mahara-contributors team mailing list archive

[shanen <836398@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Public bug reported:

Dear team,
At the moment Mahara 1.4.0 requires the user to know what kind of media they want to add to a portfolio page before they drag a media type onto their portfolio page - and where it is from. The idea below tries to pass on some decision making from the user to Mahara. This lowers the barrier to entry (tech knowlwedge) and lessens training overhead.

It could be said that users should not have to know what file type or
media type they are adding, or where it is before they initiate adding
it - they just know they want to add a video, or a picture, or "content
from that link" (external), or simply "I want to add my file"(local)
(whatever it may be). The interace could be helping users get going and
click buttons and I think Mahara can do this, (rather than the whole
local/external differentiation which is confusing more than helpful I
have observed).

For e.g the current Mahara 1.4.0 interface requires the user to know what they want to add - a video, RSS feed, google app and where it is from.
Users should be able to just "add a video", which is easy enough and gets them started. Then mahara asked them to either choose a file, local or external.
Similarly users should be able to add an image and then choose a local or external one with Mahara's guidance.

To consolidate further with images and videos, maybe there is only one
tool - "Add image or video". 4 funtions and lots of decision making
could be rolled into one dragable item - which then lets users choose a
local file, or a web based resource audio, video, or image. The dialogue
can still have icons to all various external services without requiring
the user make a disctintion between modality. The modality is something
Mahara has to deal with, not the user. Besides cloud services expand
their offerings  - e.g. flickr offering video.

I think this is really a discussion around how users perceive they media
they consume and create. Is a http://prezi.com/ an image, a video? combo
of the two? Local or Remote? Does a user care? They just want to embed
their prezi.com presentation in a portfolio page. Maybe it's about
adding "my stuff" versus "someone elses stuff" - should Mahara let me
register the cloud services I use to create stuff so that Mahara gives
me instant access to the services where "My stuff" is found? The whole
approach of categorising content for choosing in Mahara (media
types/local/external) as more services become multimodal, and user
content is created may not be clear cut and I think the current
categories of content reflects this. Is it possible to get Mahara to do
more of the leg work in working out what the user is trying to do?
Ultimately Mahara Pages needs to be designed around what the user wants
to do, e.g. I don't think they want to "add an external image from
flickr which is 200x200 wide", then have the image too small or wide for
the column. Maybe it's more like "I want to add an image from , oh what
was that place - local no - photobucket no - oh yes thats right flickr
there it is, pixles - width - what? who cares just fit it to the column
width thanks.".

I think doing things for the user in advance - knowing what they want to do before they do and making the path straight is what makes platforms like iOS successful. External? Local? I'm a user who doesn't know. give me access to both spaces, I'll pick an object, mahara will do the rest. Just my thoughts, feel free to discard.
Cheers.

** Affects: mahara
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/836398

Title:
  merging the different external content blocks into a block

Status in Mahara ePortfolio:
  New

Bug description:
  Dear team,
  At the moment Mahara 1.4.0 requires the user to know what kind of media they want to add to a portfolio page before they drag a media type onto their portfolio page - and where it is from. The idea below tries to pass on some decision making from the user to Mahara. This lowers the barrier to entry (tech knowlwedge) and lessens training overhead.

  It could be said that users should not have to know what file type or
  media type they are adding, or where it is before they initiate adding
  it - they just know they want to add a video, or a picture, or
  "content from that link" (external), or simply "I want to add my
  file"(local) (whatever it may be). The interace could be helping users
  get going and click buttons and I think Mahara can do this, (rather
  than the whole local/external differentiation which is confusing more
  than helpful I have observed).

  For e.g the current Mahara 1.4.0 interface requires the user to know what they want to add - a video, RSS feed, google app and where it is from.
  Users should be able to just "add a video", which is easy enough and gets them started. Then mahara asked them to either choose a file, local or external.
  Similarly users should be able to add an image and then choose a local or external one with Mahara's guidance.

  To consolidate further with images and videos, maybe there is only one
  tool - "Add image or video". 4 funtions and lots of decision making
  could be rolled into one dragable item - which then lets users choose
  a local file, or a web based resource audio, video, or image. The
  dialogue can still have icons to all various external services without
  requiring the user make a disctintion between modality. The modality
  is something Mahara has to deal with, not the user. Besides cloud
  services expand their offerings  - e.g. flickr offering video.

  I think this is really a discussion around how users perceive they
  media they consume and create. Is a http://prezi.com/ an image, a
  video? combo of the two? Local or Remote? Does a user care? They just
  want to embed their prezi.com presentation in a portfolio page. Maybe
  it's about adding "my stuff" versus "someone elses stuff" - should
  Mahara let me register the cloud services I use to create stuff so
  that Mahara gives me instant access to the services where "My stuff"
  is found? The whole approach of categorising content for choosing in
  Mahara (media types/local/external) as more services become
  multimodal, and user content is created may not be clear cut and I
  think the current categories of content reflects this. Is it possible
  to get Mahara to do more of the leg work in working out what the user
  is trying to do? Ultimately Mahara Pages needs to be designed around
  what the user wants to do, e.g. I don't think they want to "add an
  external image from flickr which is 200x200 wide", then have the image
  too small or wide for the column. Maybe it's more like "I want to add
  an image from , oh what was that place - local no - photobucket no -
  oh yes thats right flickr there it is, pixles - width - what? who
  cares just fit it to the column width thanks.".

  I think doing things for the user in advance - knowing what they want to do before they do and making the path straight is what makes platforms like iOS successful. External? Local? I'm a user who doesn't know. give me access to both spaces, I'll pick an object, mahara will do the rest. Just my thoughts, feel free to discard.
  Cheers.

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