It seems as though Google Gadgets could save some development time. The idea is to restrict the GWT/ AJAX development to creating just the core functionality outlined in the modelling4all design document:
http://modelling4all.wikidot.com/technical-design-document
namely the Explore, Construct and Experiment page tabs.
By creating gadgets that both pull and push data between the modelling4all and Google servers.
With respect to push we should be able to create gadgets that display models running in an iGoogle page (java applets at this stage although we’re aware of the limitations here e.g. speed to load and browser compatibility) for instance. The gadget would point to the modelling4all server and select a model that is open access and perhaps recent.
With respect to pull then it might be possible to use for instance a google groups (web forum tool) to provide forum functionality within the pages served by the modelling4all server. The idea being that we can capture a user’s post and send it to a google forum, then read the forum posts back from google servers and display them back on the modelling4all site. This same principle might also be true for tagging and rating services.
So first thing to build is to get a Netlogo model displaying in a Google gadget.
To investigate is whether we can pull data from existing google applications e.g. blogger/ groups to display within our AJAX pages (seems like there’s authenticated Atom feeds).
Million dollar question: how can we do account management most easily.
