[Opensim-dev] Some thought about OpenSim Wiki future

Thu Aug 4 14:02:50 UTC 2011

Hi Justin!

Yes, the portal is already divided, not yet each contents though... Fritigern suggests me dividing all of them too.

To say about priority, I personally think until 0.7.2 is officially launched, the most appreciated task would be testing, reporting and submitting patch as many as possible, if they can do that. I am also going to use my most energy into re-checking old existing bugs and fixing them (if I have time to do that before releasing ... perhaps really tight to me) at least, for a few months. And I am not a superhuman to do both hard job of wiki restructuring and mantis cleaning at the same time. So anyway for me I have no plan to implement my idea for a several months or a year. I'd like to hear people thought of wiki or documentation until I check most of existing issues and can change my priority back to  documentation activities. Again, just as for me. I don't know if Fritigern will do that immediately or not. He seems to find his place in OpenSimulator wiki and struggling to find a way to contribute in it.

Regarding "linking", as you might concern, the risk of having spam links will way increase. Yes, I as wiki sysop here worry about this kind of nightmare... I think initial contents will take on important role in keeping it relating OpenSimulator. Thus if we introduce it, we'd better gather some links first, using opensim-user mailing list or such, before creating dictionary page.

I still think we'd better put our focus in creating documentations for "Framework Users", as I have written in my wiki page (http://opensimulator.org/wiki/User:Makopoppo#My_thought_about_OpenSimulator). However, as I read mails posted yesterday and today, I feel that the guide for "Grid Users" (or the way to accessing to them)  is still missing now. Or we'd better recommend our kin software (Aurora-Sim, Diva Distro or such) to the people for personal use instead of lecturing the "guts" of installation of OpenSim core?

On 2011/08/04, at 12:24, Justin Clark-Casey wrote:

> Hi Makopoppo.  Nice to see you on the list.
> 
> I have to say, I'm not in favour of reorganising the wiki structure at this time.  We already have a users and developers division.  As you say, client users are out of focus and I think this is likely to remain so.  Running OpenSim is always going to be a very technical task by most people's standards.  It's an order of complexity more difficult than running a webserver, for instance, and those aren't touched by everyday users.
> 
> I think that by far the better use of time is improving documentation.  Although I've gradually [re]written quite a lot over the past year, I'm sure there's still a lot which is incompletely, completely missing or actively misleading (as you hint).  Unfortunately, the combination of doc writing and technical chops is a rare one so I think this will only slowly improve over time.
> 
> Linking to other documents on the web is definitely encouraged.  But this is an OpenSimulator wiki, so only topics that relate to OpenSimulator are appropriate.  If someone wants to start a general wiki then I think that would be better at a separate site.
> 
> On 03/08/11 18:05, Makiko Nomura (Makopoppo) wrote:
>> 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 information 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 simulators. 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 hasn't been maintenanced 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 probably 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, using 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 architectures, 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 contributors 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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> 
> 
> -- 
> Justin Clark-Casey (justincc)
> http://justincc.org/blog
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