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Margaret writes, "it will be great to be able to give the back story of how this idea came to be, the goals our class would like to achieve, and the future of this project right in this space." I think a more detailed background would be great, and the answer to the last question is REALLY important it seems to me. For the history, I'm cut/pasting from our pamphelet: The ODBS initiative can trace its beginnings to the Internet Archive Bookmobile (http://www.archive.org/texts/bookmobile.php) which is a digital library on wheels that can download and print out public domain books. ODBS is a current adaptation of this ongoing project but is based on localized internet and printing hub situated within the community that can print books for First Nation communities. ODBS was conceived as a practical application of the theoretical component of the 2009 winter semester course, Information and Culture in a Global Context, offered at the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto. The University of Toronto students are supported and mentored by the K-Net community among others. For the class' goals, we could take the objectives from the syllabus but it would be nice to have input from others b/c they are vague (abstract for readers). Also, these objectives don't mention at all, what the community is going to get from us. What are we leaving behind to these communities when the class is over? I think those kinds of questions are important to answer for this section b/c that is what many of us are concerned about. 1. To understand and appreciate the political, socio-economic, and cultural factors that shape the production, accessibility, and dissemination of information. 2. To get you aquainted with the methodology of community-based and cross-cultural research 3. To increase your awareness of issues related to cross-cultural communication by learning about the history, culture, and practices of a target community (and/or a different cultural milieu). For the future of the class, we've discussed this very briefly, with a great deal of speculation, but no concrete plans have been made. I think it was mentioned in class that this discussion will be held in the last class(?), but perhaps we could start working on that sooner? It's definitely info that is really important for this moodle site, I think. |
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Hey Erica, those are great, I've started editing the layout of content a bit so it's cleaner and slightly more organized. Some of the content is actually in a member-only box on the right hand side. Log-out from your account to view it. Thanks! |
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Prof Caidi would like to suggest some changes so I've directed her here and hopefully she will chime in! re: goals, I was thinking that the objectives we listed last class would be perfect. e.g. Promo's objective is: To provide community leaders with the information they need to decide whether ODBS is a service they would like to implement. It would be great if we could have the objective for each team and put those below the syllabus' class objectives. |
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Hi Erica, It would be a great idea to have a more detailed 'about us' section with the following: 1. Team description (function, etc.) 2. Team Proposals (Probably just the intro and the objectives) 3. Project objectives, goals. This is definitely too much information to put in the front page, but if you pull the information together, a better way to do it may to create a new HTML page, and post a link (perhaps a graphic link) on the front page. A picture of the whole class perhaps, etc. What do you think? All the team's proposal are on Sakai, so that's something that I can easily pull (they also include team objectives). Just let me know if you have any specific ideas/suggestions as to how to structure the content on this meeting place, for communication and outreach purposes! Margaret |
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I like how you've made a separate html, it makes the front page cleaner. Good point about the proposals. I know my team's deliverables have changed quite a bit since then but the other teams are probably okay. I think we could still pare down info, even though it's on a new page. How about: TEAM - one sentence description/team objective - goals & related deliverables I think it would be good to draw a distinction on this site b/w the ODBS project which hopefully will go on for years and years and our class teams/course. Our mission statement only talks about odbs. Maybe somewhere on moodle we can have a simple sentence that says something like "We are a one semester class working on a larger ODBS project run by Caidi, Adam etc." That sentence can have links on the words class, ODBS project, Caidi and Adam to relevant pages. re: A pic of the class, I'll ask Michelle to bring in her camera next week; send out an email on gmail to warn you all of course! |
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I've added an introduction to our class discussion forums, to show that they are the discussions of students enrolled in the Jan-April class that is involved with this project. I think that should be clear enough. As for our class info, we can have tons of information up there, and simply organize it in a simple manner. My feeling is that all the work we have done is a legacy, and even if we have veered away from what our proposals outlined to do, it still demonstrates an evolution of the project which others will find useful. Also, if we have certain words like "class", "ODBS project", "Caidi", "Adam" as links, they have to go somewhere, and as of now, we don't have any content for them to link to. If they all go to the same page that would just be annoying. :P I think we need to develop the structure of that page (the page about our class specifically) in a little more detail, as I see it as an archive of our efforts and our work. |
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I think that new sentence is good; when we're gone and they're inactive everyone will know why. As for linking words, I was thinking something like Caidi would link to her own homepage etc. ODBS might link to an FAQ. But maybe links should be w/moodle pages like an FAQ to keep ppl on this site. Maybe what can be put on the class page can be pulled from our final reports for class? |
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On a separate note, can we move the login higher up on the page so that new visitors going directly to our url can immediately see where they can register an account? Also, re: top right textbox "welcome to odbs" blurb, is it possible make it stand out more visually? It sort of gets a little lost there, being in a grey box. Or, can we create a table by which that text displays beside the click print etc banner? I know there is a lot of redundancy b/w that blurb and the mission statement, but I think the blurb is a little visually lost on the side. Hm, not sure what to do about that. Anyone else have suggestions? |
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Since we're talking about the general placement of things on the Moodle I'd like to get people thinking of the surveys. We're getting close to having them ready and it'd be nice to find a good home for them. I know Margaret and some other folks are coming to our Thursday meeting. We can talk about it there. Also Margaret, once we make the surveys visible, is there a way that people could respond without having to sign up for a Moodle account? It'd be nice to remove that barrier if we could. |
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Mark, I just did a quick test, and yes, people who are 'logged out' can still take the survey. I didn't try to click on 'submit' though, let me know if you want me to try to take a survey as a mock user. As for promoting the survey, I've been thinking about it as well. I want to create a block on the top left corner, which should be pretty visible, and perhaps send an email to Brian Beaton and see if he can put up links to the surveys direction on the myKNET site, as well as the KNET home page. Just some thoughts! |
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Top left is always good. My group will be sending Brian Beaton an email to ask about a feature box on KNET/myKNET. We'll also be talking about it during our teleconference this Thursday. If you could take a quick run through the surveys as a non-member that would be great. I wouldn't mind having you submit it so we can take a look at the export file. |
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Margaret ... this is all possible ... some things come to mind and are only based on the fact that I have yet to review the survey (I have not seen a link to it but will look to see if I missed something on the web site) ...
I will work with our team on determining how best to get this survey out to everyone. |
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Hi Brian, The surveys are currently 'hidden', because we don't want anyone to be taking them yet, but perhaps someone from Community Research can send you a PDF or a text version of it to review! Mark, I have just done a test run. Some of the questions that should have only one answer allowed for multiple checkmarks. I also felt that the difference between "every day" and "once a week" was pretty big... what about "almost every day"? Check the export data file, see how it looks! |
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I've added "several times a week" in between "every day" and "once a week". All of the questions that are designed for a single answer will actually allow multiple checks. Using the option to restrict to a single response adds "not selected" as the first option. We hated that the very first option suggests that you don't bother to answer. Is there a way to get rid of the "not selected" and still restrict to a single response? If you figure that out Margaret, you'll be my hero. |
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use the "drop-down multiple answer" question format. Naturally. =) |
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Ahhhhh.... but we're also sending these out in printed format and the drop-downs don't display in print. And to think, I almost bought you chocolate. :P |
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What's stopping you guys from designing a layout for print, and then designing for online? You can't expect a waffle maker to make you crepes! :P I think we need chocolate covered almonds again for class this week. |
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First of all, crepes are just flat waffles. I was hoping to have a single version that would serve both purposes well. I've added "select one" or "select all that apply" after the appropriate questions. With any luck that will lead people to answer seriously. |