For the 3rd assignment, I chose option 1, which was interviewing someone in the creation of a CMS. I focussed on the Dysart Unified School District libraries. The district has 24 libraries that serve students in grades K-12. For the schools, the library websites are uniform with other staff of the district. The library also has specific needs which are met with our library management system, so separate needs through the IT department are addressed. Our IT department has two leads, one is the CIO (Chief Information Officer) and the CTO (Chief Technology Officer). As the head librarian for the district, I work with the CTO in management of the specific library issues. I initially set out to interview her, but was passed on the CIO because he greater experience and knowledge with the CMS for the district. Below is a transcript of the interview.
Interviewer - Todd Simonson (TS)
Interviewee - John Andrews (JA)
TS: What is your job title and responsibilities?
JA: CIO (Chief Information Officer) Oversee the technology development and IT personnel for the district.
TS: How and where did you hear about CMS?
JA: CMS has been around for quite a while. It is now more popular because of Google, Microsoft, and Apple developments.
TS: What CMS is adopted for the district.
JA: The district builds its own CMS for differernt homegrown applications. We also use Google to assist in building the CMS.
TS: What was the motivation to adopt the CMS currently in use?
JA: Easy to use interface, conformity of design, office type menu, able to be used among various positions in the district.
TS: What did the decision making criteria consist of?
JA: Ease of use, cloud storage vs. in house storage, free offer from Google.
TS: How many people were involved in the decision making process and what was their roles?
JA: 10 - CIO, CTO, Technology Trainers, Curriculum Directions, and Teachers (including librarians).
TS: Who is responsible for rolling out trainings for CMS and what is their role?
JA: The technology trainers for the district - their role is to help staff integrate technology into use.
TS: What was the organization using before CMS?
JA: Static HTML coding
TS: What do you see as the three biggest advantages of using CMS?
JA: Ease of use, cost effectiveness, flexibility
TS: What is the biggest drawback to using CMS?
JA: Restrictions of individual creativity
TS: What are the important benefits or advantages of CMS we are using now over old systems or other CMS software used in the past?
JA: Embedding of new technology trends (such as Facebook, Twitter, etc). We are staying current with current technology trends and able to communicate more effectively and efficiently.
TS: What was the learning curve like?
JA: The learning curve was quite easy. Staff were uniformly trained by Technology Trainers and Inovation Ambassadors. Staff that picked up the new technology easily also assisted peers who had challenges. The integration of madated use put in the evaluation tool also helped move this forward.
TS: What challenges have you faced in the implementation of CMS and how did you overcome these?
JA: Including videos, photo galleries, and other media. We upgrades the CMS to accommodate these tasks.
TS: What advise would you have in directing another organization going through the process?
JA: Identify goals, set clear expectations, train, train, train, and keep up with current trends.
Reflection: Having lived through the process, as I have worked in the district for 11 years, I would say it has proven to be very beneficial. From a user standpoint, there have been challenges in regards to changing from old ways. However the integration of evaluation tool has made staff implement the changes. The use of staff to assist in the training has been very effective. The district, parents, and students have all benefited from the changes. As a result our district was awarded the 2011-2012 Model Technolgy Excellence Award. Due to this, several school leaders from across the nation visited our school as a model of transforming technology in the district.
Speaking from the library perspective, we are in a unique position. Our staff of 24 librarians make up a small fraction of the general district population. Therefore I would say we are sometimes overlooked in the initial thought process. However, as lead librarians for the district, I have developed a great working relationship with the CTO and IT technicial responsible for library programming. This relationship has proved invaluable as we are accommodated based on our needs. I am always amazed how flexible the team and system is.
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