Alfresco documentation: brainstorming about the LibreOffice docs team workflow

I think the process we choose should allow for and encourage, but not require, the steps or roles of reviewer, proofreader, etc even if we skip some steps (as indeed we do) or one person does several steps. I'll write more when I'm not on the phone.

Jean

Hi :slight_smile:
I often find it easier to go through doing 1 process at a time and then go through again for the other mission.  An odd note or 2 jic i don't spot something i may have noticed while my attention drifted from the mission at hand.  I'm not sure if you folks find the same.  I guess it's different for different people.
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

Hi Hazel,

Well, I am definitely not signing up to Twitter or Facebook. I have
better things to to with my time.

Twitter would be just part of a panoply of means of communication -
more "output only". Alerts (about stuff published, resources updated,
etc.) could be echoed to Twitter, and to RSS feeds, and to mailing
list(s), and to a blog, and to emails to individual recipients
(subscription being optional and manageable), etc., so that everyone
can receive the information via the channel that suits them, and to
give us means of communicating with the public and publicizing the
project.

Hi Klaus-Jürgen,

I like the idea of wiki functionality especially for translation. We on
German doku team tried to translate the documentation by wiki: Having the
original text in little bit by bit and translating and reviewing/discussing
that. At the end someone put it to one piece, complement screenshots etc.
and then get the document to reviewing as a whole.
It seems that these are more steps but then you can get much more
contributors even for little pieces.

I'll look further into other ways in which we might exploit wikis. For
instance, I'm wondering what possible means of communication there
might be with the TDF wiki for carrying across updates... Of course,
one would want to think about the question of pointless duplication of
resources... I'll investigate further.

Hi Jean,

I think the process we choose should allow for and encourage, but not require, the steps or roles of reviewer, proofreader, etc even if we skip some steps (as indeed we do) or one person does several steps. I'll write more when I'm not on the phone.

It would be really nice if we can arrive at a document that is as
brief as possible but that provides a clear and fairly comprehensive
specification of what the team needs/wants. Once this thread has gone
a bit further, I'll put some results to Jeff Potts and try and get
some input from him about it - including about possibilities we might
have overlooked, etc.

I've IM'ed with Florian Effenberger and he's pretty sure that TDF
would be willing to provide a server if people preferred to have
Alfresco hosted on a TDF-owned resource. It might be something to
think about now, before/while implementing a work organization for the
team, although it will also be possible in the future, too. But I
don't mind continuing to operate it from my own server, which is a
dedicated machine and provides really good performances/response
times. Got any thoughts about this?

Much better to have it on a TDF server.

Jean

Please wait at least a week so I have time to respond in more detail. Also I may learn some useful suggestions this weekend at OpenHelp.

Jean

Hi Jean,

Much better to have it on a TDF server.

OK, I filed a request with the BoD.

Hi,

Much better to have it on a TDF server.

OK, I filed a request with the BoD.

I've just been on the BoD confcall, and discussed the provision of a
TDF server to host the Alfresco platform. While the BoD didn't want to
make it an official voting issue, it was agreed by all that there is,
in principle, no problem with TDF providing the needed infrastructure.

Basically, they'd like Florian and the infrastructure team to deal
with the matter.

The only question to be clearly resolved is: does the Documentation
team really want an Alfresco platform?

If the answer is yes and the only real sticking point is that you want
it hosted on a TDF server rather than a community member's server,
then there will be no problem. I've been assured off-list and by the
BoD that TDF will provide what's necessary and I, for one, am willing
to install, configure, customize and administer the platform for you.

If, on the other hand, the answer is no, you don't actually want to
use Alfresco and you prefer to stay with the ODFAuthors tool, then -
again - there is no problem and we can simply close the subject.

Since the Alfresco platform has been online and available to you since
January 2011, I'd humbly suggest that people have had enough
opportunity to evaluate it as a tool, and that they should by now be
in a position to voice a preference.

In any case, do you think I should simply close down the server I'm
currently operating for for the team, since apparently it is no longer
being used?

I don't use the Alfresco site at all. I'm just not clever enough to
understand it!

We've had the time to evaluate Alfresco, but not the incentive. I'm trying to catch up now.

