[SoaS] [Marketing] Possible style for upstream/downstream diagram

[Sebastian Dziallas]

On Thu, Jun 3, 2010 at 7:03 AM, John Tierney <jtis4stx at hotmail.com> wrote:
>> From: garycmartin at googlemail.com
>> Date: Tue, 1 Jun 2010 18:10:16 +0100
>> To: marketing at lists.sugarlabs.org
>> Subject: [Marketing] Possible style for upstream/downstream diagram
>>
>> Hi folks,
>>
>> Spotted this info-graphic style a while back and thought it could be an
>> ideal style for a diagram clarifying upstream/downstream relationships.
>> Would likely switch it to a vertical portrait orientation, and be more
>> 'watery' in metaphor than 'foodie', but I think you'll get the gist:
>>
>> http://www.flickr.com/photos/starsammy/4605760111/
>>
>> Need someone to list out the arcs/nodes, I'd only be up-to speed on a few
>> of the more obvious relationships.
>>
>> Regards,
>> --Gary
>>
>> P.S. If I could remember who raised the topic, I would go haunt them for
>> the details directly ;)
>
> May be from this thread Tues April 27th:
> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/archive/marketing/2010-April/002799.html
>
> Here is an excerpt that speaks to the need for visual diagrams of SoaS and
> Sugar along with Upstream and
> Downstream partners/relationships-timelines/constraints.  Marketing can help
> here but the drawing of relationships
> an the intricacies involved in different release processes would best be
> accomplished if drawn up first by those closest to them.
>
> .......I believe we are all working towards the same goal. From the
> marketing,
>
> educational outreach, not so techy side of things, I believe we need some
> help actually understanding the process of getting the activities qualified,
> the
> time frame(timeline), the upstream-downstream relationships. I along with
> the
> Teachers, Educators, University Professors outside of Computer Science have
> a hard time understanding and visualizing the process.
>
> Possibly a Workflow/Mindmap/Timeline Project Map that explains the SoaS
> Process,
> the Sugar build, the Fedora build, the connections/constraints as they
> relate to
> Upstream-Downstream, who is Upstream-Downstream, the dates when activity
> testing
> should take place, and any other tasks/constraints that relate to putting
> together this
> successful build. If you could come up with a one page visual that would be
> enormously
> helpful to our messaging and help new members of the Sugar
> Community understand the
> mechanisms and processes related to FOSS projects. Having a Big Picture view
> helps
> understand where your individual work fits in and also helps with the
> expectation aspect.
> Clear, Simple, Visual.

I'm currently travelling, so this email might turn out to be shorter
than it'd have usually been. Just sayin' in advance... :)

But I agree that making clear who's doing what at which time in the
release process is something we still need to - and will - improve.

> After this stable build with group of activities is released, what is
> process and what
> will it take to get other activities working?

Further activity downloads from activities.sugarlabs.org are supposed
to be working because Sugar on a Stick includes the Sugar Platform
libraries.

If they don't, this needs to be confirmed in a non-SoaS environment
and if the issues persist, a ticket needs to be filed against the
activity which could - if necessary - also marked as incompatible with
a certain Sugar version in question.

This is however just my understanding. If the activity works in
another environment (like a full Fedora install), it's probably a SoaS
bug that we'd need to investigate.

> Some questions:
> Is there a plan to include with the release a Guide with Screenshots for Bug
> Tracking
> (How to file bug and where for SoaS 3), Activity testing reports, USB
> Creator. For the
> Elementary teacher, College of Education individual, and the students the
> screenshot
> variety of tutorial is essential. If not I understand  with lack of
> resources, but could
> this possibly be worked on following release.(I read in the threads that
> some documentation
> is being included) Doing a little extra here by going beyond written
> instructions on the wiki
> and putting together these screenshot tutorials will help the future users
> of Sugar tremendously.

I agree this is an important part! The SoaS team (kudos to Mel here)
worked on a major overhaul of the Sugar on a Stick wiki page
(http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_on_a_Stick) to which we're now
referring as a contributor portal. There's a wiki page on how to file
a ticket here (http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/How_to_file_a_ticket).

> Another question would be after they receive Mirabelle and go to ASLO to get
> more activities what exactly happens?
> Do they just try and download any Activity and see if they work?
> Will they be prevented from downloading non-working activities?

I'm aware of the "experimental" tag in activities.sugarlabs.org. Also,
activities usually say with which Sugar version they are compatible.
This is obviously no entire protection against non-working activities,
but it's a start.

> Do we have a second list of partially working or completely broken
> activities?
>
> I want to fully understand the present situation that way when we present to
> them
> I will know the kind of resources to ask them to try to put in place when
> they return
> to their perspective Universities and reach out to colleagues........

We're currently working on getting the feature and release process
better documented, so this is something in the queue for v.4 that will
discussed at the meetings!

Your comments and thoughts are really appreciated and really helpful,
because this *is* a topic we should tackle. Thank you for speaking up!
:)

--Sebastian

> We ended up handing out 300-350 Sugar Demo CD's and Sugar on a Stick
> Creation Kit07
>
> version DVD's(No Mirabelle-wasn't ready) at the Computers and Writing
> Conference at Purdue.
>
> I will be following up with these University Level Researchers and Writing
> Program Experts and
>
> would like to see that these above necessities for long term success are put
> into the pipeline.
>
> Please understand I read the meeting minutes from SoaS release wrap-up
> and have been following much on SoaS list but many of are intended end-users
> and helpers will never have the time to read what they would have to try and
>
> understand-thus a real effort to take time to make/condense are most
> important timelines,
>
> relationships, and communications into one page visual documents that a
> Elementary school
>
> Teacher/Student/Parent can look at and understand how they can fit in is
> important.
>
> In this case a picture is worth a thousand words.
>
> Just some thoughts to get the ball rolling.
>
> Best!
>
> John Tierney
>
> _______________________________________________
>> Marketing mailing list
>> Marketing at lists.sugarlabs.org
>> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/marketing
>
> _______________________________________________
> Marketing mailing list
> Marketing at lists.sugarlabs.org
> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/marketing
>
>