Wikiversity talk:Sandbox Server 0.5

Wikistats
Would it be possible to run Wikistats on the server? Would anyone be interested in helping to make this a learning project? --mikeu 15:50, 9 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Pardon me for not doing my homework....pages that describe computer projects are written in a code that is hard for me to penetrate. Does "wikistats" do something different from what is shown here? --JWS 16:12, 9 January 2008 (UTC)
 * The link I posted to Wikistats shows the computer program and instructions for generating the data for the link that you posted. Thanks for reminding me to look there.  Last time I checked (a few weeks ago) the page has not been updated since Sept. 2007, but now it includes through Nov. 2007.  My reason for suggesting this here is twofold.  One is to improve the updates so we can see more recent info.  I had thought that something was broken with the generating of the data.  I now suspect the problem might be related to database dumps.  See this line "2008-01-08 21:50:08 enwikiversity: dump aborted" here.  This suggest to me that the wikistats program has been trying to update the stats very recently, but for some reason failed.  The other reason for suggesting it here is as a learning project.  Learning how to debug problems which generate statistics data.  Perhaps I should back up a step and ask someone who knows more about the programming than you or I to look into why the database dumps are getting aborted and what is preventing the wikistats program from generating current statistics.  --mikeu 16:39, 9 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Good idea. A university should always be able to rebuild itself from scratch and need not ask for help. :)Hillgentleman|Talk 23:51, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

night sky live
I'd be interested in doing a learning project which is a collaboration between astronomy and computing. Take a look at The Night Sky Live project which uses "allsky cameras" to take images of the entire sky all night long. The images are then analyzed using this software and the data is made freely available for scientific and educational use.

I'll be installing a camera with a wide-field lens at ladd observatory this spring. What I propose is feeding these images to the sandbox server to analyze the data, and then use the results in a learning project here. The sandbox server could then store the data for use in lessons or serve the data as webpages. Possible topics include meteorology (cloud cover), detecting meteors and orbiting satellites, and possibly measuring brightness changes of variable stars.

Drop me a note if you're interested in this project or if you have any comments or suggestions. --mikeu 16:13, 9 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Info above copied to Sandbox Server/Mu301 where I will plan and document project. --mikeu 17:33, 9 January 2008 (UTC)


 * This project is now hosted on the sandbox server here. I'll be creating a learning project here soon, but for now see Sandbox Server/Mu301 for the status of the project.  --mikeu 15:15, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

question
Is requesting an account on the sandbox server to learn more about the sandbox server a valid reason to request an account on the server? --Remi 00:56, 3 February 2008 (UTC)


 * Interesting question. We should try to encourage this sort of learning, but I don't think that it is unreasonable to request (or perhaps even require) that someone pursuing this kind of learning come back to wikiversity and edit.  Perhaps document what they have learned and describe it on a page here, or at least on the sandbox server itself.  --mikeu talk 13:56, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

sandbox server link
The webpage at http://www.sandboxserver.org/ has a broken link to " v:Wikiversity:Colloquim discussion" which should point to Colloquium/archives/October_2007 --mikeu talk 03:09, 3 February 2008 (UTC)