IVANHOE: THE SPECIFICATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
In order to facilitate the documentation of our evolving ideas about the development of a web-based infrastructure for the Ivanhoe Game with a view towards creating comprehensive specifications, it is a good idea to articulate a process for collaboration.
As a first stab, I suggest we use the "Crit" annotation proxy. This will allow staff to make comments on a series of web pages generated by myself and others. We can then integrate "Crit" comments into a newer version of the document, which everyone can further comment on. Through this process, the document will become more refined and more specific.
Initially we can refer to the generated documents as "Notes", but as they develop we will hopefully become more comfortable with the term "specification". It is important to have a specification that fully describes the desired system, in terms of the technical infrastructure, the information architecture (navigation, interface, user experience), the phases of development, and the roles of individual staff members. So it is vital that everyone contribute greatly to the process of annotation and refinement. By establishing reasonable goals, apprising all involved parties of those goals, and outlining a clear path to completion, a solid specification document goes a long way towards insuring a smooth production effort.
The "Crit" annotation server is located at:
http://jules.itc.virginia.edu:8000
One can begin using "Crit" either by following the link above and entering an address in the window
provided at the top left corner of the page, or by constructing a "Crit"-ized url thusly:
(http://jules.itc.virginia.edu:8000/) + (fully qualified url of page to be annotated) = crit url
example: http://jules.itc.virginia.edu:8000/http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/