Wyrd Web » open source http://www.wyrdweb.eu Mon, 28 Dec 2009 11:01:40 +0000 en hourly 1 Google Website Optimizer experiment on Wordpress http://www.wyrdweb.eu/2009/12/google-website-optimizer-experiment-on-wordpress/ http://www.wyrdweb.eu/2009/12/google-website-optimizer-experiment-on-wordpress/#comments Sun, 20 Dec 2009 17:33:01 +0000 nynke http://www.wyrdweb.eu/?p=610 How to?

Choose tool

Create test and choose conversion pages

  • create many different variations of a web page ~ We created two:
  • choose conversion page ~ at the bottom of both pages we have a contact link. Conversion is whether people actually go to the contact us page. Later we can expand conversion to include actually contacting us.

Install and validate JavaScript tags

Download and install Wordpress plugin

Do not download from the plugin page of the author. The version is not current (at time of writing this post). Download from the Wordpress plugin page instead. Install using the usual three steps for installing a plugin in Wordpress.

Add code

In the following I am assuming you have a weboptimizer account and that you are logged in. Set up the experiment, by adding an experiment name and the url’s of the original, the alternative(s), and the conversion page. Make sure the WYSIWYG editor is disabled in your WordPress. (Aiaiai, this one cost me around 90 mins ;) Open all involved pages on your Wordpress: the original, the alternative(s), and the conversion page. Add to original page two custom fields with values found on the page: originalpagescripts
  • Copy the first JavaScript script code in Google’s Step 1 area in a value field of “go_control_script”
  • Copy the second JavaScript script code in Google’s Step 1 area in a value field of “go_tracking_script_test”
codes To each variation page enter the variation pages code from Google’s Step 2. Add a new field go_tracking_script_conversion in the conversion page and add Google’s Step 3 script code for conversion.

Validate your code

validation

Run Experiment and Party

run

I will report results in a follow up blog, as soon as there are some significant results, enough for Yet Another Party!

]]> How to?

Choose tool

Create test and choose conversion pages

  • create many different variations of a web page ~ We created two:
  • choose conversion page ~ at the bottom of both pages we have a contact link. Conversion is whether people actually go to the contact us page. Later we can expand conversion to include actually contacting us.

Install and validate JavaScript tags

Download and install Wordpress plugin

Do not download from the plugin page of the author. The version is not current (at time of writing this post). Download from the Wordpress plugin page instead. Install using the usual three steps for installing a plugin in Wordpress.

Add code

In the following I am assuming you have a weboptimizer account and that you are logged in. Set up the experiment, by adding an experiment name and the url’s of the original, the alternative(s), and the conversion page. Make sure the WYSIWYG editor is disabled in your WordPress. (Aiaiai, this one cost me around 90 mins ;) Open all involved pages on your Wordpress: the original, the alternative(s), and the conversion page. Add to original page two custom fields with values found on the page: originalpagescripts
  • Copy the first JavaScript script code in Google’s Step 1 area in a value field of “go_control_script”
  • Copy the second JavaScript script code in Google’s Step 1 area in a value field of “go_tracking_script_test”
codes To each variation page enter the variation pages code from Google’s Step 2. Add a new field go_tracking_script_conversion in the conversion page and add Google’s Step 3 script code for conversion.

Validate your code

validation

Run Experiment and Party

run

I will report results in a follow up blog, as soon as there are some significant results, enough for Yet Another Party!


]]> http://www.wyrdweb.eu/2009/12/google-website-optimizer-experiment-on-wordpress/feed/ 0 Power of Foswiki http://www.wyrdweb.eu/2009/12/power-of-foswiki/ http://www.wyrdweb.eu/2009/12/power-of-foswiki/#comments Sun, 06 Dec 2009 12:17:32 +0000 nynke http://www.wyrdweb.eu/?p=528 Twiki and Foswiki: Ship of Fools I took the odd organisational sculpting perspective. And subsequently participated in the Foswiki Summit 2009 in Hannover two weeks ago. I promised “more 2 follow …”

Walking my Talk and Talking my Walk

Foswiki forked and quickly learned from what happened and installed an Association at the recent Summit. The association is not only useful for protection while adhering to legacy system rules. We win by giving the keys to a crew of rowdy perjured rascals, and by community-centered politics to drive steering. In general, open source associations are a “direct” opportunity for community members to contribute their energy, passion, talent and, yes, also money.

And what is the Foswiki community?

foswikiContributions are not restricted to coding. Screencasting, making (funny and/or sexy) video’s for reaching out to possible new end-users that may be served by the community (and that upon looking further find an extremely sexy wikitool), translating documentation to local languages, supporting (other) end-users on the forums and through other channels, organising and participating in coding dojo’s and other fun choreographies at events for giving the core a development boost, are all acknowledged and appreciated contributions.

Innovation boost of products and service growth

I anticipate the current community-centered Foswiki strategy will hold space for and give end users the freedom to create and drive innovation boost of products and service growth. Why? The existing Foswiki already is an exemplary tool offering “differing but complementary approaches [to] information-storage, creation, and dissemination”, in short, it is an “association platform” going beyond what the public formerly expected of websites. In addition to bringing people together in the association, in a board, task forces and face-to-face meetings, many other channels are used by the Foswiki community, also during the Summit itself. The integration of the emerging array of tools collectively known as “Web 2.0”, of which Foswiki itself is one, offers additional efficient and effective means for people to collaborate, create and share knowledge and information.

