MUSIC: (Multi-User Sessions In Community)

This is the demo version of the MUSIC BBS.  It runs only on a Mac 
for now (the Window's version is currently under development).  
The version available here is archived and binhexed, so you can 
run it by extracting it with a program like Stuffit, Stuffit 
Expander, or Compact Pro on a Macintosh.  This document will not 
review everything that you can do with the system, but you can 
find out about most of the features just by clicking around.

Once you have extracted the program, you will have the MUSIC Demo 
application and the MUSIC Database folder in the same folder.  
These two must be together like this to work.  After you double 
click on the MUSIC Demo application it will start up, load in the 
data, and then ask you to log on.  Login with the name "guest" and 
the password "guest" (neither is case-sensitive).

After you log on you will see the MUSIC interface.  When you get 
in you will notice pictures of buildings along a street.  In each 
building are various rooms where documents and data are stored and 
online discussions can happen. As a normal user you can go in and 
out of buildings and rooms (which scroll vertically and 
horizontally respectively) and click on buttons to see and edit 
the data that is in the rooms.  Sometimes the pictures in the 
rooms have buttons within them (e.g. there is a map picture in 
which the street names are the buttons), and sometimes the buttons 
are below the pictures.  There are documents which are made up of 
either text, graphics or sounds in the rooms (the types are 
indicated by the button's icon), and there are editors for each of 
these documents and data types in the rooms.

You should experiment by going into each of the buildings and 
rooms.

On the side bar, there are tools for interacting with the other 
users online.  The envelope gets you into Email with the in basket 
and the out basket.  The out basket shows you icons of everyone 
who has an account on the system.  To send them mail you just 
click on their picture.  You can send text, graphics or voice mail 
by clicking on the appropriate control button at the top of the 
out basket window.  Test each of these types by sending yourself 
mail, then exit this window and go back to the envelope and choose 
the in basket and see how the mail was delivered to you.  To open 
the mail just click anywhere on the line that the mail is on.  You 
can respond, forward, remove and save the mail or cancel to leave 
it in your mail box.  When you are sending mail you can CC it to 
any user or group of users by clicking on CC when you are in the 
dialog box in which you put a title on your mail.

That's email.  Below the envelope on the side bar is a clipboard 
which is where bulletin topics are posted.  Click here and you can 
see the topics that users have posted for the whole community to 
see.  Double click on any of these items to open it.  To post one 
of your own, click on the turned up corner at the bottom of the 
note pad and then type in your message.  Then click on 'Add Entry' 
and give it a title and your entry will now show up at the bottom 
of the bulletin board.  You can view anyone's entry, but you can 
only edit and remove your own.

Below the bulletin board on the side bar is the chat facility.  
Clicking on this telephone-pen icon allows you to see which other 
users are logged on currently and you can chat to them by clicking 
on their name.  You can do text or voice chats.  Unfortunately, 
the demo does not allow you to see this feature because you are 
the only one logged on (since it's only a demo).

And lastly, the button below the chat facility lets you get 
information about other users who have accounts as well as about 
where any particular document online can be found.  To get user 
info, click on the first button in this dialog and then choose the 
name of a user who you would like to know more about (you could 
click on my name here as an example).  To get document information 
click on the second button and choose what type of document you 
want to search for, and then give its title or a part of the title 
and it will show you all the matching documents and list what 
building and room they are found in.

You can also change your icon or your password or other things by 
using the Change menu.  You can  go to other network locations by 
using the Explore menu.  You should play with the various menu 
items to get a sense of how they work.

Let me know what you think...

Alan Shaw
acs@media.mit.edu