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Hi Sameer,<br><br>I ran across this Mind Map Tool and thought it might add some <br>capability to what your team is doing.<br><br>View Your Mind:<br><a href="http://www.insilmaril.de/vym/">http://www.insilmaril.de/vym/</a><br><br>One of its new features is ability to import Freemind Maps.<br>Seems to have some additional capabilities that would prove <br>useful.<br><br>Would be interested in what you think of it!<br><br>John Tierney<br><br><br>> Date: Fri, 15 May 2009 12:53:40 -0700<br>> From: sverma@sfsu.edu<br>> To: olpc-open@lists.laptop.org; grassroots@lists.laptop.org; community-support@lists.laptop.org; support-gang@lists.laptop.org<br>> CC: marketing@lists.sugarlabs.org<br>> Subject: Re: [Marketing] Information flow problem<br>> <br>> On Wed, May 13, 2009 at 10:16 AM, Sameer Verma <sverma@sfsu.edu> wrote:<br>> > Hello everybody,<br>> ><br>> > Information flow is a critical problem for any organization. Some<br>> > researchers even point out that an organization is shaped by how<br>> > information flows within and outside of it. Free flow of information<br>> > builds networks. Restricted flow of information builds hierarchies. In<br>> > the OLPC context, information flow happens over several channels:<br>> > mailing lists, IRC, Talk pages, Wiki pages, phone calls, RT,<br>> > face-to-face, and IM (did I miss anything?). We all have preferences<br>> > for channels and applications. One can largely divide the channels<br>> > into synchronous (IM, Phone, etc) and asynchronous (e-mail, wiki) and<br>> > the applications that support these channels. We also tend to have<br>> > preferences for applications: wiki, forum, mailing list, IRC etc.<br>> > Then, there's the element of public vs private conversations. As a<br>> > researcher in Information Systems, I find these problems very<br>> > interesting.<br>> ><br>> > Two problems arise:<br>> > 1) too many channels (example: if I wasn't on the phone conference,<br>> > I'll miss out the details via IRC) lead to lack of critical mass and<br>> > fragmentation<br>> > 2) The application (wiki or IRC or mailing list) is a hammer and every<br>> > problem looks like a nail that it can fix. "Throw it on the wiki" is a<br>> > source of a lot of misery!<br>> ><br>> > Then there is the element of fashionable social networking (flickr,<br>> > twitter, tumblr, etc)...as if e-mail, IM, IRC, and chatter at cafes<br>> > aren't social networking! That topic is for another day :-) My<br>> > approach is that we figure out the problem first, and then find a tool<br>> > to fix it. Activity centric as opposed to application centric. Sound<br>> > familiar?<br>> ><br>> > So, this semester, I worked with five of my graduate students who<br>> > undertook a Information Systems Analysis and Design project to analyze<br>> > the OLPC information flow problem and come up with some design<br>> > concepts. All the students were new to the problem. This was useful<br>> > because their perspective was quite new and they asked some very good<br>> > questions.<br>> ><br>> > They used phone interviews, e-mails, in-person interviews, and<br>> > observations on the mailing lists, phone conferences, and the RT<br>> > system to gather data. A huge thank you to Adam Holt, Seth Woodworth,<br>> > SJ Klein and a bunch of other who contributed and facilitated.<br>> ><br>> > In brief, they have pulled together the following:<br>> ><br>> > A general problem mind map (Freemind)<br>> > Context map (Dia)<br>> > Data Flow Diagrams (Dia)<br>> > Entity-Relationship Diagram (Dia)<br>> > Prototype (Drupal)<br>> > Report and presentation (OpenOffice)<br>> ><br>> > Their semester ends next week, and the report and presentation are due<br>> > on the 21st. However, given that SugarCamp is this weekend, we'll try<br>> > to post bits and pieces on the wiki in the hope that it will help with<br>> > some of the discussion (marketing@sugarlabs cc'd). In the spirit of<br>> > keeping things open and generative, we have decided to release the<br>> > documents, slides and diagrams under a CC license and also release<br>> > source files to make modifications easier. We've also stuck with FOSS<br>> > titles and open formats for all documents - this was a bit of a<br>> > struggle because some of the tools are not as mature as their<br>> > proprietary counterparts (Dia vs Visio) and the students were a lot<br>> > more familiar with the proprietary ones (Visio vs Dia).<br>> ><br>> > There are some unfinished pieces, which will hopefully be worked on in<br>> > the next few months to add better definition to the overall flow of<br>> > information. Stay tuned to this thread for updates.<br>> ><br>> > cheers,<br>> > Sameer<br>> > --<br>> > Dr. Sameer Verma, Ph.D.<br>> > Associate Professor of Information Systems<br>> > San Francisco State University<br>> > San Francisco CA 94132 USA<br>> > http://verma.sfsu.edu/<br>> > http://opensource.sfsu.edu/<br>> ><br>> <br>> Hi,<br>> <br>> I'm starting to upload an abridged version of the document as my<br>> students finish up sections and make bits and pieces available.<br>> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Information_Systems_Analysis_and_Design_Project<br>> Keep an eye on it as it evolves! We'll upload the final finished<br>> products in a week or so.<br>> <br>> cheers,<br>> Sameer<br>> --<br>> Dr. Sameer Verma, Ph.D.<br>> Associate Professor of Information Systems<br>> San Francisco State University<br>> San Francisco CA 94132 USA<br>> http://verma.sfsu.edu/<br>> http://opensource.sfsu.edu/<br>> _______________________________________________<br>> Marketing mailing list<br>> Marketing@lists.sugarlabs.org<br>> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/marketing<br></body>
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