Not Just a Blogging Tool

I realized that this application was extremely versatile and could easily be modified to be used on a variety of websites – not just as a blog tool or a news engine. It could also be used as a content management system.  Soon after that I dove in and tried installing it on my own on my own personal hosting account. I realized I’d been wasting a lot of time by assuming that I couldn’t set up database driven sites on my own.  As it turns out, given the proper tools, it’s pretty durn easy to set it up yourself.  So, this really was a liberating step for me.  I began to see a greater potential for using this platform than just to run press releases or a blog and began to use it to develop other sites.

Its modular nature makes it amenable to different types of websites.  As it turns out, it is an excellent content management system for community organizations, classes, collaboration tools, project updates, diaries, photo galleries, discussion, even ecommerce.

System requirements and installation (the famous 5 minute install)

Installing WordPress is incredibly easy. WordPress needs 2 things: php and a database like SQL or MySQL.

At first I was incredibly daunted by the prospect of setting up my own database. I’d heard of a great tool called phpMyAdmin which is a kind of graphical interface for setting up databases on servers that use php and SQL/MySQL. I hadn’t actually used it before, but I gave it a try and suddenly I was free.

Once the database is set up all you need to do with Wordpress is edit 1 file. A single file – wp-config.php.

Even then all you need to do with this file is edit the database name, username, password, and location.

Once you upload that and point your browser to the website, it’ll take you through a couple of screens and have you set up the admin account.

After that you are done. It is ridiculously simple.

How does WordPress Work?

Using WordPress is also very easy. Let me put it this way. My dad had no concept of what a blog really was or did 2 months ago. Now he has a blog and is managing the content himself (for the most part) posting articles, links, videos, and photos. I occasionally have to explain a thing or two to him about how it works or what he can do with it, but overall I have spent exactly maybe 2-3 hours TOTAL on telling him how to use it.

I would venture to say that adding content to WordPress is as easy as sending an email.
There are several different roles in WordPress: Admin, Editor, Author and Contributor. Admin, has the highest level privileges and can do anything. Editors can’t change settings, but they can manage all posts and pages. Authors can only publish posts. Contributors are only able to send content for review.

Content is divided into Posts and Pages. Pages are not a part of the blog timeline and not added to the RSS feed generated by WordPress. Pages are best for content that is more static. Posts are the way the bulk of your content is generated in Wordpress. Posts are in a timeline and update the RSS feed.

Write – To create a new Post or Page click the Write tab or select either the Write a New Post or Write a New Page buttons on the main WordPress “Dashboard.” You can also add new Links under the Write tab.

Manage lets you go back and edit pages, posts, links, categories, tags, your media library, import or export data, etc.

Design controls which theme you use. Themes are displays based on any that you have uploaded to the themes folder. Select a new theme by clicking on one and applying it. The Widgets link controls your sidebars. This is optional, but it is an easy way to mange certain aspects of WordPress. You can have multiple sidebars.

Comments lets you manage comments made on your Wordpress site.

Administrator Tabs

Administrative management does require you know a little bit more than your average bear, but in comparison to other Content Management Systems it is very user-friendly and uncomplicated.

Users lets you manage all the users of your blog. You can dictate who is an admin, editor, author, contributor or simply a subscriber. You can also change passwords here if you want.
Plugins controls what plugins are active on your website. To add new plugins upload to wp-content>plugins. Then go to Plugins and activate any you want to use.

Settings controls the back end. Turn comments on or off, set Permalinks, edit settings for writing and reading posts, etc. Also options for specific plugins are usually under this tab.

Themes are uploaded to wp-content> themes and activated under the Design tab.

Updating/Upgrading

Right now upgrading WordPress has to be done manually or by installing a plugin called WordPress Automatic Plugin. In WordPress 2.7 (coming out in November) this feature will be added by default.

Updating plugins is also important to keep on top of, and can (as of WP 2.5) be updated easily through the WP interface.

Designing for WordPress (Themes)

Now. After you install WordPress you will want to customize the look and feel of the site. WordPress uses “themes” to customize a basic set of code. The implementation of themes in WordPress is what, in my opinion, makes it stand out from other content management systems. Each theme is self-contained within the wp-content folder. This folder is the only one that stores custom information for your WordPress install. You can modify other parts of Wordpress, but by setting it up this way, they’ve made it so it is unlikely that the average user will ever want or have to.

