Dsg 2015-02-05

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Announcements and Updates

  • Hillary is putting together a proposal for the Scholarly Communication Institute. where members of the DSG might discuss how NU helps to support digital scholarship in its creation, maintenance, validation, etc. She is also considering who from the DSG staff might be best as attendees and will be in touch with these potential participants.
  • Jim and Sarah Connell noted that they have created a digital space in Slack where graduate students interested in digital scholarship can have informal conversations, exchange ideas, etc. They will monitor the activity of students in the space and use it as a potential area for DissCo-related ideas and events.
  • Julia and Patrick have met with people in the NULaw Lab to discuss their mapping project. The NULawLab and the library will collaborate on grant proposal to fund the adoption of the usable parts of the mapping tools as parts of the DRS Project Toolkit.
  • Following up on previous discussions of Archive-It. Julia asked Patrick about the potential that Archive-It could crawl sites related to projects but not hosted on Northeastern's servers. Patrick didn't think it would be a problem in terms of cost, Additionally, the question of Michelle Romero attending an upcoming DSG meeting was again raised.

DRS Project Toolkit Updates

  • Sarah Sweeney noted that a blog post is up with information about the DRS Project Toolkit CFP. A blurb that library liaisons can use in communications with faculty has also been written.
  • Content about the CFP is also up on the library's main site thanks to communication with Jen Anderle.
  • Sarah has also checked in with Steve Sadow and Phil Brown for updates on their projects.
  • Next steps in promotion include e-mails to the NULab faculty list and NUDigital list, as well as tweets announcing the CFP.

Discussion of Podio

Jim gave a presentation on Podio, focusing on its current uses and its potential future uses. His presentation notes are below. Conversation after the presentation concerned:

  • The value of an information session about project management tools (for current and future project managers / DSG Staff / grad students) so that the various strengths and weaknesses of tools used by the DSG and its projects (Podio, Trello, Github, wikis, etc.) could be discussed.
  • Whether contact information about students (specifically, email addresses) should be displayed in Podio.
  • The limits of Podio's app functionality on mobile devices.
  • How webforms work: specifically, if content from webforms can be re-used on other projects / where webform content lives on Podio. Jim will look into this.
  • The need to combine the presently-separate Service Request and Installation request forms / apps on Podio into a single form. Jim will do this.
  • The need to document information about Podio and its uses on the DSG wiki, which Jim will take care of.
  • Jim's notes are below:

Present Uses of Podio

  • Information we currently keep on Podio:
  • Project Inventory and Descriptions
  • Contact List (individuals who have worked on / are currently working on DSG projects)
  • DSG Calendar (weekly meetings)
  • Service Requests
  • Installation Requests
  • Data gathered from webforms embedded on the DSG site (DRS Project Toolkit Applications)
  • DSG Tasks

*The value of keeping that information on Podio

  • central location for vital information about projects (participants, managers, checklists for where information is stored elsewhere)
  • useful way of tracking information about projects (size, number of participants, costs, use of DSG resources)
  • DRS Project toolkit submissions all in one accessible location (where feedback could also be stored)
  • data is exportable (Excel) in the event we decide to stop using Podio
  • DSG Tasks are at the bottom of that information list for a reason; Of our 14 Podio users, 9 have used tasks minimally (if at all).
  • The potential for documenting work in tasks is dependent on what we can do with the data stored in the "Activity" section of Podio
  • I do think there is the potential for productive use of Podio tasks w/r/t particular DSG work (see future uses of Podio)

What is not presently in Podio

  • Project goals / trajectories
  • information about what project management tools projects are using / who governs those tools
  • Most project managers of DSG projects
  • information about hours projects and their employees are active in a given semester
  • information about money spent by projects / DSG and library costs
  • a ton of information about staff activity tied to DSG projects
  • information about grants and grant cycles
  • information about project preservation plans

*Dynamic Data in Podio Templates in Podio / available options

  • Text
  • Category
  • Date
  • Relationship
  • Contact
  • Number
  • Link
  • Image
  • Money
  • Progress
  • Calculation
  • Map
  • Duration
  • Most basic visualization available in Podio: Reports: reports make primary use of dynamic data created via the "Category" option in templates;important to consider when creating templates: the value and limitations of this option

Future Uses of Podio

  • DRS Pilot Project Submissions

  • Workflows: notifications whenever new submissions are received (currently set to notify Sarah and Amanda)
  • Internal Review: invisible fields we can add to the webform to keep comments and decisions in a central location
  • DSG Events
  • a central location to keep information about events (number of participants, DSG staff needs, costs, use of space, etc.)
  • information that could be useful when assessing popularity of particular events, popular spaces for booking
  • potential to use webforms to get feedback on events that could be stored in Podio (instead of across Google Forms); another option is to provide links to Google forms in information field

DissCo

  • kept separate from events presently in the event that Sarah and I / future DissCo managers want a separate work space
  • similar aims and goals to Events app

Rooms

  • made a separate app so I could create a Relationship field for use with DSG Events / DissCo apps
  • a space where information about how rooms are booked / size of rooms / other information can be stored

Grant Calendar / Grants App

  • perceived need for a space where we can describe grants, track projects applying for particular grants, document success, track DSG staff members tied to grants / applying for grants
  • Project Management on Tasks Performed / Projects Overseen by DSG Staff
  • examples might include the submission / review process tied to DRS Toolkit work; DissCo-related work; potentially tasks tied to events planning (major tasks such as booking events, changing dates, the start of PR efforts, etc.; not necessarily a need to document everything)
  • dependent on the kind of work being done; some DSG work is documented elsewhere for good reason (wikis, e-mail discussions, other project management tools)
  • potential to connect Podio to Google, Dropbox, and Evernote if that helps

What Podio Does Not Seem That Great At (Jim's Highly Subjective Opinions)

  • assigning tasks for every single communication / task (potential for too much noise); examples include inviting staff to attend meetings (redundant, given the use of Google Calendar)
  • difficult for first-time users to get a handle on; design seems counter-intuitive at times
  • too many apps, many of which seem to do the same thing / variations on the same thing (though creating apps in Podio is not difficult)
  • potential accessibility issues (not a current issue with staff, but something to consider)


Discussion Questions about DSG's Use of Podio

  • What kinds of new information do we want to add to Podio?
  • Projects: numbers tied to funding? Tasks tied to grant deadlines?
  • Contacts: weekly hours? Total hours? Individual costs?
  • Assessment: evaluation of events, submissions, etc.
  • What information should I ask project managers to provide us with for use in Podio?

How might the DSG more effectively use Podio as project management tool to oversee our own work?

  • Who assigns tasks? Julia? Self-assigned? Do we need to govern this?
  • What could we learn from populating the activity feed on Podio more?
  • How might the Podio activity feed be useful in staff assessment?
  • What is left out of the activity feed, even with its expanded use?
  • How will the influx of new projects (via the DRS Pilot Program and other initiatives) impact our use of Podio?

Should we provide access to some project managers /directors in search of tools, or is this too much clutter?

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