23:43:13 <lorip> #startmeeting
23:43:13 <zodbot> Meeting started Tue Nov  5 23:43:13 2013 UTC.  The chair is lorip. Information about MeetBot at http://wiki.debian.org/MeetBot.
23:43:13 <zodbot> Useful Commands: #action #agreed #halp #info #idea #link #topic.
23:43:13 <rebelsky> Hi all.  Sorry.  I had 6pm central on my calendar.
23:43:22 <lorip> no problem rebelsky
23:43:39 <lorip> #topic ushahidi updates
23:43:53 <rebelsky> Ah!
23:43:54 <camm_> #info I'm working on next term for my class, we'll be using Ushahidi as usual.
23:44:02 <lorip> is monisha using it in an upper level class or intro?
23:45:00 <camm_> Monisha is using it SE and a Database class
23:45:00 <rebelsky> I thought it was a lower/mid-level course.
23:45:16 <rebelsky> (Whoops … Camm knows better than I.  We just wrote at the same time.)
23:45:38 <camm_> She also has a journalism class using Crowdmap which is a related project
23:45:49 <lorip> cool!
23:45:58 <camm_> she doesn't teach the journalism class, but they are collaborating
23:46:27 <lorip> rebelsky: willing to give a quick update?
23:46:37 <rebelsky> Sure.
23:46:42 <rebelsky> Things are going less well than I'd hoped.
23:46:51 <lorip> sorry to hear that - why?
23:46:53 <rebelsky> Students are doing fine with the  API I designed for accessing Ushahidi installation.
23:47:01 <rebelsky> However, it isn't transferring well to Android.
23:47:12 <rebelsky> Which makes the "Build a custom report for Android" project a bit problematic.
23:47:30 <lorip> What are you trying to do?
23:47:51 <rebelsky> Sorry.  Let me back up.
23:47:57 <rebelsky> This is for a Data Structures and Algorithms Course.
23:48:06 <rebelsky> We're "Ushahidi Enabling" a lot of assignments.
23:48:24 <rebelsky> After all, DS/Alg is all about working with data.  Why not work with data from an Ushahidi installation?
23:48:34 <camm_> Nice idea
23:48:47 <lorip> Cool... so how does Android fit in?
23:48:48 <rebelsky> So I built a Java wrapper around the Ushahidi Web API.
23:48:55 <rebelsky> And that's working fine for assignments.
23:49:19 <rebelsky> But for a multi-week project, there were going to build Ushahidi Installations (on Crowdmap) for clients and provide a custom Android App.
23:49:28 <rebelsky> (That's a *simple* custom Android app)
23:49:45 <rebelsky> For example, they were to provide a Dashboard that summarizes some statistics about the data.
23:49:49 <rebelsky> They can do that from the command line.
23:49:56 <lorip> I'm teaching Android - there is nothing *simple* about it!
23:50:16 <rebelsky> But getting the multiple HTTP/queries/responses right in Android is much more difficult than we'd thought.
23:50:34 <rebelsky> lorip: The plan was to give them a framework that one of my research students had written.  But it didn't go as planned.
23:50:58 <rebelsky> Anyway, to make the long story short, I was overconfident in what we could do, and this part has gone less well.
23:51:21 <rebelsky> I think last night was when we realized we couldn't iron out the various issues in time for the students to use it.
23:51:26 <rebelsky> And I've written way too much.
23:52:03 <rebelsky> Camm: Did you mention that Karl is thinking about changing projects?
23:52:09 <lorip> ugh!
23:52:37 <camm_> rebelsky: yes, did you see his email from Oct. 30 from the last one I sent?
23:52:57 <rebelsky> I saw the "I may be about to jump ship to OpenMSR" email.  Was there one after that?
23:53:00 <camm_> he hasn't decided yet, but as lori points out, a lot of it is due to Java
23:53:25 <camm_> rebelsky: yes, that's the one I'm basing it on, he mentioned in the chat here yesterday too
23:53:34 <rebelsky> Ok.
23:54:12 <lorip> apparently karl is also working with health information technology students and thought it might be a good system for them as well
23:54:21 <rebelsky> Makes sense to me.
23:55:03 <camm_> rebelsky: so it's something about Android's Java that is the problem?
23:55:29 <rebelsky> It's a combination of things.  First, http requests are handled much differently in Android than they are in Desktop Java.
23:56:08 <rebelsky> Second, my students who were working on the sample stuff had difficulty.
23:56:15 <rebelsky> As I said, I think it's something I could do if I had time.
23:56:20 <camm_> Ok
23:56:27 <rebelsky> But it's a crazy semester.
23:56:55 <rebelsky> camm: Are you doing anything new with Ushahidi for the coming term?
23:57:25 <lorip> That's the way I always feel when I teach my Android class - nothing ever seems as easy as I expect
23:57:44 <camm_> rebelsky: It will be interesting
23:58:14 <camm_> One detail is my "Community Director" that was my primary contact left Ushahidi, so it'll be different
23:58:34 <camm_> there is a new person, so we'll see
23:58:43 <camm_> another lesson of FOSS communities
23:59:03 <rebelsky> Who is the new person?
23:59:18 <camm_> I haven't worked much with the new codebase, version 3, yet.  I don't have projects set up yet, probably over this month
23:59:45 <camm_> Her name is Angela Adour I believe.  Heather is the one who left.
00:00:00 <camm_> #info I submitted a poster to SIGCSE
00:00:09 <rebelsky> I think Heather pointed me to Angela at the end of the summer.  The few quick conversations I had with her were good.
00:00:20 <rebelsky> camm: Good luck on the poster!
00:00:26 <camm_> thanks :)
00:00:27 <lorip> that's great!  good luck!
00:00:41 <camm_> I'll attend SIGCSE regardless of acceptance
00:01:08 <rebelsky> I'll be there too.  Does the HFOSS group have anything planned this year?
00:01:21 <lorip> we are working on that
00:01:53 <lorip> we had a workshop accepted - I think it is scheduled for Fri night, not we just have to hope we get enough people to sign up so it can run
00:02:13 <camm_> lorip: should we signup when we register?
00:02:32 <lorip> we've had some discussions of trying to do a pre-conference workshop on Wed, possibly 1/2 day, but nothing fleshed out yet
00:02:38 <stoney> there is a BoF submitted... waiting to hear back on that
00:03:12 <lorip> i don't know camm, it is going to be introductory, let me check with the rest of the group and get their feedback
00:04:41 <lorip> anything else?
00:04:51 <camm_> not from me
00:04:57 <rebelsky> Not from me.
00:05:51 <lorip> ok, thanks so much for taking the time to give us updates - looking forward to hearing more next time!
00:06:06 <rebelsky> Thanks lorip!
00:06:43 <lorip> #endmeeting