DetailedQuestions

[Technical

• What sort of db do we need? (something opensource / free presumably??)

  • KakePugh says: I've been assuming MySQL or PostgreSQL. SQLite might also be useful for prototyping. If we keep the database access in its own layer then we can swap in and out without too much disruption. Supporting more than one database will create a little more work.

• Postcode look ups are an important part of the site. Who are the suppliers? anyone likely to give us a freebie - (I know about QAS - any others out there?)

  • TomSteinberg says: mySociety.org is going to need access to postcode data for a number of projects, and we intend to raise the money to licence it. James Cronin (FaxYourMP founder and host of this list) is the expert on this, and can probably explain more.

    DaveWarnock says: Why not develop postcode lookup as a webservice (using REST principals) to make it simple to use across projects, even when projects are on distributed hardware. Thus MySociety ends up with a service such as www.postcodeanywhere.co.uk but for all it's projects. All any project needs to do is throw a few lines of javascript into a web page or make an http call on the server.

• What are the hardware requirements? (db / web servers / email servers...)

• Who is going to maintain the hardware?

• What web technologies should we be using?

  • KakePugh says: I'd suggest using Perl - a combination of Template Toolkit and Class::DBI for rapid development. For those unfamiliar with these distributions, you might want to read the article I wrote on them for perl.com. Class::DBI is not the only database abstraction layer out there, but it has a large user base and is under very active development. Similarly for Template Toolkit.

    DaveWarnock says: Rather than fix development tools (because we all have our preferences, mine would include python). How about starting from 2 directions a) the architecture (to ensure re-use, flexibility, low hardware cost, open development) and b) user experience (site map, work flows)

• Collaboration tools

  • KakePugh says: In terms of collaboration tools, CVS seems sensible. I can probably even host it if need be. (I recommend against using sourceforge. It is not reliable enough.) The mailing list will also be very useful. Is there anyone here who doesn't have a unix machine that they can use for development?

Design

• What design model do we want to follow? (is there any intention for all of the MySociety projects to have a consistent design / design ethos?)

• Are there any particular sites that we should be trying to emulate in terms of clarity of design / functionality?

• What browser accessibility are we aiming for?

• How much of the site will be static content (e.g. info on the charities). Will we need a content management system to allow users to upload this? Do we need to monitor this content?

The charities

• There has already been some discussion on how we recognise bona fide charities - but this needs further investigation - how strict are we going to be?

  • TomSteinberg: the Charity Commission has a database which we can scrape for some kind of data.

http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/registeredcharities/showcharity.asp?remchar=&chyno=1076346

• Are we going to do any follow up to ensure that charities are collecting / using the stuff?

• How will the charities know about the service? how active do we want to be in promoting the site to charities (and how much do we want to hand-hold non web savvy users)

• How do charities let us know about what products they are interested in? Or do they register an interest in all the items on the site. Will the list of items be automatically generated from the list of items that are currently on offer / have been on offer? How will new items be added to the list?

The givers

• How will the givers know about the service?

• What level of contact do we need to facilitate between the giver / GiveItAway / the charity?

• Do we have any email contact with the givers?

• How do we deal with user complaints / issues (do we implement a peer rating service a la Ebay?)

Legal

• Are there any legal issues that we need to be investigating (other than Data protection issues?)