Re: [LAD] linuxaudio.org

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Thorsten Wilms wrote:
> On Sat, 2008-10-25 at 11:40 +0200, Robin Gareus wrote:
>
>> Ivica Ico Bukvic wrote : "We need to start thinking about the function
>> of the management board. This aspect has been all but dead. How about we
>> announce restructuring of the board and go from there? My suggestion is
>> to retain the core of those of us who are most active and then add key
>> figures in the community who will be active contributors to our cause."
>>
>> No surprise there. Further discussion may or may not follow on
>> http://lists.linuxaudio.org/listinfo/consortium/ - and last but not least:
>
> Seems that belongs on the consortium list and shouldn't be on LAD and
> LAU!?

IMHO restructuring linuxaudio.org (not only the website) affects
linux-audio-users as well as anyone here, but you're right of course.
We'll add an open PR position to linuxaudio.org jobs listing.

(I did not include linux-audio-announce in the email. There will
separate announcements: pending how the wiki performs in beta-test and
Ico keeping up with updating the consortium site.)

>> * http://wiki.linuxaudio.org
>> open to public (openID/CAPTCHA)
>>
>> Everybody is welcome to use this wiki for gnu/Linux and FLOSS audio
>> related projects or communication. Feel free to ask for additional
>> permissions or plugins. - send your project application or suggestions
>> to LAD, start writing a wiki page about it or send a patch ;)
>
> Nice.
>
>
>> We would like to support maintained and moderated namespaces adopted by
>> members of the community; balancing http://linuxaudio.org/members in
>> favor of interest groups. We have neither intentions nor budget to take
>> on wiki.ubuntu.com or wikipedia. Commercial interest is tolerated.
>> Professional interest in linux-audio is more or less a prerequisite. The
>> usual exceptions apply for Music, Art, etc. see http://linuxaudio.org/policy
>
> I'm not sure what you are talking about here and highly suspect others
> will be even more puzzled. Balancing?

Well, we have lots of "members" - Half of which have their own
ALSA-settings or JACK-info page.

Generally open-source software is an extreme balance act between
communism and individual contributions. The linuxaudio website does not
reflect the community aspect. There is a long list of members and
(besides the mailing lists) little common representation.

People learn when writing pages, so we don't want to take away this
aspect by providing a central-authoritative source of information. Still
there's many common goals among the members. So the idea is to provide a
wiki-namespace grouped by task or interest, moderated by dedicated members.

We find the main cause of fragmentation (lad,lau,lac,portal,..) to be
the high setup-cost to contribute to existing websites.

> Regarding namespaces (nice example of coder speak not suitable for a
> general audience), I see it as a problem that linuxaudio.org web
> presence is so fractured already.

The idea is to reduce fragmentation, to move most content into a CMS
from where it can be cited, exported, put into context and eventually
consolidated.

As mentioned above, while the wiki is open to the public, there could
also be some /read-only/ wikipages (eg. a dedicated
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namespace ) where well known members or
editors can publish, summarize, copy&paste articles.

besides, LAUs are no general-audience, are we? ;)

>> ..and we're not going to stop there.
>>
>> Here's a quick overview of HTTP services, vhosts and tasks. Any comments
>> and suggestions are appreciated; as is help getting there:
>>
>> * http://lad.linuxaudio.org - will be consolidated into drupal
>> (www.linuxaudio.org) and wiki.linuxaudio.org. - Apart from the
>> http://lad.linuxaudio.org/events/ (lots of pictures and media) there's
>> only 16 HTML pages. - similarly lowlatency.linuxaudio.org should become
>> an entry-point to the wiki.
>>
>> * http://lad.linuxaudio.org/events/ should be merged with
>> http://lac.linuxaudio.org
>
> Consider conference.linuxaudio.org or conf.linuxaudio.org. Redundant
> redundancy department / cryptic abbrev. ;)

old legacy issue: Conference vs. Consortium came up with LAC around the
same time: the consotrium owns the www. website, lac. is the conference.

I'm all for moving it to conference.linuxaudio.org and we'll keep a 301
redirect from lac. (the domain was used by previous conferences) Well,
it is up to the next conference organizer(s) (or their poster-designer):
http://conference.linuxaudio.org vs
http://[www.]lac2009[.linuxaudio].org etc.

>> * http://portal.linuxaudio.org, http://linuxaudio.org,
>> http://lac.linuxaudio.org/
>> Drupal CMS is edited and maintained by the consortium.
>
> I actually think portal shouldn't exist. Should be just a list of links
> reachable from linuxaudio.org . Like it is, but the link name "Portal"
> doesn't cut it. Maybe "Ressources"?

IMHO these should be accessible from a 'top-menu' or banner on
www.linuxaudio.org (maybe other vhosts as well).

>> We're urgently looking for 2-5 Content Maintainers (and Guitarists) so
>> that some of us can take a holiday break.
>
> I suspect writing a long and partly confusing email while assuming
> everyone already knows what this is all about and what you want to
> accomplish is not the best way to invite contributors.

hehe, if I had the time I'd host a design contest; make an upload form
and write a proper announce email that will make it on slashdot at x-mas.

>> Besides in the longer term we're looking for volunteers to summarize or
>> comment on a LAD/LAU thread once in a while, and editors to write short
>> articles in the likes of kerneltrap.org.
>>
>>
>> * http://wiki.linuxaudio.org/ is actually the same as
>> http://apps.linuxaudio.org/wiki/ - vhosts will be merged, redirect..
>
> One of the URLs will be dropped? Which one? I though one is an open wiki
> for content that is not necessarily tied to single applications and the
> other a directory of linux audio applications?

Concept wise apps is a subset of the wiki. At the moment it's
implemented the other way around.

The idea here is to also reduce the multitude of vhosts on
linuxaudio.org - At some point both apps and wiki could move to
http://linuxaudio.org/wiki/ and the vhosts would remain entry-points for
backwards compatibility.

Addressing web-design and host-management I'm pretty much stepping
beyond my responsibilities. Nevertheless it has been neglected for too
long and lots of legacy keeps adding to the confusion.

BTW. LAD silently celebrated it's 10's birthday in September
http://lalists.stanford.edu/lad/1998/ (note the Finnish dates and wrong
ordering) - and linuxaudio.org will turn 5 on December 12 this year.

>> * http://lau.linuxaudio.org and http://quicktoots.linuxaudio.org/
>> probably remain as is. There are a lot of hidden resources there! -
>> Maybe some minor updates on the front-page. point to the wiki or portal.
>
> Ah yes, the fragmentation. _Hidden_ resources are great for Indiana
> Jones style explorers, I guess? ;)
> I would rather drop old material to have a chance of introducing
> something structured, where a newcomer would know where to start and had
> a chance of finding stuff without using a pit lamp.

Well, we won't delete anything ;) We can mark it as "outdated" (or move
it to legacy.linuxaudio.org) and encourage Mr Jones to tag/link
interesting resource there from the wiki. Content that's worth updating
can be refreshed or imported..

so long,
robin
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Received on Sat Oct 25 20:15:01 2008