Forum

The forum is installed and working so Nate and Richard can register and then I will make you administrators.  If we want we can use it to discuss the website development further.

Strategy for Zhanar and Energy Fellowship

Hey,

I am suggesting to Zhanar that she take a template from the PHP Bulletin Board site and start from scratch to create the Forum on the Energy Fellowship website. She may get started and after some familiarity then consult with Alec on debugging it.

We have the ability to create sub-domains, so the forum should perhaps reside in
http://forum.energyfellowship.org
which will give it a separate file system area.

One strategy is to have a separate database for the Forum, its users and content. The users of the site's main content section would be a more limited number, but it would be good to have the Forum be open as I think we were intending.

Hopefully Alec will also get some great inspiration from the Bioneers Conference - and maybe think about a target date to meet with a larger group to get excitement about content. articles, and links.

Post your thoughts, please.

Richard.

Alec has the Energy Fellowship Database working!

News
Database Working - October 18, 2007, 9:01 amThe database is working fully now. The projects menu just displays the five most recent projects entered into the projects table that I made.
Test - October 15, 2007, 8:59 amTest of the database.

http://www.energyfellowship.org

styles

hi
what do you think about these styles for the forum:
http://www.stsoftware.biz/phpbb3/index.php?style=etech_green


http://demo.phpbb3styles.net/styles.php?style_id=82&lang=en


http://demo.phpbb3styles.net/styles.php?style_id=148


http://demo.phpbb3styles.net/styles.php?style_id=197

Energy Fellowship Site

We own it and it is starting to run:
http://www.energyfellowship.org

Hopefully you checked your emails to note that HOSTEK has made PHP5 available for the site. Evidently they have PHP4 by default and add the better PHP5 when asked.

There is some info on the HOSTEK FAQ page regarding PHP as well as MYSQL database setup:
http://hostek.com/faq/kb

The MYSQL editor that Alec was using looks pretty darn good as well.

Also, here is a site on the PHP5 language for some background:
info: http://www.php.net/
tutorial: http://www.php.net/tut.php
manual: http://www.php.net/manual/en/index.php [an easy read - ouch!!]

If you find any texts on it that you wish the school to purchase, please let me know.

Richard.

what do you think about this?

http://www.reinspire.net/blog/2006/03/25/ie_transparent_pngs/

Showing png files in IE6

Here is the workaround that I found on the net...
Norway is a nice country, so I'm sure this is legitimate.

http://bjorkoy.com/past/2007/4/8/the_easiest_way_to_png/

which references the author of the workaround.

http://www.twinhelix.com/css/iepngfix/

This is all pretty exciting if it works.

Forum

The test forum is at http://www.gscdirectory.org/phpBB3/ and you can login with:

User: [removed -rjd]
Password: [removed-rjd]

Test is an administrative account so if you click on the ACP link at the bottom of the page, you can go to the Administration page and see how we can configure the forum.

about the topic itself

Nate, Alec and Richard,

I've found some stuff about alternative energy systems as I think it is the main idea of the energy fellowship. Here are some links to websites on this topic:

http://www.aesc-inc.com/
http://www.suntrekenergy.com/
http://www.climatesolutions.org/

We can really put a lot of stuff on our website if we do some research work. I guess it's not going to be easy, but it's a really worth thing to do.

Zhanar

Thoughts on setting up a site

Zhanar, Alec, Nate,

 

Some notes from today.

We reviewed Zhanar's very thoughtful questions regarding an Energy Fellowship [ EF ] site.
One outstanding idea is to have a Farmer's Market be a subset of the EF site and may validate the work.

Two students who were in the room participate in local Farmers Markets to sell their goods. One has an online profile.   
We discussed some computer language issues and did a very rough map of ideas.

 

Some ideas [not in order of importance] are:

 

Using Maps - Google. Maps specifically for some of the functions; directions, locations of farms and Farmer's Market [ FM ]sites; EF individuals that sign in; locations of energy product items, etc.

