01:08:46 <camm> #startmeeting Ushahidi
01:08:46 <zodbot> Meeting started Thu Jan 28 01:08:46 2016 UTC.  The chair is camm. Information about MeetBot at http://wiki.debian.org/MeetBot.
01:08:46 <zodbot> Useful Commands: #action #agreed #halp #info #idea #link #topic.
01:08:46 <zodbot> The meeting name has been set to 'ushahidi'
01:10:04 <docrea> Working with Ushahidi in my Mobile Commerce Class (advanced Android development)
01:10:26 <docrea> It's an upper-level (mostly seniors) workshop
01:10:36 <camm> what does "workshop" mean?
01:11:18 <docrea> It's a class session, but I tend to guide more than teach. They have larger labs that are more creative in nature and a semester-long team project.
01:11:28 <docrea> No exams or the like.
01:11:36 <camm> OK
01:11:51 <camm> So these are not CS students?
01:12:15 <docrea> By creative I mean I give them major problems to solve. Each student comes up with their own app design and implementation.
01:12:30 <docrea> There are some CS students in the class, but it's mostly CIS students.
01:12:52 <camm> So are there individual and team work within this class?
01:12:54 <docrea> We have a business mobile development minor I run so there is a mix.
01:13:16 <docrea> Exactly. Individual labs and a team project (that pulls it all together).
01:14:18 <camm> Which parts are you incorporating Ushahidi with? Individual or Team?
01:15:27 <docrea> It will primarily be for the team project (it needs to be an Ushahidi app), but there are sections that will incorporate short exercises (e.g. Git and Android Studio) that can apply to either individual work or the tram project.
01:16:15 <camm> How far are you into the class and how many weeks does it go for?
01:16:41 <docrea> We are in Week3. It's a 15-week class.
01:17:08 <camm> So what are the lab tasks this present week?
01:17:16 <camm> I'm just curious
01:19:32 <docrea> They are working on their first lab that's due this week. It's a review lab (from the previous course) that requires them to pass variables between activities in a mobile app they need to build. So nothing related to Ushahidi yet.
01:20:32 <docrea> I do have them reviewing the Ushahidi site as we will start with idea proposals next week and then form teams.
01:20:56 <camm> Cool.  Can they build any kind of app for this lab or does it have to do something specific?
01:22:09 <docrea> I asked them to make a mobile quiz program that tests some knowledge for at least 10-15 questions, keeps score, allows people to get hints (and then penalizes them for it). What they come up with in terms of how they do it (there are a few approaches) is up to them.
01:23:09 <camm> Are there any basic Android tutorials you have them work through?
01:24:50 <docrea> At this level, not really. We do have a reference text (Busy Coder's Guide) and a programming text (BigNerdRanch) but most of what they put together they need to figure out.
01:25:13 <docrea> They had Android tutorials in the first class. So, I do build off of that.
01:25:20 <camm> So, with Ushahidi, which version will you be having the students work with?
01:25:57 <docrea> The next lab is all about fragment management. So we'll most likely look at some specific Ushahidi implementations along with general fragment usage (http://github.ushahidi.org/platform-pattern-library/assets/html/front-end-guidelines/file-structure/)
01:26:20 <camm> #link http://github.ushahidi.org/platform-pattern-library/assets/html/front-end-guidelines/file-structure/
01:27:15 <camm> Ah, I hadn't seen this library
01:28:10 <docrea> The actual fragment description is not coming up right now. It was the other day. Must be a server overload.
01:28:43 <docrea> Still, there will be a UI/UX group on the project that will need to get very familiar with the front-end usage patterns.
01:30:45 <camm> Really cool, those fragments would be used for a web front-end correct? Not necessarily a mobile app?  Or are you using HTML to build the mobile app?
01:32:48 <docrea> It will be a mobile app, but they can also pull in WebVIews if necessary. That would allow for these fragments.
01:33:02 <docrea> WebViews, that is
01:33:16 <camm> Ok, I've only worked with native apps, so I just wanted to check
01:33:55 <camm> Are you in touch with the Ushahidi community at all?
01:34:42 <docrea> Not with a one-to-one contact, no. That's on the "to-do" list.
