ubuntu-manual team mailing list archive

[Thomas Corwin <dog1489@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sorry! Accidentally sent it to only Hannie. The email I tried to send is below: 

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Thomas Corwin <dog1489@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: July 14, 2014 at 12:14:56 AM EDT
> To: Hannie Dumoleyn <lafeber-dumoleyn2@xxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Re: [Ubuntu-manual] Merge with the Ubuntu Docs team?
> 
> Hello everyone,
> 
> I would like to apologize for my major absence the past few months, as I've been preparing to enlist and serve in the United States Navy as a nuclear engineer and computer programmer. I will finish this apology in a separate email, as it has little meaning to the topic at hand.
> 
> Now, onto my two cents in this matter:
> 
> What do you think of this proposal?
> 
> Personally I am a neutral party as to what I think of the proposal itself. We have had very few active members in the past year and could easily benefit by merging with the Ubuntu Documentation team. With that being said, we would not be the small group of volunteers focused on the manual. There would be many more things going on other than just the manual, and this could provide many setbacks as the team would prioritize the manual, server documentation, and others on (an assumed) "needed" basis. 
> 
> Do you think the Ubuntu Manual project should be disbanded?
> 
> No, I do not particularly think the project should be disbanded. The only problem we are facing at this point is a lack of contributors. Yes, we have a few dedicated contributors, but this is obviously not enough considering we are months late releasing the Ubuntu Manual for 14.04. 
> 
> If the Ubuntu Manual project were to disband, would you be interested
> in joining the Ubuntu Docs team to work on the documentation there?
> 
> That would depend on how much things would change. Like the flow of everything. We have set coordinators, editors, authors, and a way of doing things that we are all accustomed to. I feel as though we wouldn't be as organized since we will be in a larger group. But probably, depending again on the changes.
> 
> Why did you choose to join the manual team instead of the docs team?
> 
> I joined the Ubuntu Manual team because it seemed less overwhelming. It was one team in one focused project, and it is all easy to learn. Also, for most of the docs team, you have to have at least a basic background of Ubuntu. When I district joined this team, I just learned what Ubuntu was, which was why I decided to add the "Wine" section, rather than working on another section that I had no clue what it was about. 
> 
> Do you have any other thoughts on this proposal?
> 
> Not really. Personally I do not want this project to merge with the doc team, but it's about the majority, rather than the minority. I'm not going to refuse to continue development with the team if we are moved to the docs team, but I don't think it is in our best interest. 
> 
> 
> PS: I also want to +1 with Hannie about proofreading and releasing ASAP. Last I heard, it looked fine, but the table of contents seemed to be a bit messed up (hopefully this is fixed?)
> 
> Thank everyone!
> Thomas Corwin
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
>> On Jul 13, 2014, at 11:39 AM, Hannie Dumoleyn <lafeber-dumoleyn2@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> 
>> Here are some of my thoughts.
>> I did not join the docs team at the time because I was sort of sent away. I was told to read the team documentation, and that was it.
>> When I joined the UMP, there was a lot of support via this mailing list and the information on u-m.org. As a beginner I always received a quick answer to my (sometimes stupid) questions.
>> More than a year ago (maybe even 2 years) I suggested we work together with the Ubuntu docs team, explaining in that email that the UMP and docs can coexist because they approach users in different ways. Unfortunately, at that time the docs team was not very active, so there was no reaction.
>> Since both teams use different methods of producing their documentation (Latex versus DocBook) I think we should rather work together (where possible) than become a subteam of each other.
>> What can be done together?
>> * writing/proofreading (which can be done without knowledge of either latex or docbook, although beginners may have questions which must be answered quickly).
>> * exchange knowledge on new versions. What's new? Articles, tweets, publications on What's new.
>> * exchange experience on what works well and what does not in the team. e.g. in UMP we have authors/editors assigned to the subject(s) they feel comfortable with. I personally think that is a good approach, but it also needs to be guided. As we have seen in the last version, without coordinators this system does not work.
>> * find more contributors through social media etc. Explain the difference between the manual and docs so people can decide for which team they want to contribute, or maybe both. Example: someone knows a lot about the installation of Ubuntu. He or she can write both for the manual (chapter installation) and docs (installation section).
>> 
>> WAKE UP CALL
>> I hope the UM team will become more active again. Let's start by finishing the Trusty version. Since there are no big differences between 13.10 and 14.04, I suggest we start proofreading asap. You can download the trusty version from Launchpad, make ubuntu-manual.pdf, and start proofreading the sections/chapters you like most. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask them on this list.
>> Our shared spreadsheet [1] is not up to date, but we can make it up to date by adding our names to the Authors/Editors columns and adding comment to the status columns. Since I do not know if the names in the Editors column are still correct, I have added another column "Editors 14.04-1". The idea is that the status of all sections/chapters get the text "Complete" and the color green when finished.
>> Remember, since this is an LTS version it is not too late to publish the Trusty version of our manual, but we should not wait too long.
>> Hannie
>> 
>> [1]
>> https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ApS28NMLnYJXdEdGQjRtUWtaOUZxREVzUldSOU5kc2c#gid=4
>> 
>> op 13-07-14 08:57, Kevin Godby schreef:
>>> Hello, everyone.
>>> 
>>> At the last Ubuntu Docs meeting, it was proposed that the Ubuntu
>>> Manual project be shut down and the Ubuntu Manual team members join
>>> the Ubuntu Docs team and work on the desktop documentation instead.
>>> 
>>> You can read the logs of our discussion at
>>> <http://ubottu.com/meetingology/logs/ubuntu-meeting-2/2014/ubuntu-meeting-2.2014-07-02-17.00.log.html#l-179>.
>>> 
>>> The docs team asked that I email the Ubuntu manual team members to
>>> gauge your interest and collect your thoughts on the idea.
>>> 
>>> So I'll turn the floor over to you. Here are a few questions we should consider:
>>> 
>>> What do you think of this proposal?
>>> 
>>> Do you think the Ubuntu Manual project should be disbanded?
>>> 
>>> If the Ubuntu Manual project were to disband, would you be interested
>>> in joining the Ubuntu Docs team to work on the documentation there?
>>> 
>>> Why did you choose to join the manual team instead of the docs team?
>>> 
>>> Do you have any other thoughts on this proposal?
>>> 
>>> Thanks for your input!
>>> 
>>> —Kevin Godby
>>> 
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>> 
>> 
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