LawLibTech

Here's another difference between MOSS and WSS.  MOSS does much nicer usage reporting.  But either way, to answer another question that was posed at the webinar, there is site usage reporting available in SharePoint for your sites, blogs and/or wikis.  That means you can check to see who visits your blogs and wikis, and how often.

It's important to regularly check the site statistics for the sources that you diligently maintain.  If you've promoted your content well, organized it in a meaningful way, and update it regularly, you'll want to know if all your effort is paying off. 

The WSS site statistics are quite basic.  Here's an example, from my SharePoint site, which runs on WSS:

Here's one, complete with graphs, from MOSS SharePoint.  Much prettier. 

One of the questions that came up during the Thinking Outside of the Blog webinar was "What is the difference between SharePoint WSS and MOSS?"  That was one of the first questions I asked when I started working with SharePoint, and while I looked it up at the time, I couldn't articulate the difference well enough to provide an intelligence response.  I'm appending some links below that answer this question, but I'll also summarize the major points that seem most significant:

• If you have SharePoint, by definition you have WSS.  WSS is free to most companies.
• MOSS builds upon the features in WSS, offering additional features of particular interest to enterprise users.
• Both include wiki and blog sites.  There doesn't seem to be a significant different between WSS and MOSS in this area.
• MOSS includes RSS feeds, user profiles, audience targeting, social networking web parts, and web parts that can integrate content from applications outside of SharePoint.

For more information see:

• Windows SharePoint Services v3.0 vs Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 - Includes a list of features in MOSS that are not included in WSS.
• Compare WSS v. MOSS
• Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) from Wikipedia

I hope this helps.

Have you ever read Marie Wallace's article on LLRX called The Power of Post-Its?   If you  give presentations, and let's face it, at one time or another we all do, you should take a look at her method of brainstorming and organization.

The idea is to use post-its and a file folder to organize your thoughts when preparing a presentation.  I've been using it for years, and whenever I think perhaps I could forgo it, and just open up PowerPoint and start there instead, I've been sorry.  PowerPoint encourages a very linear chain of thought, and without figuring out in advance the points you want to make, and organizing them outside of PowerPoint, you can end up with a disorganized mish-mash.

But it is decidedly low-tech.  And if someone walks into my office and sees my file folder covered in post-its, I look far from organized.  I can live with that, but the truth be told, I would like a neater, cleaner way to accomplish the same thing.

This time I'm trying something different, and using Microsoft OneNote to brainstorm and organize.  And I must say, I'm liking it!  I've set up one page with the same elements that Marie recommends for organizing;  I have other pages within the group with screenshots and URLs.  After all of this is compiled, and I know what I want to say, THEN I'll go to PowerPoint to put it all together. 

I don't hear much about OneNote, but it really is a great product for keeping notes and otherwise organizing those little bits of information you're not sure what to do with. 

The power of post-Its without the post-its is working for me!

May 7th, 2009  12:00 - 1:00 PM Central Time

Are you hoping to follow hot topics,supplement training, market your department, or create a knowledgebase? Using a blog for these types of initiatives and more.  For the most part, Blog applications are only limited by your imagination.Why? Because blogs are simple but powerful tools for organizing and sharing information that are often underestimated and underutilized.

We'll discuss the variety of ways you can use these mini-content management applications in your firm, review some of the more popular blog tools, including. You'll learn how to setup a blog, and organize your content.

Register Here

I didn't have to wait until Easter to learn that my grandniece got into graduate school. (Go, Briana!)  Dave forgot to tell me that Bonnie got a Group 4 at the dog show last week. But now I know. In all the years that we've been taking a family picture at Christmas, I've never seen the final product.  Until this year.  And I have Facebook to thank for it.

I've been connecting with my professional network via LinkedIn for some time, and then there's Twitter, but I wouldn't dream of subjecting other librarians to the details and video of my latest dog agility run. So I'd been thinking a personal social network for sharing information about my dog-related activities would be fun. But what good is a social network, if none of your friends are there?  Then, a couple of months ago, my friend Sally said she'd joined Facebook and suggested I'd be surprised at who I might find there.  She was right.  I found friends, relatives, and an easy way to keep up with them all. 

