FOSS4G'13

The working site for the conference committee of FOSS4G 2013

Live Presentation Timetable

Posted by Barry Rowlingson on August 1, 2013

I was going to hack this to workaround some django query explosion problem via a cron job and some caching, but I cranked up the Depeche Mode and got the number of queries down from 290 to single figures. So here it is:
http://2013.foss4g.org/conf/programme/

its all public, db-driven, hyperlinked etc. This is not the final timetable (that will have plenaries and etcs) but is there to replace the provisional timetable at http://2013.foss4g.org/timetable/ - I'm about to edit that page to replace it with a link to the new one and in a couple of other places.

Plenary session info is now in the DB, can be viewed by picking plenarysession id numbers thus:
http://2013.foss4g.org/conf/programme/plenary/2/

All-singing and dancing version coming later.

What are we all going to do on the 23nd September? (I freudian-typoed that as "Septembeer" first time).

Comments

Jo Cook on August 2, 2013:

That's seriously good work- well done!

My only *slight* concern is how well it will work on mobile devices- not so important now but possibly important during the event itself. I confess to only having tried it out by re-sizing a chrome window, so maybe it's OK as is and I should shut up.

Barry Rowlingson on August 2, 2013:

I don;t really care about mobile functionality much on that page as-is, its really just about time we replaced that provisional timetable because people were referring to it and not noticing the changes. I've not even tested it in IE :) Actually I dont think I've tested it in Firefox...

The BIG confusion now seems to be the community workshops. The kiwis on the email have no idea what's going on, probably because the info on our web page is a bit rubbish. They've just sent a preference list for community workshops including some that arent running, and they were under the impression that workshops were fully booked when these ones arent bookable at all...

I am going to bash this into shape today, unless Matt can do it TODAY. I'll do a big rewrite of the workshop web pages, stick the community workshops into the database, and make it all nice.

I'll take this as the current state of play:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AqjoM30msjG9dFp4SDY3WU9IblVsWml3M3VJUjFLckE#gid=7

Rollo Home on August 2, 2013:

Barry - another bloody big LIKE button press on the re-worked programme pages (which works in FF and IE8 (ah, the public sector!)). I really like the edit link on the detailed pages - very handy indeed.

Matt Walker on August 2, 2013:

Hi Barry,

I'll update the workshop web pages today but I don't think I'll have time to input the free workshops due to other commitments.

Cheers,

Matt.

Barry Rowlingson on August 2, 2013:

I'm doing the web pages now.

Steven Feldman on August 2, 2013:

Barry earns the AWESOME AWARD

Re mobile - It sort of works on my iPhone

The overview page need a lot of scrolling around but once you drill into a session it all fits nicely

Barry Rowlingson on August 5, 2013:

the nicely gridded daily timetable pages weren't as bad as I thought. Only taken me most of the day:

http://2013.foss4g.org/conf/programme/timetest/1/

notes: still some polishing to do. still some data entry to do of assorted events (mainly lunches and breaks). no tags. i'm not liking tags. some templates (for plenary sessions) need a bit of attention to spell out a few more things.

 currently it hammers the database (~178 queries per page) but its pretty quick on the server but I don't want it public yet.

 I'm not sure how exactly how to leave the /conf/programme page, since three of these nice timetables on a page might be overload, which is why I've done them separately. makes it awkward to search, but then I've not put the search engine in yet.. that's going to take another day...

 the free workshops are listed on the bottom of each day.

 there's also an 'events' list for special events - maybe one for each day of the map gallery, perhaps also the parties, unconference, any spontaneous code sprints that might get organised. maybe the events should go at the top?

thoughts?

Abi Page on August 5, 2013:

It looks great Barry, good stuff
Personally I would try to keep it similar to the printed programme if we can so if people are using both during the event they don't look too alien, I'm not sure how much events stuff we need to have - but if you have a vision then go with it!

Rollo Home on August 6, 2013:

Barry, this is excellent. Love the linkages between speakers/papers/sessions/etc. Really good search stuff. Can't wait for this to go live.
  • Saturday - break/lunch sessions are not consistent in format to previous days.
  • Plenary - I'd suggest removing the speaking time slots...we may need to be more flexible

Barry Rowlingson on August 6, 2013:

I've only entered the break/lunch/etc events for Thurs, so for Fri and Sat they show up as empty cells.
Removing plenary item timings is easy, or I can make them " (~20 minutes) " or add "plenary session timings are approximate"
Plenary Items in the database either have a link or a rich text box for info - I did this so we can link to existing pages on the WP site or do separate info pages. That might need a bit of input.
I've fixed the database query thrashing now.
I'm going to think about adding tags, at the very least the newbie and the academic track.

