[Actionchix] Meta: need for wiki

Selbak, Rolla N rolla.n.selbak at intel.com
Fri Aug 24 18:16:28 UTC 2007


>-----Original Message-----
>From: actionchix-bounces at linuxchix.org 
>[mailto:actionchix-bounces at linuxchix.org] On Behalf Of Strata R Chalup
>Sent: Friday, August 24, 2007 9:42 AM
>To: actionchix at linuxchix.org
>Subject: [Actionchix] Meta: need for wiki
>
>
>>Terri Oda wrote:
>>> That said, do we need a wiki?  We've got a pretty decent content  
>>> management system in Drupal, so if you can use that, it'd 
>save some  
>>> admin time, and people wouldn't have to remember more passwords.  
>
>Brenda wrote:
>>Drupal has various wiki modules ...  I'm not sure why a wiki is
>> necessary, though.
>
>Good catch on using a built-in module to leverage the existing 
>Drupal authentication.  
>
>Unless the Drupal system makes authoring as painless as a 
>wiki, there is value in using a wiki or wiki module to lower 
>the barrier to entry for creating and maintaining content.  
>
>I've found that even one extra screen to plow through to edit 
>stuff can be too many.  It's a real blessing to just add a 
>WikiPage as you create content, and not have to figure out 
>what CMS category it belongs in to figure out which facility 
>to use to add it. That latter being why I eventually gave up 
>on using the Slash CMS engine after one was finally set up for 
>sagewire.sage.org.  
>
>Content could be created and updated in the wiki portion, and 
>as things mature (finalized articles, FAQ revisions, etc) they 
>could be promoted or percolated up to a primary CMS item, 
>leaving the wiki item as the equivalent of 'active development'.
>
>I'm interested in other folks' opinions, just sharing my own.  
>Precautionary note as sometimes my writing style comes across 
>as didactic or as if I'm trying to make rules for people.  
>Trying to fix, but low on brain cells this week due to illness.
>
>best,
>SRC

I agree - a Wiki model, in my opinion, is very light-weight and simple
when it comes to content creation.  And I like the idea of promoting the
'final release' of things as a primary CMS item if needed.

Since this setup is going to be used for article submissions,
proof-reading/editing and approval, I believe a wiki is the simplist and
easiest way to go for both the submitters and the editors - also keeping
in mind that we want it to be easy for us and submitters when other
"non-LinuxChix" submit articles.

I certainly don't want to overwhelm the LinuxChix sysadmins with
unnecessary setups or tasks, so we can either:

(a)- try using the wiki module in the existing drupal setup and the
current sysadmins would oversee this as well.

(b)- install a separate wiki app (which we could vote on) and assign a
new sysadmin specifically for wikimag whose responsibilities and tasks
will oversee wikimag so the current sysadmins don't have to.

(c)- install a separate wiki app and the current sysadmins would oversee
this as well.


What do you think?

rs


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