Dave’s Educational Blog » Blog Archive » Opensim/Drupal integration for education - proposal and call for help

Opensim/Drupal integration for education - proposal and call for help
June 24, 2008 – 11:05 pm

Well… i’m finally getting my teeth back into opensim and finding that there are a couple of things i’d like to get built over the next couple of months. We’ve already gotten a good start on the automated installer for opensim, but what i’d really like to do now is attempt an integration with drupal. I’ll be keeping my running requirements list for that integration on the openhabitat project page and will hopefully pop a few updates into here from time to time.

What I need
I need two things.

1. I need a good drupal/opensim programmer. Someone familiar with both platforms who can spearhead the drupal integration (or, if you like opensim integration).
2. I need some sense that there are other folks in the British Higher Education community who would find this integration compelling for an application to the emerge community for extra funding.

I have been working on 'Being Here Now.'

This deceptively simple strategy is probably the most effective. When you notice your thoughts wandering astray, say to yourself

"Be here now"

and gently bring your attention back to where you want it.

You may notice that your mind often wanders (as often as several times a minute at times). Each time just say

"Be here now"

and refocus. Do not try to keep particular thoughts out of your mind. For example, as you sit there, close your eyes and think about anything you want to for the next three minutes except cookies. Try not to think about cookies...When you try not to think about something, it keeps coming back. ("I'm not going to think about cookies. I'm not going to think about cookies.")

When you find your thoughts wandering, gently let go of that thought and, with your "Be here now," return to the present.

You might do this hundreds of times a week, if you're normal. But, you'll find that the period of time between your straying thoughts gets a little longer every few days. So be patient and keep at it. You'll see some improvement!

And Be Sure to watch this Space Balls clip as often as possible.

So while I wait for Apple to roll out an update to last year's Mac Book Pro (macrumors.com insists it is still not a good time to buy), I barrel forward with hacking my old Dell Dimension Celeron to provide me with a adequate Rails development environment.. I make use of Instant Rails, and Aptana. At some later date, I will switch over to the Rad Rails plugin...but for now I'm rolling along just fine. There is plenty to learn in limited time to waste on configuring my IDE. Besides, later I completely intend to begin developing with Textmate in the Mac environment.

I know it is fairly well documented around the web that some of the old 'ROR up and running' tutorials are a bit difficult to digest with the new features in in Rails 2.0. So, I wanted to document my findings. And provide links to the resources that have helped me.

Here's a couple of resources to get started:

akitaonrails.com

weblog.infoworld.com

Stay posted for more of my findings.

So I am calling it Generic American with a splash of Modern Vintage...I guess. I'm having one of those moments as a designer when the 'correct' images are present in my mind's eye, but for various reasons they haven't formulated on the canvas. Yet...but what the heck - I'm in no real hurry. I want to savor the taste of this one.

I absolutely love working on peacefield.info. It is a designer's dream, absolute creative freedom. An opportunity to shine, explore, create and innovate.

So what do I have to work with? Not much yet, and that is ok in some respects, because I don't want to ever steer away from my built in 'open source' aesthetic: championing the best of free fonts and hacked, and neo-Dadaist imagery. This new concoction hopes to blend cinematic urban cityscapes, with an adaptation of the ever trendy rustic earth tone color palette.(see my post on the the Neo-Green Aesthetic)

Actually, keyboardist R. Bruce Phillips says it best:

Peacefield isn't so "Pleasantville." It's grittier, even darker maybe -- or at least it has that side. Kind of like in the face of the ubiquitous B&W photo of the old man who lives on the street. He is generic, he is vintage. His face tells who knows what variety of stories? Some lovely, and some horrific, to be sure.

But there is peace still. His old weather face still attracts us.

Some may not see readily the quality of peace about this town. They might think it a contradiction, or irony, that the gritty, mysterious town has such a "nice" name as "Peacefield." Of course, America is full of contradiction and ironies, and people who don't get it when others do.

Thanks for Having Us!

We enjoyed joining the Fox 7 Morning crew in Austin, Texas on Tuesday.

What's Next?



View our performance.



View the archive.

FOX 7 Live Music in the Morning Archive

We will be playing bright and early in Austin, Texas on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 in the FOX 7 Austin studios.

Check out past performances from bands committed to keeping Austin the 'Live Music Capital of the World', care of FOX 7 News Edge in the Morning.

View video of past performances.

I'd like to promote a great resource for getting up to speed on JQuery syntax.

I've received a number of requests for help with 'Drupal Basics' in the last couple of weeks. Here's something to get you started, hope it helps.

Presidential Feeds

I've been playing with google mashups editor and I came across this great demo mashup. If you are into keeping an eye on the latest blog posts on the candidates. Check it out : http://campaigntrails.googlemashups.com/

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