RemmoSpace

RemmoSpace

 

RemmoSpace.com is an IT-oriented community of members. The members are served by non-profit organizations, and each organization is associated with one or more classes of members. Examples of classes include mental health, physical health, immigrants, and low income. Members learn math and computer skills from remote tutors. Those skills include web design, coding, and using Microsoft Office. The tutoring sessions are called "remmos": remote demos of how to use computer software. Members can also post in spaces (forums).

Business Model

All tutors are volunteers. Donors receive (almost) free tutoring, and make a suggested minimum donation of $10 per session. Tutors devote at least half their teaching time to members (who all belong to marginalized groups), and the rest to donors. Many tutors are high school and university students. RemmoSpace is a non-profit organization.

Seecreen

Seecreen ("see screen") is a free download from Seecreen.com, and is written in Java. It works on Windows, Mac, and Linux computers. Along with remote desktop sharing, Seecreen also supports text chat and audio conversations. Seecreen facilitates remote student-tutor sessions (student and tutor not in same physical location) called remmos.

Spaces

Spaces (similar to forums) can be limited to specific topics, classes, categories (diagnoses where class = mental health), or partner organizations. Examples of topics include web design, Python programming, and MS Word. Examples of categories (where class = mental health) include depression, bipolar, and schizophrenia. Friends of members can post in the friend sections of category spaces, and comment/view threads initiated by associated members in the main sections of those spaces. Members can comment/view threads initiated by associated friends in the friend sections of those spaces. Apart from friends/partners, only members can access category spaces. Partners (employees of partner organizations) can comment/view threads (in category spaces) initiated by members of the partner organization. Spaces of partner organizations are only accessible by employees and members of those organizations. All spaces are moderated by volunteers. All RemmoSpace users can chat with each other using Seecreen.

Scheduling

RemmoSpace maintains on its server a database of tutors, members, donors, and partner organizations. Tutors and members/donors book remmos (sessions) on a calendar, which may be one-time remmos or recurring remmos. Tutor bios include topics supported and score values. Members and donors can give thumbs up/down to their tutors and the topics taught by each tutor, and those thumbs up/down generate score values.

Progress Place

Progress Place is a clubhouse for consumer/survivors located in Toronto, Canada. They will be approached after the website is up and running, and with the permission of Progress Place, its members will be recruited to beta test the website (class = mental health). The founder of RemmoSpace was an active member of Progress Place between 2011 and 2014.

Classes

dummy

Subdomain / Description

  1. psych - mental health
  2. medic - physical health
  3. elder - elderly
  4. newcomer - immigrants
  5. drug - addictions
  6. sexwork - sex workers
  7. rape - sex victims
  8. partner - partner violence
  9. trans - transgendered
  10. queer - gay/lesbian/bisexual
  11. racial - racialized
  12. native - indigenous
  13. lowiq - intellectual disability
  14. excon - ex-convicts
  15. street - homeless
  16. pover - living in poverty

Math Board

All body text rendered to the math board (used for teaching math) is in a mono-spaced, typewriter-style font. The math board is a desktop app written in Java. Every character takes up 2 square cells: an upper cell and a lower cell. Superscripts and subscripts are handled by employing a vertical offset of one square cell. Header text is also mono-spaced, and each character takes up 2 oversized square cells. The math board incorporates a scripting language called RemmoScript. All math lessons are written in RemmoScript by volunteer coders. Volunteer authors (who need not know programming) create math problems embedded in a RemmoScript script using "fill in the blanks".

Additional Formatting

The grid of characters can be subdivided into panels, which can themselves be subdivided into more panels, and so on. Any panel can contain zero or more text boxes, which may overlap each other. Vertical grid lines each take up one square cell per row of square cells. Horizontal grid lines are displayed in the same pixel row as underscore characters. Any row of square cells containing a horizontal grid line which is 2 pixels wide is taller by exactly one pixel. The following bracket characters: ( ) [ ] { } can be oriented vertically or horizontally, taking up a single column or row of at least 2 square cells, respectively. Widgets such as check boxes, radio buttons, and combo box arrows take up 4 square cells (2 by 2). Images, animations, and diagrams are contained in canvas objects, which can appear anywhere panels can appear.

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