Hi,
Here are my ideas for improving **the content inside** the
Wiki. (In other words, this email is NOT about merging the web site
and the wiki. I see that as a separate discussion.)
There are 8 items in the list. Nick Matteo recommended that I
share my ideas with the devel list, which seemed like a good idea.
Step 1) Identify user groups.
Different types of users will want different information from the
Wiki. I see 4 different types of users. There may be more.
* Potential users
* Beginning users
* Advanced users
* Gobo devel team
Potential users are people who are considering installing Gobo.
Beginning users are people who have decided to install Gobo and want
to learn how to use Gobo.
Advanced users are people who are comfortable using the default Gobo
install. Advanced users want to debug recipes, write new recipes and
submit detailed bug reports.
The gobo devel team is self-explanatory.
Step 2) Define the goal of the Wiki.
As I see it, the goal of the Wiki is to:
a) help potential users efficiently decide whether or not to install
Gobo
b) help begining users efficiently become advanced users
c) help advanced users improve Gobo (via bug reports and recipe
submissions) and customize Gobo to their specific needs
d) allow the devel team to focus on development rather than support,
and serve as a reference for how things should work
Some of these goals overlap with the web site, which is why I am
interested in creating a consistent user experience across the two of
them.
Step 3) Identify content categories.
There are currently distinct content categories in the Wiki. However,
they are not explicitly separated or labeled as such at present. Some
separation is implied based on the layout of the tables of contents
and other navigation-centric pages.
As I see it, the content categories, ordered from most pages to least
are:
Pages Category
97 Reference pages
45 Handbook pages
37 Trash pages (many already deleted by Nick)
25 Howtos
22 Discussions
16 Users pages (some deleted by Nick)
15 Community pages
8 Archive pages (of historic interest)
7 Spam pages (possibly now deleted by Nick)
6 "WikiTeam pages" that discuss wiki policies, goals
5 "About Gobo" pages
5 Platform specific pages
5 Redirect pages
3 ??? (I cannot tell what these 3 pages are.)
2 Floater pages that need to be merged with the pages they support
Step 4) Match content categories with user groups.
Beginning users need documentation that provides reasonably complete
context. Advanced users need much less context. The style of and
amount of context provided by each page must match the needs of the
target users of that page.
The following sections should target potential users:
About Gobo
Community
(and to a lessor extent:)
Platform specific pages (does Gobo work on my platform?)
Handbook
The following sections should target beginning users:
Handbook
Platform specific pages
All other sections should target advanced users and the devel group.
Step 5) Impose category framework
My plan is to explicitly categorize every page in the Wiki into the
following MediaWiki Category hierachy (in alphabetical order):
About Gobo (currently 5 pagse)
Community (15)
|
+--> Discussions (22)
|
+--> Roadmaps (?, currently mixed in with Community)
|
+--> WikiTeam (22)
|
+--> Redirects (5)
|
+--> Maintenance (0)
Documentation (0)
|
+--> Handbook (45)
|
+--> Howtos (25)
|
+--> Platforms (5)
|
+--> Reference (97)
Trash (was 37, currently ?)
|
+--> Spam (was 7, currently ?)
Step 6) Write and enforce WikiTeam policy guidlines.
The guidelines will be very similar to the contents of this email.
They will tell content contibutors and volunteer members of the
WikiTeam how the Wiki should work: that pages must belong to
categories, that the style and content of pages must target the
appropriate user group, etc.
The goal of the policies to allow everyone to move the Wiki in the
same direction, and to make that direction readily apparent.
Step 7) Implement maintenence tracking techniques
In the Community->WikiTeam->Mainetance category, create the following
pages:
Last_Reviewed_<month>_<year>
Each page in the wiki will link to the appropriate "Last_Reviewed_..."
page.
For example:
This page [[Last Reviewed March 2007]] by mpb.
Or:
This page [[Last Reviewed March 2007]] at Scripts version 2.6.2 by mpb.
This will allow tracking (via back-links) of when pages were last
reviewed, and will allow older pages to be reviewed and updated first.
Create a Todo page. Any page that needs work done should link to the
Todo page. This will make it easy (again via back-links) to see how
many pages across the whole Wiki need work done.
These tracking techniques will also allow multiple volunteers to cooperate
indepenently.
Step 8) Streamline Wiki navigation so that it targets beginning users.
Among other changes, this may involve merging some handbook pages
together to make navigation for beginning users more linear. Entry
pages and table of contents pages will also be streamlined so the
focus on beginning users needs.
(End of 8 proposed steps.)
As always, comments and suggestions are welcome. I'd like to get
feedback before investing serious time in editing the wiki.
Thanks!
-mpb
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