VIF Free and open source application that tries to create a next generation discussion forum
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create administer creation create forum forum creator administer forum

VIF Description

Free and open source application that tries to create a next generation discussion forum The VIF discussion model focuses on structured discussions. Structure in this context means that all contributions relate to questions. Questions in the VIF discussion model are contributions that consists of two parts: the proper question itself (no rhetorical questions allowed) and the substantiation which tells the participants why the questions is important for discussion, why the answer to this question will bring the discussion to a solution.The VIF application is divided into two parts: the proper forum part where the discussions take place and the forum administration part. In the forum administration part, the discussion group can be set up.The designed discussion group administration create at least one starting question (including the substantiation).As soon as the group administration is content with the initial state, she can open the discussion group. Here are some key features of "VIF": Structured discussion: · Participants are expected to contribute either completions to a question (i.e. information that can answer the question) or follow up questions (i.e. questions that break up the complexity of a field into manageable parts). Thus, the discussion within a discussion group evolves into a tree of follow up question. The forum design assists the participant to contribute the expected way. 'Democratic' review of contributions: · Group administrators can enable automatic contribution reviewing. If this feature is enabled, the application choses a reviewer from the participants in the discussion group each time a contribution is made. With reviewing enabled, no contribution is published immediately. Instead, a publication workflow is started. However, reviewing is not moderated by the group administration, on the contrary, responsibility (for the correctness of the contributions and, thus, the quality of the discussion) is spread equally over the participants of the discussion group. Modifiable openness: · Participation in a discussion is possible only for participants, i.e. authenticated forum members. However, the administration of a discussion group can provide read access for the public (i.e. guests) up to a specified level within the tree structure of the discussion group. Private discussion groups: · Discussion groups can made private, meaning that only invited members can participate. Thus, private discussion groups are excellent means for strategic discussions within an organisation. Software architecture: · Clean component architecture: The VIF application builds on Equinox as OSGi implementation. The whole application is assembled of different bundles. Thus, the VIF application is easily extensible and adaptable: Bundles and the functionality provided therein can be added or replaced. The application provides various extension points which developers can implement and thus provide their own skins or tasks. Usability: · Easy to use: The VIF application is very responsive and easy to install. · Bookmarks: Every discussion node can be bookmarked. Thus, regular users can easily come back to their hot spots in a discussion thread and work on their contributions over multiple sessions. · Subscription: Users can subscribe to every discussion node. Thus, users are informed in a concise way how the discussion at a distinct part of the discussion thread evolves but are not diverted by other threads in the same discussion group. What's New in This Release: · This release fixes a bug that prevented questions from being displayed. · This problem showed up only in the embedded version.

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