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ADMINISTRIVIA: Feature upgrade done (LONG)
Anselm Lingnau
July 29, 2013, 9:40 p.m. (Message 64349)
It seems that the new version of the Strathspey server code has gone in without major problems. On top of the usual bunch of bug fixes, this includes the following new features: Social networking (sort of) --------------------------- The site now supports »user profiles« and the idea of making »friends« with other users (for the loose notion of »friendship« that has become the norm on the Internet these days). It also supports the idea of »status updates« that people can post to tell their »friends«, or alternatively, as a matter of fact all site members, or indeed, alternatively, anyone on the Internet who cares to look, something that may be important to them. Which in the world of SCD could include event announcements, which dance you liked from last night's class, and similar kinds of profound news. When you go to http://my.strathspey.org/ , the site presents you with a customised »stream« of updates from your »friends« mixed together with stuff that other people considered of general interest. You can post status updates and specify who should be able to see them (friends, site members, everyone). You can also edit them later if you find something worth fixing or adding. So far there is no direct sharing of photos or videos, no comments and no »liking« other's updates but that could be added later (I'm not so hot on the »liking« but the other things look vaguely worthwhile to me). Status updates support the full ACE language so you get to add things like <<ddd:Braes of Breadalbane>>, to link into the Strathspey SCD database. The user profiles contain the usual social-networking stuff (birthday, place of residence, …) together with some SCD items. User profiles are completely optional and indeed you can specify for most items whether they should be visible to friends, site members, or the world at large. So far there is no facility for profile pictures but you can add mug shots through Gravatar (http://www.gravatar.com/). There will eventually be native profile pictures but I haven't got around to implementing them yet. SCD Group Lists and Maps ------------------------ The SCD group database that used to be part of an earlier incarnation of the site is finally back. Right now it contains listings of RSCDS branches and affiliated groups (scraped off the RSCDS web site), but the plan is (a) to encourage people affiliated with the groups in question to take charge of their entries, and (b) to add as many non-RSCDS SCD groups as we can. So far there is no convenient interface for adding or editing group entries but that will come in due course. Personal Web Sites ------------------ This is really the big one: Any registered site user can now start their own web site to publish SCD-related material such as dances, tunes, stories, pictures and so on. (I'm prepared to cut people a lot of slack here; if you want to post kitten pictures then suit yourselves as long as there is room. I draw the line at stuff that is in conflict with applicable law, which here in Germany essentially means swastikas and kiddie porn, or that in other ways endangers the safe operation of the site for everyone or annoys me.) It only takes a single click to start the site, and afterwards it can for the most part be maintained in a web browser using plain text, so you don't need to be a computer guru or web design king to do your thing. Stuff that you post can be »syndicated« so it shows up in the »stream« on the main page; either for your friends, for all site members, or anyone who comes to visit. This basically gives you a chance to start an »SCD blog« which will be aggregated with those of other site users. Go wild. Tell people what you think or which dances you have recently done, and liked, or not liked. At this point this is probably something for »early adopters«. However it seems to work rather nicely if I say so myself (and considering that it has been something like 10 years in the making it had better, anyway). There are lots of ideas for improvement and if you come up with some more then let me know. I'll be happy to provide hand-holding if that is wanted. Roadmap ------- Here are a few things that could arrive in the future. Some of them are right around the corner and some others are still a way off. * Groups. This would work in a similar way to »friendship« only that you don't request to be friends with someone, you request to be a member of a group. Groups could be »open«, i.e., accept anybody as a member, or »closed«, i.e., a group owner/administrator/moderator would have to approve the request. Of course, Strathspey not actually being a cult, it would also be possible to leave a group again. One obvious application of this would be to facilitate communication between the members of a »real-life« SCD group. Another obvious idea would be to allow »group ownership« of dance lists in the database, so a team of teachers could work on a social programme together. But generally any site member would be free to start groups so if someone wants to come up with a group for the Left-Foot Poussette Haters' Society then that's fine by me. (If someone can come up with a better term than »groups«, which lends itself to confusion with »real-life« SCD groups, that would be great. Clans?) * Group sites. There are a few dance groups right now which are hosting their own (non-personal) web site on Strathspey, and there is room for many more. As of now this is not »self-service« like the personal sites are, but if you're interested then get in touch. (Once your site is set up you will be able to do everything by yourself.) I can offer you DNS names within rscds.net (for RSCDS branches only), scd-group.org (for anybody), or schottentanz.de (for German-speaking groups), but you can also make your own arrangements