 

A PhP forum is worth setting up regardless, and Alec has the know-how to do this. Hopefully he will teach us this. He advocates PHP and HTML for website language.

 

Rating system and comment system on Farmers' sites

 

Sales of items may be a real draw. Google Checkout accounts is a clean interface that would work for $ sales.

 

We need to get more information from the EF to understand the use and vision of a site.  Richard will go Wednesday to the lunch meeting and others are welcome if they have the time to go, too, to hear ideas and get a sense of it.

 

Having one site that is more interactive may help unite goals of the different groups at school that are trying to promote awareness of Climate Change, energy efficiency, and other matters that relate to the social aspects of saving energy.

 

Here is some background on information about Farmers Markets presence on the web.

 

A further search for domain names showed the following:

The domain farmersmarketne.org is available.   thinking ne is for New England

The domain farmersmarketnh.org is available.    nh for New Hampshire

The domain marketnh.org is available

The domain farmersnh.org is available

The domain farmersne.org is available.

farmersharvest.org is available

 

Sites and information that is relevant:

http://lanetavern.org/sfm.htm   Local Sanbornton Farmers Market

http://www.ams.usda.gov/farmersmarkets/States/State06.pdf/New%20Hampshire.pdf  US Dept. of Agriculture list of NH Farmers Markets

State of NH Farmers Market Representative
Gail McWilliam
New Hampshire Department of Agriculture
P.O. Box 2042
Concord, NH 03302
(603) 271-3788

Here are some sites that have web presence in NH on their markets:
www.mainstreet.wilton.nh.us
http://www.wilmotfarmers.com
http://www.wakefieldmarketplace.homestead.com
http://www.sanbornton.org/ORGS/sfm
http://www.seacoastgrowers.org
http://www.organic-growers.com
http://www.littletonmainstreet.org
http://www.northernnhfarmersmarket.com
http://www.seacoastgrowers.org
http://www.hennikerfarmersmarket.us
http://www.seacoastgrowers.org
http://www.geocities.com/claremontmarket

http://www.nhfairs.com/   Listing of State Fairs and State Fair websites

Richard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FW: Energy Fellowship website

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Danahy [mailto:richard@santbani.org]
Sent: Friday, September 14, 2007 11:05 AM
To: *Richard Danahy; Alec Peters; Nate Houran; Zhanar Seitmagzimova
Subject: Energy Fellowship website

Zhanar, Nate, Alec,

 

Here is an idea which is emerging that I think will be appreciated and we can hopefully all get behind.

The three programmers of this course will work as a team to create the Website for EnergyFellowship.org

 

I have reserved the domain name, and now have to activate the site for our use. The cost for a year is $59.70 for non-profits, and the school can cover that cost - both from tech dept. funds as a resource for the class. 

 

Start to visualize what would be possible for this site. I see the front and back end support for the following: 

 

A graphical presentation that matches the goals of the Energy Fellowship

A moderated online forum for members to contribute and discuss ideas by topic.

Links and material relating to the Energy Fellowship

 

The database of information behind the structure of the website.

We should strive to use the JAVA language that we are studying for some of the presentation material, as well as use PHP and Flash for some of the content.

 

If successful, the ongoing project and code should be well documented so the 'torch' may be passed to other students and/or members to monitor and use.

 

Please review the three different possible backend systems to see which will be best to sign up for. It can be switched later, but often problematic to do so. In other words, if we start off with a LINUX environment, there would be many code changes to support the material in Windows.

 

Here is the link to the company we are using and info about the Silver Plan for $59.70 that we would use. This link lists the languages that are supported and some other bandwidth info. I THINK they will let us use a LINUX site for the same price, but not 100% if that has changed.

 

http://npwebhosting.com/non-profit-web-hosting.asp

http://hostek.com/web-hosting-plans-linux.asp

 

Here is a current link to the Energy Fellowship page... it presents some things but nowhere near the possibilities....

http://www.santbani.k12.nh.us/biodiesel/index.htm

 

 

Richard.

