IOTA (Iota Of Texts Accumulator) Code Sprint

In the world of information-overload, terabytes of data, 24/7 connectivity and megabits of bandwidth, sometimes just a short, concise piece of data is all that is required. The objective of IOTA is to allow a person to get a short 160 character definition of some item or concept via sms (or text message) on his or her cell phone. However, in order for this to occur, the 160 character definition must be created by a community of participants. The proposal is to create a website with the following features:

1. An administrator can define the original data which needs to be compressed.
2. For the original prototype of this, the original data will consist of initial lead paragraphs of Wikipedia articles.
3. Participants can register to be part of the community which compresses these paragraphs.
4. A registered participant can access the website and compose a 160 character compression of the original text.
5. If more than one participant supplies compressed text, a voting mechanism will allow all registered participants to democratically decide which is the best compression
6. Non-registered users will be able to sms a keyword to a number and the application will return an sms with the compressed definition.

The deliverables would be a website which:

1. Allows an administrator to define original content.
2. Allows users to register to become community members
3. Allows community members to view original content and submit short compressions of it.
4. Allows community members to edit their submissions.
5. Allows community members to vote on which submission is the best in cases where more than one submission is available.
6. Allows the administrator to delete any submissions which are in appropriate, obscene, immoral, or illegal.

In addition, there will be an SMS interface where anybody can sms in a keyword and the compressed data will be returned. If no compressed data is available, the returned sms will invite the person to become part of the translation community.

The following open source product would be used:

1. Java
2. HTML
3. JSF (possibily)
4. Jboss (or Tomcat)
5. Postgresql
6. Seam (probably)
7. Kannel
8. ant
9. htmlparser (for scraping screens)

Experience required

1. Java (one year programming experience or one year coursework)
2. HTML (work experience or coursework)
3. Linux (ideal candidate would have Linux experience and have configured his or her own Ubuntu desktop)
4. Database (mySql, postgresql, Oracle, etc)

Afrimesh Code sprint event details:

• Venue: Pretoria campus of CSIR, Meiring Naude Drive, Brummeria, Pretoria, Guateng
• Period: Mid-year vacation break of a maximum of 4 weeks (full-time)
• Travel: Provided and paid for by project budget
• Accommodation: Provided and paid for by project budget
• Remuneration: Daily rate (maximum 20 days)

Application procedure:

1. Complete this template thoroughly
2. Follow this link to the application page
3. Fill in the relevant details and attach the completed template
4. Send the application through and await feedback