do•doc installation and user guide

Introduction

This manual was written for do•doc version 6 and earlier. Version 9, currently available on this website, includes many changes and a new documentation is being written. You can read it here: https://test.dodoc.fr/_publications/documentation-de-dodoc/

This application was designed for learning situations (classrooms, Fablabs, training venues, etc.) by L’Atelier des Chercheurs.

It was created with the participation of primary school students, Serge Selvestrel (first grade teacher at the Lacordaire school) and Olivier Fosse (educational technology trainer in Paris). Other contributors also took part in its development, on github, by email, at fairs and in the workshops we ran.

do•doc is under the free license CC BY-NC-SA, which means that anyone can download, use, modify and share it again as long as it is not used commercially (for example, selling the software or paid training on the software). Credits must remain clearly visible, including in modified versions of this application.

Presenting do•doc

Goals and features

Designed to document and create stories from hands-on activities, do•doc (pronounced doodoc) is an open and modular tool to capture media (photos, videos, sounds and stop-motion), edit them, lay them out and publish them.

Installing and using do•doc

Download and installation

Go to the following page and scroll down to the “links” section: latelier-des-chercheurs.fr/en/outils/dodoc. Click the link that matches your operating system (Windows, Mac or Linux).

To install the application, double-click the downloaded file. You will then be guided through the installation steps.

Once the installation is complete, you can create a shortcut on your desktop like for any other application. To start do•doc, double-click the newly created do•doc icon in your applications folder [for example, C:/Program Files on a PC and Applications on a Mac].

Using do•doc

The first time you use it, a window opens and shows the home page:

To help you try do•doc, a folder named “Exemple de dossier” (Example folder) is created automatically. You can also create new folders by clicking Créer un dossier (Create a folder). Start by exploring the content of the default folder by clicking its title, which should take you to the following page:

This folder contains a single project, but it could also contain two, ten or even fifty: each project holds the media themselves, which will tell the steps of a making process, of an activity, or of a person in a place. This two-level structure (folders/projects) has several advantages, but above all it makes it possible to store a lot of content while keeping navigation as simple and intuitive as possible.

Each project contains the same pages, shown by three recurring icons:

Hover over each button to see its name:

Note that to help you find your way in the interface at all times, a navigation bar shows a breadcrumb trail of where you are in the application:

From left to right:

  1. clickable do•doc logo, to go back to the home page at any time,

  2. clickable folder name, to go back to the Folder page (list of the projects in this folder),

  3. clickable project name, to go back to the project page (with, among other things, a preview of the project content),

  4. type of page within the project, among the following: Capture, Library and Publication,

  5. other available pages, for quick navigation without going back to the Project page.

The three pages… (being written…)

Updating do•doc

To update do•doc to a new version, simply reinstall do•doc as you did the first time. The new do•doc will replace the old one without touching your content: only the application itself will be replaced. Updating is therefore safe, but it is recommended to make a backup first. To do so, see the section Saving and exporting content.

Updating to do•doc version 6

Note that the structure of the templates folder and its content changed in version 6, which can cause bugs in publications after updating. When installing do•doc, delete the Documents/dodoc/templates folder and restart do•doc. On startup, do•doc will notice that the templates folder is missing and recreate it automatically.

Storing and saving content

Storage folder and database

Being written…

Deleting content

Being written…

Saving and exporting content

Being written…

Creating a network and connecting other devices (computers, smartphones, tablets)

Explanations & possible uses

Besides displaying an interface to browse and create content, the do•doc application includes a web server that other devices can access.

Thanks to this server, do•doc can be accessed from any device connected to the same local network as the computer running do•doc. For example, a computer connected to the WIFI of a Fab Lab or a co-working space can give access to do•doc and its content to all the connected devices.

Instructions

  1. Start do•doc on a computer connected to a network — via WIFI or ethernet, for example. On any page, scroll down to reach the footer.

In one of the blocks, you will find the following instructions:

To connect from another device on the same network (Wifi or Ethernet), go to the following address and ignore the warning shown: https://192.168.0.104:8080

Warning: the URL (here, a series of numbers matching the machine’s IP address on the network) will most likely be different on your computer. It will be different on each network and at each new connection.

  1. Now open a web browser on another machine and enter this address. You should see a screen like this one:

Technical note: This warning appears because the connection uses the secure HTTPS protocol but without going through the internet. The browser is therefore unable to validate the certificate as it would on a shopping website, for example. This does not mean your data can be intercepted or accessed from the internet, and it is not a security risk: only do•doc data will be accessible.

  1. Ignore this warning by clicking Advanced, then Accept the risk and continue (or Confirm security exception).

You can now access do•doc from this device. All features are available whatever the device: smartphone, tablet, or simply another computer. The capture page lets you capture media, the library page lets you browse, annotate or download them, and the publication page lets you generate a PDF and publish on the web.

Note that all content stays stored on the station itself. Whether you import content from a smartphone’s photo library or capture new media from a tablet, it will always be added to the library of the project in question.