RE: Energy Fellowship website

-----Original Message-----
From: Zhanar Seitmagzimova [mailto:zhanars@santbani.org]
Sent: Saturday, September 15, 2007 8:45 PM
To: richard@santbani.org
Subject: re: Energy Fellowship website

Hi Richard!

I like the idea of creating a site for Energy Fellowship as well as the site for farmers to distribute their goods. But my question is "what's the purpose of the project?" I mean like real purpose? something global? or just a website for energy fellowship's fun? Is there any kind of thing that could keep the project actual? There're many websites that just contain information about something and it's useful only in terms of information, but nothing else. I'd like our website to be something more than a source of information about Energy Fellowship and forum for people interested in it. Could it be something that would really keep people visiting the website? Just like the idea about farmers? The farmers need to distribute their products and people need to buy them - that's a good idea. But talking about Energy Fellowship - I wonder if there is something like that in that idea?

Maybe I didn't get everything, because I'm not really familiar with Energy Fellowship and stuff like that. I think we could discuss it more thoroughly in our class on monday. I'd like to figure out some details if it's possible.

What about the platforms it's a pretty tough question. I looked through some statistics and look what I've found on the linux website:

(Percent of projects)



However this graph is pretty different on the microsoft website... :)
Do you think it's possible to figure it out in such a way that it could do with both environments?

And the last question. What do you think we could start from? I think we should make some kind of plan of the project. And by the way how much time is it supposed to take? What time limits do we have? Like one semester?

And one more question. (sorry that wasn't the last one :)) How is our website supposed to differ from the www.wiserearth.org or other websites like this. Isn't our project supposed to be new?

We could discuss all these things together on monday and maybe Nate and Alec will have some fresh ideas...

Thanks,
Zhanar



***************************
Zhanar Seitmagzimova, Class of 2008
Sant Bani School
Sanbornton, NH 03269

Fall 2007 Computer Class

This class contains Alec, Zhanar, and Nate as the three students. All three are welcome to contribute to the content of this Blog with ideas, photos and screenshots, and to comment on the class and specific work.

~ off we go.. Richard.

Gear Up for the End of the Year Presentations

FINAL PRESENTATION:

They will happen on Wednesday June 15, 2005 from 9-11 AM during that final test block, and therefore may be the last academic item for you this year.

You will be passing in organized electronic folders of all your work as well, as well as any prepared parts of your presentation.

Showtime is 15 minutes/per person Ethan and Max will combine the time for 30 minutes for the two. There is no way you can show all your work, so talk fast, be prepared, and don’t wait for us – jam the knowledge out there.

Jon Powell and Robert will be joining us as faculty evaluators - and their written/verbal opinions will count on your behalf.

I would like to announce that other interested students would be welcome to listen, if you are all right with that.

In general, plan on being precise and prepared, with only a few minutes for questions each.

Order will be by random draw, but you will know in advance by the Friday June 10 at class

GUIDELINES:
PREPARED sequence of material that you are showing us, hand out an outline, or refer to a simple Powerpoint of what you are presenting.
SUMMARIZE for us, your goals for the semester, and your strategy for meeting the goals you did. [did you use textbook lessons, online material, guess and test only, did you change your methods or adjust your goals…. ,etc?? ]
WALK US THROUGH an overview of the software program(s) that you used, describing the functions and potential of the programs, and then limitations of those programs, installation or computer issues, and talk about the correlation with the text(s) that you chose.
SHOW US YOUR WORK and what you accomplished. There is no way you can show us all the particulars, so give an overview, and then choose ONE or TWO examples of what you learned – walk us through a lesson that you have prepared and practiced to show us.


IN GENERAL:
Be ready, we don’t want to see you fumbling with the software or menus. Be practiced and professional with what you are showing. Stick to the topics. Some of the short presentations were good during this semester, but the better ones were the presentations with very little fumbling with the menus and software.

New Quarter

A new quarter, the final quarter of high school for some of you, has started. Please take careful stock of your personal intentions. The purpose of the course was and is to give you time to work on the project of your choice. You will reap the benefits of the work and concentration you sow.

