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  • From: Richard Morris <webmaster@pfaf.org>
  • To: PCPLANTDB <pcplantdb@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [pcplantdb] Progress report and stuff
  • Date: Fri, 04 Feb 2005 11:38:20 +0000

Hi Folks,
There does not seem to have been much feedback on the progress report stuff. Its VITAL that we look into this.

Acheivements to date:
Evaluated systems for the underlying platform. Decided on a
system.
A working database running on ibiblio.
Issues tracker - nearly there.
A good design for the home page.
Mision statement for project
Building contacts and gaining a critical mass.
Valuable group discusions on many issues, bringing group members up to speed, on some of the issues.

Current tasks:
User input. Getting the system running so that we can start
accepting contributions. Can break this down into:
Some form of login/account managment
Working out database schema to allow user input.
Decide on what we do, and stick with it.
Implement.
Guilds and relationships.
Work out how to implement these.
Spec out whats required.
Start getting some data on Guilds.
Once we have some data, we can design from there.
Pull in other datasets.
Get data from Heidi.
Examine and work out how to combine.
Smart front end. Long way to go here.
Spec out desired features.
We could use the touch graph plant family tree
I did a while back.

Managment structure. Posibly our biggest chalange. managment via an email list is tricky. Its very easy for people not to respond to important emails. Also easy for lots of spin off ideas (guilty myself)
way beyond whats acheivable in a year. The issue might solve this,
potentially we can use this as a managment tool to prioetrise tasks.

Following is a compilation of Phase 1 discussions. My comments are in
[brackets].

So what *are* we attempting to deliver in Phase One? My own vision of the
software is this:

An application that assists in identifying new Guilds and exploring
existing Guilds. This application being a GPL like project can be
re-distributable and users can have their own local copy for bioregional
observations. There may be a centralized "master" database of guild
entities (Creative Commons License), and users may be able to submit
their own local observations to the master, and/or mirror the master (or
portions of the master) to their local installation. My thinking here is
that if I am wandering around with my laptop/PDA, I have a lightweight
interface to make Guild notations that I observe and upload later perhaps.

Bandwidth issues have a considerable impact on the application, and the
application should be optimized for dial-up users.

As for the database, whether intially RDBMS or ODB, I would like to see
more in depth discussion about the schema design and serious effort made
towards normalization. I did some initial research to other university
efforts and it is indeed a complex piece of work. I believe I had posted
links earlier in the list to those resources. [This research definitely
needs to be done! Can you refer us to your post with a list of these
resources? This is an area I feel Lawrence would be the most helpful with -
since he seems to know a lot about what's available. Lawrence, would you be
willing to take on the task of research what's already out there?]

Another thing I have learned in my experience of software development is
the concept "good enough for now". So based upon the goals of deliverables for the
grant, what would be "good enough for now" with considerable thought put into future
extensibility for this application?

Additionally, is the project *just* the database, or is it the front-end
to the database, or a combination of both? I am thinking if this is a
re-distributable software application, what would the seed database look
like? Would it have one? [Definitely both! Perhaps for phase 1, just a
database along with specs for the front-end, which could be further developed
in phase 2.]

I do have other thoughts regarding the integration of GIS type
functionality and how to map microclimates, though that is a discussion
for Phase 2+ probably.

---

Again, I will loop back to my question, "What are the deliverables for the
October deadline?"

Permaculture.info web application, phase one, will:

* enable authorized users to create plant entities within the permaculture.info database
Yes
* enable authorized users to input plant data into such plant entities, in various forms (string, text field, numeric, date, list, image, etc.)
* enable authorized users to edit plant entity data in various forms (as above)
Yes
* enable registered users to add discrete information to (annotate...?) a plant entity (narrative comments, additions/suggestions, etc.)
Yes
* enable anonymous users to search for (query the database on) plants or plant-related information using a variety of search fields including but not limited to:
- name(s) of plant(s)
- botanical characteristics of plants
- functional characteristics of plants
- location, climate, etc.
- etc. etc. (I am just giving example of high-level spec - more details needed here)
All should be posible using the current search field. I do think we need a more verbose search form as well, with individual fields displayed.
* implement initial plant entity creation, input, editing, annotation and searching using css- and xhtml-validated web forms/web pages accessible by all browsers/internet devices
Yes
* provide an intelligent search that queries all of aspects of the
> database from a single text box. This is pretty much exactly what
> I had in mind to start doing with one one addition and the questions
> where noted. The addition being adding relationship elements and
> allowing authorized users to create and edit relationships. The
> relationships would possibly be displayed in some text/html way in
> a browser but would much more likely be used by our GBI
> package (TouchGraph/FreeMind/whatever).

I also think it would be good to review the time people have available for this project. Paid or unpaid.

Right now I'm very busy doing a teaching course and I will be until end of June. Afterthat I should have a lot more time and will be available for work at the codeface.

Rich






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