I might be able to help with the white belt. Do I get to wear one of
those padded suits?

Cary

On Fri, Nov 13, 2009 at 8:25 AM, Bess Sadler <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hey, how about this? I've been discussing this off list with Erik and Naomi
> and this is what we came up with (I also added it to the wiki):
>
> This is a proposal for several pre-conference sessions that would fit
> together nicely for people interested in implementing a next-gen catalog
> system.
>
> 1. Morning session - solr white belt
> Instructor: Bess Sadler (anyone else want to join me?)
> The journey of solr mastery begins with installation. We will then proceed
> to data types, indexing, querying, and inner harmony. You will leave this
> session with enough information to start running a solr service with your
> own data.
>
> 2. Morning session - solr black belt
> Instructors: Erik Hatcher (and Naomi Dushay? she has offered to help, if
> that's of interest)
> Amaze your friends with your ability to combine boolean and weighted
> searching. Confound your enemies with your mastery of the secrets of dismax.
> Leave slow queries in the dust as you performance tune solr within an inch
> of its life. [We should probably add more specific advanced topics here...
> suggestions welcome]
>
> 3. Afternoon session - Blacklight
> Instructors: Naomi Dushay, Jessie Keck, and Bess Sadler
> Apply your solr skills to running Blacklight as a front end for your library
> catalog, institutional repository, or anything you can index into solr.
> We'll cover installation, source control with git, local modifications, test
> driving development, and writing object-specific behaviors. You'll leave
> this workshop ready to revolutionize discovery at your library. Solr white
> belts or black belts are welcome.
>
> And then anyone else who had a topic that built on solr (e.g., vufind?)
> could add it in the afternoon. Obviously I'm biased, but I really do think
> the topic of implementing a next gen catalog is meaty enough for a half day
> and I know people are asking me about it and eager to attend such a thing.
>
> What do you think, folks?
>
> Bess
>
> On 12-Nov-09, at 4:10 PM, Gabriel Farrell wrote:
>
>> On Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 02:47:42PM +0000, Jodi Schneider wrote:
>>>
>>> If you'd be up for it Erik, I'd envision a basic session in the morning.
>>> Some of us (like me) have never gotten Solr up and running.
>>>
>>> Then the afternoon could break off for an advanced session.
>>>
>>> Though I like Bess's idea, too! Would that be suitable for a conference
>>> breakout? Not sure I'd want to pit it against Solr advanced session!
>>
>> The preconfs should be as inclusive as possible, but I'm wondering if
>> the Solr session might be more beneficial if we dive into the
>> particulars right off the bat in the morning.  There are only a few
>> steps to get Solr up and running -- it's in the configuration for our
>> custom needs that the advice of a certain Mr. Hatcher can really be
>> helpful.
>>
>> You're right, though, that the NGC thing sounds more like a BOF session.
>> I'd support that in order to attend a full preconf day of Solr.
>>
>>
>> Gabriel
>
> Elizabeth (Bess) Sadler
> Chief Architect for the Online Library Environment
> Box 400129
> Alderman Library
> University of Virginia
> Charlottesville, VA 22904
>
> [log in to unmask]
> (434) 243-2305
>
>



-- 
Cary Gordon
The Cherry Hill Company
http://chillco.com