RE: My proposals for Gnome

[Lion Kimbro <lion lithtech com>]

  Dear Tom,

  The groupware ideas you mentioned (namely, the Q/A database and help
rollover, and feature request system) are exactly the kinds of ideas that I
have been wanting to see implemented in GNOME (...and the rest of Free
Software, coding efforts, and other learning endeavors).

  If anybody is aware of any projects like this, please let me know.
  I will happily volunteer my service to any such project.

  I've attached to the end of this email a few of my thoughts on the
subject.
  (Only a few, since I don't feel like upsetting the list with a gigantic
email.)

  Take care,
    Lion Kimbro =^_^=



These thoughts were pulled from my thoughts database, so please excuse the
rough ride:
---

Free Software and OpenSource Software wouldn't be anywhere near where it is
today were it not for the Internet. The only reason Linux progresses as it
has, I believe, is because we've had the Internet. It just wouldn't work
with people mailing each other back and forth.

I believe that the next big steps in communication will come through
groupware, and that groupware is the #1 thing that we can invest our time
and energy in to, to receive maximal payback in the form of OpenSource and
Free Software.

It needs to be dirt simple for us to create and destroy projects, set up
mailing lists, votes, build databases collaboratively, vote, instant
message, chat, etc., etc. When it's fluid, we'll reach a new level of
community building and communication, which will redouble our ability to
work over the Internet with one another. 

We need to be able to easily embed groupware into our standard applications.
It needs to be easy for a user to look something up in the documentation,
note a minor bug, (spelling error? incompleteness? technical error?) make
the adjustement, have the adjustment sent and approved by a moderator, and
then applied to the text. All software should be able to easily manage docs
like this.

We need to be able to say, "I need help," after looking through the docs,
flag our ICQ or IM or whatever as "I am someone who needs help using THIS
tool," and someone from the dev mailing list for that tool who has the "I am
someone who can help you with THIS tool" flag set put in contact with you.
It needs to be seamless, it needs to be easy, and it needs to be ubiquitous.

Another breakthrough will arrive when we can seamlessly communicate with
audio-video over the web, between countries, and hold group meetings over
the web.

Whenever you want to learn something, someone will be ready to teach you,
face to monitor to camera to face.

Again, I think that the best thing you could work on if you want to improve
OpenSource and Free Software is GroupWare.

The major changes we've seen coming from Open Source and Free Software are
just the tip of the iceberg, and I think it's something that we should all
be excited about and proud of.


---

A network messaging system (similar to ICQ and IM) that stores data about
what programs you are using, what projects you are working on, what role you
have in the projects, what you are interested in talking about, and other
information about the user associated with the network messaging system.
This shortens the time required to find live assistance with a program or
collaboration on a project.

In plain English, something like ICQ/AIM that knows about what you are
doing, and what you are interested in, and what projects you are working in.
People who are using a piece of (hopefully opensource) software can easily
ask for help from other people who are also using the same software (and
have expressed that they would be willing to help others), and can spare
themselves the humiliation and ridicule that they'd get from going to the
IRC room for the program.

Meta-information about the status of a user reaches a network messaging
system through two paths. First, the user of the network messaging system
can, through the user interface to the network messaging system (NMS),
directly inform the NMS of the users activites and interests. Second, with
either implicit or explicit approval, programs that the user is using inform
the NMS that the user is currently using them. 
The NMS publishes the information to servers on a network or internetwork.
The servers then make the information available on either a poll or
interrupt basis to other NMS clients, or related software. 
When an other NMS is looking for the first NMS, the other NMS searches the
aforementioned server database (or indicates that it is interested in
finding a related NMS) for NMS'es who's users are engaged in a particular
activity, or interested in a particular subject. A list, either complete,
running, or short, of related NFS clients is returned. 
A member of the list is selected, and if the user of the other NFS system is
interested, a request for communication is sent over the network (or
internetwork). The request includes the selection criteria that was used to
locate the first NFS. The first NFS's user can either accept or reject the
request to communicate. If the first user rejects the request, they are also
prompted to either update their interests, so as not to have further
interruptions, or to update a list of NFS's or users of NFS's not to accept
messages from, and for what duration of time. 
There it is. An ICQ system to prevent us from having to go to IRC rooms and
looking to see if anyone is interested in helping us out with something..!

I originally posted this to open-ideas.org 

---

You can find similar sets of thoughts by searching my thoughts database for
"Communication Groupware EmbeddedIM":
http://taoriver.net/~lion/weird.html