Fluid Engage Roadmap

The approach will be to build early usable prototypes that will be implemented in creating exhibits and experiences in the museums and galleries early in the project. This early implementation will assist in gathering useful feedback early so that the team can iterate on and improve the solutions.

The project schedule is designed to build upon simple and then increasingly complex solutions, allowing the team to coalesce before diving into more complex solutions. The activities are intentionally front-loaded, building on existing solutions to enable an aggressive implementation plan for iterative refinement.

The first year or Phase I of the project will be divided into four quarterly phases as follows:

April-June 2009: Exploratory Phase

July-Sept 2009: Maps and mobile

Oct.-Dec. 2009: Implementation

Jan.-March 2010: Templates & API

Team building & site visits

Preliminary service API

Object bookmarking service and components

Pair up designers to work on exhibit templates with mini-grantees

Data and service inventory

Testable mobile app prototype (iPhone)

Refinements to map authoring tool

Solid API for services and components

UX research with museum curators and staff

Map authoring tool & implementation; begin map/audio tie-together

Search service and components

Mobile app prototype running on another platform

Architecture sketches

Design & implementation of early authoring templates

Refinement of data integration services

Museum data integration implementations

Wireframes for map authoring, navigation, and mobile app

Prototype data integration and search services

Coordinate implementation mini-grants

Ongoing community vision & roadmap

Expanded Year 1 Quarterly Deliverables
The following section provides an expanded description of the deliverable schedule presented in Table 1.

Q2 2009

Community
• do team building as early as possible with site visits
• gather basic info (inventory) from museums about their infrastructure and enterprise solutions
• talk to museum professionals (user analysis) to identify pain-points

architecture
• sketches to structure the work of the project as a whole (in particular authoring and services early on): focusing on data import and search

mobile
• planning and early sketches on one platform

maps
• take web-ready map and work it into early web app prototype
• social networking
• conceptual work; tie-in with architecture services sketches
• authoring resources
• begin templates from idea to development in this quarter: planning, scoping, to coding.

UX
• build up to wireframes of map presentation
• do early designs of components coming out of map/web work for pick-up by developers in Q4 2009
• work on mobile designs for one platform
• identify components and roadmap them out for build: focusing on mobile and authoring templates

output:
• sketches of architecture (services, authoring, web solutions); early UX work on maps in particular; UX planning for building out components for authoring and mobile; a sense of what communities we need to integrate solutions for (ContentMS, CollectionMS, DB, etc.); early mobile sketches

Q3 2009

Community
• regular sharing and check-ins of work; plug-n-chug workflow

architecture
• deliver preliminary API and implement with early museum use-case

mobile
• testable prototype with basic functionality

maps
• do implementations of map solution in early museum use-case; tie-together with existing audio solutions for early audio tour integration

social networking
• look for low-hanging fruit for integration into services
• authoring
• early implementation in museum use-case

UX
• continue component work (continue to refine work on map design with feedback and user testing with early adopters)
• focus on mobile and authoring here (second mobile platform early work)

output:
• early implementations; early exhibit authoring templates; early map example; mobile prototype

  • basic map authoring tool
  • component(s) for displaying maps and information
  • native mobile app
  • early tie-in with audio tour
  • some exhibit templates
  • an early exhibit web site

First Six Month Deliverable Sketch: April-Sept 2009

April - June Map creation

  • not factored as a service, just image editing (desktop and mobile)
    April - June Data inventory + preliminary service API
    April - July Tag it with objects
  • couple of map display components
  • map + quickview
    July - Sept. Preliminary data import/search indexing
    July - Sept. Render it on web and mobile
  • iPhone
    July - Sept. Integrate museum audio materials with map/mobile
    July - Sept. Decide on implementation mini grants; adjust priorities accordingly; build out from early implementations
    June/July Bring team together for a working meeting in Toronto

Q4 2009

Community
• continue to work closely with museum partners and ensure project is engaging with the broader open source community and the cultural institution community; preparation for coordinating and executing mini grants

architecture
• services: search and social networking + tie-in with CMSs

mobile
• continue to refine the prototype, integrating it with social networking work; work on second platform

maps
• continue to work with museums to build additional functionality into map (tie-in with services + early interaction (bookmarking))

social networking
• focus on low hanging fruit for integration into map and mobile in particular

authoring
• focus on building out authoring templates that capture an abstracted solution rather than a cookie-cutter and work in the component work from the early design work on map/web

UX
• continue to work toward design solutions that compliment the deliverables (i.e. mobile, map, authoring templates)

output:
• couple of social software hooks, more design on authoring tools and templates; more mobile work (second platform); more component work (tie-in with early work)
• begin to tie-it-all-together (services > authoring > map > mobile + web)

Q1 2010

Community
• manage mini grants and work coming out from that – manage expanding and contracting of team as the mini grant work continues

architecture
• solid API

mobile
• roll-out mobile solution to museum partner

maps
• tie together with social networking

social networking
• tied in with services to be used for maps and authoring

authoring
• tie-in with services plus multiple implementations with museum partners

UX
• pair up UI and UX designers to build out multiple templates in consultation with museum partners/mini-grant awardees

output:
• multiple authoring template implementation examples, mini-grant implementation work, further tie-together of social networking with services (search and index) plus build-out to platforms (web, mobile ((authoring)).

Second half deliverables: Oct 2009-April 2010

Oct-Dec Ability to "bookmark" items from map into a "save for later"

  • service + component
    Oct-Dec Search service + components
    Oct-April Mini grants: implementation; real exhibits powered by Engage
  • templates as a deliverable from mini grants
  • pair the UX and UI resources of the community up to create generalized exhibit templates
    Jan-April Templates (see above)