[Imc-alternatives] user stories

[ekes]

There doesn't seem to be a talk page or something similar for the wiki -
maybe I should have just made a new page? But I've not - so I'm dumping
this here.

If I have the time I'll give a proper summary input, but for now I've
just put my immediate Drupal-geek and personal reactions to the user
stories (so they progress as I read - sorry I've just not got time to
construct a proper reply). Having read though it seems important to
clarify so that the new/current user stories come together toward the
same site (rather than some shockingly divergent ones):

(a) What is meant by a user/group/organisation
(b) How does an individual using the site identify themselves
(c) Where is the trust between individuals (and their
users/groups/organisations)

These seem important to interpreting the intention of the users stories,
to see if it is one site or more! See other notes in the
run-of-consciousness below about the politics (and required
technologies) of the different potential sites...

 * 1. The front page will feature clearly laid features about news,
success stories and other things relating to alternatives.  (I  envision
this as a center column and open newswire layout similar to most
indymedia sites).

 ekes: very easy to do in Drupal. More a political question of what you
are presenting to the casual user. Many IMCs are moving away from the
middle-column, open-newswire layout to something more categorized. The
discussion is then about how much open publishing content gets to the
front page without editorial input.

    * 2. Users [who?] should be able to add features to a center column
of the front page.

 ekes: very easy in Drupal - in most standard ways. The who is
interesting, as a devolved site with no community based on face2face
meetings the user community will have to work in a different way to
create trust to add features. Graduated access to the site, using
multiple roles in Drupal would be one way of doing this. Voting systems
maybe another way, these are less developed in Drupal - and I have my
reservations about the communities they build.

    * 3. Users should be able to post news and success stories to the
site, and the stories should be listed in an open newswire box on the
front page (similar to most indymedia sites).

 ekes: very easy in Drupal. Does it want to be one uncatogrised default
newswire? These work fine if there are few posts, but as above sites
with more traffic are looking to break them up. Also what is happening
with moderation of the wire - how is this participatory and open.

    * 4. Users should be able to comment on posted stories.

 ekes: no probs here with Drupal. But again a moderation, and
participation in open editing of the site question.

    * 5. There should be a wikified general overview of each general
category, so that users should be able to get an overview of different
issues in the world of alternatives.  These general overviews should be
generally editable, like a wiki.  (meaning, the site should have clearly
navigable general categories, so if I want to learn about alternative
education, for example, I can get to a general overview that will give
me some information about that without having to know everything about it).

 ekes: like the idea. Drupal-head thinks aloud: using the wiki module
(which I've not used yet) you could create either create a view, or make
a simple module to add to wiki.module nodes to appropriate category pages.

    * 6.  Users should be able to find alternatives-oriented
organizations, events and individuals in my geographic area (maps are nice).

 ekes: like this too. Drupal-head thinks aloud: just using the taxonomy
 system (ie topics) should cover a lot if not all of this, some other
modules could complement.

    * 7. Users should be able to  view and edit "how-to" information for
how to do things (like build rooftop solar collectors or start an
alternative school).  [wiki-style?]

 ekes: sounds like the wiki module again (not yet used by me)... well
that or a wiki. That, or using group pages, with the more experimental
group permissions on them.

    * 8. Users should be able to create forums about
alternatives-oriented topics.

 ekes: good and easy.

    * 9. Users should be able to chat with other users.  [real time?
Private messages?]

 ekes: real time within the site - shoutbox block stuff, my security
head immediately goes on; off site it's chat.indymedia.org! pm on site
no probs.

    * 10. Users should be able to rate newswire articles.

 ekes: drupal head, can be done - it's not the most mature tech though.
Political head on - WHY? Who are the 'users' in this sense, what sort of
community are you expecting to build... where is the trust model?

    * 11. Users should have access to a ride-board/couch-surf space.

 ekes: woo like couch surfing network... hmm... interested to think
about how to network this into site - or offsite it. Nothing instant.

    * 12. Users should have the option of receiving news and event
listings via e-mail.

 ekes: Drupal several modules for this, groups makes it much more refined.

    * 13. Users should  be able to list available skills and needs, as
well as search for other users with similar skills and/or
organizations/users with compatible needs.

 ekes: nice. Suspect for Drupal it would need some module writing or
tailoring to make it fit. What is the user expectation for sharing here?

    * 103.  Users can publish information in a way that it will be
distributed to an international network of sites.   For instance if they
post an event, add a group, or upload a resource - it is automatically
(within a couple days) distributed to a network of sites. Users are
empowered by the ability to not just publish, but also be heard.

 ekes: big picture one this... (i) what is the network of sites that are
going to carry it - are they indymedia sites (which tend to be
geographic) (ii) there needs to be a richer interchange format for
indymedia (type) sites anyway (lots of people have mooted it, it's just
not been done yet).

    * 104.  Users should be able to find trainers and speakers.  (This
is similar to #13, but slightly different in that by speakers and
trainers I'm referring to people with a higher degree of expertise
and/or skill.)  Trainers are people who can train on skills. Speakers
are people who are experts on an issue. There are people who are both
speakers and trainers.

 ekes: not sure how this differs to #13 depends on the expectaions I
questions about #13.

