jAPS 2.0 Project Life Cycle

Regarding to the different phases of platform life cycle, there are many stakeholders who interact with the platform:
Conception and design
The flexibility of the jAPS 2.0 Platform allows to design systems, consistent with project objectives and customer needs. User interface and contents organization can be designed with any constraint.
Development/production
jAPS 2.0 Platform separates the Java development context (additional modules, integrations and customizations) from the presentation development (graphic templates, markup, CSS). Developers with different skills can work separately, without any interference and without having to move into unknown domains.
Installation
The configuration parameters of jAPS 2.0 Platform, in connection with the installation environment (development, test, production) are managed by the system with the aim to make easier customization, flexibility and simplicity of management.
Management
Contents, services and system management are executed through an easy, intuitive and accessible back-end interface. Contents update and web pages organization don't require technical skills. There are no barriers for people with disabilities. New back-end applications can be integrated in the same graphic and functional context.
Usage
jAPS 2.0 allows to achieve the desired objectives in term of design, accessibility, quality and customization with no constraints. Usage-centered design is the approach model used to design user interfaces. jAPS interfaces, based on a focus on user intentions and usage patterns, make easier interaction between user roles.
Evolution
Source code quality, modular design, layered architecture, usage patterns make possible platform evolution with high efficiency in relation to the complexity of the targets.

jAPS 2.0 and Governments

The web applications for Governments must ensure effectiveness, efficiency and customer satisfaction, complying with national and international regulations.
The Governments regulations iussed in recent years are aimed to give citizens easier access to information and services and help communication and interaction between politicians and government bodies on the one side, and citizens on the other, according to the principle of ePartecipation.
The new technologies and systems used by Governments must comply also with international and national accessibility laws; many countries infact have specific web accessibility laws such us Section 508 in the USA, Stanca Law in Italy and PAS 78 in UK.
jAPS 2.0 Platform is compatible with the accessibility specific governments laws, both front end and back office, promoting citizens ePartecipation.
It means that jAPS 2.0 allows people with disabilities and people whose abilities have changed due to aging to perceive, understand, navigate, contribute and interact with the web (no digital divide).
The frontend engine of jAPS can output almost everything: from pure XML for DTT frameworks and the like, to modern dynamic web portals, accessible portals and web applications, mobile or iphone specific web sites, and even more.
The back office GUI of jAPS is 4/2004 Law (Italy) compliant and compatible with international standards like WCAG 2.0, Section 508 and PAS 78.
This peculiarity allows people with disabilities to write and publish informations.

Open Source

Public administrations in Norway are increasingly turning to open source, says Martin Bekkelund, business developer at Friprog, the country's open source competence centre. This year, all ninenteen county administrations are using open source in some form, compared to 76 percent in 2005. 

Read the news 
http://bit.ly/glNuEW 

Cagliari Valley, ecco l’isola ad alta tecnologia

Foto da "Affari e Finanza" del 22/11/2010

Questo è il titolo di un interessante articolo di Catia Barone apparso sull'inserto "Affari e Finanza", del quotidiano "La Repubblica".
Nell'articolo viene ripercorsa la storia, fino ai giorni nostri, della "silicon valley mediterranea" che vede Cagliari come centro propulsivo.
Tra le aziende citate vi è anche Tzente, maintainer del progetto jAPS 2.0, cresciuta con l'obiettivo di realizzare un ecosistema di organizzazioni che collaborano a progetti di IT seguendo il modello dell'Open source.

Leggi l'articolo completo.

http://www.repubblica.it/supplementi/af/2010/11/22/multimedia/032cagliary.html

WHAT WE THINK ABOUT PORTLET STANDARDS

jAPS 2.0 is a lightweight and flexible platform. These means that jAPS Project aim is to safe these two features. Standard technologies can help to reach it but sometimes it can be very expensive to follow strictly standards.
We think standards are useful when they can help you to solve the problems without creating new one.
Portlet standards (JSR 168 and now JSR 286) are well known to developers and after years of use what we have seen is:

1. portlets standard are very over-hyped
2. portlets standard introduce too much constraints
3. portlets standard are not so efficient
4. portlets standard are very expensive
5. portlets are not reusable among portals: they only runs in their specific portal because they make use of portal services
   

We think that the evolution of the web (social network, web 2.0 ....) are changing the way we believe on how portals needed to be done.
For these reasons we chose to better define at the architecture level the portlet concept.
The result was the introduction of the "showlet" concept and of the "Plugin model" that is an architectural lightweight way to speed development, eliminate unuseful constraints and make developers free to implement their creativity.

Upcoming jAPS 2.0 Public Training Class

We thought you might be interested in this upcoming jAPS 2.0 Public Training Class which are scheduled for the end of November: "Getting Started with jAPS 2.0 Platform".
The course is designed for users who want to acquire basic knowledge on jAPS 2.0 Platform.
Visit jAPSPortal to register for this class.

