August 21, 2004 PACS Database SIG Meeting Notes

Recap of Meeting

We had a large and enthusiastic turnout in the Community Room at Upper Moreland Library at 2:00 PM following Web Design SIG which met from 12:00-2:00 PM. Web Design SIG covered chapter 2 of Yank's book and started Chapter 3 during the last half of their meeting. Then during Database SIG proper Ouida and Mark showed updates and improvements to the databasedrivenwebsite.com site (Macintosh/Unix team) and Rich Sias showed his Sanity Savers database which is on the databasedrivenwebsite.net site (Windows team). We could not connect to the admin portion of the .net site so there were some behind-the-scenes things Rich could not show us, but hopefully he will be able to do so at the September meeting.

We also discussed what to do next in the SIG and will probably have some more discussion at Saturday's meeting with all the summer vacationers back.

For Next Meeting

What was decided at the August meeting was that the databases that are already up would be enhanced to allow more members to work on them. For example, Ouida and Mark will add fields to the book database on databasedrivenwebsite.com for the owners of the book so that other members can add their own technical books and potentially see which members have books they might want to ask to borrow. The members also agreed to have an opt-in database (like Rich Sias's Sanity Savers but populated by real people) which members would need their email address and PACS ID number in order to access it and create entries.

In continuance with our joint project with Web Design SIG to build our own database-driven websites using PHP and MySQL, we will be discussing and showing what members are actually doing on their own computers and on the databasedrivenwebsite.net and databasedrivenwebsite.com sites and doing Q & A. It has worked out with Web Design SIG covering the text, as in a lecture class, and Database SIG being the laboratory and discussion section (Q & A). Also at the meeting we will discuss future directions for the SIG and a possible meeting time change.

At 1:00 PM after the main meeting, Web Design SIG will be continuing their coverage of chapter 3 and beginning chapter 4 of the book we are using (Build Your Own Database Driven Website Using PHP and MySQL, Second Edition, by Kevin Yank (out of stock at the time of this writing as the third edition is being prepared for publication). Web Design SIG will be meeting from 1:00-2:00 PM in Room A02. Please note the time change: The Main Meeting has been moved from 11:00-12:00 to 12:00-1:00 PM, so Web Design SIG will no longer start at 12:30 PM.

Other PACS Matters

In addition to Database SIG, PACS has new groups and workshops to offer, and there are significant changes you need to know about (shamelessly copied from Web Design SIG's message):

The schedule has been revised (Main Meeting is now 12-1pm instead of 11am-12pm) to permit more morning meetings. This does not directly affect Database SIG but it does affect our sister SIG Web Design because as a result, Web Design will meet from 1 to 2 pm, not 12:30 to 2pm. It's still in room A02, and by being a little more efficient in setting up, and beginning promptly, Reed and John will make up most of the time lost. Details of the topics they'll cover are at www.tangoangel.com! The complete PACS meeting schedule is at www.pacsnet.org/sig_schedule.htm. Some new groups:

John Davey is leading a new Cascading Style Sheets workshop, from 9 am to 10 am in Room 713
Mike Ehling will hold the HTML workshop from 10 am to 11 am in Room 713
New Quickbooks workshop, led by Gita Faust, in Room 802 from 11 am to Noon.
Ronn Homer and Steve Dudek's Software workshop from Noon to 1:00 PM - this month will cover Front Page 2002.
Ed Masoorli will hold a Computer Security Forum in the cafeteria, from 1 to 3 pm.

Please note that whereas HTML workshop used to be before Database SIG, it is now meeting at the same time. But this also means that John Davey's new CSS workshop is in HTML's old slot before Database SIG.

But wait! There's more!

Parking: No more parking at the small lot at the UMMS front door - we must use the larger "bus port" side, which many of us do already. That's a school-driven change.
All attendees must sign in - this helps PACS keep track of how many people are attending.
Please wear, or at least have, your PACS ID. If you need a new one, you can get it at the Membership Table.
If you bring a laptop, it is strongly recommended that you use a surge protector of at least 2,600 joules capacity.

And even more!

Please read the Letter to PACS Members on the home page of the PACS site: www.pacsnet.org

PACS Main Page . . . Database SIG Main Page . . . Curriculum 2004