Release of first TalkTrack version and harvesting framework

[Michael Allan]

It's wonderful to see this running, Conseo!  It won't be easy for
others to appreciate at this early stage, but the harvesters and talk
track are crucial to Votorola.  You can see the talk track at bottom
right of the stage here:

   http://zelea.com/w/Mann

What does it do?  It shows where people are talking and trying to
reach consensus on various issues.  Currently it shows only 3 messages
because it's running on a brand new vote-server, which is where
Conseo's new software is installed.  We have two servers now:

   http://zelea.com/w/Mann   (new Mannheim server admin'd by C)
   http://zelea.com/w/Tor    (old ref server admin'd by me)

Note the old server doesn't have the new software yet (no talk track).
When it does, we'll see all the old consensus-making messages we've
ever posted to the mailing lists, plus any new ones we post in future.

The talk track's content will easily be the most important content on
stage, because 90% of our job is to support discussions.  So we expect
lots of integration with other tracks, props and scenes in future.

> Btw. can we do something to clarify that this track contains
> discussion without cluttering the layout? ...

I have plans for link lighting, which might help: (2nd paragraph)
http://mail.zelea.com/list/votorola/2012-September/001412.html
The talk link (in link track) will light up whenever the mouse crosses
the talk track.   Similar for other tracks and props.

> ... What about the update button? I thought about triggering an
> update once you look at the newest post (select or even hover it),
> but this might be confusing.

It would be ideal to remove the button, I agree.  I'm not sure about
giving the newest post special behaviour.  It could lead to conflict
with other hover cases, and won't work when there's no posts.  Another
possibility: a patch to the right (i.e. in "future") that's empty till
you hover, then it looks like a button.  Hover longer and a tooltip
explains the purpose, "Kick the message harvester".  (Meantime (or if
the button stays), I think it should not change size.  It's unexpected
and (at least for me) distracting.)

Something wrong with the bridge.  The stage doesn't show for me:
http://v.polyc0l0r.net:8080/v/w/D?a=6013&b=6017

I'll wait till you say it's ready C, then I'll pull your changes and
set up the ref harvester.  Good work!

Mike


conseo said:
> Hi,
> 
> puuh it took me so long to post an update, this has been almost ready for more 
> than a month. I have hit some localisation bugs (and some more) in 
> PipermailHarvester and had to fix them first. Now we support German, French, 
> Spanish and English public pipermail archives. The API is multi-VM and 
> multithreading ready (complete rewrite to my first attempt).
> 
> With it I have finally finished a first version of the talk track as well and 
> deployed it on my vote-server covering the area "Mann" (Mannheim). (1) This is 
> effectively a stage 2 setup now. (2) Will probably post about it separately 
> soon, once it is settled a bit more.
> The little rounded squares with the question mark is the talk track. There are 
> few messages, since my area and the corresponding German list were only setup 
> recently and Mike is waiting for my announcement before deploying it on 
> zelea.com. 
> Click one square to pin a post and adjust the stage, click again to deselect. 
> The newest post is the one on the right side (for more details see JavaDocs 
> (3)).
> 
> To cover your own discussions:
> 
> Just:
> 1) make sure the forum (mailing list archive) is defined in the wiki and 
> publicly reachable. (4)
> 2) make sure the forum is set on your candidates page (5) or if you have none 
> (you are endcandidate), yours.
> 3) once you send a message with a difference between you, your candidate or 
> your covoters on the forum, just hit the "?" button on your position page to 
> trigger an update and wait for 10s. It should show up then.
> 
> 
> If you don't have a poll-name selected, like on many wiki-pages, then you see 
> messages for all polls on the voteserver (depending on which area(s) and 
> forums it covers, mine only covers "Mann", Mike's the rest). On users' pages 
> you see all messages of the user (currently none, because user pages are 
> offered by zelea.com which doesn't have the TalkTrack yet). The selection and 
> highlighting will be the real deal in visualising the discourse... ideas are 
> very welcome!
> 
> Btw. can we do something to clarify that this track contains discussion 
> without cluttering the layout? What about the update button? I thought about 
> triggering an update once you look at the newest post (select or even hover 
> it), but this might be confusing.
> 
> conseo
> 
> (1) http://zelea.com/w/Mann/p/urgar
> (2) http://zelea.com/project/outcast/dep.xht#mul
> New German homepage is here: http://v.polyc0l0r.net/home.html
> (3) http://v.polyc0l0r.net/_/javadoc/votorola/s/gwt/stage/talk/TalkTrackV.html
> 
> (4) like http://zelea.com/w/Stuff:Votorola_mailing_list
> (5) insert e.g. "{{forum|Votorola/mailing list de}}", like in 
> http://zelea.com/w/User:4consensus_WebDe/Mann/p/urgar