[Textop] Textop wiki set up

[Larry Sanger]

I'd like to address something that Howard Burrows proposes on the wiki,
here:

http://tinyurl.com/r2mqy

He proposes that we use the wiki (and the main page of the wiki in
particular) to organize a whole set of collaboratively-developed pages
covering the pilot project(s), general discussion of Textop, alternative
proposals, funding strategies, and software.

Movement in this general direction--putting proposals, policy documents,
etc., on the wiki--is tantamount to moving the contents of textop.org
onto the wiki.  I'm not categorically opposed to this, but it makes me
nervous, for a couple of reasons.

First, at the start of any project there needs to be a clear core
understanding of "what we're going to do."  If essential components of
the project are left up for active, on-the-fly negotiation--as opposed
to the form of proposals and counter-proposals considered one after
another--the result can be a lot of frustrated people and paralysis.

Putting essential project documents on the wiki, *before* there is
general acceptance among a core group of participants, would have the
effect of a declaration, "What we as a group is entirely up for
negotiation."  But that just isn't the case: Textop as a project has, to
my mind, *some* very carefully-defined parameters.  Virtually
everything's up for *discussion*, but discussion is different from
negotiation.

Matters are different, however, when we get into some details, such as
the plan for the pilot project(s).  That's why I've placed that plan on
the wiki; I'm very comfortable with people using the wiki to supplement,
change, etc., the pilot project plan, particularly after some
discussion.

Second, among Howard's proposals is that we use the wiki as a discussion
platform.  My own experience of using wikis for discussion, as opposed
to collaborative document development, has been decidedly negative.
Mailing lists are much better than wikis for purposes of discussion.  I
can explain in more detail if you like, but this is one thing I think we
discovered fairly early on with Wikipedia.

---

OK, all that being said, I am obviously (given what Part I of "Text and
Collaboration" says) strongly in favor of keeping the whole development
process as open as possible.  So here's what I suggest:

(1) If you want me to move a particular page to the wiki for general
editing, ask me, and I'll probably say "yes" if it covers matters of
detail.

(2) We can use the wiki to edit Collation Project rules and various
other things...I'll be moving certain documents myself to the wiki when
it occurs to me and when I get a chance.

(3) If you want to make a rewrite of *any* document on textop.org, you
could always simply post your rewrite to this mailing list!  And then,
perhaps after discussion if necessary, I might replace the current
document with yours, or merge the two, etc.  Or, again, I might place
both the original and your version on the wiki for further refinement.
On the other hand, if you seem to be proposing something quite different
from what I've had in mind, then I might not do anything with it.  :-)

(4) Feel free to place alternate pilot project proposals on the wiki, if
they can be performed using the wiki, and if they are generally aimed in
the same direction as Textop.

Let's have some discussion of the above, and then I'll put some edited
version of it on the website (or the wiki!).

---

One last thing here, briefly: I'm thinking of having a discussion
schedule, complete with telecon or podcast, to cover many different
issues that we all just need to go over systematically.  For instance,
right now we're generally focused on governance...

--Larry

-----Original Message-----
From: textop-bounces at lists.dufoundation.org
[mailto:textop-bounces at lists.dufoundation.org] On Behalf Of Howard
Burrows
Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2006 12:59 PM
To: 'General Discussion List for the Text Outline Project'
Subject: Re: [Textop] Textop wiki set up


Ruth and I and one other anonymous party are participating on the textop
wiki.  The wiki allows room for CV materials and statements of interest,
as everyone gets their own public registration page.  So far most of the
discussion is focusing on how to use the wiki and can be found by
clicking the "discussion" tab attached to Larry's Main Page.

Howard Burrows


-----Original Message-----
From: textop-bounces at lists.dufoundation.org
[mailto:textop-bounces at lists.dufoundation.org] On Behalf Of Larry Sanger
Sent: May 27, 2006 Saturday 10:46 PM
To: textop at lists.dufoundation.org
Subject: [Textop] Textop wiki set up

http://www.textop.org/wiki

All,

I've set up MediaWiki in the Textop space; see above.  I've put up the
pilot project proposal on the main page, ready for you to edit (or
comment on,
here:
http://www.textop.org/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:Main_Page&action=edit).

I'll be getting caught up on textop mailing list mail soon...in the
meantime, the question foremost in my mind now is whether we ought to
try out a pilot project soon, as outlined above, or whether we should
(for some
reason) postpone the pilot project.

--Larry

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