wiki will need help?

Post by **hugh** » January 5th, 2006, 12:09 pm

hi all,

we will have a wiki shortly, main use is how-to-guides etc. and it would be great to pour thru the forum and collect all the good tips and tricks and advice (audacity how-to; recording tips etc) and put them in the wiki ... any volunteers??

vee · Post by **vee** » January 5th, 2006, 12:24 pm

Sure shouldn't be a problem. It's been a little while since I worked with a wiki but it's like riding a bicycle

Gesine · Post by **Gesine** » January 5th, 2006, 12:38 pm

How do we all know we're not wikiing the same things? Should we all post our potential Wikis here to let everyone know? Or is there an easy way?

vee · Post by **vee** » January 5th, 2006, 12:53 pm

Well the idea of a wiki is that once a topic is posted anyone else with privledges could edit that post. So I guess the easiest way is us to divy up who will make create the first posting and then everyone else who is helping can edit it. The first posting can simply be a holder page like "How to use Audacity" then in the body a "place text here"

kayray · Post by **kayray** » January 5th, 2006, 1:03 pm

I have a feeling we should make Vee the Boss of the Wiki... any objections? It seems as if someone needs to take charge and say "let's do THIS" and, Vee, you seem to have a pretty good grip on things :)

If someone else already has/wants this job and I missed it, I apologize!

Kara

Gesine · Post by **Gesine** » January 5th, 2006, 1:13 pm

Cool. Vee - Wiki boss - that's just what I meant, that someone should do the topics.

This is going to be really good, and much more readable than having to plough through posts and posts. :)

Stephan · Post by **Stephan** » January 5th, 2006, 1:28 pm

I still don?t get wikis. How are decisions made?
How can someone dare to edit?

Someone writes and is proud about his writing and then someone decides he can do better and overwrites. Maybe he did better, maybe not.

Isnt it way too easy to offend people? (not that i would be...i can make my ego really small...but i imagine others, so i would never dare to edit.)

GordMackenzie · Post by **GordMackenzie** » January 5th, 2006, 2:19 pm

Stephan wrote:I still don?t get wikis. How are decisions made?
How can someone dare to edit?

Someone writes and is proud about his writing and then someone decides he can do better and overwrites. Maybe he did better, maybe not.

Isnt it way too easy to offend people? (not that i would be...i can make my ego really small...but i imagine others, so i would never dare to edit.)

The concept is that consensus rules, to a certain extent.

ALL changes to the wiki are logged, and it is a simple matter to "rollback" new edits. Yes, this can cause some "wars" as different editors fight over whose version to keep ... but those types of conflicts can happen in any collaborative project.

In general, however, this tends to happen less than you might think. Most people will only make minor changes or additions, and will not totally overwrite the work of a previous writer (as long as the content is at least accurate).

Like most things, you have to have faith that the majority of people have good intentions and only a small percentage are purposefully antagonistic or destructive.

raynr · Post by **raynr** » January 5th, 2006, 2:21 pm

I am willing to help, too.

My suggestion to quickly make how-to-guides is first to collect material and suggestions in sections and subsections e.g.

-recording
-- microphone
-- available software
-- using audacity
-- tips for noise-reduction
...

when we have collected some material we can divide the sections between us and everyone edits a section to bring it in a good form. Minor corrections or new ideas can be included easily after that.

I think that would be a good way to handle the wiki because everyone can add suggestions and there is no need to overwrite work of others (at least in the first place).

Rev. Steve · Post by **Rev. Steve** » January 5th, 2006, 2:28 pm

Like it says on the bottom of every wikipedia edit page:

?If you don't want your writing to be edited mercilessly or redistributed by others, do not submit it.?

I think a wiki is a great idea btw - the forums are getting to be a bit cumbersome for some info.

Stephan · Post by **Stephan** » January 5th, 2006, 10:09 pm

Don Norman?s tip for a good manual:

The manual should be activity-centered. Pick the most basic activities and explain how to accomplish them. Make the explanations short and simple, with illustrations. Save the detailed control-by-control and menu-item by menu-item explanations for the appendix. Remember: people do not want to read manuals — they want to do their activity. Let them get right to work, with minimum reading.

Today, all too often, manuals follow the “let's explain every knob and button and menu item in turn.” Yuck! Yes, I might then understand each control, but there is no understanding of how to accomplish anything. save this part of the explanation for the Appendix. The main manual must focus on complete, holistic, activities. Explanation should be presented when needed, and in context: not before it is needed, not after, and not out of context in some other location. If this means explaining the same operation several different times, so be it. Your users will thank you.

http://www.jnd.org/dn.pubs.html

kayray · Post by **kayray** » January 5th, 2006, 10:23 pm

That's _excellent_ advice, Stephan, thanks!

(although some rare, peculiar, nerdy people _do_ like to read manuals, heehee!)

Stephan · Post by **Stephan** » January 5th, 2006, 10:39 pm

Too bad for you - manuals are not in the public domain.

Post by **hugh** » January 6th, 2006, 7:13 am

here,s some info we should have there:

1. How-to-Record: Tech (mics, software etc)
(see raynr's post above)

2. Recoring techniques: the Art (talk slow etc; the what if I suck post)

3. LibriVox Process (solo, collective, short works)
-choosing books
-book coordinator (&responsibility)
-claiming chapters
-recording
-collecting chapters
-deadlines etc.
-uploading and cataloging (this does not need to be detailed, but people like to know how it works)

etc etc.

vee · Post by **vee** » January 6th, 2006, 8:04 am

Definitely the first topics or articles should be on process oriented how-to style. Things like microphones and equipment or software specific things can be separate articles which can be cross linked from the primary articles. That's kindof the nice benefit of a wiki in that related items can be easily linked to help out.

In addition to the topics that hugh listed probably we should write a section on how to post/edit in the wiki. This way we can come up with a standard look and feel, things like headers and summaries and the like.

edit - wiki boss - something about that sounds funny. I'm getting pictures of Marlon Brando stroking a cat in a dark room wearing a hawaiian shirt