[OSGeo-Conf] [Foss4g2013] Should we write a FOSS4G Cookbook?

[Cameron Shorter]

On 08/09/12 05:05, Jachym Cepicky wrote:
> Dne 7.9.2012 14:58, Jo Cook napsal(a):
>> >Dear All,
>> >
>> >[ .... ]
>> >It seems as if the best
>> >approach might be to put a basic structure up on the wiki, then we can all
>> >add to it as we think of something appropriate. How does that sound?
> I would fully agree with that -
>
> J
>

Agreed. Lets build as we go.
I do acknowledge the extra load that the UK LOC will have running FOSS4G 
2013, and I'm sure that the external offers of help from Jachym, Peter 
and others will be key to spreading the load and making the cookbook 
successful.
I would also encourage the FOSS4G 2013 committee to keep a running 
Lessons Learned wiki as well (which is separate to the Cookbook). It is 
easy to write a Lesson Learned as you experience it, but much harder to 
go back and try to remember all the details.

As David and Peter note:
I think the success and also the challenge for the Cookbook will be to 
keep it concise.
This means we should reference details from prior Lessons Learned, but 
not include the details.
It also means we will need to be ruthless in our continuous editing of 
the document, ensuring that we remove old content. (This is a recipe for 
writers block, as authors often are reluctant to cut apart or remove a 
prior author's efforts).


On 07/09/12 23:30, David William Bitner wrote:
> I think you are right on target with what I would like to see. A 
> voluminous guide with samples of this and that from every conference 
> would get very hard to navigate. A checklist and easy things like that 
> (having the template budget started in Victoria was great for us) 
> would be a wonderful tool to have.
>
> To be honest a lot of the talk about archiving conversations and 
> drafts of every document or design that goes through the LOC makes me 
> very hesitant. I certainly agree to tracking those things, but as a 
> volunteer, that is certainly not at the top of my priorities and if I 
> can't find another volunteer who can help with that (which is not 
> exactly the kind of task that others usually stand up to take on) then 
> it is likely not to get done at all since that kind of thing tends to 
> fall on the lap of the person who is overstretching anyway. If we can 
> focus the things that we try to pull together centrally to the things 
> that really are more broadly useful to others we might be able to have 
> better follow through.
>
> David
>
> On Fri, Sep 7, 2012 at 8:20 AM, Peter Batty <peter at ebatty.com 
> <mailto:peter at ebatty.com>> wrote:
>
>     Cameron, as you know I am supportive of having a cookbook which as
>     others have said is a guide not a rulebook. In doing FOSS4G
>     Denver, despite the lessons learned wikis and plenty of good
>     advice from various members of the community, there were quite a
>     few occasions where we (the LOC) missed something or misunderstood
>     something, and we felt we were reinventing a lot of things. I
>     think more of a checklist would be very helpful - things that
>     should be done when you're starting up the effort, what should be
>     done a year out, six months out, etc (and again there will be
>     variations of course, including the event size - the main global
>     event is generally planned further in advance than smaller
>     regional events, etc).
>
>     So count me in for contributing.
>

-- 
Cameron Shorter
Geospatial Solutions Manager
Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254

Think Globally, Fix Locally
Geospatial Solutions enhanced with Open Standards and Open Source
http://www.lisasoft.com

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