[sussex.ac.uk #6041] Calendar server: support for metadata? (Context: time allocation surveys etc.)
Dear list I'm not a developer, but I have a suggestion/question (probably very basic) re Darwin Calendar Server/Apple iCal Server: * is there scope for events to be tagged with metadata, such as 'category'? Background ---------- Most recently, in the context of <http://www.hefce.ac.uk/research/funding/dual/trac.htm>
One of the major activities involved is the annual time returns (In Year Time Allocation Schedule & Time Allocation Survey) for academic staff
and
You will be required to complete a time survey for 6 separate weeks of the year, once every three years.
It might not sound much, but it can be tedious! My workers may be working on multiple projects, each of which may require time sheets of a different nature, and this particular survey is just one more to add to the list. </end sob story> Notion ------ If calendar events can be categorised (in our HEFCE-related example, only three are required: 'Teaching', 'Research' and 'Other'), then applications could be designed to gather the required survey data. (Maybe such applications already exist?) Such applications are beyond the scope of this list, but you see why I'm writing/asking: * if the GUI of the calendar server/client is simple enough, then adding metadata (such as category) to events, at time of entry, becomes less of a chore. Fewer systems/procedures/surveys to worry about. Everyone's happier. The calendar server becomes everyone's friend :-) Incidentally, whilst I'm no fan of project management software, I am impressed by the simplicity of Basecamp <http://www.basecamphq.com/> and its interactions with iCal. See <http://www.basecamphq.com/tour-milestones.php> and my example at <http://omnium.freeman-centre.ac.uk/~gjp22/rt/7277/71419.png>. It's this type of simplicity + extensibility that I'd like to see in the forthcoming calendar server... Many thanks for your consideration. Regards Graham Perrin, Projects Media Development Officer CENTRIM - <http://www.brighton.ac.uk/centrim/> <sip:17476059854@proxy01.sipphone.com> +44-1273-877922 <http://schooltool.freeman-centre.ac.uk/persons/gjp22/calendar/ yearly.html>
Hi Graham, --On November 22, 2006 8:20:25 PM +0000 Graham Perrin <G.J.Perrin@bton.ac.uk> wrote:
I'm not a developer, but I have a suggestion/question (probably very basic) re Darwin Calendar Server/Apple iCal Server:
* is there scope for events to be tagged with metadata, such as 'category'?
The iCalendar data format includes a property called 'CATEGORIES' which can be used for that purpose. I'm not sure what clients currently support editing of that field - that is something you will have to ask your client vendor. However, the CalDAV protocol does support a server-side query capability that could easily be used to return all events in a calendar that contained specific text in the CATEGORIES property.
Incidentally, whilst I'm no fan of project management software, I am impressed by the simplicity of Basecamp <http://www.basecamphq.com/> and its interactions with iCal. See <http://www.basecamphq.com/tour-milestones.php> and my example at <http://omnium.freeman-centre.ac.uk/~gjp22/rt/7277/71419.png>. It's this type of simplicity + extensibility that I'd like to see in the forthcoming calendar server...
I do know of at least one 3rd party project management product that plans on incorporating direct access to a CalDAV server to publish tasks to user calendars. It would also allow users to edit those tasks via their calendar client (e.g. mark them as completed, extend them etc) and that would feed back into the project management data. I think there is a lot of scope for building similar applications on top of a calendar server. -- Cyrus Daboo
Thanks to Cyrus for his response, that's good news :-) I originally wrote:
If calendar events can be categorised (in our HEFCE-related example, only three are required: 'Teaching', 'Research' and 'Other')
The other obvious answer to my own question would be: three calendars (one for each category). Realistically, however, some users won't (or can't) get beyond a single-calendar way of working. That said, they probably *will* happily categorise events within a single calendar. In the real world, for one such user I'm currently figuring out how to have his new Windows Mobile 5 device (not my choice) synced primarily with an online service such as ZYB, secondarily with his Microsoft Entourage (again, not my choice). This is potentially tricky enough with a single calendar,* with multiple calendars the equation/limitations would probably be even more complex! I will definitely steer users towards Darwin Calendar server etc. in due course -- as a group, we're already using multiple calendars, my SchoolTool URL below as an example -- but I'm throwing the Windows Mobile 5 example into the melting pot to highlight the occasional single-calendar limitation. So, I guess that my plea is for developers (not necessarily on this list) to make best use of the iCalendar 'CATEGORIES' property. Feel free to forward my comments to any developers who are working in this area.
then applications could be designed to gather the required survey data. (Maybe such applications already exist?)
... more specifically, an application to gather and effectively *sum* the data, i.e. produce a time sheet (or whatever) totalling 37 hours (a typical working week) from calendar entries spanning multiple calendars, multiple categories. I can at least dream... Keep up the great work :-) Now: I'll quietly make my way back to the users list, figure out how to have Darwin Calendar Server kept running (I'm experimenting with Lingon), and leave y'all on the developer list alone... Graham Perrin, Projects Media Development Officer CENTRIM - <http://www.brighton.ac.uk/centrim/> <sip:17476059854@proxy01.sipphone.com> +44-1273-877922 <http://schooltool.freeman-centre.ac.uk/persons/gjp22/calendar/ yearly.html> * <http://fuzzy.wordpress.com/2006/11/20/wm5-syncml/>
participants (2)
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Cyrus Daboo
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Graham Perrin