dhis2-devs-core team mailing list archive

[Jim Grace <jimgrace@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Jason,

I agree that Stackexchange would be a great tool for us. It has very useful
features, and its point system is a good motivator for people to
participate.

The important thing now is for more core developers to register, ask
questions, and vote for questions. And then, I agree, we need to ask the
wider community for help. (We need 60 "followers" and 54 more are still
needed -- there are only 52 core developers!)

Cheers,
Jim


On Tue, Oct 14, 2014 at 3:25 AM, Jason Pickering <
jason.p.pickering@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Dear All,
> I have chatted with a few more people about this, and I think the general
> consensus is that we should continue to attempt to get the StackExchange
> mechanism rolling. If we are not able to generate the volume which is
> required, then we will consider another mechanism such as the Discourse
> site (dhis2.info) or a similar type of Q&A/Forum in Drupal on dhis2.org,
> Unless there are any objections, I will liaise with Matthieu and we will
> come up with a sort of deployment plan. What is pretty clear though we
> need, is a lot of content already seeded in the site
>
> http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/77757/dhis2/
>
> So, please start adding your questions. Upvote others questions as well.
> We should have little problems coming up with 40 more questions between us,
> but it will require a bit of effort from each of us. So, please go ahead
> and join if you have not already and post your favorite questions. In the
> next few days, we will send out a mail to the community to ask everyone to
> join up and help us get things moving to the next step.
>
> Please feel free to provide any further feedback/concerns.
>
> Regards,
> Jason
> '
>
> On Fri, Oct 10, 2014 at 3:54 PM, Bob Jolliffe <bobjolliffe@xxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
>
>> On 10 October 2014 14:46, Jason Pickering <jason.p.pickering@xxxxxxxxx>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Not to throw out too many ideas, but before you send out the email, I
>>> thought we should also consider potentially using discourse. It seems like
>>> a good tool, and I managed to get a demo setup here.
>>>
>>> http://dhis2.info
>>>
>>
>> That looks nice.
>>
>>>
>>> An obvious advantage here is that we would have a lot more control over
>>> the entire process, rather than being subject to StackExchange's rather
>>> arcane rules. I think we could rather easily achieve a good Q&A site with
>>> this as well. Downside of course is that this server is being managed by us
>>> at the moment, and one more thing which we would need to take care of,
>>> although something we could likely push off to our friends a BAO Systems.
>>>
>>>
>>> Thoughts?
>>>
>>> Best regards,
>>> Jason
>>>
>>> P.S. On a totally unrelated note, I came across https://mandrillapp.com
>>> which is described in the Discourse setup, and it also seems like a very
>>> good alternative for sending emails, without having to worry about getting
>>> an SMTP server setup.
>>>
>>
>> I have tried mandrillap with dhis2 before (not in production).  It works
>> well and is certainly a good replacement for "spamming" through a gmail
>> account.  Not that it replaces the utility of running a local MTA - but
>> that too can be configured to hand off to a smarthost. Useful if the
>> machine does not have a fqdn.  But we drift off topic ... maybe this is all
>> good content for a mail-related meta-topic in discourse/tutorials or what
>> have you.
>>
>> Bob
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, Oct 10, 2014 at 2:37 PM, Bob Jolliffe <bobjolliffe@xxxxxxxxx>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Matthieu I am always enthusiastic :-)  And of course I will participate
>>>> ...
>>>>
>>>> On 10 October 2014 13:18, Matthieu Pinard (UiO) <matthiep@xxxxxxxxxx>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> *Jason*,
>>>>> yeah, I'm reading through the FAQ etc and I'll suggest a phasing to
>>>>> make our best to reach each of the stages.
>>>>>
>>>>> Here is the rough plan: Once the mailing list info@ is informed I
>>>>> will publish on FB. Then I suggest that you or webLars (we need someone
>>>>> with enough legitimacy) will announce that on our mailing lists. Then we
>>>>> need to monitor and encourage ;).
>>>>>
>>>>> *Bob*,
>>>>> I love your enthusiasm :P. I will not try too hard to convince you and
>>>>> hope that you will join the effort ;). Just a couple of things:
>>>>> - yes mailing lists will still be part of the our community support
>>>>> tools
>>>>> - on the bright side, this forum, if we succeed to make it a true and
>>>>> sustainable DHIS2 Expert Q&A site will have a great and positive impact on
>>>>> knowledge sharing among the community member (beautiful).
>>>>>
>>>>> Cheers,
>>>>> Matthieu
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Matthieu Pinard
>>>>> DHIS 2 Academy & Community Coordinator | University of Oslo
>>>>>
>>>>> On 10 October 2014 13:54, Bob Jolliffe <bobjolliffe@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> I have something of an aversion to forums for all things, but I can
>>>>>> see they might have their place.  Many of the questions raised on the users