Content Management Strategico

Interessante articolo sul Content Management Strategico.
Molte delle caratteristiche descritte sono in realtà già presenti in jAPS.

IT: Public administration's portal builder adds business intelligence

An interesting article from epractice.eu about the integration between jAPS and business intelligence.
"The Java Agile Portal System (jAPS 2.0), open source software designed to help Italy's public administration's build specialised websites, is about to get boosted with open source business intelligence (BI) options."

jAPS 2.0 FAQs Section

A new FAQs section is availbale in jAPSPortla with the answers to frequently asked questions about jAPS 2.0 Project:
* General FAQ
* Technical FAQ
If you didn't find the answer to your question, you can send an email to the jAPS official mailing list.

How To Create a Form with jAPS 2.0.10

How to create a Form, in few steps, in a jAPS based Portal through the back office entity engine. This video is for portal administrators and is based on jAPS version 2.0.10.

How To Create a new Content Type

How to create a new content type through the jAPS back office entity engine.
A Content Type is a summary of the Attributes useful for a Content.
This video is for portal administrator and developers and is based on jAPS version 2.0.10.

How To Publish a Content with jAPS version 2.0.10

How to publish a content, in few steps, in a jAPS based Portal through the back office.
This video is for portal administrators and is based on jAPS version 2.0.10.

How to Create a Content with jAPS Version 2.0.10

How create a content through jAPS back office in few steps.
In jAPS the "content" is a set of information (Content Attributes) organized in a structure that define the "Content Type". The contents shall be considered only as pure information, not contain indications of how the information will be displayed.
This video is for editors and portal administrators and is based on jAPS version 2.0.10.

A Thesis submitted for a degree at the Tunis University, powered by the jAPS 2.0 Platform

Ms. Mouna Sghaier, of the Department of Computer Science of El Manar Tunis University, in collaboration with Jasmin Conseil, a french company of Mr. Karim Djaafar, partner of jAPS project, carried out a degree thesis based on jAPS Open Source project. Prof. Samir Elloumi (TSP) was the supervisor of the thesis titled "Design and Development of the jpTagCloud plugin for jAPS collaboration platform”.

The project, not only meets the needs of Jasmine Conseil (a company that provides services using open source software) but it also a contribute to jAPS open source project.

The project was developed through three different phases: study of jAPS platform to acquire basic knowledge to develop a new plugin, development of the "jptagcloud" plugin according jAPS standards, integration and testing of the plugin in a jAPS based portal.

The "jptagcloud" plugin, integrated in a jAPS based portal, allows to authenticated users, to define the keywords related to a specific resource, and to organize existing tags. The plugin also provides features to create a "cloud" of keywords that represents the tags used in the portal. This allows users to know the most important portal topics, simplifying the navigation.

The project was realized with the collaboration of Rinaldo Bonazzo of Agiletec S.r.l., jAPS Partner.

jAPS 2.0 Public Training Class - Getting Started with jAPS 2.0 Platform

Tzente welcomes you to take advantage of our "Getting Started with jAPS 2.0 Platform" public course, available for both new and existing users.

The course is provided by Tzente and will be held in Cagliari by certified trainers on 26 and 27 July and on 17 and 18 September. The course is designed for users who want to acquire basic knowledge on jAPS 2.0 Platform.

The course highlights the tools that the platform provides to developers to create customized portal solutions, intranet and web application.

For more information and to register for these class visit jAPSPortal.

jAPS 2.0 Ecosystem

Presentation of jAPS 2.0 Ecosystem by Walter Ambu, CEO of Tzente, during the event "Free software: a community for a new business model", held in Cagliari, on the 10th of June 2010.
The video is made by Sardegna Ricerche.

jAPS Community: new tools to share idea and to discuss

We decided to share with the jAPS Community new tools that allows users to submit idea and to discuss about technical points related to jAPS 2.0 Platform.

On http://japsplatform.ideascale.com/ is available a tool to share idea about jAPS 2.0 project. People are able to:
- Contribute: share ideas on jAPS 2.0 Project
- Discuss: brainstorm ideas with other to make them even better
- Vote: check out other people's ideas, and vote on the ones you like best
The best ideas bubble up to the top.

Another tool available to the community is Google Group.
The new official mailing list, http://groups.google.com/group/japs-platform/, is dedicated to:
- users who want to use the back office of jAPS 2.0 Platform
- developers who want to discuss technical aspects of the project. It is the place to ask technical questions.

So people have different ways to participate to jAPS 2.0 Project and become an active member of the community.

Open Source e Accessibilità

Ecco i link di un interessante, e brillante, intervento sull'accessibilità di William Glelfi alla IV Conferenza sul Software Libero.