You may spend time comparing yourself to others in the class, but the bottom line is a personal evaluation of how you are growing as a student, and reaching goals in the world of computers. The course, as your whole school career, is either passing time, or a deep and satisfying experience. Always your choice, and always a new choice each day.

Review your original proposals and see where you stand to determine if you want to change the direction of your focus. I will assume you are all staying with your outline of work unless I hear otherwise very soon.

~GeekTeach

End of the Quarter Approaching

The end of the quarter is approaching, and a few of you, I'm sorry to note, have been slack on the outside of class time (minumum 2 hours/week). Those students should expect a consequence on the quarter grade for that choice.

This week you will need to review your class week by week plan, and see how you have done. The plans were realistic, so if you are not making the schedule, consider how you can move faster through the material - more efficient time; add resources; more outside time, etc.

A coming Wednesday will be the best day for us to have a presentation of your quarter's work - but we are starting the season of fragmented class time. There may have to be presentations without the full class present.

~Richard aka GeekTeach

Keeping it Academic

Gentlemen,

Now that we are back in full class schedule, please keep plugging and keep the work academic. Remember the two extra hours per week outside of class are necessary and your commitment, and you need to document them or, as far as I know, they didn't happen. Somehow identify those hours in your BLOG as outside of class hours. As with any other class, if you are sick or out, make up the work, by making up the time. It's time to get obsessed with learning your topic.

Wednesday, I am on a field trip so Todd will be sitting in with the class. He has Photoshop experience, so that may be useful for even more than Eli. We will meet during all six class periods together this week, and you may log 45 minutes of that as extra time, but after missing two snow days last week, there should be a strong individual push by each of us.

Friday, some students will be ready for progress presentations - others may wish to delay until early next week - all need to present. These should be informative, with some demonstration, and question/answer time, but it's certainly not necessary to over prepare - we just want to know what you are learning. Later, before the end of the quarter, you will be doing a more complete presentation for outside faculty and students - and outside faculty assessments of these will be part of your grade.

~Richard aka GTeach.

Two Week Break

To All the Class,

Have a good two week break. If you do work on your project during that time, be sure to Blog your hours (include day and amount of real time spent). For instance, checking out books at Borders is great research time. (but no, the travel time to get there isn't, Josh.)

I assume you will return motivated to continue. The stretch after Projects Period is often the longest continuous class time we will have, so plan to make a lot of progress during those weeks. By then Photoshop CS, Studio MX, and all the books will be in.

As books arrive, I will send you an email, and leave them at the front desk, if any of you would like to make the trip in to school to pick them up.

I am thinking the next presentation should have an audience - I will invite any students and staff who are free sixth period, in particular Ann S., because of Eli's art connection, and see if Craig can get free as well - and this should happen about two weeks after we get back.

Thanks,
Richard.

HTML and other language tutorials

All the class,

Here is a link to one of the best online HTML (and other languages) tutorial sites.
There are examples, snippets of code to swipe, and windows in which you may write code and immediately see the results and changes.
Put a link to it on your computers, and those learning HTML should go through the lessons.

The references are clear and clean. I may show it on the overhead in class.

http://www.w3schools.com/default.asp

for Carl, the ADO and SQL are going to apply

Richard

Start the Independent Computer Course Off Right...

This is a method that may satisfy both our interests..
I need you to document:

• what you are learning every school period
• what you are learning every homework time
• your sources - exact internet links, exact titles and authors of books
• what software and hardware resources you are using
• pose questions that I may be able to answer, or others may be able to answer
• what you are planning next

Your blog will contain daily timed entries of your work. I can review it and make specific comments, and suggestions that you will follow. You may point me towards computers with folders of your ongoing work as needed.

Students in the class will have a chance to view the blogs and documents, and make appropriate academic suggestions for you as well, and I expect that you will be contributing to each others' success this way.

Although it is a blog - I want real words, sentence structures, and words capitalized appropriately.

Richard alias 'GeekTeach'

geekteach@santbani.k12.nh.us will get to me by email.