ISCB-SC:Website:QA

How to use this document

This document is an appendix of ISCB-SC:Website.

All SC Leaders are recommended and members of the WCT are required to answer the questions on this Questions and Answers wiki page. Please feel free to submit new questions.

When making any changes, you should sign your contributions by typing three tildes --~~~. The reference of a comment is determined by the number of colons (':') in front of it. Place new text under old text.

Most questions and answers can be interpreted as user story names and descriptions respectively.

WCT should decide about the consensus on each question on this page and compile the requirements.

Questions are sectioned just for convenience. Please do not rearrange to have a readable diff.

Glossary

The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119.

ISCB

International Society For Computational Biology

SC

Student Council of ISCB

SC Leader

Active member of ISCB SC

SC WCT

Web Coordination Team of the SC

RSG

Regional Student Group

Questions

Q: What is the main purpose of ISCB SC Portal?

A: The main purpose is provide up-to-date information to current and prospective members --Alexander

A: The Web is a reflection of who we are, what we do and why we do it. Its main purpose in my view is to be useful to the young researcher community in computational biology. We want to use it as a portal for educational, career and scientific opportunities --Manuel

A: ?? (append your answers with signature here)

Q: What is the main problem with current ISCB SC website?

A: The main problem is inconsistence. It is hard to find useful information, and the information that could be found is ambiguous. --Alexander

A: In my view the main problem is that it requires quite hardcore code to be able to add/change anything. Why not exploring making it like a blog? --Manuel

A:

Q: What would be your typical use of the ISCB SC Portal?

A: My typical use of portal would be:

1. fetch the RSS feeds with worldwide and regional SC news
2. participate in forums
3. participate in online meetings
4. contribute content to RSG

--Alexander

Q: Should ISCB SC Portal be an independent server?

A: No, ISCB SC Portal should become a part of ISCB portal. ISCB SC Portal can be developed now as a separate site and merged with the main portal later. --Alexander

A:

Q: If ISCB SC is an independent server, how tight should it be bound to main ISCB portal?

A: As an independent server, ISCBSC site can be linked from ISCB site. Members should be able to login to ISCBSC using their ISCB login credentials. Services and information that are present on main ISCB site should not be duplicated on ISCBSC, but linked. --Alexander

A:

Q: Should we wait for ISCB to deploy their new portal and join it? Or develop our own infrastructure?

A: We should develop our own infrastructure that could later be completely merged with new ISCB portal. Therefore, SC WCT should work in tight collaboration with ISCB web team --Alexander

Q: Do you support centralized/unified RSG portal infrastructure?

A:

Q: What is the relation between RSGs then, what they share and what they don't?

A:

Q: How tight is the connection between RSGs and ISCB SC portal?

A:

Q: Which RSG do you represent? What is the main purpose of your RSG page/site/portal?

A: RSG site main purpose it to cover (communicate) local events and activities --Alexander

Q: What is the main problem with your current RSG website?

A: Loose connection to ISCB SC site and other RSG sites is the main problem. --Alexander

Q: If you are involved in RSG site development, please state your current plans for this site.

A:

Q: Who should host ISCB SC portal?

A:

Q: Who should host all the RSG sites?

A:

Q: Do we need conferencing service? Should it be on site? Why? Provide usage scenarios.

A: I vote for a conferencing service on site. This could be implemented as a browser-based chat room with the possibility to save the log of the conversation. Having it on site meas that we do not need a separate (paid) service and separate accounts for it. When used not frequently some people would always have problems logging into 3rd party sites and would miss the conference. Basically it saves effort. --Alexander

Q: Do we need paper submission/review service? Should it be on site? Why?

A:

Q: Do we need web-based forum service on site? Why?

A:

Q: Do we need wiki service (collaborative edit) on-site? Why?

A: The idea of wiki is to have a post-moderation, this means everybody who is registered has write access to the page. This could conflict with fine-grain access control we want. --Alexander

Q: Do we need project management service? Should it be on site? Why?

A:

Q: Do we need online education/courses/seminars service (like Moodle)? Should it be on site? Why?

A:

Q: Do we need video upload service, like youtube? Should it be on site? Why?

A:

Q: Which roles are essential for ISCBSC + RSG Portal development and maintenance?

A:

Q: If hosted separately, which hosting service do you suggest for ISCB portal? (support your opinion)

A: I propose [1] . In my experience it proved as a reliable virtual private server hosting based on Virtuozzo technology. You get a virtual machine where an OS is preinstalled and you have root access. This enables your to install any virtual hosting control system, e.g. [2] that simplifies site management and install any software or services we wish. Including VoIP telephony and video/audio broadcasting. $15/month is worth the service. Besides, I have a personal virtual private server there, which is hardly 25% loaded, I can share is with StudentCouncil at no cost for SC, if it complies with our policy. If it does not, I can provide backup services to SC site with my host, e.g. DNS/MX backup --Alexander

Q: How are we going to make the new website useful to people who do not know the Student Council?

A:

Q: Who is going to collect all due information: organisation, leaders, contacts, etc?

A:

Q: How are we going to integrate this information with RSGs?

A:

Q: Please state your availability and skills and how do you think you can contribute to Portal Redesign process?

A:

Q: Which Content Management System (CMS) do you know best?

A:

Q: Which CMS do you think will fit and what are other CMSs to evaluate that might fit well too?

A:

Q: What are we going to do with the funds that were approved for the server for SC/RSG?

A:

Q: How would you define the target user groups and what feature in particular could interest them?

A:

• accidental visitor: what is this site about
• bioinformatics student: how can I become a part of the society
• bioinformatics professional: is there any information for professionals?
• industry representative: promote your service by sponsoring events
• ISCB member: login and check what are the benefits of being a member
• ISCB leader: notification on current SC activities
• ISCB BoD member: check for compliance with the ISCB strategic direction

--Alexander

Q: Which content types/services (news, calendar, forum, video) that are ESSENTIAL could you list?

A:

Q: Which content pages on ISCBSC site are ESSENTIAL (e.g. SC Structure, SC RSG list, SC constitution)

A:

Q: Should the event calendars of RSGs be separate or merged into one global calendar?

A:

Q: Should there be job postings service on site? Why?

A:

Q: Who would be able to access job postings? Name target groups

A: