Can you help me?

[dreamshark]

Well, Minicon, really. But I've been tasked with finding/creating a programming database for this year's Minicon, and I'm hoping I don't have to write it myself. Ideally I'd like a simple Access-based database. I'd consider an online database if it's free, fully functional and well-documented. In many ways an online one would be preferable, but I know so little about Web-based programming that I'm not very comfortable with it. I'd prefer something I can tinker with.

Our needs are relatively simple with Minicon at the size it is now at: about 35 programming items and 100-200 programming participants.


We need to be able to extract the following reports from the database.

Search by Programming Participant:
   output: Mailing labels
   output: list of programming items for this participant with all detail, including flag for items they are moderating
   output: brief summary of programming items by day and time
   output: list of participants who are moderating at least one item (along with the items they are moderating, of course)
Search by day and venue:
    output:  8.5" x 11" room placards for display outside programming room each day
    output:  Participant tent cards, sorted by room
Programming items in spreadsheet format, one item per row, which can be sorted and filtered in Excel.

Unnecessary bells and whistles (all desirable, but we can live without)
   Automatic generation and printing of badge back stickers (can be formatted manually from Search by Participant)
   Automatic generation and printing of notification letters to participants (highly desirable, but can be formatted manually)
   Automatic checking for schedule conflicts (can be done manually)
   Output schedule in grid format (this can be done by hand in Excel)
   Fancy tent cards with the item name printed upside down for display on the back of tent card (let 'em learn to read upside down)



  Anybody have any ideas? If you happen to have such a database in your back pocket (or are just dying to write one in the next couple of weeks) that would be great. But what I'm really looking for is ideas on who I could contact at other conventions around the country that might have one to share. Time is of the essence.

Comments

[carbonel]

Linda Deneroff created an Access programming database for Norwescon (IIRC) that I used the years that I ran Minicon programming. For a non-programmer, it needed some initial setup that she did, so it could really use a front-end to cover that. Other than that, it would probably do everything you ask for.

I can send you the version I used if you like, or give you the last e-mail address I had for Linda.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

Beth, both would be WONDERFUL. Thanks!

[carbonel]

On their way to you.

[guppiecat]

I wrote one for DemiCon years ago that had many of those features. It was web based, using Perl and PostgreSQL. I probably had over 1000 hours into it.

They threw it away.

That experience was largely what burned me out on helping run cons. I won't make another, but I'd be willing to dig into my backups and see if I can find the code for you. It probably looks dated these days and starting from scratch in something like Drupal or Ruby on Rails would be better, but if it's of use to anyone, I'd gladly hand the code over.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

There's some kind of weird disjuncture between the software even relatively user-aware people like you and me write, and what programming people are willing to use without pressure on them, I think. We're missing something. Or something. Because I've heard too many versions of this story.

[guppiecat]

As I've thought about it over the years, I've decided that the programming people in Iowa fandom, at least, don't want things to be more efficient. They want to feel important, to email a bunch of people to get them to do things, work with paper/index cards/post-it notes and complain a lot about how much time everything takes.

At least when I have to work with people like that in my professional life, I get to complain to their bosses.

Hmm. Apparently the wounds are still somewhat painful. I'll stop myself here before I bleed all over dreamshark's LJ.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

I feel your pain, believe me.

Did they at least use it once before they threw it away?

[guppiecat]

Oh yes. We used it for several years. The problem arose when I got busy with work stuff and wanted to stop running the website. Three people claimed to want to learn how it worked, but none of them actually did.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

That's a pretty good run, actually. Most people would much rather spend extra time doing something they understand than try to use a new and unfamiliar tool, even if the new tool is better. And when the new, better tool is something that requires ongoing maintenance (as anything web-based always does) it's expecting a lot that people will keep using it after the one person who understands it leaves.

[carbonel]

Ow ow ow. My Minicon wishlist for a programming database, back when such a thing was near and dear to my heart, included web capability, but nothing I looked at as an option came even close. The fact that they had it and threw it away is just painful.

The database I just sent to Sharon is basically a tool for turning data into reports. Which I found sufficiently useful to be worth doing all the data entry to make it work.

The one thing I'd hoped the programming database would do, back when I was more naive and had never heard the term "NP-complete," turned out to be impractical. I'd hoped that I could put in the lists of programming items and participants for each item, along with the participants' constraints, and have it come up with at least a first pass at a programming schedule. I never found a better way to do this then a physical grid and Post-its, though I did figure out how to print on Post-its (answer: very carefully).

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

"The database I just sent to Sharon is basically a tool for turning data into reports."

That sums it up beautifully. In fact, I think it is a very elegant description of what a database is for: a tool for turning data into reports.

I've found that with a small to medium con, a spreadsheet works just fine up until the last 3-4 weeks, at which point it becomes hopelessly inadequate. That's because for most of the con-running year the only report you need to generate is the list of prospective programming items, sorted and filtered in various ways. Suddenly in the last month before the con you have an urgent need to generate reports that retrieve data in a different order than it was input: programming items by participant, by timeslot, and by room, each formatted in a very specific way.

Suddenly you descend into 60-hour weeks of frantic copying and pasting, cursing the lack of a database.

[vgqn.livejournal.com]

I've asked a friend who has done one for another convention, will let you know if I hear back. We just had dinner with them last night and regaled them with tales of Shotgun Bob's and Chainsaw Bob's restaurants.

[barondave.livejournal.com]

Have you looked at Convergence's Programming Web Page (not up yet for 2012)? I don't know what kinds of outputs it can generate, but the user interface is good. You can sort by panelists, time, interests etc.

[mle292.livejournal.com]

They pay three metric buttloads of cash for the use of that web thing. It's nice, but we can't justify the expense for the size of convention that we are, and I'd even be reluctant to spend that much for a convention the size of convergence.

[barondave.livejournal.com]

For that amount of money, Convergence could hire a fannish programmer (<lj user="guppiecat" or one of the numerous unemployed) to do it. The basic requirements are not that hard. I could do it in FileMaker (which I know better than Access) except for the "check for conflicts" part. Indeed, I made a simple Minicon Programming db many many years ago. Gave it to Don Bailey, or just printed the output and forgot about it...

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

The basic concept is not that difficult, but designing the report formats and tweaking the user interface can eat up an amazing amount of time. I've created programming databases 3 times (once in Hyperlink, once in dbaseIV, and I think one more time in Access. Or maybe it was Filemaker. I may not have finished that last one, and if I did I don't know what I did with it).

What it comes down to is - it's fairly easy to create a clumsy database, but surprisingly difficult to create one that is sleek and efficient and flexible and a pleasure to use.

Living in the future

[barondave.livejournal.com]

True, but it's a LOT easier now. Yes, that means more things it's possible to tweak, but still. We don't have to deal with tractor feed labels, and most db apps have templates for the most common mailing labels and such.

The hard part is setting up the fields to allow the different reports. After that, most of the report formatting is pretty easy. (Note "most".)

Making it web based would be tricker, but mainly more expensive (as you'd have to buy the server edition).