Digital Humanities projects using LiveCode

[FourthWorld]

no single software package ideally suited for needs as radically different as semantic analysis and 3D architectural rendering

I would not expect the OP to be looking for that.

...like designing programs for natural language processing, or to create 3D models of artistic buildings...

As you say, LC is ideally positioned for this

[richmond62]

Well, I must be missing something.

But, today my mind has been on:

1. Running off 2 programs for lower intermediate ESL teenagers to practise transposing Active into Passive sentences and the other way round.

2. Working out that a large part of my implementation of Sanskrit in Grantha script inwith my Devawriter Pro is unmitigated crap and needs a complete retrenchment, rethink, and I'm reaching for the whisky bottle.

Certainly, LiveCode should be the "academic goto tool", and, as I have stated, an opportunity was lost.

[stam]

The reality is that while we can see how LC can be used, actually getting non-devs to use LC would be a monumental challenge.

I’ve authored software for my workplace, for use of cardiology specialists who by and large are extremely computer-savvy. You would not believe the resistance and difficulty getting people to use something new. I’ve made software so simple that it’s literally a single button press to automatically parse natural language documents, database the data, schedule a meeting and create a presentation, a second button press to create the output letter automatically so no one needs to dictate.

It’s taken around 5 years and all users now love it, but even in a highly competent group of users not troubled by the “wasn’t invented here” syndrome it’s been several years of continuous effort.

I shudder to think what it would be like to get doctors and IT staff to accept LC, let alone use it…

I imagine it would be orders of magnitude more difficult to actually materialise the opportunity you speak of…

[richmond62]

Ultimately that problem devolves on the LiveCode company, and they have effectively demonstrated they cannot be bothered in that direction.

[FourthWorld]

Ultimately that problem devolves on the LiveCode company, and they have effectively demonstrated they cannot be bothered in that direction.

Which direction is that?

[richmond62]

Which direction is that?

In the direction of wooing academics.

LiveCode is the ultimate tool (as HyperCard was, in its time) for teachers and university academics to develop
tools for both presentation of their ideas and research.

I believe that MetaCard was developed to bring that power to UNIX and Windows (HyperCard being confined to Macintosh).

About 4 years ago I conducted a series of hands-on presentations to several University lecturers, mainly to show
them how useful LC could be for data-processing and handling information for computational linguistics.
The academics were fascinated, and were able to experiment with some of this in the confined time-frame
of the presentations.

The University (predictably) stated that, as it had a computer centre that worked with
"more established programming languages" there was no need for it to provide support
for a "Johnny-come-lately".

Of course that was entirely missing the point.

The point is that with a WYSIWYG GUI-IDE academics who are not computer programmers can get
to grips with designing there own tools WITHOUT the intermediary of a computer programmer
who may know sweet FA about their discipline, and sweet FA about working directly and sympathetically
with academics to serve their requirements inwith the framework of their academic discipline.

The advantage of simulation software has been demonstrated time and time again, and
LiveCode is excellent for developing that.

------------------------

It would be interesting to know the REAL reason why packages such as MacroMedia Authorware
"went down the tubes."

[richmond62]

Hmm . . . re Macromedia Authorware:

https://macromedia-authorware.software. ... r.com/7.0/

It would be interesting to know what exactly is meant by "industry standard content objects".

AND, while I have my 'bitchy hat' on, who-the-fudge decided which the industry standard content objects are.

Of course having "Knowledge objects" with "prebuilt templates and wizards" might be a
big plus in the educational content department . . .

. . . but one might suppose (although I might be falling into the same trap that might have
been fallen into when the Open Source, Free version of LC was released) that a thriving,
vibrant education content delivery community might bbuild up a library of end-user contributed
stacks containing many prebuilt items.

https://www.immagic.com/eLibrary/ARCHIV ... 70803A.pdf

"Why does Adobe plan to discontinue development of Authorware?
The eLearning market has transitioned to Adobe Flash® and Adobe Captivate®
software over the years. Authorware is a mature product and demand has
continually declined to where it is no longer economically viable for Adobe to
continue development."

My emphasis added.

What that does NOT do is give any idea WHY demand declined.

Could it be that an awful lot of content delivery is now web-based?

Well, if that is true, LiveCode should be ideally positioned.

[FourthWorld]

Which direction is that?

In the direction of wooing academics.

How many teachers also enjoy programming?

Of those, how many aren't already doing that on the web?

Of the remainder, how many are not already using something else?

To be clear, of course LC is useful in EDU. It's also useful in the enterprise. And in SMBs. And at home.

