DoView

We have had it reported that there are some problems with Citrix or remote desktop services installations of DoView 3.03. Please DO NOT upgrade to 3.03 if you are using  DoView in these environments. We believe that DoView 3.04 to be released within a month will fix these issues.

DoView produces cool web page versions of DoView models which can be put up on the web. This is how the DoView models have been put up on the OutcomesModels.org site. However, not everyone knows how to put files up on the web, or has a place to put them. There's now a cool solution to this problem using Dropbox. Dropbox is a cool free service which lets you put files into what looks like a normal subdirectory on your computer but which is one which can be shared by colleagues. If you don't have it now you should be using it for a range of purposes. However, one additional feature of Dropbox is that it lets you put up a DoView web page model which anyone can then look at over the internet. The great thing about DoView web page models is that when you put them up, if you like you can include a copy of the original file which created the web page model. This means that if people like your DoView model they can immediately download a copy of it and start editing it. This can be used to share bestpractice outcomes models (logic models, results roadmaps) amongst a large number of sites. For a discussion of how this can be used in international development (a maternal health program for example) see here. We have prepared a DoView 'How To' on how to put a DoView web page model up on the web using Dropbox. And by the way, Dropbox is free.

DoView 3.0 and DoView for Mac 3.0 have been released. Go to the Download page to download them. DoView 3.0. You can now interchange DoView files between Mac's and PC's; have better quality PDF's; use traffic lights for dashboarding; insert a generic resizable arrow; use watermark shapes (circles, triangles etc); delete links easier; use an additional color palette and custom colors; color text, borders and links; lock objects; make links different thicknesses; and export the contents of the Details Table to a CSV file for importing into Excel.

We have been hyper busy working on DoView Version 3.0 for PC and for the first time DoView 3.0 for Mac. We have been delayed due to wanting to ensure that models built in the PC version will be the same as models build in the Mac version and this has taken much longer than we initially thought. We are now close to a release of DoView 3.0 which contains a number of exciting new features requested by DoView users around the world. We will be letting you know more about the release soon. 

Work is progressing on the Mac version, it's currently the absolute top priority of the development team. We've an Alpha version up and running on the Mac. The key issue that we're working on is making sure that DoView models made on PC's and on Mac's will be able to be transferred between the two types of machines. So if you make your model on a Mac that you will be able to send it to someone using DoView on a PC. There are some technical issues in this particularly related to the way that Windows works - we think we are close to fixing these. This is why we've not yet given a release date for the new Mac version. We will keep you informed, sorry about this taking a while, we know there are a lot of you out there wanting the Mac version just as fast as we can get it to you. If you want to be updates as to when the Mac version is released please sign up for the DoView newsletter.  

DoView is being used in a forthcoming course run by Dr Paul Duignan on strategic planning. It's a three day workshop to be run in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) May 30 - June 1 2010 on public sector strategic planning. This will be teaching public sector managers and planners from countries in the region how to do strategic planning. It's being run by TCQ Triangle and will draw on cutting edge strategic planning approaches he's currently involved in using DoView with public sector organizations. The course will use DoView to create and work with visual strategic plans. More information on the public sector strategic planning workshop. 

We're working on new resources to put up on the site. We have just put up the first in a series of How-To Guides. The first one up, it's called What's a DoView Outcomes (Results) Model and Why Should I Use One? This has been developed in response to DoView enthusiasts wanting a simple couple of pages which explain to people what exactly a DoView outcomes model is and why they all be using them for their strategic planning, monitoring, evaluation and other project and organizational work.

DoView 2.05 has been released. This is a technical update which fixes two issues. If you are currently running versions lower than 2.05 you should update to make sure you have the latest version of DoView. Updating is easy, you just uninstall DoView and then reinstall the new version by downloading it from the web. DoView will remember your registration serial number so you do not need to re-enter it. To find out how to update look here. Version 2.05 fixes an issue with the way that the serial number registration system worked which caused some problems in a few instances on particular types of networks which meant that DoView would not run. It also fixes an issue where DoView would not be able to open some DoView file when using non-English characters. 

Dr Paul Duignan, an evaluation expert involved in the development of DoView, was an invited speaker on a panel on program logic modeling at the 2009 Australasian Evaluation Society Conference in Canberra. Logic modeling is the technical term evaluators use to describe the type of outcomes models that can be build in DoView. One of the points that Dr Duignan made on the panel was that in the history of logic modeling within the evaluation profession, there has not been much of an emphasis on looking at logic modeling as a computer visualization problem. Many, in fact probably the vast majority of, logic models being drawn by evaluators are still drawn as single page diagrams. Trying to cram all of the steps and outcomes which you think are occurring within a program onto a single page is a recipe for logic models which don't capture the complexity of what is happening in a program. Such models are likely to reflect badly on the whole enterprise of logic modeling. DoView has been designed from an explicit computer visualization point of view to help people draw logic models in real-time in front of an audience. This requires that the software have certain characteristics (very simple to use; models structured in a way that they can always be read by those viewing them on a dataprojector; a lmited number of formating options so that the person drawing the model does not have to make too many on-the-fly decisions). Further examples of the use of DoView for program logic modeling were presented by another member of the panel. An article by Dr Duignan on the evolution of the use of modeling in the evaluation profession can be read here. 

Version 2.0 has now been released. It is a no-cost update which produces models that look better, supports left-to-right models, allows links out to local files on your computer, makes cross-page linking between steps much easier, allows many options for larger-sized pages right up to large poster sized pages. Download a trial copy now and have a look at the quick-start video tour. If you are updating from an earlier version of DoView so do here.