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  • From: Stephanie Gerson <sgerson@stanfordalumni.org>
  • To: <pcplantdb@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [pcplantdb] [rere][synthesis]
  • Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2004 21:06:00 -0700

Phew, lots of activity in the past 2 days!

Once again, I’m gonna try to round everything up:

-Lawrence asked, “Or did the grant proposal specify that HG would have a
GBI?” I completely agree with John’s comments on this (that first
priority is backend, then worry about front end) – but as I mentioned in
the last post, the grant proposal did specify a web-like user interface
for the front end. Essential to this project is a UI that presents
information about relationships between plants in a systemic way. So,
the project does not only involve Permaculture, it also involves Systemic
Education – and twin goals are to *both* collect Permaculture data *and*
develop a tool to present it systemically (regardless of chronology). So
now you get an idea where I’m coming from in all of this – whereas most
of you approach this project as permaculturists and software developers,
I’m approaching it from education…

With regards to this, Rich requested a conference call so I could explain
my initial vision for the front end and we could brainstorm about it. So
I’ve decided that for clarification, I will write a description of what I
initially envisioned (and why Thinkmap and GBIs were appealing to me at
the time), and send it out to you.

Related, someone wrote “There is only a limited amount of info which can
be displayed in each node (point on the graph). Yes, but the bulk of the
information will be in the *strands* between the nodes! More to come in
the description of my initial vision…

-John, I am still unclear about your proposal to be an “issue tracker.”
What does that mean, and how is it different from the administrator
position I thought you were talking about? And then who will be the
administrator?

-Rich and others, I asked you to check out the new version of Thinkmap
not because I was interested in using it (of course it is way too
expensive, among other things). I simply wanted you to check it out to
get an idea of what we might want to (or want not to) do with our front
end.

-Rich, I couldn’t really understand your instructions for adding another
topic to the wiki – can I maybe send you some additional decision items
for you to post? (Then again, I should learn how to use the wiki
myself…can you explain what I need to do again please?)

-Lawrence asked that someone list and define the various licenses. Which
one(s) would be best for HG and why? Wonderful idea. Who wants to take
this on? Does anyone already know anything about licenses or have a
strong preference? (Please, someone step up.)

-Thanks for your comments on the group process, Chad. Lawrence suggested
that others on the list introduce themselves and let us know how they
want to be involved with the project over time. So this is to all yalls
we haven’t heard much from – can you please introduce yourselves?
(Umm...are you even reading this? Maybe I'll post a separate message
with "hey YOU" as the subject...)

-Thanks for the name suggestions, Lawrence – did you add them to the
wiki? To me, this project is about relationships between plants (how
many times have I said this) - so I would like to incorporate that in the
name. And not to be bratty, but all the names suggested so far are
pretty boring. It can be straightforward, but clever, n'est ce pas? I’ll
think about it.

-Someone asked, “But is a comprehensive permaculture database the goal of
this project? Stephanie?” Not what we got funded to do. This sounds
like Lawrence’s ultimate goal. HG is specifically about creating a
database of information regarding relationships between flora. If it
grows to be a comprehensive permaculture database (as part of Lawrence’s
larger intents), that would be ideal! But that’s not the goal of this
particular project, at least not at this point.

-Lawrence asked, “Should this pcplantdb mailing list allow public access
to its message archives? Currently it does not. Subscriptions also have
to be approved. Do you all want me to post new subscription requests to
the list for discussion and group approval?” I am fine with anything,
especially if we are all about open source/free accessibility/etc. but
right now things are pretty logistics-oriented, so maybe we should wait,
at least until we’ve finalized the project plan and we’re getting going?

Otherwise, posts to the list might be distracting? Hmm… but either way
is fine with me. (can you tell I’m a libra)

And finally…guess what? I’ve completed the first draft of the project
plan! Haven’t learned any fancy project management software yet (I
might, though), so it’s in a simple word doc for now. Please understand
that this is the first draft and it is flexible. And also understand
that it is difficult for me to estimate how long it will take to complete
tasks that I don’t understand too well (techie tasks). I really have no
idea if I grossy under or overestimated times for completing tasks, so
you'll have to let me know. Rich and Chad, I put your tasks together, so
you two are gonna have to communicate with each other and figure out who
is doing what when…

Please read the project plan I attached here and respond to me by the end
of this weekend, if possible. Then I will edit it, and re-send it out.

Ok? Does everything sound reasonable?

And Chad – if you don’t have time for any of this, at least send us all
some solar dehydrated tomatoes…to eat with hg of course

Allrighty, have wonderful weekends

peace
*la S


+++++++++++++++
Stephanie Gerson
sgerson@stanfordalumni.org
(c) 415.871.5683


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Attachment: Calendar.doc
Description: MS-Word document




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