Revision as of 21:14, 26 January 2008

A discussion page for library software and content delivery.

For related meeting notes, see content meetings.

recent discussion

Metadata needs

In some countries, you have strict metadata based on ministry needs; but want to bring in material from repos that aren't so formal. See /Metadata.

specific topics

libraries and repositories

1) working with partner repositories - good interfaces for curriki and the internet archive, et al. that hide the complexities of their system and make it easy to upload things "for OLPC" and to find/tag related material

2) use of Wikimedia projects, Fedora and like repositories to organize both physical and digital materials -- books, media, library records, XO bundles, [other] web learning activities.

3) organizing community review and assessment : good and brilliant packages and bundles; content stamping.

Re: Content stamping - is active development on this still needed? If it's urgent, we can write up a spec/job-descript and post it to our soon-to-be-pretty Internships (unpaid... and intended for local groups to post opportunities and help-wanteds) page. I can also talk to the folks at OpenPlans next month to see if they are still interested. Mchua 02:08, 25 January 2008 (EST)

supporting new projects

1) [Southern] Summer of Content - we have some interested sponsors who want to make sure SoCon happens again this month / next, and a potential co-announcement around this summer's iCommons. how to propagate successes from the Aug/Septemer SoCon? &c.

Now that I'm back in the continent and will be in a stable home with equally stable wireless, I can actually jump back in on this. I've been focusing on building a back-end Mediawiki site with semantic capabilities that will make submitting, reviewing, processing, and keeping track of applications and projects much more sane than last time; it can be ready to go the second week of Feb, possibly earlier if we need it then. Need to catch up with SJ, Wayne, and whoever else is interested - please ping me. Mchua 02:16, 25 January 2008 (EST)

2) task boards for sharing needs and offers. social network by talent and passion. bounty and job boards for partners who need to find help on short notice (ex: UNICEF is always short of python programmers in non-english speaking countries. this is a plum job. they have a hard time getting the word out...)

Internships might be turning into something like this - Help wanted and Job wanted, perhaps? There might be less clunky ways of doing it than on a manually-updated-and-pruned mediawiki page, though - perhaps something in one of the new forums? Another idea: "helpwanted" mailing list for OLPC-related "job" postings. In general, way too many grassroots people have been asking me about this, so I'm very interested (for the sake of my own sanity) in finding a good next-generation solution. Definitely want to be updated; not sure how much time I can spend helping with this (esp. if I'm doing SoCon again). Mchua 02:16, 25 January 2008 (EST)

outreach

1) university connections : a consortium of faculty advisors and coordinators, with student curators and creators, in touch with / maintaining connections with thousands of archives, museums, publishing channels, classes, and individual authors

Already nucleating university chapters, primarily in the Chicago area for now. Will see if we can get more helpful resources for starting chapters out there. In general, nucleating university (and grassroots) groups seems to work best when already-active OLPC volunteers go out and run an intensive boot-camp intro kickoff/projects session at the location for at least a full day... most of the groups I've run into so far need connections and the knowledge of where to find information more than anything else to help them really get going. Btw, a university chapter is just a specialized form of grassroots group, imo. Mchua 02:24, 25 January 2008 (EST)

2) by chapter : local and national chapter development, policies, &c.

Wait... policies? ([[[OLPC Chicago]] has "we are... we are not..." guidelines inspired by OLPC Europe - are you thinking of something like this, or more rule-like policies that all chapters must follow? Mchua 02:24, 25 January 2008 (EST)

3) by creative community : subprojects within Flickr, Youtube, Wikimedia Commons, Wikipedia, and the like

What happened to Curators? Mchua 02:24, 25 January 2008 (EST)

4) by major educational project : subgroups within UNICEF, WHO and the like coordinating sharing of works in child-friendly and XO-friendly formats.

