[Labs-l] How is Labs working out for you?

[Stephen E Slevinski Jr]

On 9/27/13 8:56 AM, Sumana Harihareswara wrote:
> Stephen, I just wanted to check in -- how is Tool Labs and Wikimedia
> Labs in general for you? I'd love to hear from you about good bits and
> not-so-great bits -- please reply to labs-l at lists.wikimedia.org so
> everyone can hear. Thanks!

Hi Sumana,

I have heard a lot about Tool Labs but do not use their infrastructure.  
I follow their reports on the labs-l list.  In the future, I may want to 
move one of my instances to the Tool Labs.  If I ever have to rebuild 
the server, I'll consider it.

I joined Labs early and SignWriting has an open ended project on 
Wikimedia Labs. SignWriting is a universal script for all sign 
languages.  Before the incubator could support sign languages, Labs made 
the tools available so that we could develop and mature.
https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/Nova_Resource:Signwriting

The support of Wikimedia Labs has been great for SignWriting.  There 
have been a few hick-ups and frustrations, but I love Labs and really 
appreciate the community and the foundation support.

Two instances are currently running as part of the SignWriting 
infrastructure.  I monitor them daily, but I don't spend a lot of time 
administering them.  I am happy that they keep running.  I accept that 
either instance could disappear or become corrupted. I have recovery 
plans for each instance.

The first instance is the general purpose SignWriting Icon Server. This 
server is running software available on Github.  It serves the 
SignWriting images in SVG.  This service is needed until the TrueType 
font is perfected.  It additionally offers text processing and searching 
unique for SignWriting.
http://swis.wmflabs.org

This instance is critical for the open test wiki of American Sign 
Language on Incubator and can be used for any sign language project.
http://incubator.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wp/ase




The second instance on Wikimedia Labs is the ASL Wikipedia Project demo 
with 22 articles running a custom MediaWiki install.  I have automated 
backups so I can rebuild the server if necessary.  Once we move the 
articles from this instance to Incubator, we will no longer need this 
instance and the url will function as a redirect to the Incubator.
http://ase.wikipedia.wmflabs.org

In general, Labs and the people involved provide the support I need.  
The online tools, chat, and email discussion is always interesting and 
productive.

The not-so-great parts? Nothing really.  I think I have reasonable 
expectations and Labs provides an excellent service. Things break every 
once in a while.  Sometimes the fix is easy and other times it is more 
involved.  Over time, I've noticed the stability increase and the 
documentation expand.  Labs keeps getting better.

Regards,
?Steve
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/labs-l/attachments/20130927/2d621b62/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: ehdgdfia.png
Type: image/png
Size: 145391 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/labs-l/attachments/20130927/2d621b62/attachment-0001.png>