[Opensim-dev] Some thought about OpenSim Wiki future

[野村 麻紀子]

Hi, nice to meet you all. I'm Makopoppo.

In OpenSimulator Wiki, Fritigern told me his idea about dividing wiki into
user parts and developer parts.
http://opensimulator.org/wiki/User_talk:Makopoppo#An_Idea_Which_Has_Been_On_My_Mind_For_Some_Time

It would be nice to implement it. And more, I'd like to hear your thought
about wiki future as well, especially if you haven't use OpenSimulator wiki
ever or recently. (This is rather my personal activity than as a wiki admin
job)

Here is my idea about what OpenSimulator wiki will be:

* The definition of "User"

OpenSimulator software, as itself, is a framework for 3D virtual
environment. It can be included into enterprise systems; i.e. some might
want to bundle it into their web servers, groupwares, or such. Some wants to
create their own kins for their use. Some wants to simply use this
distribution out-of-the-box. Some doesn't want to own their sims, just wants
to connect to them from their viewers. All of them are "Users". They will be
categorized into three types:

Client Users: Who connects to (or logins to) OpenSimulator-based grids with
their viewer, websites, or some other possible methods. They don't need any
computer-specific knowledges, they can be teenagers, or even infants.
Documentation for them might be out of focus of OpenSimulator project, it is
rather client vendor's area, but having minimal instruction and links to
their document for further informations is not so bad idea.

Grid Users: Who connects their OpenSimulator-based regions to
OpenSimulator-based grids, or just using it standalone. They needs minimal
knowledge of operation systems, databases, or some other related softwares
such as web servers to run their own simulaters. Since there are already
many resources for them, and especially for personal use, kins projects
doing great job to make clear documents, maintain them and providing support
for years. We can encourage or help them to improve their documents, such
as, providing link list to their pages, or bollowing their article with huge
credits.

Framework Users: Who enhances OpenSimulator software for their use. The
purpose varies amongst each other, from personal use to enterprise use. For
example, the person who implements *Module, script functions, connectors or
such. To say in another word, who using OpenSimulator as a framework. I
personally think that one of the role of our OpenSimulator core project is
provider of the best documentation for them. And I know currently we don't
have enough documents for them, or if exists, it is unmaintenanced for
years.

So, who will be the "Developers"? It will be the contributors who
contributes OpenSimulator framework itself. They should know OpenSim
internal architectures, implementing guidelines, or licensing matters. Some
experts can understand them only by reading codes (yikes!), but it would be
nice to have such documents, if we can keep updating them forever.

* Possible Wiki Structure

Considering these points above, we can divide the wiki into three domains:

http://opensimulator.org/ <-- for "Client Users" and "Grid Users"
http://framework.opensimulator.org/ <-- for "Framework Users"
http://dev.opensimulator.org/ <-- for the contributors of OpenSimulator core
project (coders, document writers, issue managers, wiki admins)

Although MediaWiki can create namespaces and we can use it for this purpose,
I feel sub-domaining provides more straight-forward way to access to them
(this is probablly because I am an address bar lover). Again, this is just
my idea.

* Should we create anything on our own?

I personally think we don't need to "reinvent the wheel" to create all
OpenSimulator documentation from the scratch, there are already nice
documents all around the web. Why not make great use of them? I don't mean
we can copyright violations and bring them all. Instead, it would be nice to
have links to their project websites with simple descriptions about their
project goal or feature on our wiki pages. Or, bollowing their documents
with big credit would be nice too(Cons is duplicated documentation will be
more difficult to maintenance).

I wonder why kin projects (i.e. OSGrids, Inworlds, AuroraSim, …) are not
feathered as kin developers. They are the good OpenSimulator framework users
and the good OpenSimulator "User" documents provider. And communities. I
know there are many other OpenSimulator-forums and many experts grandly help
so-called "noobs". We can encourage and help them to support others in their
community, such as, again, adding link to their forums. Blogs too. I came
here looking at a post in ilibsl blog. I had a parcel in Ener Sounds(
http://iliveisl.com/makos-home/ is me), and after leaving there, I found
OpenSimulator in another post and tried to use it (to reproduce the terrain
of Ener Sounds in vain lol). That was the start. OpenSimulator developers
including me tends to detailed describe about the tecniches, but for users,
the documents created by the users will be helpful. It might be not the best
way, since the users have to access each blogs and forums to find the answer
for their question, but if OpenSimulator core wiki has nice directory to
find them easily, it can be ideal. (I feel someone might have suggested the
same before, but I can't remember who)

It shouldn't keep contrabutors from writing such documents in OpenSimulator
Wiki. Our purpose are varies, so it should be always open for those who
wants to contribute the articles. But if we can create the scheme of
"Mash-up" the OpenSimulator-related documentations, OpenSimulator community
(includes kin projects, blogs, forums or such) will accurate toward mature
community as a whole.

Thank you for reading. *Steps down from soapbox*
Again, comments will be appreciated.

------

Makopoppo (Makiko Nomura)
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