>>>>>> list (some of which filter into the developers list) as well as the even
>>>>>> more common private mail requests might well lend itself to this sort of
>>>>>> format.  Whether we have sufficient traffic to drive some of these social
>>>>>> engineering engines in a meaningful way or not I am not sure, but perhaps
>>>>>> no harm in trying.  One of the potential issues with forums is how to get
>>>>>> back off again (with the data) if we decide it wasn't such a good idea at
>>>>>> all.  Perhaps this should also be a factor to consider when selecting a
>>>>>> forum platform.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Having said that, there is still a place for mailing lists for
>>>>>> discussion (rather than Q&A).  For example, the sysadmin list suggested by
>>>>>> Steven, and which seems to have attracted some interest, I think would work
>>>>>> better in a list format, at least at formative stage.  Over time there will
>>>>>> be nuggets mined from the list which can form the basis of a more dynamic
>>>>>> faq/forum type thing.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> As a minor aside, there is perhaps an interesting gender perspective
>>>>>> to this (and I believe possibly also age).  In some research that was done
>>>>>> some years back (to which I have no reference but I remember well!) the
>>>>>> problem of women's participation in free/open source projects was
>>>>>> examined.  The level of women's participation was known then (and probably
>>>>>> still is) to be substantially less in FOSS than in the industry at large.
>>>>>> Interestingly, one of the findings was that women apparently had a greater
>>>>>> preference to use web forums than email lists.  Moreso than men.  So
>>>>>> there's another dimension for mobilars to explore in his discourse analysis
>>>>>> :-)
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Bob
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On 10 October 2014 12:36, Jason Pickering <
>>>>>> jason.p.pickering@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Also, be sure to communicate to everyone that they need to "upvote"
>>>>>>> the questions, after they have been created. Each person gets 5 upvotes it
>>>>>>> seems, perhaps depending on reputation or something similar.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> See here for some more metrics on another topic
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/55053/data-science
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Not so sure we could generate 5 questions per day?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>>> Jason
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Fri, Oct 10, 2014 at 1:12 PM, Jason Pickering <
>>>>>>> jason.p.pickering@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Hi Matthieu,
>>>>>>>> Sounds good to me. The process to get it setup seems rather
>>>>>>>> involved but given the supposed number of people out there , we should have
>>>>>>>> little problem gathering enough supoort.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>>>> Jason
>>>>>>>> On Oct 10, 2014 6:59 AM, "Matthieu Pinard (UiO)" <
>>>>>>>> matthiep@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Hi guys,
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> after discussing with web Lars and with the enlightenment of Mark
>>>>>>>>> we came up with the following consensus after going back to the initial
>>>>>>>>> needs to be addressed in this thread:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> *How to make it easier for the users, developers and implementers
>>>>>>>>> to look for an answer for a given question?*
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> For that matter *Stackexchange* seems to be a very good option.
>>>>>>>>> Paraphrasing Ubuntu we can say that Stackexchange should become
>>>>>>>>> the site for DHIS2 users, implementers and developers can collaboratively
>>>>>>>>> edit question and answer them.
>>>>>>>>> "Instead of posting a mailing list, this site would work by you
>>>>>>>>> repeatedly editing your question with what you’ve learned about your
>>>>>>>>> problem, and then users can rate the quality of the questions and answers
>>>>>>>>> by voting" (Source:
>>>>>>>>> http://community.ubuntu.com/help-information/finding-help/support/
>>>>>>>>> ).
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> *Discourse* serves another purpose, which will be very useful for
>>>>>>>>> the DHIS2 Community as well: a place where to discuss about the latest news
>>>>>>>>> of DHIS2, discuss ideas etc. We will put that in place later on.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> So in a step-by-step approach, let's start with *Stackexchange* to
>>>>>>>>> serve the most urgent need. Once the community has adopted it we can
>>>>>>>>> continue providing new tools, namely *Discourse*, for our
>>>>>>>>> community to grow and engage (and vice versa).
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> So let's back Jason's initiative and *start posting* on
>>>>>>>>> http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/77757/dhis2/
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> *NEXT STEP:* Diffuse this initiative to the info mailing list
