Perhaps you should put together some MySQL training materials for
librarians. A webinar, perhaps. I'd love it if my colleagues had those
skills. I don't think there is that much interest, but I could be wrong.
There are at least 101 ways enterprise level database skills could be
put to work in my library. I'm pretty sick of our core technical
solutions being Excel spreadsheets and the occasional Access database.
Blech. 

- David

---
David Cloutman <[log in to unmask]>
Electronic Services Librarian
Marin County Free Library 

-----Original Message-----
From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Tim Spalding
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 8:49 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] what's friendlier & less powerful than
phpMyAdmin?


That reminds me of a better idea. Let's keep a real understanding of
computers from "less-techy colleagues" at the library. That way no
messy learning or understanding will take place, and we'll always be
needed.

Then we could start wearing white colors...

T

On Wed, Jul 30, 2008 at 11:43 AM, Alex Dolski <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> That reminds me of an idea for a photo sharing website I had,
tentatively
> called LeftOutrJoinr. It would be like Flickr, but instead of pictures
> everywhere, visitors would be given a command line into which they
would be
> able to enter their own SQL queries to call up photos to appear on the
page
> via AJAX. I see it becoming quite popular among 3-5 people.
>
> Alex
>
>
> Tim Spalding wrote:
>>
>> I'd consider teaching them how to use SQL directly.
>>
>> I've done it at LibraryThing. I take employees from the simplest
>> SELECTs all the way to a people-who-have-X-also-have-Y self-join in
>> one long hands-on lesson. It doubles as a sort of test, and I've even
>> used it in hiring. LibraryThing's two full-time librarians got there
>> with flying colors; I've had programmers who stumbled. (Not
>> surprisingly they didn't work out.) Once someone understands SQL
>> itself, you can throw a helper, like PMA, at them too.
>>
>> I think there's a real opportunity for empowerment here. Teach a man
>> to SELECT and he'll never have to, um, fish again.
>>
>> Tim
>>
>> On Wed, Jul 30, 2008 at 9:58 AM, Tim McGeary <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>
>>> I use Webmin.  http://www.webmin.com/
>>> It gives me a GUI for all of my vital sysadmin needs that I can't
>>> remember
>>> how to do at the shell.
>>>
>>> It has a MySQL GUI interface that works very well.  And you can
setup
>>> user
>>> accounts to have access to certain parts of Webmin, like just MySQL.
>>>
>>> Easy RPM install, and inside Webmin is an app to upgrade itself.
Can
>>> also
>>> install Perl modules, edit your php.ini file, etc.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> Tim
>>>
>>> Tim McGeary
>>> Senior Systems Specialist
>>> Lehigh University
>>> 610-758-4998
>>> [log in to unmask]
>>> Google Talk: timmcgeary
>>> Yahoo IM: timmcgeary
>>>
>>> Ken Irwin wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Hi folks,
>>>>
>>>> I have some straightforward MySQL data tables that I would like to
be
>>>> editable by some of my less-techy colleagues. I tend to think of
>>>> phpMyAdmin
>>>> as a perfectly serviceable and reasonably interface for updating
>>>> database
>>>> tables, but I'm told that it's kind of intimidating to the
uninitiated.
>>>>
>>>> Are there alternatives that are meant for non-admin-types? I'd want
>>>> something with read/write permissions, but that could be targeted
at
>>>> just a
>>>> few tables, wouldn't have any of the more potent tools (drop,
empty,
>>>> etc.).
>>>> In the ideal world, I might like something that would prevent users
from
>>>> doing things like accidentally changing primary key data and things
like
>>>> that.
>>>>
>>>> I've thought about writing something, but I suspect that would be
>>>> reinventing the wheel. Any ideas?
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>> Ken
>>>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Alex A. Dolski
> Web & Digitization Application Developer
> Lied Library, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
> 4505 S. Maryland Parkway, Box 457041
> Las Vegas, NV 89154-7041
> (702) 895-2225 (phone) / (702) 895-2280 (fax)
>



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