Willy (parte 1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBEFMKLrylw
Willy (parte 2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmEs9k1xSZw

Mind the Bridge Italy Tour - Tzente admitted to the Gymnasium in Cagliari

Mind the Bridge Italy Tour will bw held in Cagliari on Friday, 25th of June.
Every year Mind the Bridge runs an annual business plan competition with the purpose of selecting the best innovative business ideas among all the potential Italians talents.
One of the newest activity of Mind the Bridge is the Gymnasium, a mentoring and coaching program that takes place in Silicon Valley and Italy.

In the afternoon companies will present their business plans in front of a panel of venture capitalists and seasoned entreprenuers. Ultimate goal is fine tuning the business idea (what and where it works, where and what doesn't) and making the value proposition more effective.

Tzente, the jAPS 2.0 maintainer, is selected for the Gymnasium.

More information here: http://mindthebridge.blogspot.com/2010/06/cagliari-here-we-come-this-friday.html

Free software and business in Sardinia

An interesting post from Giuseppe Maxia,"The Data Charmer" about the event held on June 10th and 11th in Cagliari related to the Italian Free Software conference.

jAPS Workshop: a great success

Yesterday was held the first jAPS workshop, a great success!!!

Many people attended to the event and the presentations were very interesting and funny.
The focus of the event was on jAPS 2.0 World and Ecosystem.

The chair of the event was Favia Marzano.

The program started with a presentation of the jAPS Ecosystem.
Then Ingres, MySQL and Pentaho, the jAPS technology partners, described their project and solutions integrated in the Platform.
The second session started with a speech of lawyers Gallus and Micozzi who spoke about the legal issues related to open source license of jAPS and its possible developments.
Then system integrators described how and why they use jAPS 2.0:
- Collaboration Intranet and Augmented Reality
- certification of the contents through the Content Managements System integrated in jAPS
- aDOC: a document management system and information protocol solution built on jAPS 2.0 Platform
- web accessibility
- jAPS as a model of collaboration
- myoT: an Internet of Things solution based on jAPS
- jAPS as a framework for the integration of services for health
- jAPS and WhereIsNow: update information for citizens

In the last session some governments told about their experiences as jAPS users, very interesting.

Thanks to all participants for their enthusiastic support, the event was very great!!!

Accessible Sites and CMS: an obligation and a social commitment

In recent months there are on the web a lot of interesting article about web accessibility and national and international standards and laws. This shows the relevance that accessibility is having in both social and technological life.

Web sites and web application should be designed to ensure that everyone, including users who have difficulty seeing, hearing, and making precise movements, can use them.

All the jAPS team efforts go to the development of the Platform, always with the goal of the accessibility and inclusion principle in mind.

jAPS Workshop Program

In the latest weeks we are working to define all the details for the jAPS workshop that will be held in Cagliari, the 11th of June, from 14:30 to 18:30.

The final program is publihed: many speeches related to different domains are planned. Many jAPS Partners and Governments using jAPS 2.0 Platform will attend.

This will be an excellent opportunity to exchange knowledge and to present the different experiences, so we invite all to participate.

WhereIsNow becomes jAPS Solution Partner

WhereIsNow is the first software as a service (SaaS) you can use to provide self updating documents, documents capable to update themself to the latest available version.

The integrated solution between jAPS and WhereIsNow provides to the user features to receive instantly and easily updates of documents hosted in an Internet or Intranet Portal through specific services.

Every plugin of WhereIsNow is distributed under the GPL licence: so these are open source projects.

Find out more details about the Partnership on jAPSPortal

Workshop organized by Tzente during the IV Italian Conference on Free Software

During the IV Italian Conference on Free Software, that will be held on the 11th and 12th of June, in Cagliari, the Tzente S.r.l., organizes a workshop in which will present jAPS partnerhip ecosystem and its business model. Speakers include jAPS technology partners such as Pentaho, MySQL, Ingres.

At the event are invited to participate public administrations, regional and local governments, and large companies working on / with / for the technologies listed above.

The event will be an excellent opportunity to exchange knowledge and to present the different experiences, we invite all to participate.

The co-located program event will be published on the website of the Conference.

jAPS 2.0 version 2.0.10 Released

Ecco un post interessante proveniente da jCommunication sul rilascio di jAPS 2.0 versione 2.0.10.
Scoprite le novità di quest'ultima versione.

Roberta

Il Ritorno dal CeBIT

Anche quest'anno l'esperienza del CeBIT è terminata.
Se facciamo un resoconto di come è andato l'evento possiamo dire che è stato molto positivo!
Quest'anno abbiamo avuto tanti incontri interessanti con aziende che vogliono diventare Partners del progetto.

Ora non rimane che gestire i contatti e fornirgli il supporto necessario.

Comunque un'esperienza assolutamente da ripetere!

Ecco un post interessante proveniente da jCommunication che descrive la nostra esperienza al
CeBIT 2010 con Tzente, il nuovo Maintainer ufficiale di jAPS.

Roberta