My Two Feet

I expect a renewed culture to emerge, one that values co-creation and openness to collaboration next to centralized structures and processes that are required for protection, yet do not overregulate. On the whole, something that might attract a lot of people. I see opportunities for exploring new ways of doing business together, and feel confident I can contribute something useful in return that aligns with my energy, passion, and talents, while serving the building of more connections. My Two Feet are heading in Foswiki direction for that. ]]> Twiki and Foswiki: Ship of Fools I took the odd organisational sculpting perspective. And subsequently participated in the Foswiki Summit 2009 in Hannover two weeks ago. I promised “more 2 follow …”

Walking my Talk and Talking my Walk

Foswiki forked and quickly learned from what happened and installed an Association at the recent Summit. The association is not only useful for protection while adhering to legacy system rules. We win by giving the keys to a crew of rowdy perjured rascals, and by community-centered politics to drive steering. In general, open source associations are a “direct” opportunity for community members to contribute their energy, passion, talent and, yes, also money.

And what is the Foswiki community?

foswikiContributions are not restricted to coding. Screencasting, making (funny and/or sexy) video’s for reaching out to possible new end-users that may be served by the community (and that upon looking further find an extremely sexy wikitool), translating documentation to local languages, supporting (other) end-users on the forums and through other channels, organising and participating in coding dojo’s and other fun choreographies at events for giving the core a development boost, are all acknowledged and appreciated contributions.

Innovation boost of products and service growth

I anticipate the current community-centered Foswiki strategy will hold space for and give end users the freedom to create and drive innovation boost of products and service growth. Why? The existing Foswiki already is an exemplary tool offering “differing but complementary approaches [to] information-storage, creation, and dissemination”, in short, it is an “association platform” going beyond what the public formerly expected of websites. In addition to bringing people together in the association, in a board, task forces and face-to-face meetings, many other channels are used by the Foswiki community, also during the Summit itself. The integration of the emerging array of tools collectively known as “Web 2.0”, of which Foswiki itself is one, offers additional efficient and effective means for people to collaborate, create and share knowledge and information.

My Two Feet

I expect a renewed culture to emerge, one that values co-creation and openness to collaboration next to centralized structures and processes that are required for protection, yet do not overregulate. On the whole, something that might attract a lot of people. I see opportunities for exploring new ways of doing business together, and feel confident I can contribute something useful in return that aligns with my energy, passion, and talents, while serving the building of more connections. My Two Feet are heading in Foswiki direction for that.
]]> http://www.wyrdweb.eu/2009/12/power-of-foswiki/feed/ 2 Twiki and FosWiki: Ship of Fools http://www.wyrdweb.eu/2009/10/twiki-and-foswiki-ship-of-fools/ http://www.wyrdweb.eu/2009/10/twiki-and-foswiki-ship-of-fools/#comments Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:39:00 +0000 nynke http://www.wyrdweb.eu/?p=463 Don’t get me wrong. I’m not naming you fools. The name “Ship of Fools” comes from agile organisational sculpting, and we have named it such to lighten up, and make it easier to try some of the “other” roles, or try out something crazy in the role we are in. I am using WhyThisFork as my guide, and welcome more and other perspectives. Please check my statements and assumptions below? It’s all appearances? What it seems?

Boatswain – Quality

The quality of Twiki is amazing. It still is as far as I know. No doubt so is FosWiki as a branch. I set up and used a Twiki in 2001 for InterRaven. It was a tank. But not mature yet. Now it’s years later: Twiki became “New, New, New” yet “Old enough” to attract VC’s or to self-capitalise and commercialise. And it did. In May 2007 TWiki.net was established for the express purpose of commercialising TWiki. The community response is generally positive. People on board have faith in the outcome of this new journey based on previous journeys with this cap’n having been successful. Trust levels are still high. And the ally block attracted is a venture capitalist group. Who that is and what the deal is, I don’t know. I haven’t seen the business planning and I prefer not to interpret “nothing”. One of the things I already have a T-shirt for. Several.

Lookout in Crow’s nest – Self and World concepts

I often liken open source communities to Pirate ships. The captain is chosen by consensus or majority vote, and he (or she) can be replaced by another if the journeys do not deliver enough loot (results, like enjoying ourselves). Likely oligarchies emerge. In August of 2007, there’s a problem. Apparently not all Pirates voted.
… some disagreements followed due to the summit not having a formal mandate to make decisions in camera that affected the absent community.

Cap’n – Forward feedback loop

A captain isn’t necessarily a person. “Captain” is a function. The forward feedback loop. Navigation, risk management, … Twiki was originally Peter’s child? Spiritual father so to speak. And many people have put in hours and energy and made it their own. This function requires being able to deal congruently with spirited discussion from all functions and pirates aboard the ship, and if need be, conflict. I would say the January, February 2008 period when conflicts first arose was key and the following an excellent response:
Any decision on the governance model was postponed to the third summit (held in Berlin). Peter Thoeny was to make a proposal on twiki.org, so community members could discuss it in public.

