[Ict] Report on work weekend May 15 - 17

[Mallory Knodel]

First, sorry that this is so late. Here is a report on our work weekend, 
summarized and narrated based on the following notes:
http://notes.ussf2010.org/work-weekend-20100515.wb

Present in NYC at Open Flows, May 15 - 17: Joseph, Ross, Mark, Mallory, 
Simon (virtually present: Daniel)

WORKSHOP SCHEDULE
Mark and Ross worked on the coding necessary to accept the import of the 
workshop schedule. This was a huge job in itself. We worked on a 
solution for repeating workshops, as was a special case for the Detroit 
Highlighted program on Tuesday and Saturday nights of the forum. In the 
end, not only did they get this working and tested before Program and 
Culture had ready the schedule, but they also offered to insert the 
translated titles into the spreadsheet, too, to have ready for the 
printed program team.

SUPPORT REQUETS
Mallory primarily worked on responding to the 125 open tickets in 
Milestones 4 - 7. Milestone 4 was closed, as were approximately 15 - 20 
tickets that had been addressed, duplicated, or needed only follow-up 
work. Emails were sent out in cases where conversation had become 
dormant in the ticket thread. Additionally, more than 75% of open 
tickets were assigned to specific people, based on their previous work 
with the subject or skill sets. This was done not to claim the work or 
assign tasks, but to ensure that each request had a point person 
responsible for its closing. Milestones 6 - 7 were created to track 
requests and needs during the forum (6) and as ongoing and follow-up 
work (7).

REGISTRATION
Joseph spent a great deal of time working on lingering CiviCRM bugs. He 
closed many tickets that he had already addressed in previous work 
session and those that were fixed due to his attention to bugs and fixes 
in the registration system. In summary, his main focus for the fixes and 
attention to the online registration system was to make it more usable 
and fail-proof for both USSF participants and USSF organizers. Usability 
and overall reliability of the mailing and registration systems have 
increased dramatically since his changes were made. Additionally, we 
were all able to collaborate on solutions to some of the requests made 
by USSF, Detroit-based organizers that addressed functionality for 
tracking payments, mail-in forms, and problem solving. Mark also worked 
with Joseph on the registration view required for updating and editing 
registration information, both for users and organizers.

ONLINE MEDIA
Ross worked on installing Plumi, an open source web platform based in 
Plone for use in the online media center as a video sharing site. Simon 
also came to discuss and share his ideas on web streaming using Free 
formats during the forum. It was also decided how the online media 
center would be integrated into the sites as they exist now and will be 
used and accessed during the forum event. A revised site map, or online 
overview, is still needed.

-- 
Mallory Knodel
National Technology Coordinator :: US Social Forum
mallory at ussf2010.org :: +1.917.796.6884
Another World is Possible :: Another Detroit is Happening