06 · Roots: lists, stories and books

Underground, the roots of the baobabs touch. In Roots, saberes come together to tell something bigger.

What a root is

A root is a collection of saberes, in an order. The same saber can be in several roots — it doesn't move, the root only points to it. There are three formats:

The filter at the top of Roots separates them by format.

Creating a root

There are several ways:

• Roots → + new root;
• the + on the cover of any card in the Archive: add to root or start a new root with this saber;
• in the player: save this list as a root.

The root editor has four parts:

1. About the root — title (with Writing in), description, format, galaxy, territory;
2. Items — search for saberes on the side and add them; drag to change the order; add block adds a text of yours between the saberes (an introduction, a passage). Each item has shortcuts to open and edit the saber in a new tab;
3. Appearance — the root's colour, the presentation's rhythm, whether it shows images, what appears bigger;
4. More — copy or move the root, delete it.

For videos and audio you can use just an excerpt: in the player, mark the start and the end (the [ and ] keys), and the root plays only that piece.

The dynamic root

Instead of building the list by hand, a root can be a saved search. In the Items part of the editor, choose dynamic: saved search and say what goes in: words, tags (any or all), kind of saber, file type, territory, galaxy, from when to when, the order and how many.

Next to it you see, right away, what the search brings. Once saved, the root updates itself: a new saber tagged jongo joins the "All about jongo" root without anyone touching it. Each person sees the items they can read — the root does not open what is closed. The order comes from the search, but each item can still be adjusted (title, excerpts, which files play); the player, the presentation and the m3u link work the same.

To leave out a specific saber the search brings, use its ✕ in the list: it goes to left out of this root (and comes back with ↺). In Roots, the dynamic filter (the magnifier) shows only the roots that are saved searches. In the Archive grids, a root card shows in its corner the icon of its kind — list, story or book — and the yellow magnifier when it is dynamic.

Going back to a list I build freezes the current items: the root becomes an ordinary list, to arrange by hand.

The story

A root in story format appears as a timeline: each saber with its date, the text you wrote for it, the map if it has a place.

• play now — plays the audio and video in sequence, in the player;
• present — the story full screen, moving on by itself, with big images: good for projecting in a circle;
• m3u — the playlist link, to play on a community radio (AzuraCast or another player). Only what is public goes in; to play a restricted root (closed galaxy, saberes for readers only), create a link with a key there: it plays in VLC, on a phone or in AzuraCast with your read access, only that root's audio and video. Pick how long it lasts, copy it right away (the key is shown only once) and revoke it when no longer needed;
• edit — opens the root editor.

In each item's adjust, you can pick one of the images attached to the root itself (in More › attachments) to go with that item: it shows on the card and, in the presentation, over an audio or where there is no media.

The book

A root in book / course format has a cover, authorship, who it's for, level, duration and contents in parts.

• Start reading opens the first chapter;
• each chapter has the contents beside it, and Previous / Next at the bottom;
• the Languages row switches the language of the whole book;
• people who can edit see Edit chapter (and the ✎ in the contents): the editor opens and, on saving, comes back to the chapter.

A book's chapters are articles, but they do not appear loose in the Archive or on the home page: they stay inside the book. Search finds the chapters as usual.

The book you are reading is a Baobáxia book like this.

To talk about in the circle

• Which story of the community could become a root? Which saberes already exist to tell it, and which still need recording?
• Which knowledge of the community could become a book, chapter by chapter?