Sailmaker – Reward system

This is the heart of the matter. Monies are often mentioned, but under water the need for and resistance to acceptance, belonging, conforming, fitting in, being loved and liked, all play a part here for many involved.
Peter Thoeny wrote a proposal for a new TWiki governance model. In short:
  1. Peter Thoeny is a Self Appointed “Benevolent Dictator for Life” (BDFL) — spiritual leader of the TWiki project. The BDFL appoints members of the Technical Board.
  2. The TWiki name and brand, as well as the twiki.org domain name, are the property of the project founder Peter Thoeny; he has sole discretion in decisions related to these matters.
This proposal met considerable opposition from the community. It seemed to go against some already established and more democratic decision structures. The role of BDFL met some strong resistance, although some members acknowledged the need for leadership.

Cabin boy – Sales

This is where blaming often plays a role. Blaming of self, life, others, the system, and even God, Bananas and Flying Spaghetti Monsters can be called to come into the game.
As RafaelAlvarez writes: The community wanted to make explicit the permissions that were implicit before, that is, that the community can use the TWiki ™ brand the way it has been done before without having to pay or relicence TWIKI.NET. This means that any community member could make a TWiki(tm) pakage (taking the core, add some plugins and a nice installer on top) and call it TWiki ™. This means that I could have a company named “Global TWiki Consulting Services” that provides TWiki related services, and that siltes like twikirules.org, twikigurus.org and such can spawn. Today, for all that you need a written permission from the trademark holder, and if there is even the sligthes disagreement between you and him, you run the risk to get sued (a site called twikisucks.org could not exists, for example). In the same vein, a consulting company that is seen as a heavy competitor to TWIKI.NET is not likely to get the permission to have TWiki ™ in its name. Alternative governance proposals were then made. The community agreed that a final agreement on the matter would be finalised at the TWiki Community Summit in September.

First Mate – negative feedback loop

The place of confidence if all went well, and of doubt if not. If in doubt, depending on what’s happening “inside” we humans can produce non-confrontational and/or tuned out responses, procrastination and/or emotional freezes, code white victim syndrome symptoms, or a total panic response.
Just before the TWiki Community Summit September 2008 in Berlin, the community learned that Peter Thoeny was not willing to discuss the role of BDFL or the TWiki brand. Moreover, Peter would not be able to join the summit; instead, Tom Barton would be attending.

Constable – Operations

We’re getting to the crunch. Twiki has quality. Version control. A healthy Boatswain to support and drive the Constable. The weapons were looked after, and the ammunition was kept dry.
At the summit, the attending TWiki community members (present physcially and by conference call) expressed the following:
  • The BDFL position is not needed or appropriate for the community. The majority position was that this would not be an acceptable element of governance.
  • The participants expressed very strong reservations about TWIKI.NET’s control of the TWiki brand whose value, the participants felt, is primarily based on the volunteer contributions of many individuals.
At the end of the day, the group summarized its position on these questions as follows:
  1. The license on the brand name “TWiki” should be a free (as in free beer and free speech) Public License given to the entire community, without having to sign an agreement.
  2. Peter Thoeny is considered the Chief Evangelist, but he will not have veto right, nor will he have the right to overturn community decisions.
If TWIKI.NET did not agree with this position, then the community would create a fork.

Swabbies – Development

And there you have it. Mutiny. Revolution. A fork to FosWiki. It is clear to me from the above, the community did see other points of view. Did not lack mental authority and responsibility. The cap’n wasn’t killed, or made to walk the plank. He could stay on, but the crew wanted a more democratic structure in response to an autocratic projection by the cap’n, even if it was originally intended as a joke (with a VC group behind it, it becomes much less funny).

Organisational development warnings

FosWiki

The larger your crew, the harder it becomes to make difficult decisions in a democratic structure. And if not all crew members are experienced and educated players, that can become a major problem and the ship goes nowhere and everywhere fast. It simply dissolves as the experienced players walk off while faster ships start feeding on what’s left. But if you have a critical mass of experienced players, and you intend to self-capitalise, or not commercialise at all, the ship and its crew has no problem going nowhere and everywhere. Likely we get to see unexplored territory and unexpected treasure. The seas and oceans are big enough … just mind the reefs. meme

TWiki

Even if you are not intending and projecting autocracies, your actions can be interpreted as such by crew members. And autocracy may make a ship fast for a while, but in the long run, such crews tend to fall apart because too many members build up resentment from each occasion a decision wasn’t in their best interest, or was even to their disadvantage. We’ve been there, done that, and that’s why open source is such a success. Cheers to finding other, new mistakes. And if on top of that the projected autocracy displays signs that can be interpreted as corruption, an increasing number of people will feel the autocrat is getting that at their expense, and will start to walk way or revolt or start a mutiny. And all of that can also happen while you intend an oligarchy.

My conclusion

I was about to install one or two wiki’s for communities. In both cases I work closely together with users. For one, the person I could ask is already contaminated by the illusionary pushes and pulls of this revolution. The other is still clean. I will ask him to pick Twiki or FosWiki based on their descriptions for his purpose. Which software speaks to my customers? Code is poetry, and the software alive. Actually, it had a child? chestThe real Treasure Chest for me is making my customers happy, whether they are paying customers or not. I always do my best. We all do. And we’re all just humans. We just need to see it like that for both self and others, and everything changes. While commercial is not a dirty word in my book (I do like to be able to pay my bills, and have a vacation now and then), I want to guard it with some excellent professional ethics.
Feedback is very welcome …
twitter ]]> Don’t get me wrong. I’m not naming you fools. The name “Ship of Fools” comes from agile organisational sculpting, and we have named it such to lighten up, and make it easier to try some of the “other” roles, or try out something crazy in the role we are in. I am using WhyThisFork as my guide, and welcome more and other perspectives. Please check my statements and assumptions below? It’s all appearances? What it seems?

