[Fg-general] Wiki/Documentation course

[Luke Closs]

On Sun, Apr 26, 2009 at 12:20 PM, afsmith <adventurecomplete at gmail.com>wrote:

> Hello, fg-general...
>
> Several monthly meetings ago I at some point either agreed to write up
> a course outline for Wiki editing or to actually teach it  (I forget
> which) I'm feeling like I'd be willing to teach at this point, but I
> still don't have an outline.
>
> Here are two questions (and my thoughts):
> 1. What do you think a wiki class should look like?
> - There is already lots of documentation available for MediaWiki
> editing all over the net. I kind of feel that teaching the basics
> would be redundant.
> - On the other hand there may be many people who do not process online
> and primarily english tutorials well
> - It could simply be a question-answer session instead of a class
> - Ignoring the question of a dedicated "class" altogether, I could
> organize wiki sessions/sprints devoted to specific areas of
> documentation where newcomers learn while others work and ask
> questions.
>
> 2. Would people be willing to actually attend in person for this?
> - I could probably teach online, through IRC or something. People
> could attend through Free Geek public terminals. This would also allow
> it to be during the day.
> - Seems like it would requite a lot of discussion and a formal
> proposal, but I think it would be very cool if, during the middle of
> they day, maybe around lunchtime, regular volunteers had the
> opportunity to just join into a short tutorial
>
> Other input is welcome
>
>
> FYI, to elaborate on what kind of knowledge I bring to the table, I
> worked over the course of a year editing much poor, ad-hoc
> documentation for a company that used a wiki (specifically, MediaWiki)
> internally. I'm quite cognizant with regards to the kinds of issues
> that face a relatively large body of Wikified info on limited subjects
> (>4000 actual pages) especially with regards to organization,
> cleanliness and usability.
> I've never actually fully set up any wiki software, though if there is
> demand I'd be willing to learn it.



Sounds like a great idea.  I think the course should cover some wiki
philosophy and history, some examples of different wikis (eg: mediawiki,
pageoftext.com, twiki, ...) and then get people to make their first (and
second and third) edit.

If you are interested in helping, the Staff and HR need a wiki set up for
private collaboration.  (Specifically around HR and hiring, but I'm sure
there are other internal purposes.)  I'm not sure if mediawiki supports the
concept of different "workspaces" or "namespaces".  I'd also want it to be
HTTPS.  Perhaps this is out of the way of your offer, so please ignore. :)

Cheers,
Luke