[MG] Roadmap for my involvement

Sun Sep 11 10:10:44 EDT 2011

Michael and conseo: I requested you cross-post this because I am still  
hopeful that others on the metagov list will be interested in helping  
you out. The problem is that Votorola is still pretty developer- 
oriented and I am not sure that the average person approaching it can  
find a way to offer you assistance (in terms of users or reaching  
out). Is there a way that can be done, and if so, could you detail it?  
Or do we need Thomas for that. :)

On Sep 5, 2011, at 12:15 PM, Michael Allan wrote:

> (cc metagov, as requested)
>
> Hi C,
>
>> Do you use procmail? We could use it to setup the scraper instead of
>> cron for the mailing list. Since you use irssi to log and run your
>> chat client this applies to it as well, as I guess that it supports
>> scripting.
>
> Myself, I use http://www.postfix.org/local.8.html
>
>> Since this is a prerequisite for my planned usage and tests with the
>> tools I think it would be best to help you with anything being
>> necessary to make the resource management work as quickly as
>> possible. I dive in today and you might point me to a part I could
>> take care of. ...
>
> So far, I've identified two parts.  You're welcome to take either of
> these, or to suggest something else.  I can provide more details if
> you're interested:
>
>  1. Resources track stack.
>
>     It sits just under the toolbar, either in the votespace map or in
>     embedded views: http://zelea.com/y/vw/xf/#c=DV&s=G!p!sandbox
>
>     Its purpose is described here: (Resources slice stack)
>     http://metagovernment.org/pipermail/start_metagovernment.org/2011-June/004075.html
>
>     That actually describes the tracks (formerly "slices") for
>     crossforum extent.  But you'd just code the track stack itself,
>     which is an empty container, plus the component tracks for vote
>     and quantitative summation accounts.  Other developers would add
>     their own tracks later, as needed.
>
>  2. Client cache of server requests.
>
>     Its purpose is to prevent redundant requests from hitting the
>     server, especially from separate browser windows that display
>     similar views.  We'll use the HTML 5 client store to cache server
>     requests for the life of the session.
>
>     The need is not specific to resources, but it comes up now
>     because the embedded view in the difference bridge is going to be
>     hitting the server, too.
>
> My own rationale (briefly) for working on this stuff is: (a) we need
> users, which for us means voters; (b) the people to get voters are
> politicians broadly speaking, or candidates; (c) the places to find
> voters are vote-servers and discussion forums; (d) the extent of a
> vote-getting campaign across multiple servers and forums is therefore
> a useful resource for the participants; (e) tools are needed therefore
> to "cultivate and harvest" cross-server and crossforum extent.  So I'm
> making a beeline for that.
>
> My development strategy has been to start at the two ends of the I/O
> pipe: the input end in the pollwiki where the resource information is
> entered by the users; and the output end in crossforum theatre where
> it is viewed.  The middle bits, which mostly involve the count engine,
> will be coded last.  Meantime the server spits out simulated data for
> testing of the theatre UI.
>
>> ... Btw. do you have a method to mirror resources? It would be
>> really handy to mirror stuff like http://www.kickstarter.com/ as
>> raising then happens in forums. Anyway you have something similiar
>> for the crossforum extent in mind, so I think we share a common
>> interest here.
>
> No, I haven't pursued the idea.  Till I see a few alpha users, I'm
> focusing mostly on candidates.
>
>> You already have pointed parts out to me, so maybe we can skype
>> around 18:00 GMT today to figure it out more closely.
>
> OK.
>
>> You have also talked about bringing the resource view to the
>> difference bridge, which is interesting, since we might want to
>> visualize the difference here differently, not in the semantic wiki
>> markup style.
>
> I'm coding that now.  It's exactly the same difference bridge as
> before (Wicket), but with a resources view embedded at top (GWT).
>
>> I have talked on #opensourceecology btw. and they have told me to
>> write a proposal about using our software on their Wiki. I can write
>> it up and draft it together with you if you like. Can we use a draft
>> pointer to a text in any MediaWiki atm. or do they have to support
>> that?
>
> No, all they require is a recent version of MW with the write API
> enabled.  It's enabled by default.  But I wouldn't put serious time
> into it unless they had an immediate need we could fill.
>
> -- 
> Mike
>
>
> C wrote:
>> Hi Mike,
>>
>> I have fixed the outstanding glitches in the diff feed. The rest of  
>> the night
>> I have thought about my interests and how to best continue on  
>> something
>> additional to the diff feed. My development setup runs here:
>> http://whiletaker.homeip.net:8080/voff/xf/#c=DDum
>>
>> 1. DiffFeed
>>
>> Do you use procmail? We could use it to setup the scraper instead  
>> of cron for
>> the mailing list. Since you use irssi to log and run your chat  
>> client this
>> applies to it as well, as I guess that it supports scripting.
>>
>> 2. Further involvement
>>
>> I would like to use our software. As I have joined this project for  
>> political
>> reasons mainly, I am interested to use the tools to bridge forums  
>> and bring
>> discussion together. Especially now that I have seen the diff- 
>> patching in
>> action. But to make it interesting I need the resource management  
>> stuff
>> roughly working. I can then setup account types and draft positions  
>> of
>> organisations or forums and start posting there about common plans  
>> and ways to
>> organize available resources. So I'd like to become an activist  
>> myself a bit.
>> This will also give me a clearer understanding on the further  
>> development of
>> the difference feed, I hope.
>>
>> Since this is a prerequisite for my planned usage and tests with  
>> the tools I
>> think it would be best to help you with anything being necessary to  
>> make the
>> resource management work as quickly as possible. I dive in today  
>> and you might
>> point me to a part I could take care of. Btw. do you have a method  
>> to mirror
>> resources? It would be really handy to mirror stuff like
>> http://www.kickstarter.com/ as raising then happens in forums.  
>> Anyway you have
>> something similiar for the crossforum extent in mind, so I think we  
>> share a
>> common interest here.
>>
>> You already have pointed parts out to me, so maybe we can skype  
>> around 18:00
>> GMT today to figure it out more closely.
>>
>> You have also talked about bringing the resource view to the  
>> difference
>> bridge, which is interesting, since we might want to visualize the  
>> difference
>> here differently, not in the semantic wiki markup style.
>>
>> I have talked on #opensourceecology btw. and they have told me to  
>> write a
>> proposal about using our software on their Wiki. I can write it up  
>> and draft
>> it together with you if you like. Can we use a draft pointer to a  
>> text in any
>> MediaWiki atm. or do they have to support that?
>>
>> c
>
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