WordPress is a php application, but it is extremely modular. The application is broken down into several core files which can be modified in limitless ways.

The best way to jump into WordPress, however, is to download a theme and modify it. I feel this is the best way to learn how it works. Once you do this a ew times, you see how different themes are constructed and start to get a better understanding of what is possible. I generally look for a theme that has the overall layout I’m looking for and go from there. However, if you want, you can start your own theme from scratch. A good place to start is with a blank theme (download “Starkers”) and build your own look and feel.

One thing I really like about WordPress is the Theme Editor. You can edit the theme in real time on the website if you want. This is a lot less time consuming that upload it each time you make a change. OTOH, it does require a level of comfort with straight code with no syntax highlighting.

Plugins

Another aspect of WordPress that makes it very attractive and flexible is the plethora of plugins available to extend its capabilities.  Plugins that do everything from improving the backend administrative features to making your WordPress site a full-blown shopping cart.
[In-depth discussion probably not an option due to time constraints.]

…more?

So you may be asking yourself, WordPress sounds great, but can it really manage a large site? What about multiple blogs? Do you have to install it multiple times?

Well, there is another WordPress for those of us who want to run multiple instances of Wordpress and have centralized control over all of them called Wordpress Multiuser or WordPress Mu.

WordPress Mu is a single installation that lets you manage multiple “blogs.” Wordpress.com and Edublogs use it to manage the millions of hosted blogs. This summer we launched a blog for OIT using WPMU (blog.oit.wvu.edu). I can control the available themes and plugins from a central location.  The biggest drawback to WPMU, in my opinion is the lack of a web-based theme editor.

WPMU in iself is a presentation, so I’l go ahead and end here.  I really appreciate your time.  Thank you.

Questions?

Please keep in mind that this was only a 30 minute presentation, so I didn’t really have a lot of time to cover everything in WordPress.

Is anyone else out there using WordPress?  How are you using it?

If you are one of those folks, you may be asking – “Well, what is RSS anyway and why do I care?”

Universal RSS symbol

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary.  Many websites produce RSS feeds – basically a simple file (XML) of the website’s content that is pushed out (or “fed” if you will) to the rest of the Internet.  This file can be subscribed to by an RSS reader or syndicated on another website.

The beauty of RSS is that you get notified as soon as something is posted.

Google Reader

Checking in is no more difficult than visiting a central location on the web, such as Google Reader, iGoogle, myYahoo (to name but a few), or an application like FeedReader or NewsGator. Keep in mind there are hundreds of different places and tools to set up your virtual news desk, just find one that works best for you.

FeedReader

Subscribing to feeds also greatly reduces the amount of time spent loading new windows or surfing, refreshing, etc. I’ve been very happy to discover new sites and sources of information that I might not have otherwise known about simply by subscribing to content this way.  Blogs (like this one) will often point me to a new source of information and I’ll add it to my reader.  Since I use Google Reader, I also see recommendations for feeds that I might be interested in on the landing page.

To subscribe to a website’s feed, look for the RSS symbol or a link to RSS.  Your browser will ask you how you want to subscribe.  Choose the option that works best for you.

On the flipside getting your news from RSS feeds can be a bit overwhleming.  Due to the shear volume of information you now have access to, you have to be selective about what you spend your time reading this way.  Right now I use both iGoogle and Google Reader.  Why both? They both have different strengths and I find that using them both lets me monitor different sites in different ways.

iGoogle lets me add feeds, but displays up to 9 headlines and summaries at a time.  I can have different tabs (created by me) for different types of feeds.  I use this for monitoring headlines and current events.  Google Reader, on the other hand, adds all of the new stories to a feed and I use this to monitor blogs of more specialized information that I am probably going to want to read.

I’ll post again with more tips on using RSS and Google Reader.  In the meantime, feel free to post any questions or comments about using RSS.

Need more information? Try this great little video from Common Craft called “RSS in Plain English.”

Here are some other handy resources for learning more about RSS:

• Introduction to RSS
• Wikipedia: RSS
• RSS 2.0 at Harvard Law
• RSS Tutorial for Content Publishers and Webmasters