[Announcements] Sakai Newsletter March 4, 2010

Thu Mar 11 10:31:22 PST 2010

Sakai Newsletter

March 4, 2010

1.  From the Executive Director

2.  Sakai Conference Proposal Deadline Extended: March 15

3.  rSmart Welcomes University of the Pacific

4.  Release: Kernel 1.1.1

5.  WebDAV & Windows 7

6.  Sakai 3 and WebDAV or Other Mass File Upload Options

7.  Recent Email Group Discussions

8.  Events

------------------------------------------
1.  From the Executive Director

This is my final "From the Executive Director" newsletter item. This  
isn't a format that lends itself to comprehensive analysis and I'm  
quite sure I can't synthesize the last few years into a pity parting  
paragraph. What I will say is that it has been a privilege to work  
with the members of the Sakai community and I move onto my next  
challenges much wiser than when I started. I am deeply grateful to  
have had this opportunity.

Sakai is doing important work in education and, while oft-stated, it  
is no cliché to say that the active engagement of the community is  
what has brought, and will bring, its success. So find a way to invest  
in the project. I don't say "contribute" because that sounds like  
charity. It is really an investment that will pay substantial  
dividends both for yourself and your institution. It is a cooperative  
effort and that sometimes makes the investment seem more speculative,  
but here we are on the verge of releasing 2.7. It is the ultimate  
proof that the community works and that your efforts do pay off.

-- Michael Korcuska

mkorcuska at sakaifoundation.org

------------------------------------------
2. Sakai Conference Proposal Deadline Extended:  March 15

We have received multiple requests to extend the deadline for  
proposals for the 2010 Sakai Conference in Denver. Although the  
Conference Program Committee has begun to review and evaluate  
submitted proposals, we will continue to accept additional submissions  
through March 15.

Please review the Proposal Guidelines at: http://bit.ly/9RWnUj

To submit a proposal fill out the online form: http://bit.ly/9ALf9v

Thanks,

Pieter Hartsook
Sakai Foundation Communications Manager
hartsook at sakaifoundation.org

------------------------------------------
3. rSmart Welcomes University of the Pacific

Last week rSmart welcomed University of the Pacific to the Sakai  
Community as a recent rSmart Sakai CLE support customer.  Pacific is  
one of the West's most distinctive, student-centered national  
universities. Recognized as the first chartered institution of higher  
learning in the State of California, Pacific is a private university  
with about 6,700 students on three campuses in Northern California.

Pacific offers an extensive selection of undergraduate, graduate and  
professional programs on three campuses in Stockton, San Francisco,  
and Sacramento. With nine schools and colleges and more than 80 majors  
and programs of study -- including continuing education, law, pharmacy  
and dental programs -- Pacific has that rare combination of small- 
university friendliness and programs found at much larger universities.

University of the Pacific decided on the rSmart Sakai CLE in June 2009  
and began transitioning students and faculty across its campus  
enterprise in August 2009.  After using a leading proprietary course  
management system, Pacific made Sakai part of its overall plan to  
reduce TCO through the use of open source solutions. The University  
also chose to utilize rSmart's Application Hosting Services for Sakai  
in a move designed to reduce overall hardware infrastructure costs.

rSmart provided Pacific with implementation services to switch from  
their commercial software and deploy Sakai.  In addition, rSmart  
assisted with the integration of several of Pacific's systems as part  
of a 3-year Premium Support services agreement.

"We've been very satisfied with our move to Sakai and with rSmart for  
support," said Peggy Kay, Director of Enterprise Applications and  
Interim Chief Information Officer at Pacific.  "The resources and  
budget we're saving by deploying Sakai, hosting with rSmart, and  
utilizing rSmart's support services will enable us to fund other  
important projects and services to the benefit of our students and  
faculty."

Mike Zackrison
VP of Marketing and Strategy
www.rsmart.com

------------------------------------------
4. Release: Kernel 1.1.1

Hi All,

We're pleased to announce the release of the latest 1.1 Kernel. This  
release addresses 8 issues. It includes an important fix for the  
handling of UTF8 characters in some cases (KNL-414).

