A mental model of sites and groups in Sakai 2 and 3

A work in progress, K. Amann,

7/27/09

Disclaimer

The following is one person’s mental model of groups and sites and how they are related. It is like an analogy--it is not a representation of the entities of groups and sites as a developer might describe them. They are also not representative of the thoughts of all those working on this project and may not be accurate. This is intended to spark conversation and could either be expanded on or picked apart.

Sakai 2

In this world, sites are like ships, and individuals have no homeland, save for a tiny board. It’s like “Waterworld.”

Site

manage

In this world, you are a member of the site, like you’re a member of the ship’s crew. Some members with special privileges get to touch the content, others just get to look at it.

content

Site

manage

In this world, you’re either a member of a site, or you’re not. If an individual comes along and wants to look at your site, he has two options…

Site

manage

One, he can go through the process of joining the crew and becoming a member of the site. That’s great if he really wants to participate and get all the announcements, but if he just wanted to see the content in the site, it’s a bit more than he needs.

manageSite

Two, the manager can set up the site such that anyone can see the content, without actually being a part of the site (the public at large or anyone logged in) There’s a catch though…

manageSite

Even if you can limit viewing to those logged in, the site is open to viewing to more people than you might like. You might want to limit this to some group between “site” and “everyone,” but this is all there is in Sakai2. (similar to the way I didn’t particularly want to share this ppt with everyone initially.)

Site

manage

Site

manage

In this world, if you have a new site, you have to individually move and reenlist everyone. (what are the disadvantages?)

Sakai 3

In this world, you can be an individual or a part of a group that has access to a site. Access to a site can be granted to a group. (Content is also separate from the site but in this next series of slides, it’s depicted as part of the site for simplicity)

group

Site

Groups are like floating islands-- they can exist autonomously from sites. Individuals might have roles in that group like owner and member that map to the roles they might have in the site, or this could be determined by other metadata.

group

Site

A site can be set up so that if you are a part of that group, you’ll have access to the site, so long as an invite was extended (a site might have a standing invite). Either the group or the site owner can initiate the “boarding” but both have to agree.

group

Site

When people access the site, some of them may be given special privileges, like management duties. However, they do not lose their identity as members of a group.

group group

Site

A site can include multiple groups

group

Site

group

People in these groups don’t live in the site like they used to in Sakai 2; they are like members of a fishing crew that docks everyday rather than a long term vessel. The site is a functional area to do work in--they are part of a group that happens to have access

group

Site

group

If new people join a group, I imagine both the site owner and group manager (if they are different--more on that later) have control over whether they can access the site, but this would primarily be the responsibility of the manager of the group, I’d think.

Site

group

Site

group

If a site owner wants to build another site, they can do it in the background

group

Site

group

SiteThe owner can make it

available to a group when they are ready--they don’t have to enroll individuals one by one.

group

Site

group

SiteThe owner can also

remove access to a site for an entire group, rather than individuals

group

Site

group

SiteIt’s also worth noting that the site owner has an individual identity outside of the site

Some open questions

How does a site or a group get started? Does one have to come before the other? Here are a few thought experiments…

Here is an individual.

Starting from a group

This individual knows another individual.

They form a connection.

That individual connects to other individuals.

In addition to connecting, individuals can form groups. What are the advantages of “grouping” over connecting?

One advantage is that groups tie you to others in a collegial way but it’s a temporary, psuedo-connection that is not as intimate as a personal connection. (or are initial connections just a more intimate group?)

Groups have two roles: owners and members. Only the owner(s), as denoted by the yellow badge, has the right to approve new members. I believe these are the only meaningful roles within a group--members might have metadata of their roles in real life (student, TA, instructor, supervisor) but until that group has a site, there are no other functional roles for a group.

People might form groups for the purpose of email, but most groups will form to get work done, and for that you need a site

Groups do not exist as an end to themselves--they exist to selectively manage access to information. 1) a group can exist for the purpose of creating a mailing list 2) group(s) allow you to differentially control access to your personal site (profile, photos, status) and online availability, among your connections 3) groups can control access to other sites.

Site

list

Groups don’t always come first, but may in some select situations• When groups are based on provisioned information from campus systems like SIS• When a group forms initially as a way to keep in touch, not as a way to get work

done. It may start as a mailing list, then include access to personal site. Even a group formed to support the family mailing list could evolve into a work site (planning a reunion, creating a photo or genealogy site).

Site

Let’s start again with an individual

Starting with sites

Site

This individual starts building a site. This would be a common situation 1) for project sites, where people are not pregrouped by the SIS 2) for individual work that can turn into group work

Site

Once the site is set up, she wants other to view it so he can get comment. Can she invite individuals or must it they join a group? If it’s a group, can it look and feel like she’s inviting them to a site? In fact, will inviting people and joining look (or be) the same for groups and sites? Should they?

If I had to state my expectations, I’d assume that creating a site inherently created a phantom group, with the site owner becoming the group owner. When she invites individuals to the site, she’s actually invisibly inviting them to that group. And when she no longer wants them to have access to the site…

Site

…the group remains behind--the individuals may not even be aware that they are in this group, but it will be there for their use, should they have an explicit need for them (or it may remain hidden to some people). My “mental model” may be somewhat tainted: others describe joining a site and detaching the group later for use in other contexts. As long as the group is a phantom one, however, the point is moot.

Since we are only working on groups, I haven’t gotten into content. However in Sakai 3, content isn’t part of the site, anymore than groups are.

So how might content be depicted in this model? Bear with me as I stretch this metaphor…

About Content

Imagine a thick, soupy fog has swept in and lifted the content off the site. It’s still visible to all those in the site and the site owners can still manipulate it. You can only see the content if you have access to the site, but I don’t believe the content has any direct relationship to the group. If that’s true, we don’t have to think about content at all--all we have to worry about is the relationship of groups and sites.