Can these be grouped with #3? Can they use the same infrastructures/tools in terms of ways (not necessarily technological) of interfacing their stuff with OLPC? (This is badly phrased, I know; can't think of a way to reword it more coherently atm.) Mchua 02:24, 25 January 2008 (EST)

5) by tool/activity : blogging, music sharing, programming... forming networks, organizing local and regional competitions, topical newsletters to highlight good work. Examples from primary and secondary networks elsewhere

Example: Art - it seems like a lot of communities of this sort are just missing critical mass and a willing maintainer. Mchua 02:24, 25 January 2008 (EST)

6) by language; What sorts of partnerships this opens up with local groups

What has grassroots activity been like in the target countries? Is there a possibility that they might be willing to host volunteers from overseas (who would pay their own way, or find funding to do such - no financial burden imposed upon host institutions) who can speak the local language and have relevant experience? Mchua 02:24, 25 January 2008 (EST)

Older discussion

Library Tools

The [Greenstone Digital Library] system provides a lightweight digital library in terms of application and collection size if properly configured. Greenstone can deliver collections on very old 16 bit hardware with much lower specs than the the OLPC laptop.

A slightly different [more limited?]notion of library than the one we have in mind.

Stephen's Suggestions

Application configuration;

Only include the cgi library interface
lightweight http server (their may already be one on the device that could be reused)

Don't include the GLI interface for library creation, ditto for the supporting code, and perl wrappers/plugins etc. Much of the application in the full download is not required for searching/viewing collections.

Collection configuration;

Collections can be optimised and compressed in a variety of ways that would easily allow fitting a great deal of content into a small portion of the space available on the OLPC, or even on a small USB flashdrives for distribution.
The most efficient ways of including content is to store/compress it as either plain text or html (if linking or lightweight images are needed). This facility already exists in Greenstone.

- Stephen De Gabrielle

Some definitions

Terms

Library Activity: -- A way to interface to content on the XOs and school servers. Eventually this may become its own activity; currently this will be a browser interface.

XO library: -- the library of materials on an XO.

School library: -- the library of materials on a school server.

Regional library: -- the library of materials on a regional or country server.

Interface

The default interface for the library activity can be similar to the journal interface. (Eventually the journal may provide much of this interface.) Browsing the XO library:

- main page (by subject)

Browsing the school library:

- main page -- a page for "what" (by subject)
- "who"  (by student) **
- "when" (by time) **

There will be a multilingual server collection, linked to from the above:

- literature, picture books and audiobooks
- world atlas of maps (with its own mini-portal)
- images from around the world
- video (movies, tv programs) and sounds 
- games (a puzzle game, simcity, tetris, an etoys project collection)

Also: dictionary, 'develop' activity (deep links), photos and videos take with capture activity, audio recorded likewise.

Many of the above will be loadable by browsing to them; some will require more technical know-how.

** once a database is set up to store and search through metadata.  there can be simple 
   implementations before the full object store is in place.
*** assuming a media streamer is working

A main browsing-page:

------------------------
(journal-style search bar)

   [   A   ]     [   B   ] 

   [   C   ]     [   D   ] 
    
------------------------
A : Texts (reading, math, science; project ideas; for teachers, students; ...)
B : Images  (photos, snapshots, ...)
C : Video (clips, films, ...)
D : Activities (games, etoys, ...)

Subsidiary browsing pages: at least one for each of the sections listed above. One for each large collection [encyclopedia, dictionary if present, atlas, periodic table]. A variation of each portal for every core language [ideal portals have no text at all, or at branch tiers, text in every language].

Milestones

- get a number of draft sketches of possible main and secondary browsing pages 
- define what the design and layout will be like
- define when we will have final converted media from our own machines and from Real
- determine what media player to use
- finalize agreements re: use of media works
- draft spec for metadata store 
- have small localization team in place for En, Es, Pt, Ar
- find remaining resources needed

- revisit full timeline & needs
- test XO-customization activities
- test character-sets [again]; first run of localization work [on-wiki]

- testing ebook readers x2 (yellow and internet archive readers)
- testing datastore on server 
- testing video streaming, server to XO 
- test form creation, new games (simcity, puzzle game, &c)

- testing wiki & admin interface (moodle, &c)
- test localized sugar, journal.
- revisit full timeline & needs

...

- testing on a server

Resources

Mozilla expert to help perfect the interface via the browser
Moodle, Mediaplayer, &c. devs to help set up server apps
designer[s] to help create any images necessary in line with existing interface specs
developer to help write a database to support storing simple metadata about library materials and simple searching for those materials; and scripts to restructure and reformat text and metadata from existing sources.
group focusing on localization implementation -- activating a language preference, setting up workflows that will work over the longer term.

Library design

Thoughts

A good library should be beautiful, should hint at overabundance and accessibility, and its use should be inspiring. Specific design ideas:

1) The overall HTML framework should replicate some of the look of the Journal, notably the topmost bar. Images + JS; implements whatever search is available.

