Re: tasks and scenarios

brad hokanson (bhokanson@che2.che.umn.edu)
Mon, 26 Jan 1998 10:32:15 -0600

These appear to be more like scenarios; shouldn't we list those simpler
activities that were outlined with David's Gather, Organize (i think) and
Scatter, with a breakdown of each?

And how about:

Receive mail and other information
Assemble under the control of one location
Select email to be included in archive
Organize archive contents
Put email in archive
Remove stuff from archive that isn't important or desired for inclusion
Make traslations as are necessary for inclusion in archive
Put arcive in accessible location
Notify authors of inclusion, etc.

It seems like using a specific mailbox is a good idea, but the act of
sending information to that mail box has an important component in it; i.e.
organizing and selecting the items to put in. Should we be dealing with
individual pieces of email, or are/should we be dealing with an unsorted
collection?

(On one hand, it's the difference between information (bits not atoms) and
"knowledge" (or "wisdom" or "understanding" but implying a bit of
intelligence in the sorting and organization of the material.)

Brad

>I was expecting a lot of traffic having to do with our next
>assignment, but I haven't seen anything.
>
>Let me start the ball rolling, since the basic project idea
>was mine to start with.
>
>These tasks are in increasing order of complexity.
>
>1) Convert an existing mailbox on the current host into a set
> of web pages, also on the current host.
>
>2) Convert an existing mailbox on the current host into a set
> of web pages and transfer them to a directory on a different
> host.
>
>3) Convert an existing mailbox on the current host into multiple
> sets of web pages, also on the current host, based on the
> subjects of the messages.
>
>4) Convert multiple mailboxes on the current host into multiple
> sets of web pages, also on the current host, based on the
> subjects of the messages.
>
>5) Transfer a mailbox on a different host to the current host
> and convert it into a set of web pages and transfer them to
> a directory on the different host.
>
>6) Transfer multiple mailboxes on different hosts to the current
> host and convert them into multiple sets of web pages and
> transfer them to multiple directories on different hosts,
> based on the subjects of the messages.
>
>7) Convert multiple mailboxes on the current host into multiple
> sets of web pages. Multiple subjects can be combined into
> the same chain of messages. Transfer the different sets to
> multiple directories on different hosts.
>
>8) Convert multiple mailboxes on the current host into multiple
> sets of web pages. Subjects and dates can be used to divide
> messages with the same subject into different sets. Transfer
> the different sets to multiple directories on different hosts.
>
>9) Transfer multiple mailboxes on different hosts to the current
> host and convert them into multiple sets of web pages. Multiple
> subjects can be combined into the same chain of messages.
> Subjects and dates can be used to divide messages with the
> same subject into different sets. Transfer the different sets
> to multiple directories on different hosts.
>
>Based on what I have seen so far, hypermail might be the best choice
>to base our project on. We would need to create the user interface,
>the incoming and outgoing FTP transfers, and the message filtering.
>We would avoid having to do the conversion ourselves.
>
>We could do scenarios on tasks 1, 2, or 5 (pick any two).
>
>dsc

Brad Hokanson
UC Coordinator
Department of Design, Housing, and Apparel
University of MInnesota, St. Paul.
612.624.4918 voice
612.624.2750 fax