[Web Comm] content creation restart

[Jason Birch]

Hi Jody,

Bootstrapping is hard.

I agree that technology-related documents for new users are important,
though I think that they target a different kind of user than the "Why"
documents (technical vs management).  I don't think that the current
approach is wrong, it's just not complete.  The "How can I Help" may not
be a priority for the users, but it was a quick win, and important to
the organisation; we need more depth in volunteerism, especially in
areas that aren't sexy or cool :)  

Unfortunately, I don't consider myself qualified to generate the new
user documentation; I'm actually still in that boat of trying to figure
interrelations out myself.  I volunteer to beta test any docs you (or
others) come up with though :)  The documentat that Paul S started on
the wiki is a good starting point for web mapping.  Perhaps we should
have one of these "Starting Out With" documents for each product type
 "Web Mapping Servers"
 "Web Mapping Clients"
 "Desktop GIS"
 "Geospatial Toolkits"

I'm not sure if GeoData and Education would be better in this category
or in a "Resources" category.

As far as branding goes, I believe that VisCom has an RFP for a graphics
design company to come up with some logo, type, and colour guidelines
for our visual identity, and that they are close letting a contract.  We
should be able to leverage the results of this for site styling
guidelines as well.  At the same time, Fred Warnock has been working on
a new site design template (though I haven't heard from him for a
while).

Jason

-----Original Message-----
From: Jody Garnett [mailto:jgarnett at refractions.net] 
Sent: Monday, October 02, 2006 11:23
To: dev at webcommittee.osgeo.org
Subject: [Web Comm] content creation restart

Hi Everyone,

I have been quiet for a couple months but thought I should check back to
see how things are going (and if now is a useful time for more
involvement).

Under current work I see several headings under develop content:
- Why Open Source GeoSpatial, How can I help, Who is OSGeo, What is
OSGeo.

I think we have the wrong approach here, witness the recent email from
Mr Lee McKusick asking for an Overview page (none of his questions
aligned with the content listed in the wiki).

I would like us to consider the "prototype" users defined earlier (are
we happy with them?) and use this to prioritize content generation. Hint
how can I help is a page that benefits *us*, in terms of priorities we
have a lot of work to do before we consider ourselves as a web site
user.

On a related note, something that can benifit me is defining a "style" 
for OSGeo, we now have a logo (and colour swatches? fonts?). Is there
anything else that should be considered part of the OSGeo "website"
brand?

Some suggestions:
- consistent logo location
- consistent link "returning" web users to the OSGeo website

I see working on style is delayed while for tech infrastructure, can we
try and do things the other way around? Define our style elements from a
branding perspective - it may teach us something of use when looking at
tech infrastructure.

Cheers,
Jody

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