if you like. Drop me a line. * Events. The system already contains a very sophisticated event-management facility that supports everything from a unified event database to online registration (we've been using this for the Frankfurt club's events for years, and some others are starting with it now). Right now you need to be a dance group with a Strathspey-based site to take advantage of this, but there is no reason why individual users should not be allowed to add events to the database. This starts to become real fun when database dance lists acquire the ability to be linked to events (or vice-versa). Why bother? ----------- The obvious question to ask is why anyone would want to bother with a special social networking site for the SCD community when Facebook already exists, has 1.1 billion users, and everyone else is already over there. Here are a few possible answers: * It works and is fun. * It can do a few things that are useful to Scottish country dancers that Facebook &c. cannot do and will never be able to do. * On my.strathspey, there are no advertisers and nobody is interested in collating everything you do and selling it off to Big Business or giving it to the NSA for free. You are in charge of your own stuff and who gets to see it. We don't pester you to share everything that you are or do, but you could if you wanted to, and even if you do you can get rid of it again later. * My.strathspey and Facebook are not mutually exclusive. If nobody uses my.strathspey for »social networking« and the only thing it is useful for is hosting people's web sites (which Facebook cannot really do), publishing events (which Facebook can sort-of do but it sucks), and running the dance database (which is of no conceivable interest to Facebook whatsoever) then it is still a handy resource. Again, if you have any comments, ideas, or other thoughts feel free to send them in. If you try the site then I'm already chuffed. Have fun. There may be some teething problems but I'll keep an eye on things. Anselm -- Anselm Lingnau, Mainz/Mayence, Germany ................. xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx You cannot teach beginners top-down programming, because they don't know which end is up. -- C. A. R. Hoare
Oh dear, I'm afraid I'm a social-network-phobe. It all sounds very
complicated. I do notice, though, that the cribs on DanceData have
gone haywire, font or format or something is messed up?
Becky
Becky Sager
Marietta GA USA
"Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass...it's about
learning how to dance in the rain." Vivian Greene
Amanda Peart wrote: > Not the only one, Becky! I'm glad I'm in such good company ...... Well, you can rest assured that all of this is in no way mandatory ;^) I'm looking at the cribs issue now. Anselm -- Anselm Lingnau, Mainz/Mayence, Germany ................. xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx Democracy is a device that insures we shall be governed no better than we deserve. -- George Bernard Shaw
thanks -- I look forward to exploring it. I have been conflicted over the FB/Strathspey usage and hope this gets us back onto a more common path of communication. On Mon, Jul 29, 2013 at 10:40 AM, Anselm Lingnau <xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx>wrote: > It seems that the new version of the Strathspey server code has gone in > without major problems. On top of the usual bunch of bug fixes, this > includes > the following new features: > > Social networking (sort of) > --------------------------- > > The site now supports »user profiles« and the idea of making »friends« with > other users (for the loose notion of »friendship« that has become the norm > on > the Internet these days). It also supports the idea of »status updates« > that > people can post to tell their »friends«, or alternatively, as a matter of > fact > all site members, or indeed, alternatively, anyone on the Internet who > cares > to look, something that may be important to them. Which in the world of SCD > could include event announcements, which dance you liked from last night's > class, and similar kinds of profound news. When you go to > http://my.strathspey.org/ , the site presents you with a customised > »stream« > of updates from your »friends« mixed together with stuff that other people > considered of general interest. > > You can post status updates and specify who should be able to see them > (friends, site members, everyone). You can also edit them later if you find > something worth fixing or adding. So far there is no direct sharing of > photos > or videos, no comments and no »liking« other's updates but that could be > added > later (I'm not so hot on the »liking« but the other things look vaguely > worthwhile to me). Status updates support the full ACE language so you get > to > add things like <<ddd:Braes of Breadalbane>>, to link into the Strathspey > SCD > database. > > The user profiles contain the usual social-networking stuff (birthday, > place > of residence, …) together with some SCD items. User profiles are completely > optional and indeed you can specify for most items whether they should be > visible to friends, site members, or the world at large. So far there is no > facility for profile pictures but you can add mug shots through Gravatar > (http://www.gravatar.com/). There will eventually be native profile > pictures > but I haven't got around to implementing them yet. > > SCD Group Lists and Maps > ------------------------ > > The SCD group database that used to be part of an earlier incarnation of > the > site is finally back. Right now it contains listings of RSCDS branches and > affiliated groups (scraped off the RSCDS web site), but the plan is (a) to > encourage people affiliated with the groups in question to take charge of > their entries, and (b) to add as many non-RSCDS SCD groups as we can. So > far > there is no convenient