I second this request for off-internet solutions. I am currently cooperating with a Bolivian Ministry of Education project for community/school centers which depends largely on blogging and such tools, so I am following this thread closely for concepts / ideas / solutions that would be obsessively user friendly. It would be just the best of both worlds if the same tool were used for XOs when we do get a deployment there!
Yama John Watlington wrote: > What do we provide for the schools which don't have internet access > right now ? > > Should the XS contain some blog hosting software which can actually > host the pages created by this tool ? (Pardon my ignorance of whether > Moodle already contains such.) > > wad > > On Jun 3, 2008, at 9:27 AM, Greg Smith (gregmsmi) wrote: > >> Hi Martin, >> >> On the sanity check, that's not it :-( >> >> It my fault for not explaining it better! I really hope Tarun, Marcel >> and Pablo are more in synch... It will be more clear once we get some >> draft/static HTML pages in place. >> >> I'll take some HTML editing help if anyone thinks they can mock up 3 >> static HTML Pages based on the text here: >> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Blog_Educativo_Plan_del_Proyecto >> >> Here's another earlier write up which includes a network diagram which >> may help explain the parts. >> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Educational_Blogger_Project >> >> We do not plan to code, host, share or serve any blogs! All we will >> build is a simple front end that let's users create a blog post and >> click once to have it appear on a Moodle Blog, Blogger.com, Drupal >> etc. >> >> Kids enter content, clicks post and that's it. The back end SW running >> on the XS takes that post and puts it on the blog e.g. >> http://centenarioescuela38sg.blogspot.com/ >> >> The SW we will build on the XS may include Apache + PHP + DB for HTML >> towards client and probably XML + RPC or SOAP towards blog API. There >> will be three main web pages and we will build no client code on >> the XO >> at all, just support Browse! I need it to be simple so we can build >> in 7 >> weeks. >> >> Three web pages towards the client then APIs towards supported blog >> systems on XS. That's everything. Let me know if that explains it >> better >> or its still not clear. >> >> I'll think about the database comments too. Let me see what fields and >> tables Tarun thinks he needs and I'd like to get his input. >> >> Tarun and Marcel, let me know ASAP if the description above is not >> clear. I think we are in synch but it never hurts to re-ack (there's a >> reason why TCP is a triple handshake :-). >> >> BTW better book mark those two links. The main Uruguay page just got a >> major re-edit and those links are now very hard to find. >> >> Other than that the new page is packed with info and links thanks to >> Pablo! http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Uruguay >> >> Thanks, >> >> Greg S >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Martin Langhoff [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >> Sent: Monday, June 02, 2008 5:38 PM >> To: Greg Smith (gregmsmi) >> Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> Subject: Re: Edublog notes (was: Re: The road towards xs-0.3 - update) >> >> On Tue, Jun 3, 2008 at 7:09 AM, Greg Smith (gregmsmi) >> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>> Sanity check on our high level concept. >>> >>> The core idea of this software is to present an easy to use interface >>> so kids can post to blogs. Enter text, click post you are done. >> Yes, and that's fantastic. But if I understand it right, we are >> talking >> about 3 stages: >> >> 1 - Blogging tool on the XO - >> >> Something like Drivel, lets the user blog on the XO even while >> disconnected. New articles and edits get placed in a queue and pushed >> out when we see the XS. This needs Sugar integration work so it's a >> candidate for a write-from-scratch effort or, more likely, a wrapping >> around the abiword-based Write.xo . >> >> 2 - Blog on the XS >> >> This should >> - display blog entries like a normal blog does >> - receive blog entries and edits from the xo-based tool >> - allow new blog entries and edits from a web UI >> - allow "approval" stages >> - "forward" blog entries & edits that are tagged 'public' to an >> internet-hosted blog >> >> Some of this aspects are _complex_, even if they sound trivial. So I >> heavily recommend a pre-existing blog tool. Grab something that is >> good, >> offers good APIs, is well maintained and known to be scalable. >> And then patch it here and there to do what we want :-) >> >> 3 - Blog on the Internet. >> >> This bit is not under our control ;-) >> >>> Let me know if you have any comments or questions and I hope its >>> clear >>> now we are not building another blog hosting system. >> Ok, so my understanding (and hope) is that you are building #1 above, >> and patching an existing blog tool for #2. >> >>> Back to the DB. The EduBlog web app needs a table to store its own >>> info (e.g. configured blog URLs, blog user name/pass, posts submitted >>> but not approved by teacher, options set for each student, etc.). >>> Should we store that in the same DB that moodle is already using and >>> just create some new tables or should we create a new DB for our own >> use? >> >> If you are talking about the queue of blog entries on the XO-based >> tool, >> you will probably want to use sqllite. For the XS-based local >> blog-and-foward tool, you _really_ need to get your head around how >> the >> core tool works, and you'll find that you want to add a few columns >> here >> or there. Most blog tools will already have a "Config" >> table to hold configuration, so that's easy. >> >>> In the future we may want to run a query on the moodle DB and web app >>> DB. E.g. get user name, class and school from Moodle DB then look up >>> configured blogs in web app DB. >> IME the blog tool will expect to have a copy of the user profile to be >> able to run joins across the data, and grab the relevant bits. So >> you'll >> want to copy the "user profile" data into it, and lock down the "user >> profile" editing in the blog tool itself. >> >> It's a bit of work - I know - but it's very important that we avoid >> reinventing the wheel. Building a blog is a huge job - easy to get >> started, but pretty near impossible to get to the level of polish you >> expect, and to keep it maintained long term. >> >> If we reuse an existing blog, what we get is >> >> - a solid base to build upon >> - a pre-existing community that can help you, and that will keep >> improving and fixing the blog for years to come >> - if you hit a bug, and fix it, it can be merged upstream >> - if you develop a useful enhancement - the review stage you mention >> and the "forward to another blog" are good examples - it can be merged >> upstream >> - a few customisations that are local to us - hopefully minimal >> >>> BTW last time I wrote an SQL query it ran against Oracle 8 (AKA years >>> ago) so let me know if my use of "DB" and "Table" is unclear or not >>> relevant for PostGres. >> Database and table are more than relevant - they are crucial :-) >> >> The most important thing is to pick the best upstream, understand it >> thoroughly (warts and all), and develop a good relationship with the >> existing upstream core dev team. If you guys get that right, the >> rest is >> a SMOP :-) >> >> cheers, >> >> >> >> >> m >> -- >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- School Server Architect >> - ask interesting questions >> - don't get distracted with shiny stuff - working code first >> - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff >> _______________________________________________ >> Server-devel mailing list >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > > _______________________________________________ > Server-devel mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > _______________________________________________ Server-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
