Activity System Design Tools
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This page explains how to get started with using the Activity System Design Tools software. The purpose is to show what can be done in the user interfaces and how things work from the end user's perspective.
Contents |
[edit] Opening ASDT within KPE
To start using ASDT, you need to open up KPE (Knowledge Practices Environment) with the ASDT plugin. You can do this by either:
- Following this direct link: KPE with ASDT plugin
- Selecting "Load ASDT plugin" from the "tools" menu in KPE (if you already have KPE open in a browser window)
[edit] Using ASDT within KPE
Please refer to the KP-Environment_Tools page in this wiki for information on how to work with the KP-Environment tools in general. This section focuses on ASDT-specific features in the KPE that are available when the ASDT plugin is loaded.
[edit] The Spaces Network View
When you have the ASDT plugin loaded in KPE, you'll be able to see the ASDT-specific Shared Spaces (CL Spaces) in the spaces network view (which is the initial view you'll see when you open KPE:)
You can create new CL Spaces by right-clicking on an empty part of the background plane in the user interface and selecting the "Add CL Space" menu item. Existing CL spaces may be modified or deleted by right-clicking on them in this view and selecting the corresponding menu items.
In order to go inside ("open") a CL Space, right-click on it and select "Go to CL Space" from the menu. This opens up the content view inside the selected space.
[edit] The Content View of a CL Space
ASDT objects (along with any of the "regular" KPE objects) can be viewed, moved, created, modified and deleted in the Content View. In order to create ASDT objects, right-click on an empty part of the background of the content view and select "Add <object>" from the menu (where <object> is the kind of object you'd like to create.)
To modify or delete objects, right-click on them and select the corresponding menu item.
There are also some actions specific to ASDT objects that you may take via the context menu that opens up when right-clicking on an object:
- Edit Cycle of Expansive Learning: opens up a small window that you can use to assign the selected object to one or more phases in the Cycle of Expansive Learning. These phase assignments can also be seen in the CEL view of the ASDT analysis application.
- Open in Analysis Application Timeline: opens the Timeline view of the ASDT analysis application to display the events that pertain to the selected object.
- (only for Themes): Assign to Session and Unassign from Session: allow you to assign a theme to a session, or unassign it from it. When the "assign" menu item is selected, the application will go into a "linking mode" where you'll be able to drag a link from a theme to a session (by clicking on the theme node, keeping the mouse button pressed, dragging the mouse over the session node and releasing the mouse button.)
- (only for Sessions): Open in Virtual Whiteboard: opens the selected session into the Virtual Whiteboard application (which will open into a new browser window.)
[edit] Using the Virtual Whiteboard
[edit] General User Interface Considerations
The Virtual Whiteboard user interface is designed so that unless you're explicitly asked to confirm or commit to an action, everything you do (that changes some of the data in the system) gets saved onto the server (i.e. into the KP-Lab system -- in the "cloud") automatically. This is done in order to make the experience of working with it more fluent and unobtrusive.
[edit] The Three Areas
The Virtual Whiteboard application displays the contents of one session. The user interface is separated horizontally into three distinct sections: Models & Vision, Ideas & Tools and Mirror Material. These areas can contain theme windows within them and each of them has a different background color. Their sizes may be changed by dragging the dividers between them, or by double-clicking on their headers (where it says "Models & Vision" etc.) or by clicking on the buttons in the top right corner of the user interface.
Each of these three areas is a Zoomable User Interface, so you can zoom them by either scrolling the mouse wheel or by using the "zoom slider" at the top of each area. Panning these areas can be done by dragging the background of the area's view or by pressing and holding ctrl (or cmd on a Mac) and dragging any part of the area (even a theme window.) The fit on screen button in the controls section at the top of each area automatically sets the zoom and pan status of the area so that all of its contents would be visible.
[edit] Themes and their Windows
For each theme that has has been assigned to this session, three windows will be shown inside each of these three areas, representing the three historical states of the theme: past, present and future. These windows may be:
- Moved by dragging their title rows with the mouse
- Resized by dragging their borders with the mouse
- Minimized by clicking on the "minimize" button in their top right corner
- Closed (hidden) by clicking on the "x" button in their top right corner (closed/hidden windows may be reopened through the controls in the "Controls" section on the right-hand side of the application -- see below)
- Arranged (automatically moved into an arrangement) by right-clicking on their title rows and selecting one of the menu items: "arrange horizontally", "arrange vertically", or "arrange in group".
