Yusuf described his interface design for the student computer.
1) He pointed out that anything drawn on top of an existing slide would
lose its meaning if that slide was redisplayed in a different way (highly
likely when using generic web browsers on such different screen sizes).
This can be avoided if the existing slide is a bitmap, but then there are
more bits (unless the image is run length encoded in a smart way) and
download and upload and loading into a web browser are all slowed down.
2) Therefore Yusuf eliminated that type of annotation from his system.
Students would be able to press "buttons" to do standard annotations such
as "start link", "end link", "Huh?", "Check this later", "Important reading",
"Boring", and "WOW!".
3) Screen design displays the current slide and a button panel below.
4) Automatically generating a table of contents may help linking to
past material.
5) Yusuf stressed that having old student notes (in whatever form)
still be available for linking, may be useful. Others were not so sure.
I learned from this presentation that there are at least these types
of student notes/annotations:
1) NOTES: These are words or diagrams drawn on a blank screen.
2) ANNOTATIONS: These are words or diagrams that are drawn on top of an
existing slide or text, and refer to specific points in that slide or text.
3) LINKS (HYPERLINKS): These have several types:
3a: Word -> Word: Link is triggered by clicking on a word or phrase, and
refers to a specific word or phrase.
3b: Word -> Chunk: Link is triggered by clicking on a word or phrase, and
referse to a chunk (set of sentences, slide, or other large unit).
3c: Chunk -> Word: Nobody talked about this.
3d: Chunk -> Chunk: This is key to Terry's design, see below.
Terry described his interface design for the student computer.
1) He used a modal interface, in which 3 different screens were available.
2) Screen 1 is a note taking screen, providing a steady stream of blank
"paper". This is similar/identical to the current Newton notion of notes.
3) Screen 2 displays the slides, and supports annotations (if we ever
support annotations).
4) Screen 3 is split into two columns. The left column shows a sequence of
notes from Screen 1. The right column shows a sequence of thumbnail images
of slides and annotations.
This screen supports linking between chunks, which are described below.
5) Terry stressed that linking may be facilitated if notes are broken
down into chunks. A line across the screen can indicate the end of a chunk.
I have tried to write these notes in a chunked format, using numbered lists
to highlight chunks. Did I get the idea?
Note that slides are already chunked, especially if they are sparse.
Nick/Sue described the Newton book approach.
1) This takes advantage of existing software.
2) this approach can work well if the students get to take the Newton's with
them.
3) It is not clear how to get the INK out of the Newton, to be able to
display the annotated book on the Web.
We agreed that a useful goal for next week is to figure out how to get
any INK out of a Newton in any form. This could be
1) from a drawing or text on a blank screen (the "note" mode of a newton).
or
2) from an annotation in a Newton book.
The INK would then be converted into a bitmap (GIF image).
This goal is a prerequisite for almost any other use of the Newton.
There will be a trial run of lecturing and taking notes by the end of the
month.
It is clear that we lack sufficient Newton programmers in the C2000 group.
Sue is booked with Cyberguide, so we should consider getting more Newton
expertise in the C2000 group. Yusuf and Nick agreed to take a shot at
Newton hacking.
Feel free to annotate/correct this description of what happened.
Chris