We looked into quite a few of these thing wrt workflow when we originally got zikula set up - but some of those notification / grouping features were either not available, or not available unless we used different modules which required a lot more work to set-up / design. $.02, Robyn On 9/16/09, Paul W. Frields <stickster@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > On Tue, Sep 15, 2009 at 11:35:25PM -0700, Dale Bewley wrote: >> ----- "Paul W. Frields" <stickster@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: >> > On Fri, Sep 11, 2009 at 10:28:23AM -0400, Mel Chua wrote: >> > > Thanks for asking, Dale. >> > > >> > > On 09/10/2009 06:19 PM, Dale Bewley wrote: >> > >> After reading https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Fedora_Insight I >> > >> wanted to login and see what Zikula looks like and how it would >> > >> actually be used. >> > > >> > > The Fedora Insight (FI) workflow is being hacked on in Marketing, so >> > >> > > I've copied the Marketing list - actually, you have impeccable >> > > timing. Robyn Bergeron has gone through and made a basic >> > > workflow (and her work was the initial driver that made sure a >> > > lot of basic functionality in Zikula was put in), but it's time >> > > to figure out the actual workflow for News, so I was literally >> > > *just* about to ask the News list about this. >> > > >> > >> I created an account and logged in, but do I need to have my >> > >> account authorized by someone? I don't see how to create a test >> > >> post. >> > > >> > > It looks like all new accounts are being made administrators by >> > > default on the test instance, so you can go to >> > > >> > > https://publictest6.fedoraproject.org/zikula/index.php?module=News&type=admin >> > > >> > > to create new articles. This obviously needs to not be the case >> > > for the live instance. ;) So we need someone from News to figure >> > > out the workflow you would like. >> > > >> > >> I realize it's early, but it seems like a pretty flat >> > >> hierarchy. I'm having trouble picturing how "FWN" would be >> > >> carved out. >> > > >> > > The answer is "we don't know, and we were actually just about to >> > > ask you." >> > > >> > > Dale, would you or anyone from News be willing to tackle >> > > https://fedorahosted.org/marketing-team/ticket/32? It shouldn't >> > > be that hard, and the best way to carve out FWN so that the News >> > > team likes it is to have the News team carve it out. ;) >> > >> > It's much easier than it seems to "carve out" space for any >> > topical area in a CMS. The flatness essentially means things can >> > be organized or reorganized at will very easily. That sounds kind >> > of hazy and conceptual, but it's pretty simple to have URLs and >> > navigation on the site work to support something like: >> > >> > http://insight.fedoraproject.org/weekly-news >> > http://insight.fedoraproject.org/podcasts >> > ... >> >> I'll admit to being somewhat curmudgeonly on the whole CMS idea, but >> I am doing my best to put that aside and give it a fair shake. :) I >> can see benefits, but wonder what barriers to entry it might create. >> >> I went back and read up on the fedora-news discussion of what was >> referred to as Fedora Journal and Project FooBar before being named >> Fedora Insight. >> >> Most of the conversation took place in July >> * http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-news-list/2009-July/thread.html >> >> Here are my repeatedly edited thoughts which may or may not make >> sense by this point. >> >> >> = How might it work? = >> >> FWN has typically served to provide a roundup of the developments in >> Fedora over the previous week, comprised of several "Beats" >> http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Beats which cover mailing list(s) >> etc for a topic. I can imagine a mapping of Categories in Zikula to >> a set of "Beats" or Topics. Presumably each Category produces its >> own RSS feed. Users could ignore FWN and subscribe to just a single >> beat. > > Yup, all makes sense. > >> Each Category may not have or need a beat writer, but if the concept >> of FWN is to continue there would have to be a means for a writer to >> adopt a Category and feel responsible for monitoring it. The beat >> writer or others could contribute stories at any point during the >> week. Once a week a beat writer could post a roundup of their beat >> including the usual sources, plus any postings made to the Fedora >> Insight category during the week. >> >> A FWN editor could then gather these beat roundups into a larger >> roundup called FWN (or something else) for publishing with a ToC and >> a summary abstract. That post would go in the FWN category, and the >> RSS feed from that would become FWN. > > This makes sense too -- LWN.net does something that looks like this > from the outside, although I'm not sure how their internal process > works. > >> That whole concept could also possibly go out the window, but that >> seems a shame. It seems to me there is value in a regularly >> scheduled newsletter. Otherwise, isn't it just a forum or a blog? If >> developers and others post enough news, maybe there won't be much >> need for a beat writer, or maybe the writer will feel discouraged >> that way. > > The way LWN does it seems to work very well. I don't check it every > day, but I usually look at the weeklies to see what I missed by not > doing so. By giving the users more choices we're doing a better job > getting news out there. Some people read RSS every day, some people > will read the weekly aggregations. > >> The creation of categories is something to work out. They seem to be >> flat and would span the CMS. The mechanics of assigning beat writers >> is something to ponder. Also a means to notify an editor that a >> category round up is complete would need to be pondered. Tags? Same >> old wiki page? > > This is where a CMS can excel -- workflow. It could actually notify > the editor via email (or some other way) when a beat writer simply > checks a box or tags a beat done. > >> = Ease of adoption = >> >> Putting my curmudgeon hat back on... Posting content is going to be >> very inconvenient without the leverage of wiki markup. Constructing >> links to list postings, wiki content, other news items will be much >> more painful. Perhaps there are Zikula plugins to recreate some >> functionality like the <ref></ref> <references /> in mediawiki. Such >> plugins would require explanation to new beat writers. I reckon way >> more newcomers will be familiar with Mediawiki. >> >> It seems to me this could make it harder to attract beat >> writers. Maybe that's only a personal bias. Maybe more time poking >> Zikula will yield more optimism, but it's time spent poking. (I'll >> continue to poke some more) > > Zikula should include one or more WYSIWYG editors that make life even > easier than the MediaWiki markup. A contributor could use the same > tools they're used to on Wordpress, Google Docs, forums, and all > around the web. > >> Besides all the logistics, this is the biggest problem to me as a >> beat writer. I am loathe to hand code HTML. Beat writers burn out >> all the time. The more painful it is, the quicker the >> burnout. Life's hard though. :) > > Agreed, no one should have to hand code HTML to do this work! > > -- > Paul W. Frields http://paul.frields.org/ > gpg fingerprint: 3DA6 A0AC 6D58 FEC4 0233 5906 ACDB C937 BD11 3717 > http://redhat.com/ - - - - http://pfrields.fedorapeople.org/ > irc.freenode.net: stickster @ #fedora-docs, #fedora-devel, #fredlug > > -- > Fedora-marketing-list mailing list > Fedora-marketing-list@xxxxxxxxxx > https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-marketing-list > -- Fedora-marketing-list mailing list Fedora-marketing-list@xxxxxxxxxx https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-marketing-list