I would only caution against imagining there's any single market segment that's going to be some magical Easy button. Chasing that illusion is how we got here.

LC's loyal following is a diverse long tail. It's a workflow niche, not an audience niche.

Recognizing and embracing that can double LC's subscriber base.

It would be interesting to know the REAL reason why packages such as MacroMedia Authorware
"went down the tubes."

Are you interested in the evolution of point-and-click authoring (what the kids these days call "no-code") in general, or is there something particularly interesting about Authorware?

FWIW the Wikipedia page for the tool has what seems a reasonably adequate history. Apparently the owner felt their Captivate product better suited as a focus.

[richmond62]

some magical Easy button

No, I am not quite that goofy.

BUT, I do think there are several partly-magical easier buttons, and that one of those is LiveCode.

any single market segment

No, of course not, and that is why I feel our friends need to spread their net rather wider than they are doing at present.

the evolution of point-and-click authoring

No, I am NOT interested in that; were I, I would (beyond my Devawriter Pro & another up-coming 'thang') not be using LiveCode
to prepare my EFL content delivery and reinforcement things I deploy in my school:
-

-

[FourthWorld]

It sounds like we're on the same page with evangelism.

Done well, the company doesn't need to focus on any niche, as enthusiastic fans will do that.

But to attract and retain sufficient fans will depend on embracing the concept that LiveCode isn't just a product, it's a platform.

There's so much in how a platform tells their story differently than a purely end-user product.

But well embraced, the benefits are equally strong, as each third party multiplies evangelism of the platform.

[richmond62]

LC's loyal following is a diverse long tail. It's a workflow niche, not an audience niche.

Then, surely, it would behoove our friends to have, say, 9-10 webpages dedicated to different segments of that tail,
where occupiers of various niches "told their story" in such a way that it becomes obvious to anyone reading those
pages that LiveCode is mission-critical for each of those people?

[FourthWorld]

LC's loyal following is a diverse long tail. It's a workflow niche, not an audience niche.

Then, surely, it would behoove our friends to have, say, 9-10 webpages dedicated to different segments of that tail,
where occupiers of various niches "told their story" in such a way that it becomes obvious to anyone reading those
pages that LiveCode is mission-critical for each of those people?

Have you looked for those at the site?

[richmond62]

Then, surely, it would behoove our friends to have, say, 9-10 webpages dedicated to different segments of that tail,
where occupiers of various niches "told their story" in such a way that it becomes obvious to anyone reading those
pages that LiveCode is mission-critical for each of those people?

Have you looked for those at the site?

1. University academics: Nothing in terms of a webpage.

1.1. University admin: something from 2015: https://livecode.com/university-of-vienna/

1.2. Teaching LiveCode at University level: https://livecode.com/brigham-young-university/

However: nothing as such to demonstrate to academics that they can leverage LiveCode for use within their own academic discipline.

1.3. 'Tekkie Uni': https://livecode.com/education/tekkie-uni/partnership/

This is an online organisation for teaching programming.

[richmond62]

2. Primary school teachers:

2.1. https://livecode.com/education/

Well, that is for teachers to teach children how to 'code', but it is NOT:

any help whatsoever for pointing out, and then helping teachers develop bespoke
programs for content reinforcement and delivery in their subject areas.

At the risk of being accused of flogging a dead horse, the title of my MSc thesis was:

'AN AUTOMATED AGENT-LIKE SYSTEM FOR EDUCATORS TO DEVELOP EDUCATIONAL PACKAGES'

and the prototype was entirely constructed in what was at that time called Runtime Revolution.

Field-testing it enabled Primary teachers, who, frankly, knew very little about computers beyond turning them
on and inserting Dorling Kindersley CD-ROMS for 'blobs' to play with, run up vocabulary learning programs in French
and German.

As those teachers remarked, "It would be wonderful if a complete system of this sort could be developed so we could
build really interesting stuff for our bairns."

Needless to say, those teachers (totally dedicated women at a Catholic Primary school in the east of Scotland) had
neither the time nor the inclination to learn programming-qua-programming, but what they did have was the sort of 'gumph'
that was displayed by HyperCard users before the world stopped being monochrome and pixelated.

That was 2004, and those fine ladies are, most probably, enjoying well-deserved retirement; and the world is no
nearer to serving those sort of people.

[richmond62]

I would love to see this claim:

"Tens of thousands of students are now learning to code using LiveCode each year and loving it."

substantiated.

https://livecode.com/education/

My dirty mind thinks that with Cyril Pruszko, that High school in Edinburgh, and me, we'd be hard-put to find 'tens of thousands'.