This document was originally created by Jim Abramson (Deactivated) in November 2013. It has been migrated from the old wiki: https://edx-wiki.atlassian.net/wiki/display/FOR/V2

PRELIMINARY DRAFT

Definition

Goals:

Decouple from edx-platform
- change and release forums independently of LMS, Studio etc
- reduce complexity and size of edx-platform
- move toward service-based ecosystem
Consolidate and standardize
- merge entities and logic presently split across two separate code repos
- use a single language
- move away from special-case deployment (Heroku / add-ons)
Revisit data models and storage
- data is split across three apps / database types
- mongo is suboptimal fit for forums data model & access patterns; this causes a need for more application code/complexity to close the gaps
- search index tightly coupled to mongo; search functions very limited
Improve product quality and extensibility
- make it easier to understand and maintain the forums
- make it easier to add key new features such as: moderation, ...
- make it easier to operate and troubleshoot the forums (by eliminating opaque components and points of failure)
- design for integration and interoperability: XBlock, LTI, alternate forums implementations (pluggability)

Constraints

Ensure continuity for past/present courses; do not interrupt service or data access for active courses in cutting over
1. may have more flexibility with past / archived courses
2. possibly start new courses on v2 while maintaining v1 for old?
Ensure continuity for research partners
1. might be tricky, e.g. may be doing research over the span of a course, or comparing two courses assuming same version of forums, etc
2. solve this going forward
Preserve baseline interoperability with alternate discussion systems (Piazza, SE, etc)
1. maybe a non-issue - can alternate discusison providers be implemented with their own tabs? more about how LMS links to other apps.
Be transparent to OSS community
Support / guide other platform deployments through a transition

Scope

User-Goal Matrix

Forums v2

I want to...	Sara	Nico	Amman	Michelle	Lily	Oliver
ask other users for clarification of a problem
provide clarification of a problem
ask other users for hints on a problem
provide hints on a problem
find the most helpful hints and clarifications for a problem
help other students find the most helpful hints and clarifications for a problem
alert staff to technical issues with the course
inform students of technical issues and resolutions
fix typos in my posts
avoid seeing abusive content
discover questions that have not yet been answered
This table is in progress. Still need to add other use cases in to understand feature variation across personas. currently on hold as we explore broader product considerations.

Social Dialogue Software at MOOC Scale

Forums v2

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Use cases (based on v1)

area	use case	v1 status
student	create / edit / delete threads
	create / edit / delete posts
	upload files in a post (as linked attachments)	images only
	flag / unflag a post
	upvote / de-upvote a post
	view posts in a thread
	browse threads by commentable, or entire course run
	browse threads using "more like this"	not implemented
	browse threads by most recently active	not implemented
	browse threads by "trending" (tags)	not implemented
	see if/when user last viewed a thread
	post / view posts with anonymity
	search for content using text / filters
	view user profile / activity
reputation	-
notifications	follow / unfollow a thread
	follow / unfollow a commentable	not implemented
	follow / unfollow a user	not implemented
	get notifications (activity in things a user is following)
tags	use tags	not implemented
moderator / community TA	delete all threads in a commentable
	close / reopen a thread
	pin / unpin a thread
	endorse a post
	edit / delete others' posts
versioning	versioning of posts	not implement
administrator	grant / revoke moderator role on a user
abuse / quality control	disallow posting specific content	backend only
	manage disallowed content	backend only
	disallow posting content matching rules	not implemented
	manage disallowed content rules	nto implemented
cohorting	use cohorts for a course run
	assign users to cohorts
	show only content in a cohort

Integration Requirements

Platform (common)

User model - identity, student profile, preferences
Course-level constructs - course, course run, "commentable," cohort
Course run lifecycle
Course Enrollment events and course-level roles / access control

Studio

automatically initialize forums for new course run
create / modify / delete commentables
inline thread preview
export forum content in course run export
import forum content with course run import

LMS

discussion tab (desktop/browser app)
inline thread view
ajax endpoints (HTTP API)

Analytics

emit student events
provide bulk exports, partitioned by course or institution

LTI

TBD

XBlocks

TBD

System Requirements

Ops Requirements

UI and Accessibility Requirements

Capacity Requirements

Performance Requirements

Licensing Requirements

Relevant Business Targets (FY14)

180 Courses
2.3M Users
35 Universities + 5 B2B

Present (V1) Architecture

click for full-size view.

Build Versus Buy

Considering the nearly innumerable variety of third-party / off-the-shelf options for discussion forums products, why consider building?

Assuming that build was NOT an option, which of the existing products / competitors would be the best fit for us? What is lacking from the best-fitting offering(s) that motivates us to choose our own implementation instead?

If we did choose to use a third party implementation, what impacts would that have on deployment, maintenance, and evolution of the rest of the platform? On data integration? Research capabilities?

(TBD: matrix in progress)

Type	Examples	description	license
Social Streams	Twitter, Discourse.org, Branch.com	Semi-structured, emergent conversation format with references to concepts (hashtags, tags, etc) and people (@mentions, etc) Relies on notifications for return engagements.	Discourse is open source
Social Dialogue	Facebook, Gizmodo, Google+,	Primary discussion object with structured 1 or 2 layer depth conversations Relies on notifications for return engagements.	no known projects (TBD discovery here)
Question & Answer	AskBot, StackExchange, MoocForums.com,Coursera, Udacity	Tag based organization Post classification based on votes, comments, etc. (simple listing format) Often uses Badging and community equity as moderation mechanic	Askbot and OSQA are open source
Categorized Conversation	vBulletin, Discourse, Branch, phpBB	Focus on structured categorization of conversation Often associated with older, more established forum communities online. Hyper customizable, (parially due to age of software solutions) for notifications and community moderation	phpBB is the open source alternative to vBulletin. Discourse is open source.
Emergent Curation	slashdot, reddit, digg.com	Reliance on moderation tools and community Clear capacity to nest conversation deeply, built around the notion of stitching threads together as a narrative. Content bubbles up. ( #IE ) Categorization orients users appropriately when necessary (subreddits as example)	reddit is open source
Social Learning Discussion Tools	Studyroom, Piazza.com, Google Moderator, Socrative.com	Focus on learning workflows and classroom-minded solutions	no known projects (TBD discovery here)

Combination/Modern Forum Software Projects: Discourse.org, Branch.com, Piazza.com

	3p hosted	OSS / licensed; self-hosted	edx forums v1	edx forums NG?
cost	low	medium	medium	high
integration	low	low - medium	high	high
product differentiation	low	low	medium	high
customizable	low	medium	medium	high
quality			medium	high
performance			medium	high
scalability			high	high
team velocity	high	medium	low	low

Data

TBD.

Interfaces

TBD.