I'm not the only one.  The number of Americans over 35, 45, and 55 on Facebook is growing fast. In the last 60 days alone, the number of people over 35 has nearly doubled.  (Inside Facebook:Number of US Facebook Users Over 35 Nearly Doubles in Last 60 Days)   Women over 55 are the fastest growing demographic. Yes, this is the same Facebook that started as an online haven for college students. As I told my nephew when I found him in Facebook, it's the invasion of the baby boomers. 

So how long before the kids run screaming from the virtual room because their aunts, uncles, parents and others are now watching their every move on Facebook?       

I'm not the first name on the routing list for Information Today.  That's a shame because it's worth the price of admission just for Barbara Quint and Steven Cohen's columns. January was a good month.  Steven Cohen wrote about Jureeka, a wonderful little add-in for Firefox that identifies legal citations on a web page, any web page, and hyperlinks them to a free source for the full text. 

In know, I know, there aren't very many firms that suport the use of Firefox.  And that's a real shame, because Jureeka is a very handy little utility, and you can only get this kind of functionality in Firefox.  In this time of cost-cutting, what could be better than an easy way to retrieve case law at no charge?

One reason Firefox may not be acceptable in your firm is because the Intranet is likely optimized for Internet Explorer.  But Firefox can channel Internet Explorer, so it's not impossible to get by with Firefox in a Microsoft shop.....if you can stay under the IT radar...

This isn't just a goal, it's an online program that seems to fit the bill for an inexpensive Sharepoint session specifically for those of us who don't have rights to touch the server and/or Sharepoint Designer.  I must say, I'm intrigued.  I've subscribed to the RSS feed to keep on eye on the associated blog, End User SharePoint.  If anyone is familiar with the types of online programs presented by this company, please let us know.

Suddenly it seems that everyone is getting Sharepoint.  I've been working with it for a couple of months now and have found it to be very powerful but sometimes very frustrating.  Some of my frustrations might be mitigated if I was thoroughly trained rather than learning as I go.

So I've been watching for possible training opportunities and there are many to choose from. Just type "SharePoint training" into Google, and you'll find literally hundreds of companies that would love to provide you with training. But let's get real....in this economy thousands of dollars for a class and/or webinar just isn't going to happen.  Though I have to admit, this one just about had me salivating. 

The topic of SharePoint training came up recently on SLA's KM mailing list; the answers are listed on their KM Wiki. (Membership required.)  Nina Platt recommended Sharepoint Solutions, but there's that pesky money issue.  She also pointed out a webinar done by Factiva called "Taxonomy & Sharepoint: A Powerful Combination."  Anything on the subject of SharePoint and taxonomies is going on my to-do list!

Microsoft offers some online training as well as webcasts and podcasts, and the price is right. (free)

I don't have to remind you that there are always tons books out there related to any major software program.  Quite naturally, I'm a big fan of books, and I've been poring over a borrowed copy (thanks, Lisa!) of Microsoft® Windows® SharePoint® Services 3.0 Step by Step (Step By Step (Microsoft) and it's not bad.  But there's a Murphy's Law of software-related handbooks.  They tend to include a lot of good information, but never have the answer to YOUR particular question. Google often does a better job on the question answering front. 

The other problem with books for these kinds of topics is that many of them concentrate more on technical aspects such as server configuration, something many of us have nothing to do with, so it's important to find one that's geared towards your particular use of the product.

Below is a quick poll on SharePoint Training.  If you've found a good book, website or seminar, please share by clicking on the "comments" link above.

This is my first post on LawLibTech's new platform!  While I realize you probably don't care what platform this blog is run on, I'm excited, as MT 4.2 has some new community features that can encourage more interactivity, such as discussion groups.  The folks at MT are also actively adding more social networking options practically as we speak, so there's some great potential here.  Let me know if you have any thoughts on the kind of content you'd find useful. 

The biggest downside to moving LawLIbTech is the fact that all the URLs for articles/entries have changed.  So if you've linked directly to any content, you'll need to update your links.  Just know that everything is still here, and it's readily accessisble by browsing the categories or simply searching. 

Oh, and also, if you spot any little oddities with the site, be sure to let me know.  Moves of any kind rarely happen without a few glitches here and there.