User:Alan.rea
Alan Rea is a Professor of Computer Information Systems in the [Department of Business Information Systems] at the [Haworth College of Business], [Western Michigan University].
Dr. Rea regularly teaches courses in Application, Internet, and Mobile programming, as well as Information Security.
His research focuses on secure mobile application development. In particular, Dr. Rea explores the security and privacy implications intertwined in developing, deploying, and managing the Internet of Things.
Contents |
Response to IRC Activity
What is the pattern of communication?
There are three distinct phases to the meeting: introduction and pleasantries, work on particular challenges, organizing for next assignments. The bulk of the meeting are discussing and attempting to solve multiple challenges (VM issues, camera tracking, graphics challenges on documentation and the like, etc.).
The challenges all center around the FOSS MouseTrap application in varying degrees and center around functionality issues not only with the application but also the VM/Linux system. Collaborative brainstorming leads to some discussi of dependency issues that might be solved via various approaches.
Of special note are items such as the challenges of FOSS systems between various flavors and distributions (e.g., Fedora versys Ubuntu). There are also issues of potential missing support contacts (flapper87) and dead code forks.
Are there any terms that seem to have special meaning?
There are many terms relating to software offerings and dependencies, modules, and code commits. Many times these tend to scare potential users away. Instead of just noting to "update software" in FOSS we need to discuss repositories, potential kernel conflicts, open versus proprietary drivers, etc.
Can you make any other observations?
This is an extremely rich and productive meeting that takes place in a span of an hour. One can tell these individuals work with one another on a regular basis and are familiar with each others strengths.
PartB: Project Evaluation Activity
OpenMRS Evaluation Rubric
File:Rea OpenMRS Evaluation.ods
Mission: 17
Secondary: 25
PartB: FOSS in Courses Planning 1
Potential HFOSS Contribution
In terms of HFOSS Projects, what mosts interests me is anything dealing with Android development. I am currently teaching a beginning and advanced course, as well as taking part in a pilot project to award certificates and digital badges to students who complete the two course Android development concentration. Moreover, our department has a minor in mobile development that I co-ordinate.
Looking over the existing projects, it looks as if Ushahidi has a need for mobile developers (http://foss2serve.org/index.php/Ushahidi_Android_Application) as well as those interested in data management (http://www.ushahidi.com/). Our department has a concentration in data analytics (http://www.wmich.edu/infosystems/academics) so I should be able to get other students (and perhaps professors) interested as well.
Potential Courses
The two most applicable courses to the above HFOSS discussion would be Business Mobile Programming (CIS2610) and Mobile Commerce (CIS4700). These basically translate to beginning (2610) and advanced (4700) Android development. CIS2610 is offered every semester and has a mix of beginning and intermediate programming students. CIS4700 is offered once a year in the Spring and is comprised of advanced programmers.
CIS2610
- Join a mailing list
- Look over the bug tracking
- Work with the community
- Join the Twitter Feed (https://twitter.com/ushahidi)
- Join the Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/ushahidi)
Because these are beginning programming students we will not work with code except for those who might be more advanced.
CIS4700
- All of the above (students will have done so in CIS2610)
- Join GitHub (https://github.com/ushahidi)
- Improve the wiki (https://wiki.ushahidi.com/display/WIKI/Build+The+Android+App)
- Write an app using the source code and APIs that targets a specific need
Other Courses
I also teach a Web development course in which we primarily use Bluefish and GIMP to learn Web development and work on a semester-long team project building interactive sites for non-profits and small businesses. This may be another option.