01:35:33 <camm> So you have your choice of gitter, IRC and maybe Flock
01:35:43 <camm> All 3 cross-post so you just have to use one
01:35:58 <camm> I find gitter is the easiest
01:36:03 <docrea> Ah, OK. Good to know. Thank you.
01:37:03 <camm> One important detail is to know if the Ushahidi V3 API is accurately documented anywhere
01:37:50 <docrea> Yes. It wasn't about a month or so ago. That is one of my concerns, but I think they were working on it.
01:38:42 <camm> Hopefully at least the basics (fetching and adding events) are
01:38:54 <docrea> Bah, GitHub is down. I see you have something there.
01:39:04 <docrea> https://github.com/cmacdonell/docs.ushahidi.com
01:39:17 <camm> wow, never seen github down
01:39:37 <docrea> Me neither. There are angry unicorns everywhere!
01:39:41 <docrea> Perhaps a DDOS.
01:39:41 <camm> that is my fork of the docs repo for V3, I fixed up some of the install docs
01:39:56 <docrea> Ah OK. I'll make sure to take a look at it.
01:40:10 <camm> #info github is done, unprecedented (I think)!
01:40:40 <docrea> @githubstatus says they are down and investigating it
01:41:22 <camm> Do you have a plan for a platform server (that will host the API)?
01:42:24 <docrea> We are going to first attempt to install it on OpenShift. If that doesn't work, I have a VM LAMP server waiting in the wings.
01:42:33 <camm> heroku works well too
01:42:41 <camm> in fact, it works better than OpenShift
01:43:33 <docrea> It does...just trying to use ye olde Red Hat, but thanks for the reminder. Might make that change if we run into issues.
01:43:35 <camm> Ushahidi uses a somewhat obscure MVC framework called Kohana
01:44:14 <camm> and so the directory structure is different enough to cause breakage
01:44:23 <docrea> Good to know. Thank you.
01:45:05 <camm> Anything else you can think to add or ask?
01:45:36 <docrea> Well. That was interesting.
01:45:59 <docrea> I guess my IRC client is telling me it's time to go with an unexpected crash ;}
01:46:15 <camm> Thanks for the chat Alan
01:46:16 <docrea> I think I'll have more next time as we'll be in it.
01:46:29 <docrea> As long as I can ping you from time to time, that would be great.
01:46:37 <camm> Cool. and hopefully we'll have more people :)
01:47:06 <camm> Yes please ping.  I have an independent study student working on Ushahidi V3 this term, so hopefully he'll help my familiarity with V3
01:47:24 <docrea> Sounds good. You gave me some great insight tonight. I did not know about Kohana.
01:48:10 <camm> Kohana is also poorly documented, bad choice on their part, really, but I think they realize that now
01:48:35 <camm> There's a really nice PHP framework called Laravel that is beautifully documented
01:49:04 <docrea> Oh, I'm a big fan of Laravel. Do most of my work in PHP with it.
01:49:20 <camm> Ya, I use it with my courses too
01:49:48 <camm> Ushahidi has hinted at switching, but that's likely a huge amount of work
01:50:11 <docrea> Most likely. I guess we need to volunteer to take it on ;}
01:50:13 <camm> One last question: when is your Spring Break?
01:50:48 <docrea> March 7-11
01:50:53 <docrea> Had to check ;}
01:51:06 <camm> Ok, just want to track these things for scheduling these chats
01:51:15 <docrea> I appreciate it.
01:51:20 <camm> Oops, one more: are you going to the SIGCSE conference?
01:52:19 <docrea> I had planned on it, but I can't make it now unfortunately.
01:52:28 <camm> Oh that's too bad
01:52:37 <docrea> Indeed.
01:53:17 <camm> Ok, Alan, I'll send an email to schedule the next meeting, are there are weeks in February that don't work?
01:54:00 <docrea> Nope. I'm good on Weds.
01:54:04 <camm> cool.
01:54:05 <docrea> Thanks for asking.
01:54:10 <camm> Ok catcha ya later
01:54:20 <camm> my typing is degenerating
01:54:20 <docrea> Same to you.
01:54:22 <camm> :)
01:54:26 <docrea> heh
01:54:31 <camm> take care
01:54:34 <camm> #endmeeting