[Foss4g2009] OCS/Events Conferencing software integration meeting minutes

[Cameron Shorter]

Dave,
This sounds like a very sound plan and is very close to a chat I had 
with Tyler and FrankW yesterday.
http://logs.qgis.org/osgeo/%23osgeo.2008-08-06.log

As FrankW suggested, we can set up a minimal integration solution with 
no risk or cost, and if we have geek power to integrate further then 
that will be gravy. I think FrankW plans to summarise his ideas into a 
wiki, buti I'm sure he'd be happy Dave if you beat him to it.

Ie, Use OCS for processing papers, and Tour Host's Events for 
registrations and everything else.

Tyler is a committer in the OCS codebase and has offered to oversea and 
help out any geek integration efforts. (Tyler, you may wish to confirm 
this).
And we do have some tentative offers of help from some well respected geeks:
* Shoaib
* Simon Hope
* Dave Patton
* Hopefully Gavin and Graeme from foss4g2008 after their conference

Dave Patton wrote:
> 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.
>


-- 
Cameron Shorter
Geospatial Systems Architect
Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254

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