Chat component MVP

[chris-huggins]

From shared definition with Hindawi defined during PubSweet meeting:

"Chat": What do we mean?

“A communication tool to start conversations with any “non-author” user stored within the context of a submission, so that staff, editors etc. can discuss the submission at any time or bring in others to consult or advise.”

User needs:

For eLife we've identified a need for a chat type interface for consultation sessions during Initial Submissions where Senior Editors can consult with BREs, staff, Deputy Editors etc. to help them make an initial decision on the submission. Then we will likely need to build on this for more formal consultation during peer review, but this requires more definition.

Before this point we are looking to build an MVP version of the chat component for staff to test some of these features during initial quality control checks. The hypothesis being that it would be useful for staff performing QC to consult with other staff during the QC process e.g. to make a decision on whether something can be updated or whether it needs to go back to the author.

Where it fits in priorities is complex... it is not high priority for quality checks but we would like to have some staff-to-staff conversations to test the feature before we introduce it for Deputy Editors to use and involve other Editors. If at all. Also needs decision on how/if we can plan to work on this in parallel with Hindawi.

Basic features of the MVP:

• Open the chat feature “side column” and start a new conversation
• Select one or more people to join
• Write a message in the conversation
• All other members of the conversation will receive a notification
• Notification settings will determine if they also receive an email
• Any member of the conversation can open the “notifications” list from their dashboard
• A link to the message is shown in an “unread” state
• Show who the message is from, at least the start of the message text and some information about the submission
• Open the link to view the submission with the chat column/panel open showing the unread message
• Each message shows the name of the person that wrote it, the date and time.
• Each conversation shows the members of the conversation, and can link/expose each person’s details e.g. role and subject expertise
• Reply by writing in the empty text editor -All other conversation members are notified when sent

Also dependent on other features:

• [ ] Messages area on the dashboard
• [ ] Notification/alert system in back-end
• [ ] User profiles etc.

[chris-huggins]

Some early mockups - still needs prototyping:

Conversation list:

Dashboard inbox:

Message view with new message indicator: