ubuntu-manual team mailing list archive

[Jim Connett <jimandmarcy@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hello everyone (again!).

Even though I'm taking an extended leave from my involvement with the UMP,
I've continued to follow this list. I wanted to throw in my 2 cents to
these questions in the hopes of providing another datapoint in this
important decision.

I think the UMP and the docs team serve two very different audiences
through two different mediums. If these two teams merge, one audience is
going to be lost. We need to consider this possibility not only from the
perspective of those producing content, but also the receiver of the
content.

I also tend to believe the UMP has a better product for the desktop user
than the docs team. If I was a new Ubuntu user, which resource would I use
as a gentle introduction? Definitely the UMP.

Finally (and please receive this last point with my highest respect), both
projects appear to be in disarray, but for different reasons. It seems the
docs team has been under the control of just a few people with no real push
(that I've seen) for new volunteers, and the UMP is always welcoming to new
volunteers but is lacking a focused and sustained recruiting effort. I
think it's good to consider if the docs team even wants to merge with the
UMP. If they are not actively seeking help or don't support new volunteers
(as seemed to be the case when Hannie tried to get involved), then the UMP
would be seen as hostile rather than complementary. Additionally, the
organizational structures of the two teams seem to be less defined than
before. In order for any merger to work, I believe one of the two parties
has to be dominant, organized, and confident. I really don't see either of
these teams in that position right now. Given this opinion/perspective, I
think it would be disastrous to merge the two projects.

I believe the singular best thing to jump-start the UMP is to focus on
recruitment. While that's happening, others can improve the installation
process of the tools used to generate the manual (they definitely are
better now than when I first participated around Ubuntu 11ish!). I also
think the UMP would benefit from exploring the possibilities of releasing a
manual only for LTS releases and possibly publishing an addendum to the
latest LTS for all minor releases. Two complete manuals each year with a
volunteer team seems a little excessive to me--maybe even to the consumers
of the manual as well. We should consider the possibility that the UMP
volunteers are spread too thin. We should ponder the benefits of focusing
our efforts upon a singular great manual release rather than multiple good
manual releases.

--Jim


On Sat, Jul 12, 2014 at 11:57 PM, Kevin Godby <godbyk@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> 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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