[okfn-labs] Google spreadsheet importer for PyBossa

Fri Aug 31 08:50:35 UTC 2012

On 29 August 2012 08:43, Gregor Aisch <gregor.aisch at okfn.org> wrote:
> FYI:
>
> I've put together a tiny app that lets you bulk import PyBossa tasks from a
> Google spreadsheet. Each row is interpreted as task, the first row is
> interpreted as header and will be used as keys.
>
> http://pybossa-spreadsheet-importer.vis4.net/
>
> https://github.com/gka/pybossa-spreadsheet-importer
>
> I think this is the first of two steps that enables non-tech folks such as
> journalists to create their own crowdsourcing app.

Agreed - this was a top priority and great to see it done. I'm
wondering if we can merge this code (I think it is mainly HTML and JS)
straight into PyBossa core -- putting it on e.g. the app admin page
would be a natural location. What do you think?

> The second step would be to allow people to create task presenters w/o
> (JavaScript) coding. I think this could be done by combining a WYSIWYG html
> editor with a clever JS library that replaces task template variables and
> parses the html for form elements.

Agreed. I think the basic apps are quite simple. I also wonder whether
its the kind of thing where we can generate a basic template for
someone and they can then tweak (it's a way to get into programming -
in the way that I've seen people start to learn PHP tweaking wordpress
templates!)

> For instance if someone puts <img src="##ImageUrl##" /> into a task
> presenter template (which would be possible from a WYSIWYG editor), the JS
> which loads task and task presenter could replace ##ImageUrl## with the
> value stored in task.info.ImageUrl.
>
> After I'm done with both I'll try to write a short 5-minute-guide for
> creating pybossa crowdsourcing apps, perhaps supported by a short
> screencast.

That would be *amazing*.

Rufus