2) The main portal page - Megan suggested a circular / annular theme to match the desktop. A central circle containing a library logo, with four sections for text, images, music/video, and games/activities, each represented by small images. This is the top-level browse view.

3) We'll have secondary pages for each section, offering a "browse" view organized by subject ("what") for that section. This can be a two-column view with sections, and icons for each major section -- Eben, this would be similar to a 2-up display similar to what your tv-widget offers.

4) We need a "browse" view for people ("who") showing what each person has in his/her personal collection. This will be needed if the servers are done in time, but takes lower priority than the rest.

5) We should have a template for search results; similar to 3) above but dynamically generated.

Discussion, Mar 30

1930 EST

Feel free to add to the agenda:

Specific topics needed : bootstrapping materials, images for using each application
- Visual and playful introductions
- Module/topic priorities by country
- Curators and topical/language coordination

Online v. school servers v. laptops -- finding & using material
- Exposing created works : documents, photos, videos, projects
- Finding project collections online

Trial library testing
- laptop test materials (weekend)
- server materials, School Server Specification, et al.

Asides
- Content review and stamping
  - microformats, Ratepoint, Connexions' del.icio.us model
- Game development, weekly discussions

Discussion, June 12(ish)

Present: Ryan, [[User:Lauren|Lauren], Kathy, Mel, SJ
Worked on a lightweight index metadata spec called Ad Libris - think a little virtual "bookplate" that can be attached to (or pointing to) different files and content; these "bookplates" are the items that can be tagged/extended/indexed/have reviews attached, etc.
Most of the discussion is detailed in the Ad Libris Spec (under construction).
Immediate need for instructions on how to make a bundle (in the generic sense w/ content, not just software activities).

This steals storage from the children.

The kids have about 1/3 of a gigabyte free to start with, maybe more like 1/5 after all the software is written. This is supposed to last them for years.

They should have at least 300MB free. They will have backups elsewhere, and can delete things in their library that they don't like, so it's not quite clear to me what "last them for years" means here.

It's enough space, barely, if it doesn't get filled up with stuff (libraries for example) that isn't all that likely to be useful. Kids will be creating images, sound, and maybe even video. There really isn't room for a library.

That's roughly the idea. The best local materials are the ones that can be used to learn how to do things, and used as templates, or as part of other creative works.

The school server isn't likely to have lots of space either. It'll be doing backup duty. It'll be serving up textbooks, probably chapter-by-chapter to save space on the XOs. Anything left over could be used as a web cache if there is a net connection.

It will be serving up books and images and maps and materials in the school library, yes. And it will be part of a cache framework, along with the laptops themselves.

The "web cache" could of course hold a library, if the students wish to use a library.

Sporadic network access means that some of the active caching will have to take the form of a library that is preloaded or regularly made available, with updates available over time as well. Sj talk 10:58, 30 March 2007 (EDT)

AlbertCahalan 22:02, 18 March 2007 (EDT)

More samples

library design

Monday, April 9

 1. making a library activity that's readily customizable and skinnable
(with sugar and html views),
   + working with country partners to develop a local image in four
languages

 2. coordination of look and search with the World Digital Library and
Internet Archive
   + html and other; design and usability guidelines

 3. default views: by topic, by media, by language, by geography
   + existing projects and interfaces with view selections.

 4. content guidelines: writing for children, for translation, other.

Saturday, April 14

Visualization of components of the open library exchange.

Proposed schema for a [world open library exchange]: This needs defined interchange formats and collection-level style and feed guidelines. Most collections have limited collection or transparency of the fact that new additions or changes have been made (metametadata?).

Graphical overview of proposed open library schema.

Classification into groups and collections, needing standard "breadcrumb" metadata format for all content providers to reference object locations in the [OLE]. This draws upon the ideas in Content_Stamping and the structure of the current library as well as desires to promote multilingual cooperation.

Format and display issues

screen resolution questions
efforts to fix open font solutions

Country materials and existing initiatives

Working through a few countries; looking for university and creative nexus collections. Feel free to add yours here: Library and learning initiatives (notes on Argentina, Alegre, Colombia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Paraguay, Uruguay, Nepal, Panama, Ethiopia, Mexico moved).

