I'll take the opportunity to plug my alternate Journal design, which integrates the Journal and the Home view into one interface.<br><br><a href="http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Wade/Ideas/Activity_Management">http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Wade/Ideas/Activity_Management</a><br>
<br>Tagging can be implicit, since you first navigate to a tag and *then* create the activity instance. Activities can also be re-tagged easily via a context menu. Resuming existing Journal entries is the natural action, since<b> the Home view is actually a spatial view of the Journal itself</b> and centers around the child's work, not the list of installed Activities.<br>
<br>Cheers,<br>Wade<br><br>On Sat, Dec 6, 2008 at 4:34 PM, Eben Eliason <<a href="mailto:eben.eliason@gmail.com">eben.eliason@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>> Gabriel -<br>><br>> Thanks! These are great suggestions.<br>
><br>> On Sat, Dec 6, 2008 at 7:07 PM, Gabriel Hurley <<a href="mailto:gabriel.hurley@gmail.com">gabriel.hurley@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>>> After having used the Journal for quite some time, I have some<br>
>> recommendations that I think would improve its usefulness.<br>>><br>>> Category view. I know that the idea of the Journal is to avoid the<br>>> file-folder metaphor, but the ability to organise activities into groups<br>
>> would be very useful. For example, a child might be drawing pictures and<br>>> writing a report for a Science class. Instead of searching for these things<br>>> individually, he/she can click on a drop-down menu and select "Science<br>
>> Class" and all the activities that were added for this category are<br>>> immediately visible. Already, activities can be filtered by Text, Image,<br>>> Audio, etc. The ability to define and organise activities into categories<br>
>> would make the Journal more useful.<br>><br>> In a sense, this is another way to describe (a better implementation<br>> of) tagging. By tagging the relevant objects with "science class",<br>> it's possible now to then search for that tag and locate matching<br>
> objects. The two primary improvements we need to make this work well,<br>> and which you allude to, are:<br>><br>> 1. Make it easier to tag objects. Right now, this functionality is<br>> rather hidden and underutilized.<br>
> 2. Create the ability to browse popular or frequently used tags<br>> (instead of only searching) for them.<br>><br>> Both of these are definitely on the radar, and Scott has been doing<br>> some interesting prototyping in this area. It hasn't been run through<br>
> design yet, but the ideas are here:<br>> <a href="http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Journal_reloaded">http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Journal_reloaded</a>.<br>><br>>> Selective automatic saving. Some activities, like the Moon Activity, do not<br>
>> involve the user creating anything worth keeping. Yet every time they are<br>>> launched, another instance of "Moon Activity" is added to the Journal. This<br>>> could lead to increased clutter and (over time) less disk space. To fix<br>
>> this, the Journal should have a control to select which activities and<br>>> objects are automatically saved and which are not.<br>>><br>>> Finally, I think every open activity should have a "Throw-Out" icon next to<br>
>> the Stop Sign icon. Clicking this would close the activity and remove it<br>>> from the Journal.<br>><br>> Something I hope will be added in the short term is a naming prompt.<br>> Right now, saving is automatic, and few take the time to tag or even<br>
> name activities. The thought now is to prompt upon stopping an<br>> activity that hasn't previously been stopped (or kept), to ask for a<br>> name and tags. Then, the child could name/tag, ignore it and accept<br>
> the default name, or opt to "not keep" the activity at all. This<br>> wouldn't be a separate "throw out" button, but an option that could be<br>> chosen when stopping an activity that hasn't yet been committed to the<br>
> Journal, which I think would solve the concerns you raise.<br>><br>>> Thank you for considering my suggestions. If you have any questions about<br>>> them or see any issues, please contact me and I will try to clarify.<br>
><br>> Thank you for offering them! We welcome all the feedback we can get.<br>><br>> - Eben<br>><br>>> Yours Sincerely,<br>>> Gabriel Hurley<br>>> _______________________________________________<br>
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