[Qgis-community-team] Re: [Qgis-user] Wiki migration is done

Otto Dassau otto.dassau at gmx.de
Mon Aug 3 06:49:56 EDT 2009


Hi, 

as proposed below, I started to make the "Users Corner" an extra and
more important part of the wiki. Added a table on top of the PSC roles and also
added an extra link to the left wiki menu.

I think it would make sense to (re)structure the already existing content of
the users corner and then add the most important headlines as links to the main
page as we have done for the PSC roles.

Any discussions how to structure the "new" area and contributions are welcome.

Regards,
 Otto

On Sun, 19 Jul 2009 12:31:05 +0200
Lars Stöwesand <lars at sai.uni-heidelberg.de> wrote:

> Hi all.
> 
> Yes, it was quite interesting to follow your discussion, because it  
> pointed out the different views and expectations people have with the  
> term "user's corner" (UC). And this is exactly the trouble I still  
> have with it. We decided to publish different contents on different  
> places:
> ------------------------------------------
> - interactive content should go to the wiki (e.g. coordination of  
> conferences,  collecting videos, links and other material)
> - News, tutorials and articles should go into the blog (e.g. Gary's  
> FOOS4G article, Release notes, the tutorials, ...)
> - General, first information about the community to whet user's  
> appetite :) (incl. a few nice pictures) could go on the website, but  
> limited, because the aim is to keep the web presence clear.
> -------------------------------------------
> that did not leave much for the UC. So, we collected everything here  
> which had not been published elsewhere (like support for older OS or  
> examples/tutorials in other languages than English). Some weeks ago I  
> had already put some thoughts about that in "UserCornerTasks".
> 
> I try to summarise now the different "imaginations" about UC derived  
> form your emails (correct me if I am wrong) and add some thoughts:
> 
> A: UC is a page on the website, which gives information to the user  
> where to find documentation (manuals/wiki), examples and tutorials  
> (data/blog), help (wiki/blog/forum), and maybe where to contribute  
> (wiki, forum, or even donate). This more or less clearly separated  
> from development and aims at the end user.
> 
> B: UC is part of the wiki but maybe should be the front page giving  
> the same information as in A, but is not separated from development  
> and community activities (like the GRASS wiki front page)
> 
> C: UC is part of the wiki but maybe should be separated from the  
> "Community section" - because it does not fit here!  The community  
> section holds information about and is a platform for the people  
> (community team) involved in the QGIS project. Communication,  
> transparency, organising and planing the next tasks, and of course  
> "getting involved" are the important words for this section. UC can  
> become the part of the wiki where users write something or publish  
> their works --> see ESRI homepage (user success stories)
> 
> Maybe there are more suggestions, please write them to me.
> First of all, we should make a decision what would be most intuitive  
> to the user than we can decide about the content of UC.
> 
> Time is not on my side at the moment. I will be away for two months on  
> business trip from end of July...
> 
> Thanks for your emails!
> Cheers,
> Lars
> 
> 
> 
> Am 19.07.2009 um 10:06 schrieb Otto Dassau:
> 
> > Hi,
> >
> > to get things started, maybe Lars Stöwesand, who takes care for the  
> > Users and
> > Conference Corner can help here as well with some ideas how to  
> > improve the wiki
> > for users?
> >
> > @Lars: Would you be able and interested to organize and bring  
> > forward the
> > discussion for a more user oriented "QGIS User's Corner" for the  
> > wiki? Maybe you
> > could build a (small) group of interested people and make a list/ 
> > plan what we
> > would need?
> >
> > Regards,
> > Otto
> >
> > On Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:30:48 +0200
> > Otto Dassau <otto.dassau at gmx.de> wrote:
> >
> >> On Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:25:51 +0300
> >> Micha Silver <micha at arava.co.il> wrote:
> >>
> >>> Otto Dassau wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> Hi Agustin,
> >>>>
> >>>> On Wed, 15 Jul 2009 08:55:32 +0200
> >>>> Agustin Lobo <alobolistas at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>> Otto,
> >>>>>
> >>>>> When you make a web page the question is not whether a given  
> >>>>> feature is
> >>>>> odd or not to the author and/or developers but whether it make  
> >>>>> sense for
> >>>>> the potential user. And it's
> >>>>> very clear that a tab in the main menu named "User's corner"  
> >>>>> would be
> >>>>> much more straightforward for a user than going through a "Wiki"  
> >>>>> tab
> >>>>> that is even not in the Main menu.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> This is probably not important at this moment
> >>>>> as the info currently in the User's corner is not that critical,  
> >>>>> but I
> >>>>> think
> >>>>> that the User's corner should become an important part of the QGIS