Having the possibility of TDF hosting is a big plus for me, so thanks for chasing that.

One annoying thing to me is that I have not seen an easy and convenient way to link directly to a folder or a file in Alfresco, so I can send that link to, say, Hazel, and say "Here's a file that needs editing" or "The files are in this folder." If there is a way to link directly, please tell me.

More questions coming, I'm sure.

Jean

In David's first note on this thread, he asked,

Cedric Bosdonnat, I was wondering if you might give us an idea of the
progress with CMIS support within LibreOffice? I'm curious about this
as it could have a big impact on how team workers would interact with
the Alfresco platform, i.e. via their local LibreOffice software
rather than via the http://alfresco.libreoffice.org site.

David, did you get any response to this question?

--Jean

Hi Jean,

In David's first note on this thread, he asked,
> Cedric Bosdonnat, I was wondering if you might give us an idea of the
> progress with CMIS support within LibreOffice? I'm curious about this
> as it could have a big impact on how team workers would interact with
> the Alfresco platform, i.e. via their local LibreOffice software
> rather than via the http://alfresco.libreoffice.org site.

David, did you get any response to this question?

I answered it earlier IIRC. The status of the CMIS support in
LibreOffice is already pretty advanced but misses a few things like
  * being able to figure out the data to connect to the repository
easily (not trivial for an end user)
  * Check-in / Check-out / Cancel Check-out aren't supported ATM...
which can cause some troubles in a documentation writing process.

The other problem is on the Alfresco server side (I need to take care of
it) as the CMIS binding URLs aren't exposed to the public yet.

Hi Jean,

One annoying thing to me is that I have not seen an easy and
convenient way to link directly to a folder or a file in Alfresco, so
I can send that link to, say, Hazel, and say "Here's a file that needs
editing" or "The files are in this folder." If there is a way to link
directly, please tell me.

On Alfresco Share you can get that URL in the document preview page with
all the actions on the right (or "View Details" link for a folder). Here
is an example:

Link to a document
http://alfresco.libreoffice.org/share/page/document-details?nodeRef=workspace://SpacesStore/a27cf27d-c3f1-453b-ae43-f1224208bf6a

Link to a folder
http://alfresco.libreoffice.org/share/page/folder-details?nodeRef=workspace://SpacesStore/b9f6f8c2-3e0f-4ccb-900f-693f69c5eeff

I hope this helps

Thank you. I probably missed your reply during my travels.

--Jean

Good grief, what horrible links! They tells me nothing about where or
what the item is (other than it's a file or a folder). But at least
direct linking is do-able. Thank you.

--Jean

Any process that relies on the team leader to "assign" tasks or
"update" a blog or list is going to run into the "single point of
failure" problem. However, I've no doubt that others can make this
info available in ways similar to what we've been doing, so those are
details we could find solutions for.

I will point out that in most cases, people are not (and IMO should
not be) "assigned" tasks; they take tasks on themselves. Though
obviously I do nudge people or point out stuff they may have not
noticed.

--Jean

However, IMHO, it would be good to start using Alfresco's blogging
facilities, maybe it's wiki functionality, and it's automated email
alerts and RSS feeds.

I agree that if we decide to use Alfresco, we should take advantage of
features like this.

You could also consider Twitter as a good channel for updates, both
automated and manual. Using Twitter would do away with the need to
sign-up for and follow a mailing list, and put you closer to potential
contributors from the huge Twitter membership.

Twitter is a good idea as an additional channel for spreading info,
assuming someone actually posts to it. Personally I think it would be
largely a waste of time for anything other than telling people that
"X" has been published.

I've answered some of your other points in earlier notes during my travels.

Yes, I completely agree. I've been doing some of this for some time,
but we could do more.

--Jean

Hi :slight_smile:
+1
Also i think the Alfresco-users guide hasn't been
around.  People that might have been able to make time to write it but
didn't know much about how to use it have been dissuaded by people that
do know how to but had no time.

I feel really guilty about my
part in that and i think others do to which is why the issue arose. 
Less guilt and optimism and more arrogance would have fixed it.

Regards from
Tom :slight_smile: