Question & Answer Forum

Re: What are FIS2125's 'sharing of ownership' plans?

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 18:28:43 GMT

by Margaret Lam.

For those interested, based on class discussions, here are some links to the license information under Creative Commons. Very simple and easy to understand terms that allow for collaborative work as well as recognizing the original source of the work:

http://creativecommons.org/about/licenses/
http://creativecommons.org/license/

For further reference, this is the license under which the Creative Commons website is released under:

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Re: What are the plans for promoting the surveys?

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 04:39:42 GMT

by Margaret Lam.

For posterity's sake, I am quoting the following text from Brian Beaton:

"Dominika / Mark / Adam … I posted a KNEWS story about your work and the surveys at http://media.knet.ca/node/6610

Cal created a link to the ODBS Meeting Place on the KNET homepage. He also posted a notice on the MYKNET.ORG homepage with a direct link to the survey.

Next week, we will post the notice of the survey with the link on the KNET homepage in the ANNOUNCEMENT box."

What are FIS2125's 'sharing of ownership' plans?

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 04:27:37 GMT

by Margaret Lam.

I know that FIS2125 students have had many ideas generated in class about how to pass on ownership of the project, and there has been a general consensus of using this moodle site as an archival space, with content of various degrees of sensitivity and privacy made available to regular users, and administrators. Content ideas raised so far include the following:

1. Team/Class learnings and findings.
2. Project FAQ, History
3. Survey data, and design/approach rationale.
4. Source files of any creative work and rationale.
5. Final reports with suggestion for 'next steps'.

One thing that the systems team has neglected to do is to identify KNET members who should have ownership of this moodle site, and share/takeover the role of administrator. This is difficult to do so while the class is still going, as this has become effective an online classroom environment for FIS2125 students. However, in order to allow access to our research and data, we will need to identify a "gate keeper" that represents the First Nations community.

Any ideas as to who may be suitable for that role so we have an idea of who to approach with this invitation?

Re: What are the plans for promoting the surveys?

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 03:49:34 GMT

by Mark Gelsomino.

Hi Brian,

Adding those links is greatly appreciated (thanks Cal). We had seven new respondents this morning, so there is interest.

A few weeks ago our team sent out emails introducing ourselves to various communities. We've also built up some contacts via the YICT breeze room. We'll be doing exactly as you've suggested and following up with them later this week.

We also have a paper version available. We really want to include the opinions of people who may not want or be able to respond online.

I hope you understand how difficult it is for us city slickers to get into the mindset of rural northern folks. We don’t always know what the needs of your communities are, but we’re trying to find out. We realize not all of our questions will seem useful from an FN perspective. Still, these questions may be highly useful to us, and will in turn help us better serve your communities. Filling these gaps in our knowledge is a first step towards putting ourselves in a position to address those needs.

Getting people from FN communities involved has been one of our major concerns. Thirteen weeks is not a lot of time to build relationships, especially with people who have good reasons to be skeptical of the motives of urbanites.

The survey is much more than a data prospecting expedition, it’s an invitation to get people from your communities involved as things move forward.

As for how we’ll be using the info... Since the surveys are hosted on Moodle, and the KO communities run Moodle, I hope this is at least an indication of our intention to share.

thanks,
Mark

Re: What are the plans for promoting the surveys?

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 03:24:31 GMT

by Mark Gelsomino.

Excellent, thanks for that. I have a friend who lives in Sioux Lookout who responded this afternoon, so I'm not sure if you have the honour of being our first or not.

I was going to send you a message in a few days, but since you're here...

I'll go through our documentation and insert your new (and much improved) URL.

We've been cultivating a list of community contacts (librarians, teachers, YICTs etc...) whom we'll be telling about the survey directly. We'd love to have as many KNET users as possible.

In regards to promoting the survey, we're ready to go live immediately. If you could find a spot on the KNET/myKNET page for a link that would be ideal. Would you like us to write up a few brief sentences to use as an intro?

Thanks for everything.

What are the plans for promoting the surveys?

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 02:48:07 GMT

by Brian Beaton.

Good evening ... I just completed the survey for the providers. I only found out that the surveys being available because I receive the messages from the discussion forums and happened to check out the home page.

