Forum OpenACS Q&A: dotFolio Portfolios in a separate subsite and not in main subsite

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1: dotFolio Portfolios in a separate subsite and not in main subsite
Posted by Hamilton Chua on 04/19/06 11:48 PM
In dotLRN, when a community or class is created, the said community or class is mounted under the dotlrn sub site.

I'm thinking that dotFolio should do that too so that the main subsite does not get cluttered. I've worked on some sites that want both dotlrn and dotfolio on one instance and I think it makes sense.

What are the implications of putting folios in a separate subsite, maybe under /dotfolio ? Does it make sense to do so ? Has anyone tried ?

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2: Re: dotFolio Portfolios in a separate subsite and not in main subsite (response to 1)
Posted by Dave Bauer on 04/19/06 11:58 PM
/dotlrn is not a subsite, but an instance of the dotlrn package. I think it should be possible to create a /dotfolio subsite, and include all the user portfolio subsites under that. If it doesn't work, it is a bug.

The only place that would present a problem is if there are hard coded paths in dotfolio. dotlrn suffers from this problem that is must be mounted only directly under /dotlrn.

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3: Re: dotFolio Portfolios in a separate subsite and not in main subsite (response to 1)
Posted by Nick Carroll on 04/20/06 12:38 AM
Yes, there is a hard coded dependency for user spaces to be mounted at /. This is mostly evident in the install.xml template that is used to create each user's subsite. If you turn /$username to ${mount_point}${username} in install.xml, and modify a couple of procs that assume the user's site is mounted at /, then you should be able to achieve what you want to do.
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4: Re: dotFolio Portfolios in a separate subsite and not in main subsite (response to 1)
Posted by Nick Carroll on 04/20/06 01:16 AM
Just a note:

/dotfolio is an instance of dotfolio
/$username is an instance of dotfolio-ui

dotfolio should really be a singleton, in that you only want one instance of it. Whereas dotfolio-ui is the user's site, and should be instantiated numerous times for each user.

I know it is laziness on my behalf for creating the user space dependency on /, but there was good reason to. Dotfolio is meant to be a student centric tool, and therefore should be situated externally to dotlrn. DotLRN is course centric, in that resources only exist for the duration of a course, before they are either reset or archived.

Having dotfolio mounted externally to dotlrn means that students can have access to their site for the duration of their degree as oppose to only the duration of a course. It gives the student more time to make "connections" for deeper learning, which is fundamental to the principles of constructivism (for those that are into the whole pedagogical mumbo jumbo :P ).

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5: Re: Re: dotFolio Portfolios in a separate subsite and not in main subsite (response to 4)
Posted by Mohammad Al-Ghazali on 04/28/06 07:10 PM
Well thank's Nick. Just got one question. How do I edit the tabed option when we start to view the profile (Home, Blog, File, Organise). Still got a problem with it.
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6: Re: Re: Re: dotFolio Portfolios in a separate subsite and not in main subsite (response to 5)
Posted by Nick Carroll on 04/29/06 03:01 AM
When you mount an application on a dotfolio subsite, you should automatically get the application to appear as a tabbed option.
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7: Re: Re: dotFolio Portfolios in a separate subsite and not in main subsite (response to 4)
Posted by Aernout Schmidt on 05/07/06 04:14 PM
Nick Carroll says: "... but there was good reason to. Dotfolio is meant to be a [1] student centric tool, and therefore should be situated externally to dotlrn. DotLRN is course centric, in that resources only exist for the duration of a course, before they are either reset or archived.

Having dotfolio mounted [2] externally to dotlrn means that students ..."

Reading this comment I get confused. Argument [1] shows the assumption that dotFOLIO is meant to be used in dotlearn while argument [2] supports independent use. I am actually using dotFOLIO in a non-dotlearn openACS site for groups (classes as well as project-groups). My experience is, that although it may be meant to be used student centered, dotFOLIO serves very well in groups. And that the possibility of subsite-mounting would help the organization of my OACS-site. On the other hand, I get the impression that I could organise things better if I had access to some admin (or on what the roles of advisers, owners, guests and staff are meant to be).

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8: Re: dotFolio Portfolios in a separate subsite and not in main subsite (response to 1)
Posted by Caroline Meeks on 05/07/06 04:33 PM
I think it doesn't make sense for a user to have more then one dotFOLIO. To me that goes against the point of the package.

Thus is a user is likely to be a member of more then one group dotFOLIO should be mounted at the top level. Example a traditional university where studnets take multiple courses.

However, If you are running a site where you are creating dotFOLIOS for a use case like multiple schools, where an advisor might be a member of more then one group(school) but you expect it to be very rare that a student is, then I think multiple dotFOLIO mounts might make sense.

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9: Re: Re: dotFolio Portfolios in a separate subsite and not in main subsite (response to 8)
Posted by Aernout Schmidt on 05/08/06 01:41 AM
Caroline, then I obviously do not quite unterstand the point of the package. Is it documented somewhere? I think I could grasp things better when I understood what the four roles are meant for. Can you tell me (or give a ref)?
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10: Re: Re: Re: dotFolio Portfolios in a separate subsite and not in main subsite (response to 9)
Posted by Caroline Meeks on 05/08/06 01:46 AM
Hi Aernout,

Have you looked at dotfolio.org?

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11: Re: Re: Re: Re: dotFolio Portfolios in a separate subsite and not in main subsite (response to 10)
Posted by Aernout Schmidt on 05/08/06 11:03 AM
Yes, but still don't quite understand what staff and guest roles are meant to be.
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12: Re: dotFolio Portfolios in a separate subsite and not in main subsite (response to 1)
Posted by Nick Carroll on 05/09/06 12:34 AM
The staff and guest roles don't really do much at this point. The staff role was initially created for administrators, and the guest role was created so that students could invite guests to view their portfolio sites. The guest role was created in case someone wanted to add showcasing functionality to dotfolio.