Boatswain – Quality

The quality of Twiki is amazing. It still is as far as I know. No doubt so is FosWiki as a branch. I set up and used a Twiki in 2001 for InterRaven. It was a tank. But not mature yet. Now it’s years later: Twiki became “New, New, New” yet “Old enough” to attract VC’s or to self-capitalise and commercialise. And it did. In May 2007 TWiki.net was established for the express purpose of commercialising TWiki. The community response is generally positive. People on board have faith in the outcome of this new journey based on previous journeys with this cap’n having been successful. Trust levels are still high. And the ally block attracted is a venture capitalist group. Who that is and what the deal is, I don’t know. I haven’t seen the business planning and I prefer not to interpret “nothing”. One of the things I already have a T-shirt for. Several.

Lookout in Crow’s nest – Self and World concepts

I often liken open source communities to Pirate ships. The captain is chosen by consensus or majority vote, and he (or she) can be replaced by another if the journeys do not deliver enough loot (results, like enjoying ourselves). Likely oligarchies emerge. In August of 2007, there’s a problem. Apparently not all Pirates voted.
… some disagreements followed due to the summit not having a formal mandate to make decisions in camera that affected the absent community.

Cap’n – Forward feedback loop

A captain isn’t necessarily a person. “Captain” is a function. The forward feedback loop. Navigation, risk management, … Twiki was originally Peter’s child? Spiritual father so to speak. And many people have put in hours and energy and made it their own. This function requires being able to deal congruently with spirited discussion from all functions and pirates aboard the ship, and if need be, conflict. I would say the January, February 2008 period when conflicts first arose was key and the following an excellent response:
Any decision on the governance model was postponed to the third summit (held in Berlin). Peter Thoeny was to make a proposal on twiki.org, so community members could discuss it in public.

Sailmaker – Reward system

This is the heart of the matter. Monies are often mentioned, but under water the need for and resistance to acceptance, belonging, conforming, fitting in, being loved and liked, all play a part here for many involved.
Peter Thoeny wrote a proposal for a new TWiki governance model. In short:
  1. Peter Thoeny is a Self Appointed “Benevolent Dictator for Life” (BDFL) — spiritual leader of the TWiki project. The BDFL appoints members of the Technical Board.
  2. The TWiki name and brand, as well as the twiki.org domain name, are the property of the project founder Peter Thoeny; he has sole discretion in decisions related to these matters.
This proposal met considerable opposition from the community. It seemed to go against some already established and more democratic decision structures. The role of BDFL met some strong resistance, although some members acknowledged the need for leadership.

Cabin boy – Sales

This is where blaming often plays a role. Blaming of self, life, others, the system, and even God, Bananas and Flying Spaghetti Monsters can be called to come into the game.
As RafaelAlvarez writes: The community wanted to make explicit the permissions that were implicit before, that is, that the community can use the TWiki ™ brand the way it has been done before without having to pay or relicence TWIKI.NET. This means that any community member could make a TWiki(tm) pakage (taking the core, add some plugins and a nice installer on top) and call it TWiki ™. This means that I could have a company named “Global TWiki Consulting Services” that provides TWiki related services, and that siltes like twikirules.org, twikigurus.org and such can spawn. Today, for all that you need a written permission from the trademark holder, and if there is even the sligthes disagreement between you and him, you run the risk to get sued (a site called twikisucks.org could not exists, for example). In the same vein, a consulting company that is seen as a heavy competitor to TWIKI.NET is not likely to get the permission to have TWiki ™ in its name. Alternative governance proposals were then made. The community agreed that a final agreement on the matter would be finalised at the TWiki Community Summit in September.

First Mate – negative feedback loop

The place of confidence if all went well, and of doubt if not. If in doubt, depending on what’s happening “inside” we humans can produce non-confrontational and/or tuned out responses, procrastination and/or emotional freezes, code white victim syndrome symptoms, or a total panic response.
Just before the TWiki Community Summit September 2008 in Berlin, the community learned that Peter Thoeny was not willing to discuss the role of BDFL or the TWiki brand. Moreover, Peter would not be able to join the summit; instead, Tom Barton would be attending.

Constable – Operations

We’re getting to the crunch. Twiki has quality. Version control. A healthy Boatswain to support and drive the Constable. The weapons were looked after, and the ammunition was kept dry.
At the summit, the attending TWiki community members (present physcially and by conference call) expressed the following:
  • The BDFL position is not needed or appropriate for the community. The majority position was that this would not be an acceptable element of governance.
  • The participants expressed very strong reservations about TWIKI.NET’s control of the TWiki brand whose value, the participants felt, is primarily based on the volunteer contributions of many individuals.
At the end of the day, the group summarized its position on these questions as follows:
  1. The license on the brand name “TWiki” should be a free (as in free beer and free speech) Public License given to the entire community, without having to sign an agreement.
  2. Peter Thoeny is considered the Chief Evangelist, but he will not have veto right, nor will he have the right to overturn community decisions.
If TWIKI.NET did not agree with this position, then the community would create a fork.