I am wondering if you would like us to encourage K-Net users to complete the surveys by posting a link to the ODBS homepage.

By the way ... I did get Terence to create the URL for http://odbs.knet.ca that points to the homepage. So everyone can use this link to get to the ODBS portal ...

Let us know how you would like the surveys promoted (and when).

Brian

Re: Why print books when you can read e-book online?

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 02:34:36 GMT

by Brian Beaton.

Hey folks ... thanks for following up on this question with a lot of great reasons for printing and producing books. I guess one of the best reasons I can think of is the importance of having a choice of how one wishes to read and access information.

Good job team ... Brian

Re: Why print books when you can read e-book online?

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 01:06:21 GMT

by Margaret Lam.

Hi Celene,

It is definitely not awkward to make the ODBS portal more of a "content portal" with the option to print 'books'. When we first were introduced to the project, we were driven by the understanding that there is a community need for books. Since then, we have also discovered that there is a vibrant and active online community (as exemplified by myKnet, and the Internet High School), that have content needs, but not necessarily in the form of books.

The change of scope brings opportunities as well as challenges, and while it may seem more straight forward to provide an online book printing service, it would be unfortunately if we ignore the many users in FN communities that are using youtube, wikipedia, and other online social network as part of their day-to-day online activities.

In fact, not only is it not awkward, it really just makes a lot of sense. =) The potential is there, and hopefully the wireframes and other system/features documentation will inspire community partners to see its potential. (Crossing fingers.)

Re: Why print books when you can read e-book online?

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 00:31:09 GMT

by Celene Faludi.

Hi Brian,

Thanks for these questions. Why print if you can just download, read, and then move onto the next book? Seems likely to be a pretty satisfying task on its own... Perhaps Jerry Seinfeld was right when he did that whole spoof about "Why do people collect books? You read a book and that's it, there's no more point to keeping it around..."

I have a feeling the ODBS will be useful for learning about interesting online content as a feature alone; and if the content is good enough, then at least the option to print off the book is there.

But I know that I feel much differently towards a physical book I can hold than one on my laptop. I love to tote books around with me, give it dogears, maybe lose it, or even purposely leave it somewhere for the next guy to pick up. It's true that there is an environmental cost with the physical remnant, but isn't there also one (energy) when reading a book off a computer or palm pilot?

Anyways, I think the good thing about the ODBS will hopefully be its versatility; its ability to accommodate this variety of reading styles.

For the contents and systems teams, I assume there won't be a prob if a user just wants to read and not print? It won't be awkward for this purpose?

Re: Why print books when you can read e-book online?

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 03:52:51 GMT

by Margaret Lam.

Further to Erica's points, here's an online blog summarizing the challenges magazine publishers in Canada is facing, and "Print On Demand" is at the top of the list, second to e-readers that are both accessible privately and publicly.

Makes me think that book publishers, who are on different productive timelines, will start to experience similar supply chain problems as well.

Re: Why is the ODBS banner appear as a blank image?

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 20:12:07 GMT

by Margaret Lam.

Problem solved. The image was actually in CMYK, instead of RGB. I've reduced the file to fit exactly and it's only 50K. Should not be an issue on any machine any more! Thanks for the flag.

Re: Why print books when you can read e-book online?

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 14:20:33 GMT

by Erica Sum.

Hi Brian,

Thanks for being so active here. You raise a very good question with valid concerns, esp the environmental one.

Here are some advantages to print to consider. Maybe others can suggest some too.
- It does not tire the eyes.
- Books require less care, esp for younger readers. (Not sure if I'd want to leave an e-reader like a kindle w/a 3 yr old....)
- Books are more mobile than computers and laptops.
- e-readers (content and technology) aren't free.
- Some people prefer a more tactile experience.
- Locally printed material could help librarians save on shipping costs for heavy books and from an environmental perspective, the gas needed to ship them.

Another useful aspect of ODBS is the portal Systems is designing. This portal would make it easy for anyone to search a database of materials to print. Local materials could be uploaded and organized. Ideally, you wouldn't need to search around the whole web for materials; they would be centralized in one, user friendly database. I think it would be entirely possible for more than one community to manage the same portal but maybe Margaret can speak to this.

