What Is Gemin-iPlus

From Gemin-Wiki

What is Gemin-i Plus

What it is

A community-project development system. It provides tools for communication and cooperation between people, and groups of people.

The following text is taken for a funding proposal for a project which used the software. The Gemin-i Plus software (then also called JellyOS) was originally jointly designed by Ultralab, and Africa Bookcase (now Gemin-i), to be used in linking projects connecting UK schools with those in the developing world. Gemin-i now actively develop the Gemin-i Plus software, branched from JellyOS. The following text is a snippet from the proposal. It should give you an idea of what the software can do or what it will shortly be able to do.

• Web-Based Although the Gemin-i Plus software has features that other software packages are simply incapable of running, it remains completely web-based with no software installations required. Teachers and pupils only have to navigate to our website and all the tools and their documents are available, wherever they are.

• Portability The look and feel of Gemin-i Plus can be easily changed, with logos, colours and introductory screens added for different projects. The core engine can also be easily adapted to run other sorts of connectivity / community based projects.

• Admin Tools Gemin-i Plus will have significantly more powerful administrative tools for handling more users/projects. This will enable us to give teachers as much or as little responsibility as they want/need. For teachers who have little or no IT experience, we can provide templates for all standard set-up functions, and remotely handle any aspects of the project they are having difficulty with. It also means that teachers who have the confidence can customise their projects as much as they want, involving multiple schools and even running highly complex communities. Schools could even use Gemini Plus to run their entire school communication network.

• Support for audio/video files Gemin-i Plus will be extremely good at handling video and audio clips. These can be integrated into any page, customised and layered on top of one another. Pupils and teachers can create their own multimedia, multi-textual pages containing text, pictures, video etc.

• Audio/video conferencing Gemin-i Plus will provide video conferencing for those with enough bandwidth. Video conferencing windows can simply be dragged and dropped into project pages. Web cams are automatically detected and initiated, presenting an instant image of those on the other side of the world. Multiple video conferencing windows can be incorporated into a single page. Multiple parties (schools) will be able to videoconference simultaneously. For those with less bandwidth we will also provide comprehensive audio conferencing tools, which will be embedded into the Multiple User System ensuring that each voice can be clearly identified. Web cams can also be used to take still pictures and will be automatically stored in the project or personal folders. Either party will be able to take stills and controls each other’s web cam/s.

• Internal messaging system An updated version of the current G-Mail (if only we'd copywrited that name -ed) system, with a much improved address book and multimedia capabilities and ICQ/MSN Messenger style instant messaging.

• Improved Security Password protection system and user identification and privilege features will be upgraded.

• Content publishing system All pages in Gemin-i Plus will be user definable (assuming the page is not ‘locked’ by Gemini staff or teachers). Pupils will be given complete creative freedom in the design of their personal pages (all pages/discussions are of course moderated both by teachers and Gemini staff in order to eliminate inappropriate content should it arise). The same toolset will be available to pupils to create their own project related pages (e.g. a newspaper page in the Foreign Correspondent Project). Pupils will also be able to ‘layer’ their comments and additions to others’ pages (as long as the author has allowed it).

• Flexible, extensible and user-defined discussion tools Because Gemin-i Plus is a global linking scheme, we have to take into account the differing time zones of our schools. It is our aim to make asynchronous communication as immediate and exciting as synchronous communication. Gemin-i Plus will provide unprecedented flexibility in its use of discussion tools. Meetings can instantly become asynchronous - should internet connections break down, forums can be split up and topic areas identified for easier viewing when referencing.

• Hot seats Experts will be invited to participate in relevant online discussions, both in synchronous and asynchronous form (e.g. a politician during a ‘Democracy and Voting Project’ or a representative from Warchild during the ‘Child Soldiers Project’).

• Space for sharing files An easily navigable, multi-level file store system will provide a much-needed space for pupils to keep their work and relevant files. Gemin-i Plus will be able to work with/share a number of different file formats, including,: avi, mpeg, mov, jpeg, gif, txt, doc and pdf.

• Low bandwidth requirements Because Gemin-i Plus is not built in HTML, it does not need to reload surplus information constantly. Gemin-i Plus is much more efficient than the previous version of Gemini as it only sends the bare minimum of information to and from the server. The current JellyOS client is only 119k. With the thin client (as opposed to the Offline Client) this needs to be only loaded once at the beginning of each session. After that there is no waiting for large downloads, virtually all features are accessed instantly.

• Multiple-User System The Multiple User System was the cornerstone of the original Gemini system and will continue to play an important role in Gemini Plus. The Multiple User System enables schools with few computers to use Gemini effectively whilst still preserving the individuality of the participants and ensuring they maintain ownership of the materials published online.

• Drag-and-drop intuitive user interface The Gemin-i Plus software, looks and acts like a Windows interface. Icons can be dragged and dropped, multiple windows can be opened, and pages can be manipulated and re-sized at will.

• WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) Complex multi-layered pages can be created online within Gemin-i Plus itself. No complex coding is needed. Simply drag the text boxes, pictures, videos or sounds onto the page. Then alter colours, rotate and re-size, until the desired effect is achieved. Pages can also be printed or saved in PDF format.

• Increased scalability Gemin-i Plus is far more scalable than the original Gemini Software. Servers can now be clustered to handle larger numbers of users and JellyOS installations can be aware of each other which will allow several communities comprising a very large number of users to have access to each other and a vast aggregated amount of information.