[ComProj] Mixing Directories and Comms Tools

Sun Dec 16 20:05:11 UTC 2007

Sean,

I’m just watching the need for this become more obvious in a bunch of silos
– mainly unis. 
If you want to look at one attempt to do a global open content thing (for
courses) it’s here. HYPERLINK
"http://www.ocwconsortium.org/ocwcforum/"http://www.ocwconsortium.org/ocwcfo
rum/ You can view their forums, which don’t really work as they aren’t
(reasonably) intuitive in getting orientated like sitepoint.com’s (where old
threads are drawn to the top of page through new usage).

It’s the same for WMF projects. I collect mail for comproj, UK, and meta
lists in one folder to view the conversations on a time basis. One really
couldn’t say there’s much cross pollination across mail lists, except when
someone like Michael makes a point of working through each of them, and
replying to it’s vertical progress, often in a place where the linkage is
apparent. (thanks Mike, that’s (from what I’m reading into it is) terrific.
Wish I could read de, but I get the jist). IRC isn’t used a great deal as
timing across time zones is a challenge for all of us (do I need to tell
yu), while the idea of using virtual rooms, and leaving them “open” at times
is still a bit new (not only for me, but my geriatric peers).

I’ll also point to a conversation at wikieducator about this same subject. 
HYPERLINK
"http://wikieducator.org/Talk:Community_building_project"http://wikieducator
.org/Talk:Community_building_project

The common problem is not so much a lack of info (for volunteers or any
others). It’s just that it’s impossible to get orientated, find (or direct)
people from various remote groups doing similar things to a place, AT AROUND
the same time, and work through how to collaborate. E.g I see your attempts
at getting a 2009 UK Wikimania together, as a one off conference, and wonder
how many OCWC uni people are sitting in their silos, trying to figure out
how Wikipedia’s global framework might link (reference) to their
institutional courses, and how Wikimania might link to/complement their
annual conferences. BTW. I’ve been beating bushes, HYPERLINK
"http://labspace.open.ac.uk/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=231#p641"http://labspace
.open.ac.uk/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=231#p641

Wikipedia (and others) work because there’s not a huge amount to learn in
using the tool. One can learn by watching and thinking things through. You
can get orienated, by language, from the bottom up, through reading one
article of interest and just having a go. It needs to be the same with comms
tools. Any comms tool. If it’s a meta level then we’re talking about the
communications of various (specialist and project) groups. So unless this
one is going to try and direct (say) 200 new user :Users/min in 100
languages then I’d suggest we have to make the groups’ conversations a bit
more obvious than this. HYPERLINK
"http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo"http://lists.wikimedia.org/mail
man/listinfo Approachable is the word.

If just one email goes missing, as your last did to me, not only am I
disoriented but anyone else who (later) can work their way through the
horizontally challenged elists will get exhausted trying to get an idea on
what might be going on in the wider wiki world, & how the timing of one
project (or conference) is supposed to be relevant to (complement) another.

So No. No more guides. A forum is just something which picks a bunch of
email lists and makes obvious what’s going on across them. Aggregating them
means one sign On is sufficient. One user account is a way for a person to
keep their threads together across projects and (should something like
liquid threads be used), a conversation can find its “logical place” by
being moved. There is also some OS tool work going on in Labspace which will
enable a user, seeing someone else reading the same thread, with their green
messenger (MSG) light on, to click, chat or conference with peers. 

Enough. It’s the night before Christmas. If you view that Labspace Wikipedia
thread and see the icon I used, it’s a (The Far Side) Larsen. Father
Christmas has stepped on a mouse while delivering presents. Now you know why
nothing stirred, “not even a mouse”. I don’t want to be guilty of the same
thing. Have a good one. simon

Simon,

Thank you for your thoughts. I agree that participation in Wikimedia
still has a reasonably steep learning curve, and this is not a good
thing. However, we already have a large contributor base centered
around the means of communication we already use, that is mailing
lists and IRC channels, and thus I think that if we were to introduce
a board as you suggest it would split things and it would not end up
being used.

What would you say to better volunteer information? This is something
Sandy has been working on. A guide for Wikimeda volunteers in general,
regardless of project, is something that I think ComProj could work
on.

Sean

Perhaps some stimulations for you, what could be done... My interest is
promoting the (German) Wikiversity... Some of the materials and ideas could
be taken over by other projects, I hope.

HYPERLINK
"http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Communication_Projects_Group/Membership
"http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Communication_Projects_Group/Membership

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