Assignment 2

[s0051611]

I was thinking maybe we should use ning for this ass...

[0051734]

Yeah i checked it out it looks like it suits our needs.

[s0051611]

In regards to needs, what do you think ios futuristic and needed by the public? I was thinking along the lines of maybe a health related social network. First aid type of style with info and tools on how to save lives etc...

[0051734]

yeah thats a pretty good idea it is definately something that is helpful and there is probably a need for something like this. Basic social needs include a desire to feel wanted and a sense of belonging; something that is really big at the moment is geneology seaching for family and ancestors. Its a hobbies that satisfies these two social needs. so i was thinking maybe a network where people could contact relations and link through ancestors.

[s0051611]

Yeah, that sounds real textbook too, I like it. I was reading the article by Preece the other day and she mentions a whole bunch of stuff that needs to be considered in regards to the needs of a target group. she says:
"Understanding the community’s needs also involves identifying the main kinds of
activities the online community will engage in. Developers must then analyze how
the tasks inherent to the various activities will be performed. Do thc activities require
information dissemination, information cxchangc, discussion, support, entcrtainment,
social chit-chat, or other?"
So we need to figure out what the needs are by first understanding what they will be doing. From my knowledge geneology involves a heap of searching in databases so i assume that will play a huge part in identifying needs. Also to make this a social network we will need to link it with other users and profiles, much like facebook and myspace does. The link i guess can be the relatives of the user, or even users who are researching those relatives.

[0051734]

the site will need a few basic things a profile and also a place to upload users family tree. i think users should be connected by two distinct and separate groups family and friends. family are those users who are linked by their family tree and friends are those users who choose to network because of whatsoever reason they like such as common interest, research or friendship its self.

[s0051611]

My question in regards to such is what is the content of the main page? For example, myspace is a combination of profile and comments by other users. Woyuld the main content be a visual representation of a family tree of that user?

[0051734]

i think we wil have to meet up to do a rough sketch to visualise the main page, its a bit hard to explain. i think a wall, a profile including mug shot, and your family tree are all essential.

[s0051611]

yeah righto, kita kits tayo sa uni...

[s0051611]

You still think that ning will work in regards to the virtual venue for the genealogy site? We have to rock up a prototype so do you think we will be able to do such in ning?

[0051734]

Have you seen any other venues that might suit our needs??

[s0051611]

i was thinkin maybe flash but im not sure if thats pwede in the criteria, it might have to be a social network site already available to the general public... i'll check up on the course profile

[s0051611]

So i just checked out the CP, it says we have to make a website "using readily available software tools". I think that rules Flash out cause it sure isn't readily available. I think ning will do, im not sure on the capabilities of it but we can always document the functionality if it doesnt allow us to do what we want.

[0051734]

Ning provides the user with templates to create a quick network. Which is great, however with the amount of content we have i think that we should design it ourselves with dreamweaver, that will allow for more creativity and movement of content

[s0051611]

Yeah that sounds better. If we needed we could also integrate flash into it for the widgets etc. That way we can get it more unique and more how we want it. Also just to note, Angela said we can use anything to create it, whether that be flash, html, xhtml, java etc so we're pretty safe.