Hello all -

as part of our discussions around the feature set of MediaWiki for educators which took place from April 11-13 in Vancouver, we realized that several groups & companies that are currently using MediaWiki (including some who were present) have identical needs. Sometimes, work is done in parallel and redundantly.

For example, Wikia has done work around WYSIWYG editing. WikiEducator has a strong need for it, and the folks at CK-12 are also investigating the possibilities. Should we launch a development effort together, it needs to be coordinated.

The wikitech-l and mediawiki-l lists are very busy with day-to-day work, so we felt it makes sense to have a focused place for coordination of "next generation" MediaWiki development projects, small and large, that (may) involve multiple partners. Hence, there is now a MediaWiki NG (next generation) mailing list. We can also use it to think about funding strategies, though the list archives are at this point public.

It is emphatically not a "blue sky" list for wild ideas; those belong on wikitech-l and Meta. It's about: We want feature set X - we are willing to contribute an amount/join a funding proposal/add a developer to a team working on it. It's about figuring out specs, timetables & roadmaps.

The list is at: http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-ng-l

Right now it's set to moderator approval for new subscription. If you want on, drop Brion a line about your organization & needs and how you could contribute to dev activities, and he'll add you to the list. If you're a dev who just wants to follow what's going on, provide advice & participate, you're also welcome of course. But I suggested making it initially mod-approved to ensure that people read a long email like this one that explains the purpose of the list, and that it remains focused on getting things done. ;-) It would be easy to confuse this with a "brainstorming list", which it is not.