Swabbies – Development

And there you have it. Mutiny. Revolution. A fork to FosWiki. It is clear to me from the above, the community did see other points of view. Did not lack mental authority and responsibility. The cap’n wasn’t killed, or made to walk the plank. He could stay on, but the crew wanted a more democratic structure in response to an autocratic projection by the cap’n, even if it was originally intended as a joke (with a VC group behind it, it becomes much less funny).

Organisational development warnings

FosWiki

The larger your crew, the harder it becomes to make difficult decisions in a democratic structure. And if not all crew members are experienced and educated players, that can become a major problem and the ship goes nowhere and everywhere fast. It simply dissolves as the experienced players walk off while faster ships start feeding on what’s left. But if you have a critical mass of experienced players, and you intend to self-capitalise, or not commercialise at all, the ship and its crew has no problem going nowhere and everywhere. Likely we get to see unexplored territory and unexpected treasure. The seas and oceans are big enough … just mind the reefs. meme

TWiki

Even if you are not intending and projecting autocracies, your actions can be interpreted as such by crew members. And autocracy may make a ship fast for a while, but in the long run, such crews tend to fall apart because too many members build up resentment from each occasion a decision wasn’t in their best interest, or was even to their disadvantage. We’ve been there, done that, and that’s why open source is such a success. Cheers to finding other, new mistakes. And if on top of that the projected autocracy displays signs that can be interpreted as corruption, an increasing number of people will feel the autocrat is getting that at their expense, and will start to walk way or revolt or start a mutiny. And all of that can also happen while you intend an oligarchy.

My conclusion

I was about to install one or two wiki’s for communities. In both cases I work closely together with users. For one, the person I could ask is already contaminated by the illusionary pushes and pulls of this revolution. The other is still clean. I will ask him to pick Twiki or FosWiki based on their descriptions for his purpose. Which software speaks to my customers? Code is poetry, and the software alive. Actually, it had a child? chestThe real Treasure Chest for me is making my customers happy, whether they are paying customers or not. I always do my best. We all do. And we’re all just humans. We just need to see it like that for both self and others, and everything changes. While commercial is not a dirty word in my book (I do like to be able to pay my bills, and have a vacation now and then), I want to guard it with some excellent professional ethics.
Feedback is very welcome …
twitter
]]> http://www.wyrdweb.eu/2009/10/twiki-and-foswiki-ship-of-fools/feed/ 5 Charting the unknown http://www.wyrdweb.eu/2009/09/charting-the-unknown/ http://www.wyrdweb.eu/2009/09/charting-the-unknown/#comments Sat, 26 Sep 2009 19:45:33 +0000 nynke http://www.wyrdweb.eu/?p=430 Fusion Charts. FusionCharts Free and FusionCharts v3 are two different products with entirely different licensing schemes. FusionCharts Free is completely free and covers all basic charting needs. FusionCharts v3 is a paid product with a wider variety of chart types and a host of advanced features. It is also free, as long as you don’t mind a small addition in your charts that the chart is made with Fusion Charts. I think my below solution for embedding graphs in a wordpress blogpost will work for v3 version as well. 2. Do not have to upload the whole shebang to your blogserver. Uploading only the relevant files works: FusionCharts.js from the JSClass directory, and the for you relevant .swf files in a Fusion Charts directory. You can re-use these .swf chart files for any number of charts on posts. I created a FusionCharts folder in a FusionCharts folder that contains all .swf files and the FusionCharts.js file. 3. The .swf files are linked with .xml files that provide the data for and configuration of the chart. FushionCharts provides this utility for generating .xml files. Use the “Convert to XML” button to get the data .xml. I created a folder MyFirstChart in my top FusionCharts folder to hold chart data, and uploaded Bar2D.swf. 4. Now click the “Configure Chart” button to open the “Chart Properties” window. You can provide settings for your chart like caption, axis titles, design palette, etc. 5. Copy the .xml to clipboard and paste it in a new file called Data.xml (or any other file name of your choice). Upload this file. I uploaded to the folder MyFirstChart in my top FusionCharts folder in the root of my wordpress installation. Mind capital sensitivity. 6. Put this string in your header file (Appearance -> Editor -> header.php)

<script language="JavaScript" src="http://your.url.com/FusionCharts/FusionCharts/FusionCharts.js"></script>


Adapt path to the location of your FusionCharts.js file. 7. Copy-paste in your blogpost the code below and replace the paths with the locations where your .swf, .js and .xml files are located, and replace the names of the data files with the names of the data files you have uploaded.

<object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=8,0,0,0" width="560" height="900" id="Column3D" ><param name="movie" value="http://your.url.com/FusionCharts/FusionCharts/Bar2D.swf" /><param name="FlashVars" value="&dataURL=Data.xml&chartWidth=560&chartHeight=900"><param name="quality" value="high" /><embed src="http://your.url.com/FusionCharts/FusionCharts/Bar2D.swf" flashVars="&dataURL=http://your.url.com/FusionCharts/MyFirstChart/Data.xml&chartWidth=560&chartHeight=900" quality="high" width="560" height="900" name="Bar2D" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" /></object>


