Please Allow for sharing of User Timeline Items

[Lorinda H. M. Hoover]

I know this has been mentioned/requested in various threads, but with the advent of the expanded timeline, I wanted to create a thread specific to this issue.  I would really like to see the option to export user timeline data to share with others.  I'd like those importing data to be able to merge it with their own, or at the very least, not have it erase user data we have created.

 

One reason for this is that for some regions, like Africa, PreColonial Oceana, etc. are virtually empty.  Given the density of dates, etc. in some other regions, it gives the impression that these areas don't have any history/were culturally inferior.  I realize that is not the intent, and that those regions with more detail are those more directly related to Biblical studies.    I also realize that David Lang didn't have the time nor really the expertise to add a lot of items to these other areas.

 

But the ability to export & import timeline data means that those of us who are concerned about such things/want such data could do the work for areas where we have expertise and/or time to research, post them to Accordance Exchange and make them available to others who would like them but don't have the time/expertise to do them.

 

It would also mean that folks from particular traditions (like my own United Methodist) could add tradition-specific events/people/writings/etc to the timeline, export them, and share them to other interested parties.

 

There are no doubt other use cases: if you think of some, please add them to this thread.

[EricC]

Yes, please: import and export for Timelines.

[Fabian]

And merge.

[jlm]

I thought of another approach to this. I don't know if it would be easier or harder to implement, but what if the timeline could handle multiple user files? I can imagine lots of sets of timeline items that would be interesting to various groups who want more history of a geographical region, a religious denomination, a philosophical or theological school, etc. But if the export functionality exported all user items, that might include lots of things that don't belong in the set. So then you would have to open the exported file and remove the items that didn't belong in the set.

 

If instead there could be multiple user timeline files like there can be multiple user notes files and highlight files, then you could make a new one for a topic, create the items in it, and then simply share that file with other interested users, perhaps on the Accordance Exchange. This would make it simpler to share items relating to one topic without having to filter out all the user items related to one's other interests. It would also solve the merge problem, because there would be no need to merge: you would just display multiple user timeline files.

 

If the goal is to share sets of items, this seems like a better approach to me. I only see an advantage to import/export if someone has lots of timeline data in another format that they want to import.

[Lorinda H. M. Hoover]

I’d certainly take multiple timeline user files over what we have now. If we had the ability to merge those into our user file if we chose to, that would be ideal.  Sometimes I think I’d want to see the contents of more than one such set of user items, and if it worked the way highlights do now, that would only be posssible by merging. The files. 

[showens]

If instead there could be multiple user timeline files like there can be multiple user notes files and highlight files, then you could make a new one for a topic, create the items in it, and then simply share that file with other interested users, perhaps on the Accordance Exchange. This would make it simpler to share items relating to one topic without having to filter out all the user items related to one's other interests. It would also solve the merge problem, because there would be no need to merge: you would just display multiple user timeline files.

 

If the goal is to share sets of items, this seems like a better approach to me. I only see an advantage to import/export if someone has lots of timeline data in another format that they want to import.

 

I like the idea of configurable filenames.  This is better than adding to only one file.

 

But I still see a use case for import/merge.  Let's say we wanted to start with a certain set of data and add other user-created items.  We would want at least Import functionality, ideally Merge with Conflict Resolution.  

 

We might start with, say, the default Accordance data, and add another set one time, then and create a third set starting from the default using a different set.  I would want to be able to have a custom set of items for teaching in various contexts.

[jlm]

I’d certainly take multiple timeline user files over what we have now. If we had the ability to merge those into our user file if we chose to, that would be ideal. Sometimes I think I’d want to see the contents of more than one such set of user items, and if it worked the way highlights do now, that would only be posssible by merging. The files.

The way I envision it, it would be more like user notes, where the display shows the notes from all the files, and new notes go into a chosen file.

[mgvh]

Perhaps this has already been suggested, but I think a helpful approach would be similar to what I have in my Google calendar. I have 3 sets of calendars depending on various orientations. (E.g., family, work, revised common lectionary). There are check boxes that I can use to toggle them on/off. I can have none, one, two, or all three of the calendars enabled at a time. A system like this would not require merging data. (I fear that merging could potentially mess up the base file if the user data is erratic in some way.)

[Lorinda H. M. Hoover]

Perhaps this has already been suggested, but I think a helpful approach would be similar to what I have in my Google calendar. I have 3 sets of calendars depending on various orientations. (E.g., family, work, revised common lectionary). There are check boxes that I can use to toggle them on/off. I can have none, one, two, or all three of the calendars enabled at a time. A system like this would not require merging data. (I fear that merging could potentially mess up the base file if the user data is erratic in some way.)

I like that suggestion very much!

[OSchrock]

Perhaps this has already been suggested, but I think a helpful approach would be similar to what I have in my Google calendar. I have 3 sets of calendars depending on various orientations. (E.g., family, work, revised common lectionary). There are check boxes that I can use to toggle them on/off. I can have none, one, two, or all three of the calendars enabled at a time. A system like this would not require merging data. (I fear that merging could potentially mess up the base file if the user data is erratic in some way.)

 

Exactly what I'd love to see!

 

Users could make their specialized user timelines available in the Accordance Exchange and I could choose to show the user-made timelines for a variety of niche studies.