Synchronous Scriblink

Heading into this new endeavor for the Billboard Mockup has become to a slight stagnant halt due to the lack of cohesion and communication. In past projects such as WattDepot-Apps and the BioHeatMap, the group size has never exceeded 3 people, including myself. But it seems that four people working on a single task deserves much more attention to detail in delegating tasks. One of the main lackings we faced was the ability to communicate with one another. With half the group with different schedules it was difficult to find time to talk about the billboard.

Previous collaborations yielded simple text messengers or exchange of e-mails sufficient, however, the billboard requires communication that cannot be conveyed in the two former mediums. For this unique situation, I remember using a site called scriblink.com with a friend who needed help with his Physics homework. Essentially, Scriblink is free online JavaScript-based white board that supports multiple users. Upon entering Scriblink you are automatically put into a private white board channel, from there you can invite people to your white board and each person has the same privileges to write/draw/import pictures all at the same time.

Although Scriblink is most enjoyable with a tablet (where you can freely draw like on paper), all you need is decent mouse skills to draw whatever. There's even a chat box on the side so if you can't participate in the drawing, you can still communicate textually to everyone else.

With the use of our new found tool Scriblink, a meeting was arranged with Kendyll, Jarret, and me, where we mostly talked about the specifics on the layout for the billboard. Here's a screen shot the mock-up we currently have:


Whereas here's the final 2 layouts we worked out on Scriblink:

The specifics for the columns are to be shrunk since some elements such as the Floor Standings can be tightened and made room for prizes/ads.

We also reasoned that if we sorted out and delegated tasks between the two sub-groups (Me and Kendyll, Jarret and Paul) we would still be working with those who we are most comfortable with and still be on task. Each portion of the module will be split between the two groups. Since Kendyll and I have been working on Google Visualization's the most out of our Software Engineering trek, anything that deals with charts/tables will be handled by us, where as prizes/ads will be dealt by Jarret and Paul.