This time last week I had just landed back in from Galway. Since then Emmet and I have been feverishly working away, and I forgot the achieved should be up. Here it is in note form.

FRIDAY NIGHT
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STRUCTURE building the code

Instances of the map
Discussed the structure of the site (URL hierarchy) and about the structure of the code. Decided to place instances of the map on a subdomain (http://loepool.theirwork.org/) and all info related to the project on the main domain (e.g. http://theirwork.org/blog/, http://theirwork.org/forum/).

Centralised code base
Discussed possibility of a centralised code base that controls all instances of the project, and how this relates to open source. Decided that we need to look into providing a choice between these two approaches (and Emmet needs to research the technical aspect of this).

Fork
We hope that other developers will contribute to the project, or perhaps fork the code to create the starting point for a decent open source mapping system.

The project could eventually develop to become a fully hosted mapping system that non-technical people can create and configure through a web-based admin section.

openstreetmap
Discussed GIS vs Locative in relation to theirwork, looked at the Jo Walsh’s post again and the http://openstreetmap.org project
Got totally inspired by the openstreetmap of London.

Trackpoints
Looked at track points that were downloaded from the GPS unit. There are lots of different proprietary file formats. We need to investigate the best method of map generation from trackpoints. (Trackpoints are a series of points (polygon data), waypoints are individual points of interest.)

Importantly, once we get to output the trackpoints as a map, we can discuss how to present the map i.e. raw output format, traced in Illustrator, hand drawn/traced - how do we want it to look? How do others want it to look?

SATURDAY
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INTERFACE design development

Map
How many Places do we show? For now, we decided, we show all on the map as a default, but going forward, we may have to limit this to the top X places.
We’re putting an explanation line below the map, with a click for more.
When the mouse hovers over a ‘red dot’, a small amount of info is displayed (title, start of description), with a click point for full info (people see the Tab - Places).
Map will be scrollable, somewhat like Google Maps. Every instance of the software will need to define the map’s bounding box and default centre map position defaults to a place defined in the config file.

Tab - Tags
Height of tag box will be variable - it can go on as long as the tags do. All tags will be shown.
Clicking a tag shows only places with that tag on the map. Going forward, it would be nice to combine tags (our ref: del.icio.us).
When a tag is selected, we need a button to clear all tags (e.g. “Viewing all places tagged with ‘badger’ - [Clear tags]”)
Tags to be displayed alphabetically and sized according to popularity
There will be an expandable explanation box at the top of this section (and each of the tabbed sections).
Explanation - Tags are keywords or labels that you can use to describe a place.>
When adding a place, you can tag it with descriptive keywords that will help you to find it later. You can also find other places on the map that might be of interest to you by browsing tags. The larger tags below are ones that have been used more frequently to describe a place.

A note on users - For now, we’re not going to have a user login. The main advantage of user logins is to allow people to view only their own points or places. We will advise them to tag points with their own name.

Tab - Places
Explanation - Places are the individual points of interest that people have added to the map.>
A place could be a story, picture, description or fact about the person’s experience in that area. You can view places on the map to get an idea of how other people feel about the area, their experiences and thoughts, as well as data and information. If a place has not been selected on the map, display the message - “Please select a place by clicking on one of the red dots on the map. Information about that place will be displayed here.

When a point is selected, all data about that place is displayed - Title, Description, Co-ords, Photos (?), Tags. Tags are clickable, and will bring you to the Tags Tab, showing all relevant tagged items on the map. The Wiki aspect on the Tab places will let people edit the information or add more information about that place.

Tab - Add
Input area for all data to do with a place - Title, Description, Co-ords, Photos (?), Tags.
Each input box has a ‘?’ link to a popup explanation
To add the X/Y point data, user can add in GPS Co-ords, or click on a popup map to define a point
Validation required before place gets added to ensure that it is within the bounding box of the map (should be defined in config file)
In ‘tags ? popup’, we should suggest that people can tag points with their own name if they want to easily find their own places again.
Need to add link to details of the CC licence that covers submitted content

General development of page
Possible future development - there shouldn’t be restrictions on the type of map that gets added (look and feel). It would be quite nice to have different styles of maps for each different instance, reflecting the character and individuality of each area. Satellite photos, bought OS maps, hand drawn maps, open street maps, gps tracks…

Dom to try to get some real data before Xmas that we can use to test the system, and possibly to use as initial data for project launch (this should start coming from the interviews/walks?)

Dom to introduce the eight pilot users to the Wiki by sending them the transcript of interviews/walks via the Wiki with suggested coding of transcript. They are asked to approve transcript and encouraged to edit and add to codes, and if they want, edit transcript.

About
Worked on copy for About section of website http://theirwork.org/wiki/index.php?TheirWork

Redesign of Blog
Move tags to top of page
Increase contrast of tags
Make main text column narrower
Add sidebar
Added links to Key Posts to sidebar
Make RSS links more prominent (sidebar)
Add link to del.icio.us feed (sidebar)
Add intro sentence to top of sidebar
Add monthly archive links to sidebar
Add CC logo

Blog entries
Emmet to blog about tech stuff - plan going forward
Dom to blog about Turner Prize and other stuff she has in reserve…
Dom to try to get guest bloggers to comment on posts
Agreed we need to try to blog smaller posts more often, like once a week

SUNDAY
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TIDBITS conferences and licensing

Conference
First draft of Plan submission written

Design review
Design review with three people. The feedback was positive. This will be blogged separately under Design review, user tests, but for the moment we need to test the look and feel further, and with different style combinations.
No one said it looks fun or intriguing, so that’s not great. However, they said it’s very friendly and about protecting places, so that’s great. But we need the both to be given out because it needs to be more evocative to entice people in. At the moment it’s too myownhistory looking - a little dull and old in style.

Next presentation
At the Plymouth presentation, Dom will talk about the focus session and qualitative coding. Emmet will talk about building development, the open source structure, etc. Get feedback on home page design from user tests.

Creative commons
Creative Commons licence chosen - discussed how we were choosing the licence on behalf of the users who will be submitting data. Need to have some footer items on the site - licences, privacy policy, contact details…

How to make a map
Need to document how to make a map. We will make two blog posts for the moment, then we’ll draft a document and release it with the source code as a help file.

Qualitative fieldwork
What open questions would Emmet like to be asked in the interviews? Again, this will be blogged separately, under open questions.
Had a discussion about tagging, or coding as it’s called in qualitative research, and how it’s a really important part of the work.
Discussed how Dom wanted to work with the participants to tag the data, so they become co-researchers.
Discussed the first workshop and how the co-researchers might have their transcripts on the wall, with their tags pulled out.

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