Barry Rowlingson on August 6, 2013:

Had a play with tags and icons. I've only displayed some tags, named products are obvious from the titles and so on.
I could make the tags clickable to display a list of presentations tagged thus...
Not sure how obvious the icons are, but hovertips give the name. Could easily put a key up.

Rollo Home on August 6, 2013:

It just gets better and better. I love the way that the icon clicks through to all the similarly tagged content. Neat. Databases.....it's almost as if this is what they were designed for.

Barry Rowlingson on August 6, 2013:

Its Django. You write a url matcher, a view function, and a template. Job done.

 Of course for the things I'm trying to do now I'm hitting up against the 'I really should refactor all of this/start from scratch' wall...

Steven Feldman on August 6, 2013:

swoons with admiration for such amazing skills

Barry Rowlingson on August 6, 2013:

You aint seen nuthin yet!

Timetable now has stars for the presentations, click to 'fave' them, then go to the 'your favourites' link to see them. They're stored as browser cookies so no account or server-side storage needed, but device/browser specific and currently expire after two weeks (tweakable).
Eventually I'll bung a 'download as calendar file' link in there.
The "wall" is now that having bolted on the favouriting to the timetable I probably want to splat it in several other places...

Anyway, I'll leave it mostly as is until the weekend, then make sure all the content is in and tidy it all up for Monday public release. Need to tidy a few pages and add to the top menu.

Rollo Home on August 7, 2013:

Oh. That *is* good. I will be judging all future conference websites against this....I will want this for Geocom 2014 for sure.

Barry Rowlingson on August 7, 2013:

Faves aren't working on my android browser. Star disappears and doesn't come back. Probably a missing semicolon. Will investigate. Can iphone users try it and report? Also, IE users!

Steven Feldman on August 7, 2013:

Faves and unfaves working on iOS

Biggest fave goes to @Barry

Abi Page on August 7, 2013:

guys, I have had a weird one from a volunteer saying he can't commit until the full programme is up and he can only see sessions on Thurs/Fri/Sat.

If one person is asking this then it maybe suggests what is on the website isn't too clear to at least them... it has become apparent there are quite a few people that have emailed me who have limited English. Can we make things any clearer...although I don't know what to suggest.....?

I will obviously respond to this volunteer by email, but just in case there are others out there that are confused.

Steven Feldman on August 7, 2013:

Currently
the Schedule Page (in the About menu) at http://2013.foss4g.org/schedule/ has links to
IMO if the potential volunteer cannot work this out then he/she is unlikely to have the initiative etc that we need from our volunteers (but maybe I am getting ratty at the end of a long day of FOSSing)

Abi Page on August 7, 2013:

Yeah, they are arriving on Monday and don't seem to have booked any workshops.... unless they are going to geocom.... hmm
I know the overview is there, maybe adding it to the programme drop down "overview" or something would be more obvious. Maybe not, who knows. I will try and sort him out.

Barry Rowlingson on August 11, 2013:

Programme Timetable update.

http://2013.foss4g.org/conf/programme/

now has the multi-day overview as seen in the printed programme.

links in that or at the top go to the individual day timetables or WP pages.

the search box does what search boxes do, but only (currently) searches presentations, so doesn't see plenary items etc. Could be added.

Done a whole load of other styling tweaks, most of the pages are nicely responsive and shrink on narrow screens.

ics calendar download now works from the favourites page.

there's still some events and things to add, and descriptions/directions for the rooms need adding.

Suchith Anand on August 12, 2013:


Is there any opportunity for adding one presentation slot for OSGeo Live Presentation somewhere in the program to fill in any slots where presenter has withdrawn. OSGeo Live is a good example of all key OSGeo projects and we will also be using FOSS4G 2013 to launch OSGeo Live 7.0


Angelos Tzotsos (National Technical University of Athens) has emailed to confirm that he is going to attend FOSS4G and would be happy to help with any promotion activity around OSGeoLive. So i can request him to do the OSGeo Live DVD presentation. Thanks.