If you have a session open in the Virtual Whiteboard with no themes assigned to it, you can assign a theme to this session in the KPE or create a new theme from within Virtual Whiteboard. To create a new theme, either right-click on the background of any of the three areas and select "Create new theme" or click on the "Create new theme" button in the "Controls" section in the right-hand tabbed area.
[edit] The Tabs on the Right
In the right-hand part of the user interface there is a section with several tabs: Item Archive, Activity, Users, Info and Controls. This tabbed section may be opened by clicking on any of the tabs, closed by clicking on the currently active tab and resized by dragging any of the tabs with the mouse from left to right.
- The Item Archive section displays a list of all the objects (content items) in the CL Space that the currently open session belongs to. These objects may be dragged and dropped from the item archive to any of the theme windows. This action will "assign" an object as belonging to one of the three areas (Models & Vision, Ideas & Tools or Mirror Material), a specific theme, and one of the three historical states of that theme (past, present or future). Items that have a yellow background are already assigned to one of the themes in the current session. You can right-click on them and select Show in areas to find out where they are assigned to.
- The Activity section displays what the application is doing in the background (saving data onto the server, usually.)
- The Users section displays a list of all the users that are currently online in the same session in Virtual Whiteboard
- The Info section displays some basic info about the Virtual Whiteboard application
- The Controls section contains controls for manipulating the visibilities of theme windows in the current session: you can hide or show any of the windows by manipulating the checkboxes here.
[edit] Content Items
You can create new content items by right-clicking on an empty area inside one of the theme windows and select the appropriate menu item. This action will create the new item and assign it to the theme window you clicked on. In order to create a new item without assigning it to a theme window, click on the plus ("+") button in the Item Archive (in the right-hand tabbed section.)
To modify or delete content items, right-click on them (either in the Item Archive or within theme windows) and select the corresponding menu item. To unassign a content item from a theme window, right-click on it and select "Remove from this window".
Content item representations within theme windows can be moved simply by dragging them with your mouse. Note that you can drag a content item out of the bounds of its containing theme window; when this happens, scrollbars will appear in the window that allow you to scroll its contents if you don't want to resize the window.
The user interface representations of ASDT triangle models and four-field models inside theme windows in the Virtual Whiteboard have some specific features of their own:
Each of the "corner points" in the triangle model (representing the different triangle model items) has a text label attached to it. In order to edit the text for these items, click on any of the labels and start typing.
To add a conflict between two triangle model items, first click on the "new conflict" button in order to enter the conflict mode (the fact that you're in this mode is indicated by the small icon that follows your mouse cursor -- you can exit the mode at any time by just clicking once somewhere other than on a triangle model item). When in the conflict mode, create a conflict by clicking on a triangle model item (when you move your mouse on top of an item, a blue circle will show up on top of it to indicate that it's ok to click there if you wish to create a conflict), moving your mouse to another triangle model item, and clicking again. You can create conflicts between items that are in the same triangle, or between items that are in two different triangles, provided that these two different triangles are in the same theme window. To delete a conflict, right-click on it and select "delete".
The four-field models have four "border labels" on each side. You can edit the labels of these border labels by double-clicking on them (even if the label doesn't exist -- just click on the empty area where the label should be and you'll be able to type in the text you want to put there.) The grey rectangular area (or plane) in the middle is where you can add four-field model entries: just double-click on this plane, or right-click on it and select "add an entry". Each entry has a textual label that you are prompted to enter when you first create it. To edit an entry's label, either double-click on it, or right-click and select "change text". An entry's location within the four-field model is important, and you can move the entries around by dragging them with your mouse from the location indicator (the "x").
| Video example of manipulating a triangle model | Video example of manipulating a four-field model |
|---|---|
(Sorry, these videos are a bit small -- we'll make ones with a proper size later) :)
[edit] Using the ASDT Analysis Tool
The ASDT Analysis Tool user interface has two separate sections: the Cycle of Expansive Learning (CEL) view and the Timeline view. To switch between these two views, use the buttons in the top right corner of the application.
Note that simply switching to the timeline view is not enough if you wish to see the timeline of a specific object; to do this, you can do one of the following:
- Right-click on an ASDT object in KPE and select "open in analysis application timeline"
- Right-click on an ASDT object in Virtual Whiteboard and select "open in analysis application timeline"
- Right-click on an ASDT object in the CEL view of the analysis tool and select "show this object's timeline"
[edit] The CEL View
[edit] The Timeline View