7. If all went well, you now have a result like this. I. Love. It. Thank you, Fusion Charts, and @sanketnadhani for suggesting this path. ]]> Fusion Charts. FusionCharts Free and FusionCharts v3 are two different products with entirely different licensing schemes. FusionCharts Free is completely free and covers all basic charting needs. FusionCharts v3 is a paid product with a wider variety of chart types and a host of advanced features. It is also free, as long as you don’t mind a small addition in your charts that the chart is made with Fusion Charts. I think my below solution for embedding graphs in a wordpress blogpost will work for v3 version as well. 2. Do not have to upload the whole shebang to your blogserver. Uploading only the relevant files works: FusionCharts.js from the JSClass directory, and the for you relevant .swf files in a Fusion Charts directory. You can re-use these .swf chart files for any number of charts on posts. I created a FusionCharts folder in a FusionCharts folder that contains all .swf files and the FusionCharts.js file. 3. The .swf files are linked with .xml files that provide the data for and configuration of the chart. FushionCharts provides this utility for generating .xml files. Use the “Convert to XML” button to get the data .xml. I created a folder MyFirstChart in my top FusionCharts folder to hold chart data, and uploaded Bar2D.swf. [caption id="attachment_431" align="aligncenter" width="520" caption="Manual"]Manual[/caption] [caption id="attachment_433" align="aligncenter" width="520" caption="From Spread Sheet"]From Spread Sheet[/caption] [caption id="attachment_432" align="aligncenter" width="520" caption="Generated code"]Generated code[/caption] 4. Now click the “Configure Chart” button to open the “Chart Properties” window. You can provide settings for your chart like caption, axis titles, design palette, etc. [caption id="attachment_435" align="aligncenter" width="520" caption="Configuring the chart"]Configuring the chart[/caption] 5. Copy the .xml to clipboard and paste it in a new file called Data.xml (or any other file name of your choice). Upload this file. I uploaded to the folder MyFirstChart in my top FusionCharts folder in the root of my wordpress installation. Mind capital sensitivity. 6. Put this string in your header file (Appearance -> Editor -> header.php)

<script language="JavaScript" src="http://your.url.com/FusionCharts/FusionCharts/FusionCharts.js"></script>


Adapt path to the location of your FusionCharts.js file. 7. Copy-paste in your blogpost the code below and replace the paths with the locations where your .swf, .js and .xml files are located, and replace the names of the data files with the names of the data files you have uploaded.

<object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=8,0,0,0" width="560" height="900" id="Column3D" ><param name="movie" value="http://your.url.com/FusionCharts/FusionCharts/Bar2D.swf" /><param name="FlashVars" value="&dataURL=Data.xml&chartWidth=560&chartHeight=900"><param name="quality" value="high" /><embed src="http://your.url.com/FusionCharts/FusionCharts/Bar2D.swf" flashVars="&dataURL=http://your.url.com/FusionCharts/MyFirstChart/Data.xml&chartWidth=560&chartHeight=900" quality="high" width="560" height="900" name="Bar2D" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" /></object>


7. If all went well, you now have a result like this. I. Love. It. Thank you, Fusion Charts, and @sanketnadhani for suggesting this path.
]]> http://www.wyrdweb.eu/2009/09/charting-the-unknown/feed/ 1 2009 Nonprofit Software Development Summit http://www.wyrdweb.eu/2009/09/2009-nonprofit-software-development-summit/ http://www.wyrdweb.eu/2009/09/2009-nonprofit-software-development-summit/#comments Wed, 23 Sep 2009 06:35:18 +0000 nynke http://www.wyrdweb.eu/?p=422 Goals of the Dev Summit The Dev Summit will have as its primary goals the following:
  • To convene and strengthen connections between the networks of stakeholders in the nonprofit software ecosystem, providing a fun and creative environment for celebrating successes and leadership in the field.
  • To share skills and knowledge in a highly collaborative, peer-to-peer fashion.
  • To map and discuss what is available and what is missing across the nonprofit software landscape in specific software “verticals”, and to posit solutions for addressing the gaps.
  • To offer a point of entry for software developers interested in offering their skills to nonprofit sector.
For more information, and for registration, go here ]]> Goals of the Dev Summit The Dev Summit will have as its primary goals the following:
  • To convene and strengthen connections between the networks of stakeholders in the nonprofit software ecosystem, providing a fun and creative environment for celebrating successes and leadership in the field.
  • To share skills and knowledge in a highly collaborative, peer-to-peer fashion.
  • To map and discuss what is available and what is missing across the nonprofit software landscape in specific software “verticals”, and to posit solutions for addressing the gaps.
  • To offer a point of entry for software developers interested in offering their skills to nonprofit sector.
For more information, and for registration, go here
]]> http://www.wyrdweb.eu/2009/09/2009-nonprofit-software-development-summit/feed/ 0 iTunes on Ubuntu: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly http://www.wyrdweb.eu/2008/02/itunes-on-ubuntu-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/ http://www.wyrdweb.eu/2008/02/itunes-on-ubuntu-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/#comments Fri, 15 Feb 2008 19:05:38 +0000 nynke http://wyrd.spike.wyrdweb.eu/?p=137 I have bad news, ugly news and good news!

The Bad News

There isn’t any iTunes for Linux (and Ubuntu). There is even a iTunes on Linux Petition to Apple Computer, Inc. There are socalled workaround solutions where you use Wine or Crossover Office. In general, these allow you to run some of the native Windows programs, but even those don’t work properly for iTunes:

The Ugly News

You can set up a dual boot system. This is very ugly because you have to reboot your computer every time you want to access iTunes and then reboot your computer again to go back to Ubuntu. Two slightly less ugly variations of this are running virtual Ubuntu inside Windows using VMWare, or running virtual Windows inside Ubuntu using VMWare.

