Forum .LRN Q&A: dotFOLIO Progress

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1: dotFOLIO Progress
Posted by Nick Carroll on 04/28/05 01:45 AM
Hi all,

I have made a fair bit of progress on dotFOLIO, and I would like to commit the source code to CVS by this weekend. There is enough functionality to create an account for a dotFOLIO owner and let them blog away, upload files, and clip things together.

I think the Clipboard package is cool, and there is a lot of potential for it. I've already started using "clipping" as a buzzword within dotFOLIO. I can see potential for dotFOLIO to be used as a knowledge management tool. You could plug-in the webmail package, and if it is enabled with presentation objects, then you can add an email to the clipboard, and clip it to a blog, bunch of files, or calendar item. So you could upload a project report, reflect on the good and bad things about the project, and clip a relevant email with them all. Better yet, a team member can view all the clipped items, and add their two cents worth. I see this as a great way for building up knowledge resources for projects.

So I'm developing dotFOLIO to be as generic as possible so that it can be configured and used in an educational institution of corporate environment.

I have uploaded more screen shots to my blog on dotFOLIO.

After committing the source code to CVS, I will be working on admin tools for monitoring activity within dotFOLIO.

Cheers,
Nick.

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2: Re: dotFOLIO Progress (response to 1)
Posted by Michael Feldstein on 04/28/05 11:00 PM
Thanks for the update, Nick. You might want to check those screen shots, though; the links are not showing up for me. (I see plain text, e.g., " dotfolio_4".)
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3: Re: dotFOLIO Progress (response to 1)
Posted by Nick Carroll on 04/29/05 01:34 AM
Michael, my blogger seems to only summarise blog entries when you view categories. If you click on the title you should be directed to the full blog entry. The screenshots are based in flickr, so they have those fancy rollover notes.
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4: Re: dotFOLIO Progress (response to 1)
Posted by Nick Carroll on 05/01/05 09:47 AM
Tried to commit dotfolio to CVS today, but was not able to do so due to one small hitch... I don't have write access to the CVS repository. I thought I did from work I did on the project manager package, but I guess those write permissions were only for that package. Anyway I will try again when I've got this admin thing sorted out.

In the meantime, I will set up a demo server so that people can try it out, and get exposure to it before the dotlrn conference.

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5: Re: dotFOLIO Progress (response to 1)
Posted by Nick Carroll on 08/01/05 11:51 AM
I am just about to start a new package for dotfolio. The package will be used to create concept maps for showcasing learning artifacts stored in the e-portfolio system. I have chosen concept maps as a mechanism for showcasing, as it provides context for the learning artifacts. This differs to OSPI, as they use a matrix for showcasing.

I want the concept maps application to be interactive, and have looked at using Laszlo. However, after listening to Lars from Google talk about Google Maps at a conference last week, I have been inspired to look at other approaches to developing a Rich Internet Application.

I would like to use Laszlo, as it compiles down to a flash object, which can then be played in any browser with a flash plugin. This kind of solves my concerns for cross-browser support. However it means mixing Laszlo code in OpenACS, meaning there is a dependency on using the Laszlo Presentation Server to compile the Laszlo source code before deploying the application. This adds a layer of complexity due to a dependency on third party software.

The alternative is to use JavaScript and SVG. There are some interesting things that can already be done in SVG and JavaScript as shown here. The advantage using this approach is that there is no dependency on a third party system. The disadvantage is that SVG isn't widely supported yet. However, Lars from Google mentioned that SVG will be supported in a future release of Firefox. So hopefully his insight into the future of web browsers rings true.

If I chose the JavaScript/SVG approach, then users will have to download the Adobe SVG viewer plugin. This would be preferred over using one of the nightly mozilla builds that include SVG. Creating a dependency on using the Adobe SVG viewer plugin would mean even IE users can view the application. Or I could implement a Factory pattern to create VML for IE browsers, and SVG for Mozilla browsers. For the timebeing I would prefer to focus on SVG though.

What do people think? I'm interested in your opinions.

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6: Re: Re: dotFOLIO Progress (response to 5)
Posted by Orzenil Silva Junior on 08/01/05 03:43 PM
wow!! Nick you are the best!

Concepts Maps are great technique for representing people understanding of a domain of knowledge. A package for deal with this inside dotFOLIO could be a great enhancement towards a knowledge system from OpenACS.

For now I am using concept maps with dotLRN where a set of conceptual maps and associated resources about a particular domain of knowledge is referred to as Knowledge Model. Conceptual Maps are used for showcasing assets stored in the Lors system. You could see screenshots http://www.teknedigital.com.br/screenshots/ in section Lorsm Cmaps.

In this case, Cmaps are generated with IHCM Cmaptools (http://cmap.ihmc.us/) and exported from this tool as web pages. Web pages and associated resouces (links, files, video, audio, swf etc) are converted to scorm zip package with reloadtools (http://www.reload.ac.uk/) and imported to dotLRN with lorsm.

I wonder if dotFOLIO could support new ways to create conceptual maps. How i could help you?

\Orzenil

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7: Re: dotFOLIO Progress (response to 1)
Posted by Nick Carroll on 08/02/05 02:27 AM
Hi Orzenil,

I've had a brief look at the IHCM Cmaptools a couple weeks ago, and again I don't want to head down that path as the software isn't open source, and I don't want to create a dependency on a third party piece of software. My goal is to create a Rich Internet Application (RIA) with Cmap-like functionality. It is also part of my research interest to investigate RIAs in e-learning, specifically in e-portfolios.

I will be playing around with SVG and JavaScript in the next couple of weeks. I think this is the way to go. In fact the next release of Firefox is Firefox 1.5, which is currently available under the codename Deer Park. This version of Firefox to be released sometime soon has SVG support built into it. The question is what to do with IE users? I think the JavaScript code that I write will have to allow for VML to be generated instead of SVG. So I'll have to make use of the factory pattern for this.

Anyway I'll just be experimenting with SVG for the timebeing.

Cheers,
Nick.

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8: Re: dotFOLIO Progress (response to 1)
Posted by Robert Taylor on 05/29/06 09:44 AM
... heh, sorry to dig up this old post but ...

i've recently been looking at replacing our domino mail functionality with an imap server of some sort, perhaps even a groupware server.

at the end of the day, i had to categorize what it is exactly that i need. with the proliferation of open source and 'pseudo open source' product such as zimbra and openxchange, i had to decide, do i want a groupware server, application server or just an a web based mail client for imap/pop3 accounts.

it turns out, that we only really need one of the following:

a) roundcube.com - ajaxy web based frontend to imap or pop3 accounts

b) squirrelmail - plain html based frontend to imap or pop3

we will probably end up using squirrelmail with some customization (particularly on the look and feel front) for the time being, but being the nutter that i am, eventually i would love to see something like that as an application on openacs.

if anyone is still working on this in any way, post here and let me know, i'm curious how far the various ideas have come on this front.

in terms of nicks firefox question, i am not exactly certain what to say beyond the fact that firefox is available on every single platform capable of hosting such an application and ie isn't. what we are doing is simply mandating the use of firefox everywhere as you cannot guarantee anyth

by the way, the svg stuff is very neat, i have had in mind to work on a adding gantt charts to oacs's project management application - and yes, ie people would be left out.

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9: Re: Re: dotFOLIO Progress (response to 8)
Posted by Robert Taylor on 05/29/06 09:47 AM
bah !!!

ignore this post, it was a reply to another post, in another thread, probably in another forum on this site ...

... i have no idea how it got posted here.

appologies for the confusion.

- rob