Multilingual chat opportunities

How does this impact development?

Fonts

What fonts are needed for interested countries, by priority?

Request for tar or rpm of the sample library

Could a snapshot of the "collection of sample content formatted for the XO online" be wrapped up as a tar or rpm? I've found it non-trivial to scrape (javascript organization), and the version in the ext3.img xo disk images difficult to get at. I'd like it to add to the LiveCd (which doesn't have it) to make a demo-oriented live cd. Thanks. MitchellNCharity 20:36, 1 June 2007 (EDT)

Try this tarfile. Sj talk 23:30, 1 June 2007 (EDT)

My thanks. I also learned how to mount the non-devel xo disk image's filesystem, to copy it from there. Sorry for not figuring it out earlier. MitchellNCharity 00:10, 2 June 2007 (EDT)

Library notes

Models of content/levels/scale

(small to big)

Fragments
Leaves (whatever)
Branches (.xols)
Trees (web/wiki pages)
Forests (indexes)
Sky (views, overlays, lenses)

(another model)

Individual pieces of content: photos, stories, articles, etc.
Grouped collections: a newspaper issue, a photo gallery
Sources: wikipedia, this atlas site, this artist's homepage, that comment (large-scale visualizations of a set of materials)
Reference, community, classes, search engines

things to focus on for t2

featured images
wp snapshots
rss feeds
dictionaries
tpical categories
audio, video, books
links

For bundling and metadata

books, games, reference, free software for them
childrens' books [1]
math texts and resources (NLVM, teacher)
not really: hdn, zeen

Catalog

A catalog should be

searchable
dynamic, with caching of recent downloads and the ability to check links and update
aware of restrictions (size, format, licensing)

We can minimize the need for each of these in a first pass; by setting the bar for restrictions low, making updates sporadically and in bulk, and using the web and simple fts engines for search.

The web app version: let anyone register to submit collections; these have metadata, index pages, and links to originals for verification. let others come review, verify, and update collection data. any compilation via scripts or otherwise should be shared for recompilation after small changes are made. APIs to this will include a way to add many groups or reviews at once; a way to synch distributed offline submissions and comments; and a way for bots to efficiently add or change metadata.

The content browser: at first, the browser itself. Eventually, like the activty browser: a way to find, remove, and archive things in packages. APIs to this will include ways to upload content all at once; for instance a default collection or a default view into a school library.

Content to include

"A Musical Look At Waste" - Instructions on building musical instruments with waste and common materials, for kids. The author José Lúcio gave me permission to compile his webpage into a content bundle for the OLPC. It is licensed cc-by-sa, and translations are very welcome.

Portuguese:File:Olhar-musical-pelos-residuos.xol
English:File:Musical-look-at-waste.xol

HoboPrimate 00:19, 8 September 2007 (EDT)

Sample Library could integrate better with internet

The biggest content repository is the internet, and perhaps it would be quite usefull to have the library also serve as an entry-way for kids to that content.

I suggest that each category, Music, Activities, etc., have a separate space for web links. This would give kids a way to explore what (currently with the sample library) OLPC thinks is good on the web, and in the future what schools, teachers, but also hopefully students, parents, friends and local and regional communities think is good as well.

For example, the music category could contain links to Jamendo, and other free music websites. The image category could provide links to NASA's satellite imagery of countries and continents (see m. charitties user page for the link). The activity category could have a link to Instructables website.

These are some quick guesses, and more thought should go to the choice of usefull, good educational resources to include.

Of course, this Sample Library should clearly mark itself a sample, and not be seen as a Portal. For this reason, it should be somewhat limited in its range. At the sime, if it pointed towards content which adhere to the projects philosophical approach to education, it would be usefull to do. It should be made in a way that encourages communities to built on it, to add and improve it to fit their needs, and in no way impose our ideals/culture.

There might be problems of Nation-wide approved "Library links", but perhaps by reaching out to various cultures to come up with their own library sample, with content and weblinks representing what they are, would make better serve as example of how it could be used more dinamically. I could picture there being a Portuguese library, showcasing our poets, scientists, culture, nature, and so on. These would be usefull for countries or even communities to learn more from each other, by "trading" their made-libraries.

update: see use cases below. --Sj leave me a message 16:53, 24 January 2008 (EST)

A discussion page for library software and content delivery. See also content meetings.