Pushing content during a module update

Content
#1

Flycka is a web site enabling users cooperatively to create dynamic web content. It’s a cross between a social network, a web site builder and a hosting service.

www.flycka.com

Works best with Chrome at this point. The site looks like my personal blog, but anyone may sign up and create similar content. Move your pointer over Flycka and click Help on the cloud menu. Creating web pages this way does not create HTML. Content is stored in a mysql database on the server and rendered by Javascript when downloaded. The server code is PHP. The database is versioned.

When my RACHEL arrives next week, I’ll move Flycka to it, so someone connected to the RACHEL can create web pages that someone else connected to the RACHEL can view. I’ll also use the RACHEL in a special education class for students with emotional disorders.

When a user has created web pages using Flycka on RACHEL, I can extract this content from the mysql database and transfer it to my server on the internet. The content then is available to anyone online.

So here’s the idea. I’ll make Flycka available as a module on RACHEL, so remote users can create web pages (blogs and the like) available to other people using the same RACHEL. This application seems possible within WP’s standard protocol.

I’d also like RACHEL automatically to push the web pages to the server hosting flycka.com, so when a RACHEL owner updates their device, web pages created by RACHEL users locally become available on the internet.

I’d like an update of the module to update the module’s mysql tables without disturbing content already in the tables. Presumably, an update of KA-Lite doesn’t erase the module’s history, so this operation may already be possible?

Ultimately, someone in a remote village in Ghana may write their blog on a RACHEL, and after an update of their RACHEL, anyone on the internet may read the blog at flycka.com. If someone else in a remote village in Burma subsequently updates their RACHEL, users of their RACHEL can also read the blog written in Ghana.

The idea is a social network comprised of RACHEL users. Members of this network are like pen pals in the days before the internet, but they communicate through blogs published to the internet intermittently and subsequently to other RACHEL devices. Can we make it happen?

#2

Hi @restonthewind – it’s something we can do! If you get the pilot configured and up and running we can take a look at integrating your work into the broader RACHEL community. Thank you!

#3

Thanks, Jeremy. I placed my order on the 3rd and chose 7 business day shipping, so the device should arrive tomorrow (?), but according to USPS, it’s still in a Pre-Shipment status.

https://tools.usps.com/go/TrackConfirmAction_input?qtc_tLabels1=9405510200864117714757

Can I expect to wait another 7 business days after USPS receives the package?

I hope to have Flycka working on RACHEL this weekend, and I’ll call it RACHEL-Web or something. It already runs on a WAMP server on my Windows laptop as well as a Linux server at Bluehost, so porting it to RACHEL should be straightforward.

I’ll add a chat feature, so people connected to the RACHEL can send text messages to each other as well as creating blogs that one another can read. Flycka already supports a discussion forum, and the chat feature is a simple extension. Seems strange to text someone in the same room, but kids do it with their phones all the time, and it’s less disruptive to the rest of the class than speaking. I’ll add some Creative Commons content from openclipart.org and pixabay.com. I use these sources a lot. I’ll also add some CC fonts. Online Flycka uses Google Fonts.

The device will serve my wife’s special ed classroom. Her students have emotional disorders, and most have poor impulse control and are easily distracted, so creating a productive learning environment for them is very challenging. My goal is to create alternatives to more disruptive interaction. Do you have other users with this objective? Does RACHEL-Corrections serve incarcerated kids or more the adult prison population? My wife’s students are at risk for this outcome. If you have other RACHEL users with these challenges, I’d like to communicate with them.

#4

The package was placed for shipment on Friday. Unfortunately however, set in the wrong carrier location. Issue resolved and shipping today, with 2-day delivery. I sincerely apologies for the delay.

#5

Hi Martin, thanks for adding your work to RACHEL! We definitely do have lots of incarcerated youth and adults using RACHEL. Our U.S. Justice chapter leader Frank Martin (@frank) would be the best person to tell you more about this and assess whether your new tools would be useful for corrections!

#6

Thanks, Steve. I look forward to receiving it and won’t have a lot of time to work with it before the weekend anyway.

#7

Thanks, Nicole. When I have something Frank can examine, I’ll contact him.

#8

My device arrived today, and I’ve set it up, connected a few laptops and browsed content and administrative functions. After connecting the device to my router, a module update returned “up to date”, so everything seems to be in order.

I’ll start with a few gripes (or constructive criticism), 'cause that’s my nature. I saw online that oer2go offered pdfs of the CK12 flexbooks for download, but I hoped that RACHEL served the flexbooks. Browsing the flexbook is a bit easier, and since I’m not remote, I’m inclined to download the flexbooks for offline use instead. Also, the CK12 pdfs are heavy. Downloading them on my Chromebooks only takes a few seconds, but an older Windows 7 netbook with an atom processor struggled to download the middle school Earth Science text. KALite is great content, but it’s limited beyond math, and the CK12 content fills a gap in the middle school science content that I need.

But content is always improving, and I want to be part of the solution. To create the module described above, I need access to the OS. I must do more than send you HTML and image files. I need to create mysql tables and test PHP scripts for example. Do you have documentation? I can use a Linux command line interface on RACHEL, but I’d rather use a Windows client. RACHEL has SSH and FTP servers?

#9

For Rachel Plus development purposes…

  • SSH - root / 123lkj
  • MySQL - root / Rachel+1