And the Good News is …

You can manage your iPod without iTunes with many native Linux programs. Wikipedia offers a comparison (including lists of features) of iPod managers that will work on Linux (and Ubuntu). AmaroK and Banshee in particular come highly recommended by Ubuntu Forum members. For more information on where to get music, including user experiences and recommendations, these Ubuntu Forum threads may be helpful:
Then what about songs you already purchased at iTunes?
You cannot legally play the songs you have already purchased. When you buy from the iTunes store, you agree to their terms of service, which states:
Security. You understand that the Service, and products purchased through the Service, such as sound recordings, videos and related artwork (”Products”), include a security framework using technology that protects digital information and limits your usage of Products to certain usage rules established by Apple and its licensors (”Usage Rules”). You agree to comply with such Usage Rules, as further outlined below, and you agree not to violate or attempt to violate any security components. You agree not to attempt to, or assist another person to, circumvent, reverse-engineer, decompile, disassemble, or otherwise tamper with any of the security components related to such Usage Rules for any reason whatsoever. Usage Rules may be controlled and monitored by Apple for compliance purposes, and Apple reserves the right to enforce the Usage Rules with or without notice to you. You will not access the Service by any means other than through software that is provided by Apple for accessing the Service. You shall not access or attempt to access an Account that you are not authorized to access. You agree not to modify the software in any manner or form, or to use modified versions of the software, for any purposes including obtaining unauthorized access to the Service. Violations of system or network security may result in civil or criminal liability.

Next steps

Pick your first path. Any of the above solutions, Wine, CrossOver, Dual Boot, Amarok, Banshee, we can do. It would be my pleasure to write an article that includes all of the details on how to do it. And traveling down a path we may discover that we wish to try another. No problem! :-) ]]> I have bad news, ugly news and good news!

The Bad News

There isn’t any iTunes for Linux (and Ubuntu). There is even a iTunes on Linux Petition to Apple Computer, Inc. There are socalled workaround solutions where you use Wine or Crossover Office. In general, these allow you to run some of the native Windows programs, but even those don’t work properly for iTunes:

The Ugly News

You can set up a dual boot system. This is very ugly because you have to reboot your computer every time you want to access iTunes and then reboot your computer again to go back to Ubuntu. Two slightly less ugly variations of this are running virtual Ubuntu inside Windows using VMWare, or running virtual Windows inside Ubuntu using VMWare.

And the Good News is …

You can manage your iPod without iTunes with many native Linux programs. Wikipedia offers a comparison (including lists of features) of iPod managers that will work on Linux (and Ubuntu). AmaroK and Banshee in particular come highly recommended by Ubuntu Forum members. For more information on where to get music, including user experiences and recommendations, these Ubuntu Forum threads may be helpful:
Then what about songs you already purchased at iTunes?
You cannot legally play the songs you have already purchased. When you buy from the iTunes store, you agree to their terms of service, which states:
Security. You understand that the Service, and products purchased through the Service, such as sound recordings, videos and related artwork (”Products”), include a security framework using technology that protects digital information and limits your usage of Products to certain usage rules established by Apple and its licensors (”Usage Rules”). You agree to comply with such Usage Rules, as further outlined below, and you agree not to violate or attempt to violate any security components. You agree not to attempt to, or assist another person to, circumvent, reverse-engineer, decompile, disassemble, or otherwise tamper with any of the security components related to such Usage Rules for any reason whatsoever. Usage Rules may be controlled and monitored by Apple for compliance purposes, and Apple reserves the right to enforce the Usage Rules with or without notice to you. You will not access the Service by any means other than through software that is provided by Apple for accessing the Service. You shall not access or attempt to access an Account that you are not authorized to access. You agree not to modify the software in any manner or form, or to use modified versions of the software, for any purposes including obtaining unauthorized access to the Service. Violations of system or network security may result in civil or criminal liability.