Suchith

Barry Rowlingson on August 12, 2013:

Its a lightning talk and so quite short (people may recall me running out of time at OSGIS last year). I'd like to see it in a plenary session rather than stuffed in an odd slot to fill a gap.
Is the WMx Performance Shootout really going to educate, entertain and inform for an hour? Or squeeze it into the first afternoon for the wrap-up when there's more newbies present.

Steven Feldman on August 12, 2013:

I have updated the top level Programme menu item on the web site to point at http://2013.foss4g.org/conf/programme/

This is so so brilliant Barry, just love the idea of being able download my personal programme to a calendar. You get my first vote for a #FOSS4GHero

Rollo Home on August 12, 2013:

It's really good. You need to make that code propitiatory and put a £ on it....No wait. That's not right....
Nice one.

Barry Rowlingson on August 12, 2013:

Its all on github!

Have fixed a couple of issues, eg the daily urls were 'timetest/1' they are  now 'daily/1'

Added a new feature - to see it, go to:

 http://2013.foss4g.org/conf/programme/daily/2/?show=40#p40

 - there's links to that for each presentation on its page.

Theres one more thing I really want to do and that is a mobile version - I should be able to dump the timetable in the right format for 'Giggity':http://wilmer.gaa.st/main.php/giggity.html which gives us a nice android app, cant find a similar for iOS - there's a lot of companies happy to take your money to put your conference data and some graphics on an app though. Found one possibility but it has its own file format and a windows tool for input, I reverse-engineered the file format a bit but without an iOS device to check it with I figured I was wasting my time. That app looked really good though, with maps and graphics and everything.

The big advantage of both these apps is that the schedule is available off-line, for when the EMCC Wifi goes belly up.... No, that's not going to happen is it...

Barry Rowlingson on August 12, 2013:

The short URLs as given in the programme listing should now work.

[Implementation note: created a /p/ folder in document root, in there is a .htaccess file that does an apache rewrite and redirect.]

Barry Rowlingson on August 19, 2013:

And now... the Android off-line mobile app version!

Download 'Giggity' from the Google Play store:

http://wilmer.gaa.st/main.php/giggity.html

and add a new conference by sticking:

http://2013.foss4g.org/provisional/schedule.xml

in the URL box.

No iPhone version...

Let me know if this works for anyone apart from me, and what you think of it, and I'll add a cron job to update the XML file regularly, stick it in a canonical place, and update the web page to mention it.

Currently it only has presentations and plenaries - anything else might be a bit fiddly.

Antony Scott on August 19, 2013:

Very nice, ,need my reading glasses though, ,more when I find them.

-------- Original message --------

Barry Rowlingson on August 19, 2013:

You do the pinchy-zoom thing on the grid, or hit the menu button and look at the sessions listed by day/room.

It also has offline-search, reminders, a widget for your home screen...

Antony Scott on August 19, 2013:

Yes I know about the pinchy zoom thing, but it's still titchy text. .. I'm sure it will be fine for most of our demographic.

-------- Original message --------

Antony Scott on August 20, 2013:

This is much better in daylight btw :-) Do you have any control over column width? LH col with rooms in could be a bit wider (or names abbreviated?).

Barry Rowlingson on August 20, 2013:

Well, the app is open source, but I don't have experience of android app building. I suppose a quick word to the dev might be worth it. Just to say 'thanks' if nothing else...

Jo Cook on August 20, 2013:

Nice find Barry! 

It might be nice to speak to the dev- after all if we publicise this he could get a lot more downloads. It would be great if he could offer different colour schemes too, so we could have a green version :-)

Barry Rowlingson on August 23, 2013:

I've added a 'Mobile' page on the web site under the programme menu:

http://2013.foss4g.org/programme/mobile/

It tells people how to download Giggity and the URL of the schedule XML file. This is all live and regularly updated from the database. There's also a plea for iPhone ideas.

its also now mentioned in the schedule page.

So this is all good to go public now and out on the next delegate/sponsor email.

Jeremy Morley on August 23, 2013:

Barry, if you email me a (small, single appointment!) .ics file you've exported I'll try on my iPhone whether it just reads directly into the iOS calendar.

Good work!

Jeremy

Barry Rowlingson on August 23, 2013:

If you go to the daily pages, and star some things:

http://2013.foss4g.org/conf/programme/daily/1/

then go to faves:

http://2013.foss4g.org/conf/programme/favourites/

you should get a download of those.

What I'm not sure about is how iOS calendar (or any calendar) will cope with 9 streams of stuff happening at the same time if we just dump everything. You might not be able to read anything... I'll try it into Google Calendar now...