Self-merge of #194 

Merged #193 

Changed the install instructions to reflect where the ci modules are located

merged #192 - api-update

Merged #191 - Instantiate parameter factories once

Merged #190 - Changed plugin ids for internal plugins to prevent conflicts.

Export pop_recursive

We need pop_recursive in the API. This PR exports it

Propagate data values in MCO events

Merged #183 - Added some documentation about the current design and future directions

Merged #188. Adds mock library for wfmanager GUI tests

Merged #282. Unicode check and porting to python3