Next steps

Pick your first path. Any of the above solutions, Wine, CrossOver, Dual Boot, Amarok, Banshee, we can do. It would be my pleasure to write an article that includes all of the details on how to do it. And traveling down a path we may discover that we wish to try another. No problem! :-)
]]> http://www.wyrdweb.eu/2008/02/itunes-on-ubuntu-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/feed/ 0 Patent Infringement Lawsuit Filed Against Red Hat & Novell … http://www.wyrdweb.eu/2007/10/patent-infringement-lawsuit-filed-against-red-hat-novell/ http://www.wyrdweb.eu/2007/10/patent-infringement-lawsuit-filed-against-red-hat-novell/#comments Fri, 12 Oct 2007 16:51:59 +0000 nynke http://wyrd.spike.wyrdweb.eu/?p=154 … Just Like Ballmer Predicted IP Innovation LLC has just filed a patent infringement claim against Red Hat and Novell. It was filed October 9, case no. 2:2007cv00447, IP Innovation, LLC et al v. Red Hat Inc. et al, in Texas. Where else? The patent troll magnet state. The first ever patent infringement litigation involving Linux. Here’s the patent, for those who can look at it without risk. If in doubt, don’t. Here’s the complaint [PDF]. http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20071011205044141 ]]> … Just Like Ballmer Predicted IP Innovation LLC has just filed a patent infringement claim against Red Hat and Novell. It was filed October 9, case no. 2:2007cv00447, IP Innovation, LLC et al v. Red Hat Inc. et al, in Texas. Where else? The patent troll magnet state. The first ever patent infringement litigation involving Linux. Here’s the patent, for those who can look at it without risk. If in doubt, don’t. Here’s the complaint [PDF]. http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20071011205044141
]]> http://www.wyrdweb.eu/2007/10/patent-infringement-lawsuit-filed-against-red-hat-novell/feed/ 0 Scratch that itch! http://www.wyrdweb.eu/2006/01/scratch-that-itch/ http://www.wyrdweb.eu/2006/01/scratch-that-itch/#comments Tue, 17 Jan 2006 23:00:32 +0000 nynke http://wyrd.spike.wyrdweb.eu/?p=176 The Cathedral and the Bazaar“. The cathedral and the Bazaar paper was behind Netscape’s innovative decision to take its client software open source. It describes a bazaar style of managing software development that depends on open source and leads to high reliability and quality. Open Source Technologies tend to start from within, from a developer scratching her or his own itch in her or his own context. In other words, a particular open source tool, in its early development phases is particularly suited to meet the needs of its creator first, and only in second instance the needs of people in similar contexts with similar itches, like colleagues and other developers. This guarantees a creator has substantial workable knowledge of what other users of the tool might wish to include as features. The code is freely modifiable by others, and if a developer wants to branch off of the code for a particular context, that’s cool! With more developers working on similar tools, cross training and gaining increases, and certain codes can be fed back to the trunk for organisational integrity. Some tools make it past this phase, and branch into several tools, intending consistency and continuity in arena’s of success and solution in other contexts. Originally developed in a development context, these tools often do not meet demands of people that cannot install, configure and code such tools (yet). Even for other developers it can be hard to work with these tools, for documentation is sometimes missing or hard to find, and the code is sometimes not self-documenting (though most is ;-) . Most weboriented software has made it to more maturity and non-techies can easily engage with both the tool and the community of users. Such tools have one-click install when possible, or web browser interfaces for installing and configuring the tool. Most have special visual editors allowing users to not have to know coding, multilanguage support, timezone support, and support for more platforms, like other operating systems and databases. And, some tools that branched off, recombined with functionality of other (open source) tools. For example, a few tools provide portal logic allowing users to flexibly shape their own portal, with all sorts of add-ons, working towards tensegrity self-organisation. A lot of progress has been made to bridge the gap between open source tools and non-technical (business) environments. As open source customers we have received many great gifts, not yet fully meeting demands of the wide variety of potential customers. We hope that working from what works and what doesn’t, open source software will continue to move to resolution and into bridging what remains of the gap between the two, open source developers and non-technical (business) environments.

We also hope the IT industry as a whole will learn from the success stories of passionate people using the bazaar style and agile development, and that feedback, pairing, truly engaging with and listening to our users and customers, and accepting change for ourselves as inevitable, will be recognized as key ingredients for excellence and delivering high quality software in the near future.

We hope you enjoy the unfolding landscape!

]]> The Cathedral and the Bazaar“. The cathedral and the Bazaar paper was behind Netscape’s innovative decision to take its client software open source. It describes a bazaar style of managing software development that depends on open source and leads to high reliability and quality. [caption id="attachment_177" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Zorro counterspell"]Zorro counterspell[/caption] Open Source Technologies tend to start from within, from a developer scratching her or his own itch in her or his own context. In other words, a particular open source tool, in its early development phases is particularly suited to meet the needs of its creator first, and only in second instance the needs of people in similar contexts with similar itches, like colleagues and other developers. This guarantees a creator has substantial workable knowledge of what other users of the tool might wish to include as features. The code is freely modifiable by others, and if a developer wants to branch off of the code for a particular context, that’s cool! With more developers working on similar tools, cross training and gaining increases, and certain codes can be fed back to the trunk for organisational integrity. Some tools make it past this phase, and branch into several tools, intending consistency and continuity in arena’s of success and solution in other contexts. Originally developed in a development context, these tools often do not meet demands of people that cannot install, configure and code such tools (yet). Even for other developers it can be hard to work with these tools, for documentation is sometimes missing or hard to find, and the code is sometimes not self-documenting (though most is ;-) . Most weboriented software has made it to more maturity and non-techies can easily engage with both the tool and the community of users. Such tools have one-click install when possible, or web browser interfaces for installing and configuring the tool. Most have special visual editors allowing users to not have to know coding, multilanguage support, timezone support, and support for more platforms, like other operating systems and databases. And, some tools that branched off, recombined with functionality of other (open source) tools. For example, a few tools provide portal logic allowing users to flexibly shape their own portal, with all sorts of add-ons, working towards tensegrity self-organisation. A lot of progress has been made to bridge the gap between open source tools and non-technical (business) environments. As open source customers we have received many great gifts, not yet fully meeting demands of the wide variety of potential customers. We hope that working from what works and what doesn’t, open source software will continue to move to resolution and into bridging what remains of the gap between the two, open source developers and non-technical (business) environments.

We also hope the IT industry as a whole will learn from the success stories of passionate people using the bazaar style and agile development, and that feedback, pairing, truly engaging with and listening to our users and customers, and accepting change for ourselves as inevitable, will be recognized as key ingredients for excellence and delivering high quality software in the near future.

We hope you enjoy the unfolding landscape!


]]> http://www.wyrdweb.eu/2006/01/scratch-that-itch/feed/ 0