>>>>>>>>> explaining the goals and steps to make this initiative a success.
>>>>>>>>> If you agree, Jason, web Lars and me could be assigned to this
>>>>>>>>> task.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> *Question: Do you agree?*
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Cheers,
>>>>>>>>> Matthieu
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> PS: Interesting link that we will proudly imitate:
>>>>>>>>> http://community.ubuntu.com/help-information/finding-help/support/
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Matthieu Pinard
>>>>>>>>> DHIS 2 Academy & Community Coordinator | University of Oslo
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> On 10 October 2014 12:25, Halvdan Grelland <halvdanhg@xxxxxxxxx>
>>>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Discourse seems to strike a great balance between power and user
>>>>>>>>>> friendliness. +1
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> 2014-10-10 11:20 GMT+02:00 Lars Kristian Roland <lars@xxxxxxxxx>:
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> Here's another one I like:
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.invisionpower.com/features/
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> (not that I don't like the ones Matthieu mentioned)
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> Lars
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> 2014-10-10 11:07 GMT+02:00 Matthieu Pinard (UiO) <
>>>>>>>>>>> matthiep@xxxxxxxxxx>:
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> Hi guys,
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> I'm glad to read that people with technical know-how are on
>>>>>>>>>>>> this topic as well :).
>>>>>>>>>>>> Forums being a fundamental building block of our (web)
>>>>>>>>>>>> community choosing the right tool is key:
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> The right tool for me means a tool that:
>>>>>>>>>>>> - is easy to use for non-techies, as the community grows fast
>>>>>>>>>>>> behind it's early adopters
>>>>>>>>>>>> - encourages interaction though a good UX
>>>>>>>>>>>> - helps the community to highlight what are the current hottest
>>>>>>>>>>>> topics
>>>>>>>>>>>> - enables "easy" moderation
>>>>>>>>>>>> - can be used on different screens
>>>>>>>>>>>> - ...and well... are open source ;)
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> So far I see two tools:
>>>>>>>>>>>> - the Ubuntu Discourse http://www.discourse.org/
>>>>>>>>>>>> - as we are using the CMS Drupal for our website, we can simply
>>>>>>>>>>>> activate the forum (limited)  or better probably go the the Harmony
>>>>>>>>>>>> Core <https://www.drupal.org/project/harmony_core> that is
>>>>>>>>>>>> part of the Commons distribution
>>>>>>>>>>>> <https://www.drupal.org/project/commons>
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> So far from a user perspective I favor Discourse
>>>>>>>>>>>> <http://www.discourse.org/>. BTW Ubuntu is using it. I can
>>>>>>>>>>>> only encourage you to give it a try <http://try.discourse.org/>
>>>>>>>>>>>> and tell me.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> Cheers,
>>>>>>>>>>>> Matthieu
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> Matthieu Pinard
>>>>>>>>>>>> DHIS 2 Academy & Community Coordinator | University of Oslo
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> On 9 October 2014 22:39, Lars Helge Øverland <
>>>>>>>>>>>> larshelge@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>> Does anyone know about any other existing forums that could be
>>>>>>>>>>>>> potentially more suitable?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>> If not I'm all for giving this a try. I think going for a
>>>>>>>>>>>>> forum that is well-known has more legs than starting our own.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>> Lars
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>>>>>> Lars Kristian Roland
>>>>>>>>>>> Research Fellow, Department of Informatics, University of Oslo
>>>>>>>>>>> Email: lars@xxxxxxxxx - roland@xxxxxxxxxx
>>>>>>>>>>> Phone: +47 90733036
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>>>>>> Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-devs-core
>>>>>>>>>>> Post to     : dhis2-devs-core@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>>>>>>>>> Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-devs-core
>>>>>>>>>>> More help   : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>> Jason P. Pickering
>>>>>>> email: jason.p.pickering@xxxxxxxxx
>>>>>>> tel:+46764147049
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>> Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-devs-core
>>>>>>> Post to     : dhis2-devs-core@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>>>>> Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-devs-core
>>>>>>> More help   : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Jason P. Pickering
>>> email: jason.p.pickering@xxxxxxxxx
>>> tel:+46764147049
>>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Jason P. Pickering
> email: jason.p.pickering@xxxxxxxxx
> tel:+46764147049
>
> --
> Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-devs-core
> Post to     : dhis2-devs-core@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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>
>