docs: Add README with project explanation and background

1 files changed, 91 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/README.markdown b/README.markdown
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..e4e8809056c0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.markdown
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+# Gemma
+
+Gemma is a simple application to track *recurring* tasks, named after Gemma
+Hartley who [wrote an article][] about task distribution issues in households.
+
+## Background
+
+(Skip this if you just want the technical bits)
+
+Gemma's article launched a discussion in my friend circle about what causes an
+uneven distribution of household workload. I theorised that this is not so much
+a gender issue, but mostly a discoverability issue.
+
+Usually one person in a household is aware of what needs to be done, but in many
+cases the "overhead" of delegating the tasks would actually take more time than
+simply doing the task.
+
+I theorise further that the person (or people) who do a smaller share of the
+household work would often do the work if they had a convenient way to become
+aware of what needs to be done. Many times the "household manager" has the
+function of tracking non-obvious tasks like when bedsheets were last changed -
+shouldn't it be possible to actually distribute this information somehow?
+
+## The Project
+
+This project is an initial attempt at sketching out a little application that
+aids with reminding users of recurring tasks. Some basic ideas:
+
+* The system should be blame-free.
+* There should be as little usage overhead as possible so that people actually
+  do use it.
+* It should work mostly passively without much user interaction.
+
+I believe that the basic (*very* simple) idea behind Gemma solves these issues.
+Unfortunately my previous relationship fell apart before I actually got to test
+this out in a real-life situation involving multiple people, but feedback from
+other potential test subjects would be welcome! :)
+
+## Overview
+
+Gemma is a Common Lisp application in which a list of recurring tasks is
+declared, together with the *maximum interval* at which they should be completed
+(in days). Example:
+
+```lisp
+;; Bathroom tasks
+(deftask bathroom/wipe-mirror 7)
+(deftask bathroom/wipe-counter 7)
+
+;; Bedroom tasks
+(deftask bedroom/change-sheets 7)
+(deftask bedroom/vacuum 10)
+
+;; Kitchen tasks
+(deftask kitchen/trash 3)
+(deftask kitchen/wipe-counters 3)
+(deftask kitchen/vacuum 5 "Kitchen has more crumbs and such!")
+
+;; Entire place
+(deftask clean-windows 60)
+```
+
+These tasks are marked with their last completion time and tracked by Gemma. A
+simple Elm-based frontend application displays the tasks sorted by their
+"urgency" and features a button to mark a task as completed:
+
+![Gemma screenshot](http://i.imgur.com/n7FFMJH.png)
+
+Marking a task as completed resets its counter and moves it to the bottom of the
+task list.
+
+In theory this *should be it*, the frontend is made available to household
+members in some easily accessible place (e.g. an old phone glued to the fridge!)
+and people should attempt to develop a habit of checking what needs to be done
+occasionally.
+
+The "household manager" still exists as a role of the household because someone
+is entering the tasks into the application, but if my theory about people not
+actually being actively *unwilling* to do tasks is correct this could help a
+lot.
+
+## Usage
+
+(*Note*: Gemma is alpha software so the below is clearly not the final goal)
+
+Right now using this is non-trivial, but I'll eventually make a better
+distribution. Basically you need to know Common Lisp (in which case you'll know
+how to get the backend running) and have `elm-reactor` installed to run the
+development version of the frontend application.
+
+[wrote an article]: http://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/a12063822/emotional-labor-gender-equality/