[Foss4g2009] OCS/Events Conferencing software integration meeting minutes

[Dave Patton]

On 2008/08/03 2:43 AM, Cameron Shorter wrote:

[lots of snippage]

> Next steps:

I'm familiar with PHP and MySQL, but my work situation
is uncertain right now, and I can't commit to doing
"1-2 months of work" on OCS/Events integration.

More importantly, I don't thing doing that, or even
having a vote on whether to do it, is 'the next step'.

With the following caveats:
- I'm not a 'web designer'
- I know that a variety of people have done some
   good work to make the OCS system better suited
   to the needs of OSGeo/FOSS4G
- I think we have to assume that the OCS system
   is what will be used by OSGeo for FOSS4G conferences,
   regardless of any 'integration with any systems
   used by Professional Conference Organizers'
here are my suggestions for the next steps:

1)
Create a 'dummy' placeholder webpage for FOSS4G2009.
But, hopefully a "nice looking page", that has some
relevant content. Spend a minimal amount of time
on this, as the page will quickly become redundant.

2)
Setup the DNS entries, redirections, etc. so that
any and all variations of "the FOSS4G2009 domain
name" result in the browser receiving the 'dummy' page.
For example, any URL such as the following:
http://www.foss4g2009.org/
http://foss4g2009.osgo.org/
http://conference.osgeo.org/index.php/foss4g/2009
should result in the 'dummy' page, and the user
should see the canonical FOSS4G2009 URL in their
browser's address bar.

3)
As a 'first step with OCS for 2009', take this page:
http://conference.osgeo.org/index.php/foss4g/2009
(or whatever the appropriate URL will be) and
'convert' it to 'look like' the 'dummy' page that
was used for #1 above. Because of the use of OCS,
it may be that the 'look and feel' will be
completely different. This becomes the first version
of the 'official FOSS4G2009 OCS start page'.

4)
Change any DNS/redirection entries so that when
a user uses any of the URLs from #2, they get the
'official FOSS4G2009 OCS start page'.

4-A)
Start the discussion of "what needs to change",
based on what the user sees when arriving at
the 'official FOSS4G2009 OCS start page'.
For example, that could be as simple as
revising/updating the page's content.
However, for me personally, I think that the
FOSS4G2007 website entry page:
http://www.foss4g2007.org/
looks better than the FOSS4G2008 entry page:
http://conference.osgeo.org/index.php/foss4g/2008
but I don't know what others think, nor do I
know what parts of the 'look and feel' would
be limitations of the OCS software.
This discussion may result in an outline of
some work (paid or otherwise) that needs to
be done for FOSS4G2009 that has nothing to do
with OCS/Events integration.
(Note: this discussion would be done in parallel
with continuing with Step 5 below)

5)
Within the OCS system, create a page, or two pages,
that serve as placeholders for the "start" and "end"
pages to represent a person registering for FOSS4G2009.
In conjunction with Tour Hosts, set up those pages
so that we can create 'dummy FOSS4G2009 registrations',
so we can see exactly how the current Events systems
works, and see how the simple 'linking from OCS to Events'
and 'linking back from Events to OCS' would work.

5-A)
Start the discussion of "what needs to change" to
make the basic 'linking between OCS & Events systems'
work for FOSS4G2009. This discussion may result in an
outline of some work (paid or otherwise) that needs to
be done for FOSS4G2009, just to get the "bare minimum"
fully functional and tested.

5-B)
Based on 5-A, discuss whether 'the basic system' will
be 'good enough' for FOSS4G2009, or whether better
integration is needed between OCS and Events.
This discussion may result in an outline of some
work (paid or otherwise) that needs to be done for
FOSS4G2009 in order to have more than the "bare
minimum" system for user registrations.

-- 
Dave Patton
CIS Canadian Information Systems
Victoria, B.C.

Degree Confluence Project:
Canadian Coordinator
Technical Coordinator
http://www.confluence.org/

OSGeo FOSS4G2007 conference:
Workshop Committee Chair
Conference Committee member
http://www.foss4g2007.org/

Personal website:
Maps, GPS, etc.
http://members.shaw.ca/davepatton/