Multimedia

    * 14. Video and audio should be embedded in the webpages themselves,
as opposed to spawning a separate viewer or player.

 ekes: yep. Drupal immature but in full development.

    * 15. Users should be able to view photo galleries through a set of
“thumbnails” before choosing to see the full photos.

 ekes: yep. Drupal pretty mature - some user discontent about getting
photos into content rather than the easy galleries really.

    * 16. “popular media gallery based on tags/topics”.  [I’m not sure
what this means.] [Maybe it means a list of either pictures or video,
based on what is most downloaded/viewed?]

 ekes: Drupal listing freetags on number easy... logging viewed is as
dodgy as any site - especially if you don't keep IPs etc...

Usability

    * 17. Clean simple user interface. Easier than existing imc's. As
straightforward as Google, Flickr, YouTube.

 ekes: something to aim for ;) certainly possible.

    * 18. Mostly functionality should be available without having to
register for anything.

 ekes: given all the networking and trust stuff above there is going to
have to be some registration/identification model for a great deal of
the functionality desired.

    * 19. The site should be confident, elegant and clear and give easy
access to information. * 100. The web-pages should load fast (3 second
maximum on high speed internet). * 104. Users should be able to easily
find content on this site by searching for things at Google or Yahoo
(eg. search engine optimization).

 ekes: as #17

Social Networking and non-Social Networking

    * 20. Integrate current Indymedia model into a "Myspace for
activists" type of social networking site with personal and organization
centered start pages/collaborative space.

 ekes: yay! Politically I'm all for this. Technically it's a development
on Drupal groups - they can do it basically, but in developing the site
it would involve creating code to give back to the community that would
be more 'group/collaborative' than drupal groups are so far.

    * 101. Users can search for progressive groups, people, events,
online resources (aka materials, not website links) - in their local
area, or anywhere in the world (this is an extension of #6 going beyond
"alternative" organizations to include the rest of the political left).

 ekes: a content and categorisation thing... and politically probably
something that wants a framework built for deciding what are
'alternative organisations... [in] the political left'.

RSS Feeds and Web Services

    * 21. All content should produce RSS feeds that external sites can
access.  This includes features, the newswire, blogwire, blogs, topics,
media, tagged content, and should support content in particular languages.

 ekes: technically no problem. This is the first time I18N has been
mentioned I think this is *important*. RSS won't solve all the needs.

    * 102. All content made available by RSS should also be available
using web services (eg. SOAP or another method).

 ekes: see above #103 need for richer interchange format

User Accounts and Customization

    * 22. Users should be able to create individualized accounts.

 ekes: np

    * 23. Users should be able to have their own personal homepages that
list information about them, list their interests, and allow users to
link up with “friends”.

 ekes: technically np. some reservations politically - are we trying to
ape the atomised 'social networking web 2' stuff, or develop something
to do with collaborative work that is focused on the group not the
individual?

    * 24. Users should be able to request that other users become their
“friends” in a social networking site sense, and users should be able to
view their friends.
    * 25. Users should be able to customize the front page so I can see
news about alternatives the user is interested in.

 ekes: cf #23. It's more interesting if they can look at the front page
a group is interested in... another collaborative project they could join.

    * 26. Users should be able to customize the front page so they can
see important announcements from local organizations (event and
announcements for which I've signed up).

 ekes: this contradicts the earlier simple two column indy presentation,
but it makes sense. It would require a bit of work for Drupal to do this
- probably using a custom block to select a region topic?

    * 27. Individual users should be able to customize the appearance of
the site and integrate external RSS feeds into the presentation of their
customized site view.  For example, when a user logs into her account,
she can add particular RSS news feeds she is interested in, and the
headlines from that news feed will show up on the homepage in a box on a
sidebar.

 ekes: politically - why? technically - big overhead if it's server
side. Why not have groups with access to a groups aggregator type module?

    * 28. There should be additional optional modules that users can use
on their personal start pages, that might include calendaring, Digital
Library Project for resources/skills trading, Craigslist, Freecycle,
ride sharing, etc.

 ekes: feels like one for the longer picture this one.

    * 29. User accounts should get their own blog.

 ekes: technically no problem. politically - WHY? same as others about
recreating some atomised commercial app that's already been done (and
done pretty well) or doing something for OUR-space that involves
collaboration.

    * 30. User accounts should their their own “tagging” ability.  [What
does this mean?  Can any user tag any article, and that tag is
considered a “global” tag?]

 ekes: not to clear on this either

    * 31. User accounts should get their own history of posts and comments.

 ekes: no probs

    * 32. User accounts should get their own wiki space.  [Is this a
page on a global wiki, or an individual wiki?]

 ekes: wiki's are collaborative why do you want individual users space?

    * 33. Users should get an area to post their own media galleries,
podcasts, and torrent.  [Presumably other users should have an easy way
to access other users’ posting area?]

 ekes: a lot of this should be covered by #31, any more back to my
political WHY?

