dhis2-documenters team mailing list archive

[Knut Staring <knutst@xxxxxxxxx>]

Some inspiration also for the DHIS2 documentation effort

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: jriley <jriley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, Aug 22, 2011 at 6:58 PM
Subject: Re: [OPENMRS-IMPLEMENTERS] We need your help...
To: openmrs-implement-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


Paul,

I like how these pages structure the information like a syllabus. It
provides a sequence for the topics.  The wiki page hierarchy is well
organized, but it isn't a guide for learning.


There was mention at developer meetings about an upcoming Google Doc camp (
see https://sites.google.com/site/docsprintsummit/ ).  The output will be a
QuickStart book, presumably like other FLOSS documentation
(http://www.flossmanuals.net/).   I don't know if you're taking votes, but
can I suggest the Quick Starts focus on to implementers?   It seems like
there's a big gap in documentation between the installation and then how to
log in to a finished, implemented site.

There's some great material on the wiki that could provide a basis.  In
particular I'm thinking of the Field Guide at
https://wiki.openmrs.org/display/docs/Field+Guide ,   OpenMRS From Scratch
(https://wiki.openmrs.org/display/archive/OpenMRS+from+Scratch) , and the
course materials on the Training page
(https://wiki.openmrs.org/display/RES/Training) .


I see parallels between the challenges faced by OpenMRS and Drupal, another
open source project.  ( Note!  Drupal has NOTHING to do with medical
records! )  They are both  frameworks with a lot of community contributed
modules.  The plain framework does the basics, but there are many user needs
that you have to install modules for. The learning curve can be  steep.

My favorite Drupal book is "Using Drupal" by  Angela Bryon and Addison
Berry.  I think the documentation approach might be useful for  OpenMRS's
documentation push.  You can see the table of contents at
http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596515805/  or on Amazon.

The book  starts with some overview chapters about the project  and
installation.  The rest of the chapters are "case studies". Each case study
examines a user need,  like "set up a store". It walks through how to use a
particular module to solve the problem.

For OpenMRS I can see case studies like :
* register a patient - IdGen or registration modules
* create a concept  - the concept dictionary, plus considerations for
modeling a concept
* create a form -  HTML FormEntry module
* customize site appearance  -  the Custom Branding module or those tweaks
to the openMRS properties file
* create and run a report - the Report module

What's your sense of what new implementers need the most?

It's great that OpenMRS is committing energy to documentation.  Thanks for
taking on the task.

Regards-

Janet











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-- 
Cheers,
Knut Staring