Full list of changes can be found at:
http://jira.sakaiproject.org/browse/KNL/fixforversion/11788

As always the project site can be found at:
http://source.sakaiproject.org/release/kernel/1.1.1/

Regards

David Horwitz
david.horwitz at uct.ac.za

------------------------------------------
5. WebDAV & Windows 7

WebDAV has been a common problem (in various forms) for our users  
since forever.  At different times it's been specifically problematic  
for Vista, Windows 7, and Mac.  We evaluate each issue on a case-by- 
case basis but since the problem usually lies outside of Sakai itself,  
we came up with some free and locally-tested 3rd-party clients that  
have worked for our users almost without fail.  Subsequently, we've  
reworked our local "Upload-Download Multiple Resources" page to  
provide download links and use instructions for these clients. I  
offered these to the community through SAK-15280.  Direct link: https://ctools.umich.edu/access/content/public/webdav_instructions.html 
.  Feel free to use or adapt.

Jeff Ziegler
ziegler at umich.edu

------------------------------------------
6. Sakai 3 and WebDAV or Other Mass File Upload Options

Sakai 3 is currently using the Fluid Multi-File Uploader. While this  
is not a drag and drop solution it does allow the user to easily  
upload multiple files at the same time.

However, the Fluid Uploader uses Flash to achieve its magic and  
because it is Flash-based it has some issues, especially around  
accessibility. There are some better implementations of a Flash-based  
multi-file Uploader but they all struggle to work around the  
limitations imposed by Flash.

There are some very nice Java-based multi-file uploaders. We dismissed  
these as an option on Fluid because we felt that Java's security  
dialogs are just too scary for most users.

So multi-file upload via the browser continues to be problematic.

One glimmer of hope is HTML5, which implements a native multi-file  
upload form object. It should be possible to build some nice UI around  
this functionality. The question is when *and if* Microsoft supports  
this functionality.

Eli Cochran
eli at media.berkeley.edu

------------------------------------------
7.  Recent Email Discussion Groups

[Building Sakai] Integrating Sakai with eyeOS
http://n2.nabble.com/Building-Sakai-Integrating-Sakai-with-eyeOS-td4710788.html#a4710788

[Building Sakai] Deprecating reports and warehouse tools
http://n2.nabble.com/Deprecating-reports-and-warehouse-tools-td4705715.html#a4705715

[Building Sakai] Gradebook import/export features
http://n2.nabble.com/Building-Sakai-Gradebook-import-export-features-td4702599.html#a4708819

[Building Sakai] Add Participants MYSQL table lock
http://n2.nabble.com/Building-Sakai-Add-Particicpants-MySQL-table-lock-td4579848.html#a4706801

[Building Sakai] MySql binary files to File Server hosting conversion
http://n2.nabble.com/Building-Sakai-MySql-binary-files-to-File-Server-hosting-conversion-td4698963.html#a4698963

[DG: User Experience] [Building Sakai] [WG: Accessibility] CKEditor 3.2
http://n2.nabble.com/WG-Accessibility-CKEditor-3-2-td4656152.html#a4656152

[Building Sakai] how to future-proof Sakai 2 tools?
http://n2.nabble.com/Building-Sakai-how-to-future-proof-Sakai-2-tools-td4696839.html#a4701200

[Building Sakai] Fwd:  Sakai BigBlueButton integration
http://n2.nabble.com/Building-Sakai-Sakai-BigBlueButton-integration-td4661565.html#a4661565

[Building Sakai] [WG: I18N & L10N] i18n Memorandum of Understanding -  
Process to fix	i18n issues
http://n2.nabble.com/Re-Building-Sakai-i18n-Memorandum-of-Understanding-Process-to-fix-i18n-issues-td4702436.html#a4703288

[Building Sakai] Upgrade portal to Velocity 1.6.2?
http://n2.nabble.com/Building-Sakai-Upgrade-portal-to-Velocity-1-6-2-td4701112.html#a4701112