Ultimately, it should be up to a community leader(s) to weigh the costs and benefits of ODBS. It is very customizable though. If people want just the binding part or the portal part, I don't see why they shouldn't be able to pick and chose. The portal has a lot of potential to be developed into something fun, or useful for local knowledge. The Digital Contents team has suggested adding multimedia material several times in class. Perhaps ODBS can evolve in different directions to suit different communities that demonstrate an interest. Hopefully after the survey results come back we'll have a better understanding of how useful ODBS could be.

Re: Why is the ODBS banner appear as a blank image?

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 04:25:34 GMT

by Margaret Lam.

I will check out the file format and size tomorrow, and try and see what the issue is. I'll post here again once I've made changes.

Re: Will the portal include the function for people to add e-books to their library?

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 04:24:03 GMT

by Margaret Lam.

Hi Brian,

Definitely. This particular wireframe design was inspired by the banner, and as we develop each section, we will incorporate as much user contribution, suggestion, and feedback as possible, to inspire a sense of community and ownership.

However, you do bring a good point though, that such a functionality should perhaps be more prominent. We will take that into consideration and prioritize it accordingly in a list of design parameters. Thank you for your insight!

Margaret

Why is the ODBS banner appear as a blank image?

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 23:55:30 GMT

by Brian Beaton.

Margaret ... the ODBS banner does not appear when I go to the home page. This is happening on our machines at the K-Net office. On my home connection I get the image but it is very slow appearing ...

Brian

Why print books when you can read e-book online?

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 23:51:10 GMT

by Brian Beaton.

Good evening ... as I go through the web site, I keep asking myself the question ...

How is this ODBS service any different than simply using a laser print to print off any e-book I find online?

Sure there is the binding exercise but why would I want to take the time to produce a bound book using a printer and the paper we have up here?

Then I get thinking about the costs for printing, purchasing and shipping paper into the far north, the trees, the environment and I wonder ...

Why are we not encouraging people to use e-books and to read online?

Just some thoughts for the team ...

Brian

Will the portal include the function for people to add e-books to their library?

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 23:45:48 GMT

by Brian Beaton.

Good evening ... in the mission statement on the home page is the objective, "free online content via a web portal that is developed by community members". When I went to the draft design of the portal I see the four options, SEARCH, PRINT, READ, CREATE.

Is there going to a tab for ADD, so community members can add an e-book that they found online?

Brian

For Systems/Digital Contents: What digi formats should content be in?

Sun, 08 Mar 2009 20:50:07 GMT

by Erica Sum.

Are there preferred formats, or is everything okay as long as it is printable? Will the future portal support certain formats?

Kitty Gale asks, what are the actual steps required to use the system?

Sun, 08 Mar 2009 19:43:08 GMT

by Erica Sum.

HOW TO PRINT LOCAL MATERIAL!

STEP ONE:
Write, type, draw, design whatever you like! Then transfer that to a digital format e.g. scan pictures.

STEP TWO:
Print out the pages.

STEP THREE:
Cut pages to correct size so everything lines up evenly.

STEP FOUR:
Bind them together various methods available. The quality and speed of the binding can vary widely.

STEP FIVE:
Distribute books!

HOW TO PRINT EXISTING MATERIAL

STEP ONE:
Locate desired material. This can be anything as long as it is copyright free. In the future, materials should be available on an online portal with a searchable catalog. Currently, this portal is being designed by the Systems team, site launch date is undetermined. In the meantime, public domain material can be accessed through the Internet Archives webpage, and through searching the internet. The Digital Contents team has been working hard to find resources!

STEP TWO:
Print out the pages.

STEP THREE:
Cut pages to correct size so everything lines up evenly.

STEP FOUR:
Bind them together various methods available. The quality and speed of the binding can vary widely.

STEP FIVE:
Distribute books!

digital contents

Sun, 08 Mar 2009 19:35:12 GMT

by Erica Sum.

ODBS Digital contents are free!

The scope of materials include:
- works in the public domain
- works released under a creative commons license
- local materials created within the community