Internationalization

    * 34. Stories should be able to be posted in various languages, the
site viewed in various languages, and there should be a system for
adding new translations of existing content.

 ekes: YES. Drupal can do at the moment, but it's messy. Drupal 6 does
do - but the open publish translation will probably need to be reworked
again.

    * 105. Users should be able to provide their location (city, state,
country) and have their longitude and latitude mapped correctly.

 ekes: possible. Would require someone to code it I think. A lot of the
rest required more general locations catagorisations.

Tagging

    * 35. Individual pieces of content (stories, media) should be able
to be “tagged” by users to indicate topic or category.  Content should
be searchable by tags.

 ekes: no problem.

Administration

    * 36. The administrative interface should be simple, intuitive, and
fast.

 ekes: something to aim for - needs more specifics

    * 37. Admins should have an easy method to move content around the
site, like putting a great newswire article into the center column or
being able to feature an interesting blog entry.

 ekes: absolutely. Set up properly this is no problem for Drupal.
Politically who are the Admin's, how do they decide, and how is this an
open process so the non-admins know what's been decided and why. How do
non-admins become admins?

    * 38. There should be an automatic spam and abuse filtering mechanism.

 ekes: yep. but spam and abuse are possibly different things.

    * 39. There should be an easy way for an administrator to filter for
spam or abuse.

 ekes: no problem.

    * 40. There should be a mechanism for “breaking news” to be easily
posted to the front page of the website.  Through an interface, a few
sentences can be entered as a “breaking news” piece.  That information
will automatically be posted to the front page in a “breaking news”
section.  Additional breaking news pieces can also be posted, in order
to cover an ongoing situation.  After a period of time, breaking news
pieces automatically “expire” and are not presented on the home page.

 ekes: no problem.

    * 41.  User-level moderation of front-page viewable content, less
intervention by the collective (perhaps limiting control only to
featured center-column stories).

 ekes: this is very general and raises all of the questions above about
catagorisation of the open wire(s), admins/users, how the process is
open, if there is levels of access, what the trust model is etc.... see
above anyway!

    * 42.  Content may be filtered and delivered by users based on
locality in social network, based on tags/topics.

 ekes: see topics above.

Organizations

    * 43. Organizations should have a special type of user account.
[This requires some elaboration, as user account types are spelled out.]

 ekes: agree, see notes about groups above.

    * 44.  Organizations should have their own forums that users can
join.  [Do we mean blogs?  News wires?  Traditional forums?]

 ekes: agree, see notes about user blogs, group pages etc above.

    * 45. Users should be able to join an organization's mailing list.
[Do we mean that the site supports individual mailing lists for
organizations, or there is a way for users to join external mailing lists?]

 ekes: dupe of #12 if done properly

    * 46. Organizations should have access to organizational how-to
pages, successes, best practices, and lists of similar organizations
broken up geographically.
    * 47. Organizations should have access to a calendar of events,
local and beyond depending on our choice, related to our field/s of
interest.
    * 48. Organizations should be able to have the alternatives site be
their “home base” which includes many features, and might be a special
kind of organizational account.
    * 49. Organizations should be able to have a home page on the site,
with information about the group and its issues as well as links to a
mailing list, any forums, any blogs  by members or interesting blogs
about the issue/s at hand, meeting times/event calendar, "friends" such
as group members or supporters,  and links to organizational "friends"
working on similar issues --i.e. to "network".
    * 50. Organizations should have a place to post meeting minutes and
other internal information for the group (being able to choose whether
members need to log-on or if minutes are public)

 ekes: 46-50 are dupes of 'users should'. I actually think that 'groups
should'. Are we worried about formally structured organisations? Are we
bothered about recreating a users commercial social networking site?
These groups should be allowed to be fluid, but they should be
collaborative.
 Technically most of this is possible (see note about Drupal groups and
requirements for development above).

    * 51. Organizations should have a searchable mailing list archives
(accessible publicly or not, by choice of organization)

 ekes: yes. Mailman integration into Drupal would be a wonderful thing
though. Long term.

    * 52. Organizations should have wiki pages for organizational projects.

 ekes: as 46-50

    * 53. Organizations should have an announcement e-mail list that can
shoot e-mails or front page alerts to site users who sign up

 ekes: yes. in this one Drupal Groups does this as default for users
that join a group and agree to e-mails.

    * 54. Organizations should have decision-making software so group
can come to consensus/tally votes on-line

 ekes: interesting. like http://labs.riseup.net/ ?

    * 55. Organizations should have a chat space.

 ekes: as 46-50 (although what sort of chat... real time/messages)

    * 56. Organizations should be able to list skills available and
organizational needs, as well as search for individuals/organizations
with compatible needs.

 ekes: as 46-50

Networks

    * 57. The organizational functionality should be extended to support
networks of organizations.  See
http://lists.indymedia.org/pipermail/imc-alternatives/2007-April/0406-y0.html
 [This should get expanded into individual stories.]






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