> > support
> >>>>> in the future. I'm trying to re-organize my schedule so that I  
> >>>>> have time
> >>>>> to provide input to that section in the coming months, but this  
> >>>>> is going
> >>>>> to depend on whether I keep using qgis for my course next fall  
> >>>>> or switch
> > to
> >>>>> gvsig. If I keep qgis for my own projects only (this is out of  
> >>>>> question,
> >>>>> as manageR
> >>>>> is an invaluable tool for me), I'd be too taken to provide input  
> >>>>> for the
> >>>>> User's Corner.
> >>>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> I didn't want to bother you - hope I didn't :)! If more people  
> >>>> think we
> > need
> >>>> an extra main menu link at qgis.org to the "User's corner" in the  
> >>>> wiki
> >>>> apart
> >>>> from the general wiki link on top of the webpage) we can do that,  
> >>>> but for
> > me
> >>>> it
> >>>> doesn't make sense, at least not for the moment. It might change  
> >>>> with more
> >>>> input and relevance, but in my opinion the current "User's  
> >>>> corner" is not
> >>>> more
> >>>> important or relevant than many other wiki pages or areas and  
> >>>> therefore I
> >>>> don't
> >>>> think we should add a direct link to the main menu. But again, if  
> >>>> more
> >>>> people
> >>>> think we need it, we can this, of course.
> >>>>
> >>>> But, I also think that we could provide better information about  
> >>>> the other
> >>>> QGIS web platforms in general. This is missing so far. Therefore,  
> >>>> as I
> > wrote
> >>>> below, I would suggest to improve the community page and add  
> >>>> information
> >>>> about
> >>>> the available platforms (wiki, blog, ...) maybe with a special  
> >>>> note about
> >>>> the
> >>>> "User's corner" here: http://www.qgis.org/en/community.html
> >>>>
> >>>> What about this idea? And thanks again, that you like the new wiki!
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>> Hi Otto:
> >>>
> >>> When I first look over the wiki  Main Page, it feels like it's  
> >>> intended
> >>> mostly (only?) for QGIS developers and project committees, not so  
> >>> much
> >>> for users.
> >>
> >> the QGIS wiki is (meant to be) for both: users and developers of  
> >> course. At
> >> the moment it is organized according to the PSC roles with the  
> >> intention, that
> >> people dedicated to the QGIS project can work together as teams to  
> >> manage,
> >> organize and contribute to certain project tasks (fields).
> >>
> >>> There's no obvious way to get to the new manual, for example.
> >>> No link to documentation (as there *is* on the main QGIS site). No  
> >>> link
> >>> to mailing lists or download...
> >>
> >> yes, you are right. The wiki currently is apart from some  
> >> exceptions not
> >> the place, where people (can) go to, if they simply want to get  
> >> ready to use
> >> documentation or ready to install software. And the wiki also does  
> >> not provide
> >> at a prominent place basic information like what mailing lists  
> >> exist, how can
> >> I sponsor or what features does QGIS provide in general.
> >>
> >> Those basic information are concentrated on the QGIS webpage, with  
> >> the
> > intention
> >> that qgis.org should be the first and central platform for people  
> >> interested
> > in
> >> QGIS. This was at least how we tried to organize and distinguish  
> >> between the
> >> content of these two platforms (web and wiki) so far.
> >>
> >>> Compare, for example, the GRASS wiki Main Page. On the left menu  
> >>> is a
> >>> link straight to Documentation. The GRASS wiki is titled "Welcome  
> >>> to the
> >>> GRASS GIS *Users* Wiki". It's obvious the GRASS wiki is aimed at end
> >>> users. The QGIS wiki so far doesn't give that impression.
> >>
> >> again you are right :). The grass wiki and webpage is different.  
> >> There is no
> >> separation according to the available information. For GRASS  
> >> everything is
> >> linked between both platforms. It does not matter, if you go to the  
> >> GRASS
> >> webpage or the wiki - all information is available and linked. This  
> >> is not
> >> the case for QGIS.
> >>
> >> The QGIS wiki does not yet provide a *user* friendly platform and  
> >> it is not
> >> explicitly designed for users. I agree that this would be better  
> >> and desired.
> >>
> >> I think on the one hand the PSC role sections are ok and important  
> >> for
> >> organising the project, but on the other hand we could discuss how  
> >> the current
> >> QGIS wiki structure can be improved to be more attractive for  
> >> users. For
> >> example, we could make the "Users Corner" an extra and more  
> >> important part of
> >> the wiki, same level as the PSC roles and start to give this area a  
> >> user
> >> friendly structure... Maybe we go on and collect more ideas.
> >>
> >> thanks for your ideas
> >> Otto
> >>
> >>> Just my $0.02 worth.
> >>>
> >>> Best Regards,
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Qgis-community-team mailing list
> >> Qgis-community-team at lists.osgeo.org
> >> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-community-team
> >
> 
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