[Building Sakai] Usage of LDAP attributes for Signon and Course/Site  
Management
http://n2.nabble.com/Building-Sakai-Usage-of-LDAP-attributes-for-Signon-and-Course-Site-Management-td4700736.html#a4700736

[Building Sakai] Cambridge Autojoin tool
http://n2.nabble.com/Building-Sakai-Cambridge-Autojoin-tool-td4701415.html#a4701415

[Building Sakai] Certificate tool in sakai
http://n2.nabble.com/Building-Sakai-Certificate-tool-in-sakai-td4665778.html#a4696377

[DG: User Experience] GSoC 2010 projects
http://n2.nabble.com/Building-Sakai-GSoC-2010-projects-td4701130.html#a4701130

[Building Sakai] sakai-2.7.0-b04 now available
http://n2.nabble.com/WG-Sakai-QA-sakai-2-7-0-b04-now-available-td4694478.html#a4694478

[DG: User Experience] Having 3akai-ux package itself
http://n2.nabble.com/DG-User-Experience-Having-3akai-ux-package-itself-td4705272.html#a4705272

[WG: Accessibility] Sakai 3 UX Accessibility Page in Confluence
http://n2.nabble.com/WG-Accessibility-Sakai-3-UX-Accessibility-Page-in-Confluence-td4705105.html#a4705105

[DG: User Experience] Screencast on a new Group Manager UI for Sakai
http://n2.nabble.com/DG-User-Experience-Screencast-on-a-new-Group-Manager-UI-for-Sakai-td4673380.html#a4701322

[DG: User Experience] GSoC 2010 projects
http://n2.nabble.com/Building-Sakai-GSoC-2010-projects-td4701130.html#a4701130

[Using Sakai] Learning Capabilities Theme Counts and Theme Sheets
http://n2.nabble.com/DG-Teaching-Learning-Learning-Capabilities-Theme-Counts-and-Theme-Sheetstd4675165.html#a4709178

[DG: Teaching & Learning] Learning activities project: Persona follow up
http://n2.nabble.com/DG-Teaching-Learning-Learning-activities-project-Persona-follow-up-td4668941.html#a4668941

[DG: User Experience] Learning activities project: moving on to  
scenarios
http://n2.nabble.com/DG-Teaching-Learning-Learning-activities-project-moving-on-to-scenarios-td4669032.html#a4669032

[Portfolio] Learning Design Lens Concept
http://n2.nabble.com/DG-Teaching-Learning-Learning-Design-Lens-Concept-and-T-L-Call-Reminder-td4668633.html#a4668633

[Portfolio] Sakai Mail and ePs
http://n2.nabble.com/Portfolio-Sakai-Mail-and-ePs-td4667643.html#a4667643

[Using Sakai] Largest Site Membership / Potential Tool Issues?
http://n2.nabble.com/Using-Sakai-Largest-Site-Membership-Potential-Tool-Issues-td4696477.html#a4696477

[Using Sakai] Sakai and MySQL
http://n2.nabble.com/Using-Sakai-Tests-Quizzes-Issues-td4660985.html#a4705080

[Using Sakai] Random drawn quiz [Scanned]
http://n2.nabble.com/Using-Sakai-Tests-Quizzes-Issues-td4660985.html#a4703837

------------------------------------------
8. Events

2nd Annual Etudes Users' Summit
May 13 & May 14, 2010
Burlingame / San Francisco, California
Crowne Plaza San Francisco International
http://etudes.org/summit/

2010 Sakai Annual Conference
Tuesday - Thursday, June 15-17, 2010
Pre-conference sessions: Monday, June 14, 2010
Hyatt Regency Tech Center
Denver, Colorado
http://sakaiproject.org/news/2010-sakai-conference-website-goes-live-call-proposals-now-open

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://collab.sakaiproject.org/pipermail/announcements/attachments/20100311/edd1933e/attachment-0002.html 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Sakai.Newsletter.March.4.10.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 133908 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://collab.sakaiproject.org/pipermail/announcements/attachments/20100311/edd1933e/attachment-0001.pdf 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://collab.sakaiproject.org/pipermail/announcements/attachments/20100311/edd1933e/attachment-0003.html 