[Zope-CMF] [Fwd: Zope BackTalk Working Session Invite]

Chris McDonough chrism@digicool.com
Thu, 21 Jun 2001 09:51:27 -0400


I sent this to the zope-dev list, and I hate to crosspost, but I want to
make sure that all parties who might be interested see this...

Chris McDonough wrote:
> 
> (details also available via
> http://www.mindview.net/Seminars/BackTalkWorkingSession/)
> 
> INTRODUCTION
> 
> If you're a seasoned Zope, Python, or collaborative technology
> developer,
> you're invited to Crested Butte, Colorado between July 7 (Sat) - 10th
> (Tues)
> to help in a "working session" which has as a goal developing a 1.0
> version
> of a "BackTalk" implementation for Zope.  The working session is
> primarily a
> time for quickly iterating against an existing implementation, adding
> features and hardening as we go.  If you come, you'll have an
> opportunity to
> meet other Zope and Python developers and have some fun hacking around
> on a
> neat project.
> 
> This is *not* a seminar or teaching exercise, and thus is unstructured.
> We'll likely use some of the concepts from Extreme Programming (pairing,
> short iterations, etc), to keep us busy during the working session.
> 
> Ideally, participants will have built Zope Products in the past.
> 
> COST
> 
>  Free
> 
> WHO WILL BE ATTENDING
> 
>  - Bruce Eckel (President, MindView, and author of Thinking In
> (Java|C++)
>    and other books)
> 
>  - Chris McDonough (developer, Digital Creations)
> 
>  - You!
> 
> WHAT IS BACKTALK
> 
> "BackTalk" is an annotation and collaboration system devised by Bruce
> Eckel
> and Bill Venners.  It is described at
> http://www.mindview.net/Books/BackTalk
> and http://www.mindview.net/Private/BackTalk .  It is first and foremost
> a
> system which allows for inline commenting on prestructured content.  It
> is
> close in sprit to systems such as Crit (http://www.crit.org) and
> Andamooka
> (http://www.andamooka.org).
> 
> ** note: although the MindView documentation talks about BackTalk as
> nonfree
> software, it is describing the Java implementation.  The Zope software
> produced as a result of the working session will be free **
> 
>  BackTalk has two major design goals:
> 
>  - dramatically lower the bar for readers to provide inline comments
>    on booklike content.
> 
>  - provide mechanisms for original document authors to fold
> contributions in
>    the way of comments into the mainline document.
> 
> IMPLEMENTATION GOALS
> 
> Produce a Zope implementation of BackTalk which makes use of Zope-only
> features such as Structured Text
> (http://cmf.zope.org/doc/user/UsingStructuredText.txt/view), and the
> Zope
> object database [ZODB]
> (http://www.zope.org/Documentation/Articles/ZODB1).
> 
> A prototype Zope implementation is (hopefully) accessible at
> http://serenade.4-am.com/BackTalkSandbox/ .  If you have difficulty
> accessing the prototype, please let me know via email (it's a
> development
> box).
> 
> IMPLEMENTATION HIT LIST (we might need you if you know anything
> about...)
> 
>  - BackTalk "back/forward" navigation system (DTML/Python)
> 
>  - BackTalk document end-of-document index generation (Python)
> 
>  - Table of contents generation (DTML/Python)
> 
>  - RTF-to-StructuredText converter (Python/C/whatever)
> 
>  - BackTalk-to-RTF converter (Python)
> 
>  - BackTalk-to-PDF converter (Python)
> 
>  - Javascript form elements (JavaScript)
> 
> WHEN DOES THE SESSION START/END
> 
>   From:  Saturday, July 7, 2001
>     To:  Tuesday, July 10, 2001
> 
>   session days begin at 9, end at 5.
> 
> WHERE IS THE SESSION
> 
>   Crested Butte, Colorado
>   (exact location in town to be announced)
> 
>   Directions and location details are available from
> 
> http://www.mindview.net/Seminars/Locations/CrestedButte/CrestedButte.html
> 
> HOW DO I SIGN UP
> 
>   Sign up via the registration system at
> http://www.mindview.net/Seminars/BackTalkWorkingSession.
> 
> We have as a limit about 15 people.
> 
> Hopefully, I'll see you there!
> 
> - C