Re: Draft framework

Allan Samaroo wrote:
> The following is the draft framework that Anil and I worked on 
> yesterday.  The wording for some points may be a little coarse, but i 
> hope it is sufficient at this stage for the points to get across. 

This is looking good, thanks for taking the time to write it up for the 
list.

Some comments...

> => Cost of software tools / licenses, e.g. Frontpage, Dreamweaver, etc.
> ** Existing tools, e.g. Open Office or MS Word/Powerpoint can be used to 
> develop contennt, hence no purchase of software is necessary. Burrokeet, 
> a free software application, will be used to generate the website, and 
> also upload the website to the webserver.

Burrokeet does not currently upload to the server at the click of a 
button, there are also other features that are not implemented yet 
(remember we are at version 0.1rc1). If you are going to make these 
promises then you better be sure that the resources are available to 
make such promised functionality work in Burrokeet.

Now that you have a use case you need to clearly identify the most 
important functionality and get them into the Burrokeet Requests for 
Enhancements 
(http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=104679&atid=638902 ). Note 
these are *requests* not demands, the only way to be sure your 
requirements are met is to help implement your required features, 
therefore it would be even better if those members of CIS who are 
technical can join the dev list 
(http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=104679 ) and help to satisfy some 
of those requirements.

> => Cost for maintenance / technical support.
> ** The CIS will provide support for the Burrokeet.

Remember there are two levels of support: face-to-face support, which 
will be provided by CIS and online support. Online is is where CIS will 
get its support and also where your clients should be encouraged to go 
in order to reduce the workload on your own support mechanisms.

The Burrokeet project is the place to provide (online) support not CIS. 
This may be what you mean, but I just want to clarify.

Burrokeet has lists available for user support (they are not public yet 
as we are not currently encouraging users, but it is only a click of a 
button to make them public). Members of CIS should provide whatever 
support they want through those channels not through CIS online 
facilities. The reasons for this are simple and numerous, most 
significantly:

Burrokeet needs to generate a community. By having CIS fracture that 
community by taking some users elsewhere you will be harming the 
Burrokeet project.

As the community develops the level of user support available in 
Burrokeet will be higher than can be provided here in CIS (we have the 
expertise in Burrokeet, CIS does not).

My own top priority over the next twelve months is to ensure that 
Burrokeet develops that community. We now have our first release, we are 
starting to get press and we have been featured in many blogs over the 
last few weeks. Furthermore, we are hoping to publish a book on 
Burrokeet towards the end of next year. If you look at our statistics 
page on the Sourceforge website you will see that activity in the 
project is really starting to ramp up, only half way through this month 
and we have already surpassed October (our second most active month) and 
are closing rapidly on November (our most active):
 
http://sourceforge.net/project/stats/index.php?report=months&group_id=104679

Please help us to further develop the Burrokeet community by ensuring 
your clients use the correct channels for getting online support.

> => Cost / time factor.
> ** The CIS cannot control the amount of time one may take to develop 
> content using open office or ms word.  However, using the Burrokeet to 
> generate the website is simple enough to complete within a few minutes.

[OT] why do you refer to Burrokeet as "the" Burrokeet. I have no 
objection, actually I quite like it, I was just wondering if there is a 
linguistic reason for it.

> => Cost for web hosting.
> ** Through Trinihosting.com, free webspace will be provided for a year.

What happens after that?

> => Availability of resources to develop content, generate the website 
> and posting the website on the Internet.
> ** This cannot be managed by the CIS as it deals with how the school 
> mannages its teachers' time, allocation of computer time, and such 
> related matters.

Probably worth saying that you imagine the most effective way to create 
content is through the normal administrative channels and normal IT 
curriculum.

For example,

* secretary creates a newsletter in Open Office/MS Word which is drag 
and dropped into Burrokeet and therefore available on the web (possibly 
a password protected portion)

* students are learning to use a word processor, their work is placed 
online, again by drag and drop into Burrokeet

> => Content.
> ** The CIS can only suggest viable content topics.

I believe you are aiming very low here. There is a *huge* range of 
materials out there that can be reproduced on school websites and that 
Burrokeet can easily incorporate. Shouldn't CIS be collating a catalogue 
of such resources in cooperation with the schools. I understand that 
many will not be applicable to the Caribbean but I am sure many others 
will be.

> 4.  The demonstration would be an actual live demonstration with the 
> presenter developing a sample page and then generating the website using 
> Burrokeet.  A template would be developed prior to the presentation day.

I look forward to seeing whoever is going to develop this template on 
the Burrokeet lists asking for help in creating this template. You are 
assured of my assistance through those channels.

Ross

Visit the CIS Project on the WWW:  http://www.cis.org.tt

View the offlist archives: http://blog.gmane.org/gmane.education.cis

-------------------------------------------------

Dgroups is a joint initiative of Bellanet, DFID, Hivos, ICA, IICD, OneWorld, UNAIDS and World Bank
--- You are currently subscribed to cis as: [email protected]
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-cis-221309I-T6/[email protected]