@EddieHe it sounds like you want a git repository. Check out hosting sites like Gitlab, Github, Bitbucket, etc.
@Moult . not quite like a repository. our survey (opinion poll) indicates two main groups in terms of needs, 1) Students who are good in software and are interested in tinkering with the program. 2) students who are more interested in learn BIM production as part of their A/E career development, and they are user and not developer of BIM software. The first group can be served with a git repository (they can actually find resource by themselves, and do not need our platform). The second group is the majority and are the group we want to serve. we would like to create an environment for them to do BIM production with open source software and IFC format. also, the platform will be able to allow students from different majors (Architecture and HVAC) can work on the same project cooperatively (sharing the same model, how to resolve conflicts, etc)
thanks
@theoryshaw you'd have some useful advice here.
As for imitating an AEC office environment I wouldn't get to too caught up in that. Some offices are a complete mess and only have folders on a server with no real way to share and learn (unless you remember what folder things are in). So in many ways a vpn to a server with folders is a quite reasonable place to start for projects. Unless you're going to buy Autodesk BIM360 or Bentley Project Wise you'll probably end up with folders anyway. And now I stop digging this dark hole of despair and wait to hear from @theoryshaw & @Moult how all of this can be solved with git.
Oh, and @EddieHe for coursework/ resources take a look at edx and noodle as platforms.
Not certain adsk vault like (and digital asset managers in general) folder structure is that much more user friendly... /00/ab/24/waxwb.xy
Maybe Nextcloud is the way? Synching of Revit central files is always an issue. But if people keep in communication it doesn't have to be so hard.
@duncan Thanks. I will take a look at Nextcloud. At this time, we are considering using Speckle as the collaboration tool. I look forward to learning more in the upcoming monthly meeting. thank you for arranging that.
UPDATE :
Launching end of the week !
A W E S O M E
Congratulations for the new https://learn.osarch.org/
Yes ! We are now live ! We'll soon be linking it from the main page of and making an annoucement through osarch.org;
In the mean time :
-
can the community recommend some educational content ?
-
any suggestions to improve the User Experience and User Interface?
Github repo: https://github.com/myoualid/learn-osarch
You can load a local version and help us feed the database aswell, or even improve the website if you see fit!
Pull Requests are welcome.
The web-app will be refreshed weekly with new goodies ( and fixes if required).
@SigmaDimensions said:
Yes ! We are now live ! We'll soon be linking it from the main page of and making an annoucement through osarch.org;
In the mean time :
- can the community recommend some educational content ?
- any suggestions to improve the User Experience and User Interface?
Sure! Where do we send the suggestions of content?
I would suggest a link in the learn page with a "send us new links" or something.
I would recommend to change the font color in some cases:
@bitacovir said:
Sure! Where do we send the suggestions of content?
I would suggest a link in the learn page with a "send us new links" or something.
I would recommend to change the font color in some cases:
-
Yes, very useful link - good one!
-
I think that this thread can do the job of gathering content resources? Or is it easier to have an email inbox to receive public suggestions that are not otherwise in the forum?
-
Woops, think that's the old stylesheet. Can you hit F5 to refresh ?
It would be great if there was a link somewhere on how to submit new educational resources :) Also, would love for this to link back to the respective Wiki page for each app, perhaps with an "OSArch Wiki" button.
@SigmaDimensions said:
- I think that this thread can do the job of gathering content resources?
Other suggestions: Rating system for the videos, Tags system for videos (language, muted sound, etc).
Here, some suggestion of playlists with videotutorials about FreeCAD:
FreeCAD BIM Workbench (8 videos)
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1Fv0Kg44dc34hTuLcOBTNm4OaR4Xz93m
FreeCAD TechDraw for BIM (11videos)
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1Fv0Kg44dc1fTRpW9E__ELz2xFSDm9g7
Introduction to BIM with FreeCAD (6 videos)
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-DpP0eb6DQkF5Vc9GDgcHkdNv8b43Pze
CAD Stick Framing with FreeCAD (12 videos)
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkRx3bM9e3yDefdoU5mRU8QrtSSoKFDP-
@Moult said:
It would be great if there was a link somewhere on how to submit new educational resources :) Also, would love for this to link back to the respective Wiki page for each app, perhaps with an "OSArch Wiki" button.
@SigmaDimensions and I have discussed a good way in the UI to link to and from the wiki. On the wiki I want to make a fake button that looks like it links to an osarch themed video but actually links to the relevant section of learn.
For SEO have you looked at more descriptive URLs?
@duncan said:
@SigmaDimensions and I have discussed a good way in the UI to link to and from the wiki. On the wiki I want to make a fake button that looks like it links to an osarch themed video but actually links to the relevant section of learn.
Hey @duncan ,
Made an update yesterday following our discussions, it looks like this right now : https://learn.osarch.org/categories/1
--> Every software project links to the relevant wiki page
PS. Whilst doing that, I have found a lot of information I didn't know existed in the wiki.. so I am ever so motivated to feed the wiki's content :D
Some software do not have logos, like Radiance. Maybe we should implement a OSArch's symbol for these cases. This way broken link icon is not shown.
@bitacovir said:
Other suggestions: Rating system for the videos, Tags system for videos (language, muted sound, etc).
Tag system is a great thing - I'll try to add that asap. Regarding the rating system, I thought it would be good idea at first, but in fact rating systems tend to push specific items to the top whilst throwing other valuable new content down the list; Users tend to trust best rated videos. In this secnario, I had to go through a pre-selection myself - it may be biased aswell, but I try keep my research impartial and inquisitive; the more additions from everyone, the better though.
