Administration

Martin's post on discussion of PReE

Posting minutes spent discussing the proposed code review of PReE with Scott, Karin, Stew and Greg.

We need an online form for potential clients to fill in, to create a formal project proposal (the word "Charter" is meaningless in this context and just confuses us all).

This should submit to simple mySQL database, and perhaps link in to the blogging system so e.g. when one is submitted, a Task could be created automatically. What's urgently required, though, is a form for creating the document. It should be a set of db fields, along with an XHTML output routine that enables us to read it easily (and perhaps edit it using the original form). The immediate task is to build the form, db and output format; after that's done, another task should be created (perhaps for Martin) integrating it into the blog system.

Stew and I discussed this (15 minutes).

I have written a web page including a form and simple data checking at hcmc/researcher/proposal.php.

This task superceded by task posted at end of January with more details on how that is to interact with the b2evo db.

Me too.

Informal meeting with Scott to discuss degree to which writing papers and presenting at conferences should be a part of job responsibilities for HCMC staff, and thus travel budgets should be allocated. Arose out of examples:
1) Catherine Caws and Scott both proposing to present at different conferences on the FrancoToile project and asking for my involvement in one way or another.
2) Scott wishing to present on the blog as an administrative tool and which if any staff should be involved in writing or presenting that.

I am just confirming everyone's vacation plans, and listing a few items that you should be aware of. First, vacation plans:

• Ali: Dec. 18th - Jan. 10th
• Scott: Dec. 21st - Jan. 7th
• Judy: Dec. 18th - Jan. 2nd
• Stewart: Jan. 2nd - 7th, two days in Dec. TBA
• Martin: Dec. 22nd - Jan. 7th
• Greg: Week of closure only

In summary:

• -- Only Greg and Stewart will be in Dec. 21st - 22nd.
• -- Only Greg and Judy will be in the first week of January.

1) The CALL office space will undergo renovations Dec. 18th - Jan. 5th to improve accessibility. During that period the CALL will remain closed and access through it blocked. This will cause some disruption, noise, and dust for the period, and likely workmen will be using our passage for access. We will do our best to keep them on the other side of the building, and in and out through the far elevator in A wing. Ali and I will both be gone for much of the renovation, and either Marc Thoma or Pat Konkin will be responsible for checking in daily for CASS. The project officers, Gordon Argyle and Gorman Lee, will be responisble for oversight and completion of the project.

2) The office currently being used by Paul and Jessica (Peter's old office) will be re-keyed soon. Currently, the office shares the same key as mine, and circumstances require us to separate the keys. Although full and part time DCST appointments will be issued a key to the office, only the full-time appointment (Paul at this point) will be issued a key to the HCMC front door.

3) David Badke will be leaving us December 31st. We have appreciated his efforts and good work, and will miss him. Please extend your gratitude and say goodbye before you take off for the holidays. I have a feeling he will continue at UVic in one capacity or another, so I think we will be seeing him around. I would like to propose we take him for a drink after work one day. Let's talk about it.

Discussed the cart mods with Darryl from FacMan. He figures that our budget is sufficient for the mods I requested, but cannot commit until he sees the TV with the cart and has a chance to investigate prices for parts and labour. I'll get back to them when the TV arrives.

The RFQ for the CANJAS LCD purchase has produced 4 quotes, only two of which are for the Samsung LNS3251D.

I looked at the proposed alternatives from other suppliers and am not satisfied that the proposals would fit our requirements.

My preference is to go with the last supplier (quote 4) as the price is, overall, lower than the other quote (quote 2) and is in my mind a more suitable supplier for our requirements. They will also deliver within 2-3 days of receiving the PO.

Martin had the missing clock files, which we uploaded to the web site.
I then downloaded the entire clipart folder to my mac, put a copy of it in the old web archive folder, zipped that folder and put it up in the root of the departmental account. see related post

Since the new hcmc site was posted, there have been problems with the clipart library housed in a clipart library within the site.

There were about four directories of images missing on the hcmc site, so I unzipped a zip file of the old hcmc site on my hard drive and found the missing directories. Alas, there were no files inside the directories.

It turns out there were no files in a number of other directories in the clipart folder on my hard drive, even though those files and folders did exist on the hcmc account and I'm sure I used the files on my mac to upload to the new hcmc site in the first place.

I went to another account on the backup machine and found another copy of the clipart site and downloaded it to my mac. It turns out this one is missing the directories and contained image files for the clocks from 1:00 to 4:40, but appears to have everything else.

I've put a copy of that folder from the backup machine into the langcen account, and now have to find only those missing clock files.