interface for adding or editing group entries but > that > will come in due course. > > Personal Web Sites > ------------------ > > This is really the big one: Any registered site user can now start their > own > web site to publish SCD-related material such as dances, tunes, stories, > pictures and so on. (I'm prepared to cut people a lot of slack here; if you > want to post kitten pictures then suit yourselves as long as there is > room. I > draw the line at stuff that is in conflict with applicable law, which here > in > Germany essentially means swastikas and kiddie porn, or that in other ways > endangers the safe operation of the site for everyone or annoys me.) It > only > takes a single click to start the site, and afterwards it can for the most > part be maintained in a web browser using plain text, so you don't need to > be > a computer guru or web design king to do your thing. > > Stuff that you post can be »syndicated« so it shows up in the »stream« on > the > main page; either for your friends, for all site members, or anyone who > comes > to visit. This basically gives you a chance to start an »SCD blog« which > will > be aggregated with those of other site users. Go wild. Tell people what you > think or which dances you have recently done, and liked, or not liked. > > At this point this is probably something for »early adopters«. However it > seems to work rather nicely if I say so myself (and considering that it has > been something like 10 years in the making it had better, anyway). There > are > lots of ideas for improvement and if you come up with some more then let me > know. I'll be happy to provide hand-holding if that is wanted. > > Roadmap > ------- > > Here are a few things that could arrive in the future. Some of them are > right > around the corner and some others are still a way off. > > * Groups. This would work in a similar way to »friendship« only that you > don't request to be friends with someone, you request to be a member of > a > group. Groups could be »open«, i.e., accept anybody as a member, or > »closed«, i.e., a group owner/administrator/moderator would have to > approve the request. Of course, Strathspey not actually being a cult, it > would also be possible to leave a group again. > > One obvious application of this would be to facilitate communication > between the members of a »real-life« SCD group. Another obvious idea > would > be to allow »group ownership« of dance lists in the database, so a team > of teachers could work on a social programme together. But generally any > site member would be free to start groups so if someone wants to come up > with a group for the Left-Foot Poussette Haters' Society then that's > fine > by me. > > (If someone can come up with a better term than »groups«, which lends > itself to confusion with »real-life« SCD groups, that would be great. > Clans?) > > * Group sites. There are a few dance groups right now which are hosting > their own (non-personal) web site on Strathspey, and there is room for > many more. As of now this is not »self-service« like the personal sites > are, but if you're interested then get in touch. (Once your site is set > up you will be able to do everything by yourself.) I can offer you DNS > names within rscds.net (for RSCDS branches only), scd-group.org (for > anybody), or schottentanz.de (for German-speaking groups), but you can > also make your own arrangements if you like. Drop me a line. > > * Events. The system already contains a very sophisticated > event-management > facility that supports everything from a unified event database to > online > registration (we've been using this for the Frankfurt club's events for > years, and some others are starting with it now). Right now you need to > be > a dance group with a Strathspey-based site to take advantage of this, > but > there is no reason why individual users should not be allowed to add > events > to the database. > > This starts to become real fun when database dance lists acquire the > ability to be linked to events (or vice-versa). > > Why bother? > ----------- > > The obvious question to ask is why anyone would want to bother with a > special > social networking site for the SCD community when Facebook already exists, > has > 1.1 billion users, and everyone else is already over there. Here are a few > possible answers: > > * It works and is fun. > > * It can do a few things that are useful to Scottish country dancers that > Facebook &c. cannot do and will never be able to do. > > * On my.strathspey, there are no advertisers and nobody is interested in > collating everything you do and selling it off to Big Business or giving > it to the NSA for free. You are in charge of your own stuff and who gets > to see it. We don't pester you to share everything that you are or do, > but you could if you wanted to, and even if you do you can get rid of > it again later. > > * My.strathspey and Facebook are not mutually exclusive. If nobody uses > my.strathspey for »social networking« and the only thing it is useful > for > is hosting people's web sites (which Facebook cannot really do), > publishing > events (which Facebook can sort-of do but it sucks), and running the > dance > database (which is of no conceivable interest to Facebook whatsoever) > then > it is still a handy resource. > > Again, if you have any comments, ideas, or other thoughts feel free to send > them in. If you try the site then I'm already chuffed. Have fun. There may > be > some teething problems but I'll keep an eye on things. > > Anselm > -- > Anselm Lingnau, Mainz/Mayence, Germany ................. > xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx > You cannot teach beginners top-down programming, because they don't know > which > end is up. -- C. A. R. > Hoare > -- Bruce Herbold San Francisco "Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it’s time to pause and reflect." - Mark Twain
