Re: We need to simplfy

[Douglas Loss <dloss@csrlink.net>]

>>>JB == Justin Bradford <justin@scrtec.org> wrote at Sun, 15 Nov 1998 17:24:56 -0400 :
>I'm not sure how many people here have actually worked on a distributed
>free software project like this before, but the quickest way to kill them
>is to overdesign the project.

>We have two problems right now.
>1. We aren't going to get quick, widespread adoption of a district-wide
>solution to every educational administrative problem.
>2. We don't have enough developers to write that in a reasonable time
>frame.
>
>We are better off now deciding which key pieces of functionality are most
>important, and write them so they can work independently of other
>computers, with minimal infrastructure (like not requiring a relational
>database). This is so one teacher can install their gradebook, test
>generator, or whatever, and not worry whether their district or school is
>running the backend database stuff.

>We can build these tools incrementally, and they will have a much greater
>chance of being used, since a single teacher can adopt them without having
>to coordinate with the district tech person.

I snipped a bunch of stuff here, but I generally agree with what Justin said.  I think we
need to get to work on something, and doing a gradebook (probably based on Justin Maurer's
work) is a good start.  Having said that, I think Bruno and David's ideas for standardized
data models are very good and potentially very powerful.  I propose that we start two
parallel development efforts:

A GNOMEified gradebook--this should probably be based on Justin Maurer's work.  Justin
Maurer, Justin Bradford, Tim Wilson, and possibly Bruno Vernier (if he's interested) ought to
 be the primary leaders on this.  Bob, if you're interested this might be a good place for
your efforts too.  That doesn't mean no one else could help; it's just that these folks have
expressed special interests in such a thing.

A comprehensive educational data model--David Kirtley and Bruno Vernier would be the natural
leaders for this effort.  They clearly have thought about what is involved and have the
interest in doing it correctly.  If one or both were involved in the gradebook effort we
could keep it from going in a direction difficult to reconcile with the data model when that
becomes necessary.

--
Doug Loss            An idealist is one who, on noticing that
dloss@csrlink.net    roses smell better than cabbage, concludes
(717) 326-3987       that they will also make better soup.
                        H. L. Mencken