[Server-devel] EduBlog Revised Project Plan

[Greg Smith (gregmsmi)]

Hi All,
 
After a game of tag with my kids, my head cleared and I thought about
the project again.
 
Thanks to Wad and Martin for uncovering the OS problem!
 
Lesson learned: 
We have teachers, teacher trainers and programmers in Uruguay interested
and international volunteers ready to code. I missed the direct contact
with Latu and Ceibal technical people! I'm one hop away from them and
that's a big gap. I will focus on closing that gap, rechecking end user
contacts and looking for backup customers.
 
This project will run for 8 more weeks and then phase 1 is over! I broke
the work in to three milestones outlined below. 
 
Please stay focused on this short term to do list:
 
1 - Tarun gets the three main GUI pages proto-typed and posted for
comment. Focus on Apache + PHP then XML/RPC call from EduBlog to Blog
host. Don't worry about the DB right now. Get us a web page with text
entry and image upload which posts to blogger.com for starters. Make it
atomic and throw all history away as a warm up. I need that to recruit
more customers.
 
2 - Tony and Glen go ahead with bring up of XS and Fedora box. We need
that for future install on XS. We can also use it as the hosted server
for beta test, GUI proofing and reaching milestone 1 and maybe 2 below.
 
3 - Greg will focus on getting in technical synch with Ceibal.
Re-proofing the customer need, lining up beta testers, and looking for
backup target customers.
 
Here are the 3 key milestones. 

We declare victory if we get to Milestone 1 by August. Milestone 2 is a
stretch goal and 3 is almost certainly post August.
 
***********************************
Milestone 1
- A basic HTML GUI (three main pages) on a Fedora + XS server which kids
and teachers can use to post to blogger.com.
 
Purpose
- This will prove the concept of taking an Internet tool (blogger.com)
and making it usable by kids and manageable by teachers. It will also
show how to build a "web app" for deployment on  the XS. Lastly it will
allow kids in Uruguay to work around bugs
http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/6825 and http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/6826
See also user complaint that these are blocking posts at:
http://haniavillanueva.blogspot.com/ 
 
Implementation details
- This GUI can be served out of a data center on the internet for test
and beta purposes. It may be used that way for a longer time if we can
ensure security without username/pass. Once we have a definite customer
we can include this in a future XS build.

*** 
Milestone 2
- A portable piece of code built on Apache + PHP + PostGreSQL that can
go on any Linux distro. 
 
Purpose
- This is so we can install it in Uruguay on Ceibal system. It will also
allow us to serve via internet and in general abstract the web app from
the OS so it can be developed on its own.
 
Implementation details
- I hope this is just a packaging detail on Milestone 1 above. It does
not need user identity and wont tie in with other XS resources unless we
can understand Uruguay technical XS implementation better.
 
***
Milestone 3
- The same code as above fully integrated with Moodle and other XS
resources (especially identity). 
 
Purpose
- This brings us a larger customer base including schools without good
Internet access. It still needs a school server. Of course EduBlog isn't
needed if the basic UI of existing blog tools (e.g. Moodle) is good
enough for kids and includes teacher controls. The main value of this
milestone is in tying in to XS existing DBs and user identity systems.
 
Implementation details
- Same target OS and package as milestone 1 above. Added XS <-> blog
hosting APIs implemented (e.g. moodle, drupal, etc.)
 
Also, I updated the requirements and project schedule at:
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Blog_Educativo_Plan_del_Proyecto
I only changed the English section so Spanish one is out of synch now
:-(
 
Main changes in requirements section are as follows:
- Moved mediawiki from must to should. Until someone has time to look at
it and we know it will be on XS we have start with moodle.
- Added requirement to support running on fedora + XS over internet.
This is the fastest way to support the end user but will need careful
investigation of security issues.
- Added comment to consider cookies short term.
- Clarified that it must be installed on XS only,  no XO code.
- Added should support firefox and IE on windows.

If you read this far you are a registered volunteer :-) and welcome to
help. Send me an e-mail or just join the fray and let us know what you
can do.
 
Thanks,
 
Greg S