Thank you @bitacovir for the suggestions above - :D
Currently it may appear as though there isn't much content on the video courses, but there are a many more free to re-use tutorials coming soon + a lot of unpublished videos awaiting approval - circa 300 quality video tutorials.
Sometimes content creators do not share their videos as Creative commons license, so that can be a pain as I am sending emails asking for permission ( and some content creators don't share their contact info..).
Therefore: This thread is the best way to keep the suggestions coming in. I'll be centralising the content, and sending a weekly email asking individual permission to each content creator suggested from the videos in this thread.
The nice thing however, is that many teachers and educators are also members of OSArch which makes it easier.
However - whilst this isn't always intended, some of your videos are not shared under a Creative Commons License: @dimitar @stephen_l @topologic @Jesusbill @Cyril @condur @theoryshaw @Moult -
I have spoken to, or received support from, many of you through the forum, live chat, or linkedin - Thus I kept your videos. Are you okay with your Youtube videos being included, or would you like me to remove them?
Let's keep education OPEN to all <3.
@SigmaDimensions said:
However - whilst this isn't always intended, some of your videos are not shared under a Creative Commons License: @dimitar @stephen_l @topologic @Jesusbill @Cyril @condur @theoryshaw @Moult -
I have spoken to, or received support from, many of you through the forum, live chat, or linkedin - Thus I kept your videos. Are you okay with your Youtube videos being included, or would you like me to remove them?
I understand, that learn.osarch.org is an link aggregator and classification system. Does not storage third party content. Does not download the videos. Therefore, there is no copy right violation. If creators want their videos only accessible on youtube webpage, they should setup some restrictions or state what they want. Maybe they would prefer as much visits as possible to their youtube channels (for visit count and click on "Likes"). For that, learn.osarch could implement some links to their accounts or recommend to user to visit their channels for additional content. Anyway, learn.osarch does not make any profit with this system.
I agree with @bitacovir but I'm not a lawyer so... :)
@bitacovir said:
I understand, that learn.osarch.org is an link aggregator and classification system. Does not storage third party content. Does not download the videos. Therefore, there is no copy right violation. If creators want their videos only accessible on youtube webpage, they should setup some restrictions or state what they want. Maybe they would prefer as much visits as possible to their youtube channels (for visit count and click on "Likes"). For that, learn.osarch could implement some links to their accounts or recommend to user to visit their channels for additional content. Anyway, learn.osarch does not make any profit with this system.
You are most certainly correct; it only gather hyperlinks to resources, and if anything the UI helps in discovering content creators and hidden gems of youtube ( I'll highlight the hyperlink to each youtube channel better).
Since youtube can be a bit confusing, and it's not made specific anywhere, I went with a conservative approach - but so far I have not had any oppositions ... and it would save me a lot of time and processing...
@SigmaDimensions said:
Since youtube can be a bit confusing, and it's not made specific anywhere, I went with a conservative approach - but so far I have not had any oppositions ... and it would save me a lot of time and processing...
You could add a button for messages saying "If you want the link to your content removed, please let us know". This way, anyone will have the option if they feel that way.
Fantastic resource. Congratulations. I am happy for you to openly share any videos that I have made. When I have a bit of time, I will look into the issue of CC and make sure all my videos are open and free to share as you wish with no restrictions. I will also send a better icon on transparent background and fill out the Wiki pages. I need to start making videos for Topologic on Blender/Scerchok.
Oh wow! Great initiative!
With youtube, if the creator has allows the videos to be embeddable, then they can be posted anywhere, really, no matter the license. And most would be happy to have their videos listed in more places. So I I would say post link and videos unless an author complains.
Now, as someone that operates on quite a few educational channels, I have a couple of remarks about the UI and organisation of content:
-
Is this a discovery tool where someone is curious and find out what tools/workflows are available for a specific tool?
-
Is this a search tool, for someone that has a concrete idea in mind and is looking for the right source to help her/him along the way?
-
I see it as both a discovery tool and a potential search tool once it grows larger. As a search tool, the cc0 textures interface is quite nice witho automatic suggestions for the tags: https://cc0textures.com/list?sort=Popular
-
the sidebar navigation is great
-
the front page feels a bit tacky - the moving boxes are a bit distracting. How about not having a separate sidebar in the front page and somehow adding icons to each item in the sidebar?
-
I see that the website uses categories but it may be better to use tags for content? reason being is that quite a few channels or videos may fall into multiple categories. Edit - I am reading some of the previous posts and see this has already been mentioned.
-
schematic design - this is an American term for concept design. In most parts of the world, it is called concept design. Within the US, concept design is also understood to be the earlier phases of design, so I would suggest renaming schematic design category to concept design. (note for those who are wondering, I am a US registered architect operating in the UK, with work experience and degrees from both sides of the ocean)
-
I think we need a procedural design category. Not sure if it should be within the concept/schematic design, as procedural design can fit within multiple phases. In there, we could have info about Sverchok, Geonodes, topologic, Homemaker, and also touching upon some of the inherent proceduralism of Blender and Freecad for those that are interested to learn more specifically.
-
I like the phasing of each category, which make me question the software to find inside. Maybe, with tags it would make more sense to have search filter in the front page, with each item tagged with both the software it is showcasing, and the workflow (design phase, etc)
@SigmaDimensions said:
However - whilst this isn't always intended, some of your videos are not shared under a Creative Commons License:
Can you tell me which ones ? Because I check some of them including the earliest and latest ones and they are all under Creative Commons license.