Re: Proposal for "Maemo User School" hosted on maemo.org to replace Tablet School
 

With maemo 5 being more mainstream i am not sure if people really will need this video site. I am not saying dont do it..... but wait and see until after the release and decide.

Re: Proposal for "Maemo User School" hosted on maemo.org to replace Tablet School
 

A good point. Getting the requirements, infrastructure and - say - the existing tablet school videos online under maemo.org in the correct structure is a good starting point. But with the future of existing Maemo devices being Mer, and future devices being Maemo 5/6; videos created now could date very quickly.

Anyway, I agree with what Reggie suggests: come up with a functional requirement and the technical experts can tell/help you deliver it in the best way possible in the shortest time.

Re: Proposal for "Maemo User School" hosted on maemo.org to replace Tablet School
 

Thank you for the feedback everyone.

From what I can gather, people here want:

-No filtering process because that would restrict people's ability to contribute

-No quality control

-No videos because they would date too quickly

-No tutorials for beginners because the new version of Maemo will be so easy to use

...the only conclusion that I can draw from that is that people don't want the Tablet School to return at all, because it was based entirely around these four things.


Okay, I'm obviously not required here at all. Apologies for wasting everyone's time.

You've got everything in hand, and a wiki like this:

http://wiki.maemo.org/Category:Users

featuring articles like this:

http://wiki.maemo.org/Updating_the_tablet_firmware
http://wiki.maemo.org/Podcasts
http://wiki.maemo.org/Batteries

is obviously the best way to help beginners use their Maemo device.

If that's the case then I can't help Maemo at all, because I've got this misguided idea that sites aimed at beginners should be built around the needs of beginners and not just be repositories of general documentation.

Re: Proposal for "Maemo User School" hosted on maemo.org to replace Tablet School
 

Incidentally I was NOT calling for "a whole new content tool" to be created.

I was just asking for something that is laid out like the current existing Downloads page to be set up, and used as a way to organise pages with videos on.

Whatever technology that uses doesn't matter, whether it's wiki-based or whatever, as long as it looks and behaves identically to the current Downloads section, and as long as it cannot be edited by anyone but the admins.

To use an analogy the current Wiki is more like a library, whereas what I'm calling for is like a series of lessons. The clue is in the name, Maemo School.

Imagine you went to a school to learn something new and they just plonked a load of text books on the table on the assumption that there's lots of useful information in them, so that must be the same thing as a lesson.

I just don't get why there couldn't be a separate Maemo School in one part of the site, and a separate Maemo Wiki in another part. Why the heck should they be merged when they're serving two totally different purposes?

This idea that it would take lots of work to set up a Maemo School section is total bulls..t. I've already set up a video tutorial site and the actual page setup takes no time at all. I can't believe the CMS on maemo.org would make it challenging to basically just clone the existing Downloads front end.

And don't talk to me about wasting the time of "paid employees".

It's the videos that take 95% of the time to do on a Tablet School style site, and if I'm willing to put my UNPAID time to doing the videos, the least I could expect from the maemo.org is that they can do the remaining 5%.

If I did do these videos for maemo.org there wouldn't even be any adsense ads to earn me a few pennies. I would be doing the work free, gratis, for nothing. But apparently no good deed goes unpunished.

Re: Proposal for "Maemo User School" hosted on maemo.org to replace Tablet School
 

And another thing.

Could all the people shooting down my ideas about doing tutorials for beginners post the tutorials they've written and videoed for beginners?

I can post my list right here:

Re: Proposal for "Maemo User School" hosted on maemo.org to replace Tablet School
 

A quick read through and it seems to me you have a vast amount to contribute and the arrogance(?) to say "My way or nothing" :(

Shame really.

Would hurt your pride too much to *try* and make the existing wiki work?

Throw some pointers up to those tutorials and I'll volunteer to help you wikify them.

Re: Proposal for "Maemo User School" hosted on maemo.org to replace Tablet School
 

It's not "my way or nothing" it's "my way or the way of someone else who is writing tutorials for beginners".

I would love to hear from someone else who has written Maemo tutorials aimed at beginners, and exchange ideas on how best this could be done.

The problem is that no one seems to be doing this at all.

You talk about arrogance, but how arrogant is it to complain about something without creating an alternative?

How arrogant is it to say "something must be done" but then fail to do it yourself?

There is NOTHING to stop people doing what I did. If they think they can do it better, that's great, go ahead and do it.

But if you don't do it then nothing happens at all, good or bad.


I think you're misunderstanding the situation here.

I did Tablet School on my own, the way I saw fit, in my own time. The reason I did this was precisely because the existing forms of online documentation (including maemo.org) weren't good enough IMHO.

Instead of just whining about how poor the existing documentation was for beginners, I set out to actually do something about it by providing a better alternative.

I was then invited to contribute Tablet School's contents to maemo.org, so that beginners would have somewhere to go on the site.

I posted on here asking for feedback on whether other people would like to contribute, and what form the new school would take.


I am not volunteering for all-purpose duties helping Maemo, I'm here offering to restart Tablet School as part of maemo.org.

If you are happy with the existing Wiki, and if you think the principles by which Tablet School site ran were misguided, then there is nothing I can offer the site.

Re: Proposal for "Maemo User School" hosted on maemo.org to replace Tablet School
 

Looking at this empirically, if the wiki is such a better way to do tutorials for beginners, why is it that the wiki is still useless for beginners?

My answer would be that beginners guides aren't suitable for the wiki format, because beginners do better with guides written using a consistent style and format.

Wikis are great at collecting knowledge, but they are poor at serving a specific target audience.

Re: Proposal for "Maemo User School" hosted on maemo.org to replace Tablet School
 

If the maemo web site is also geared towards the masses who will hopefully purchase some device running the maemo platform, then I think that Krisse is right. The current wiki does not respond to the needs of beginners who just want to be able to use the software and do some basic stuff, not become root or modify CSS.

If on the other hand the web site is only for developers and geeks, then it is about time to think about another dedicated site. I would think nobody really wants this.

It is not intuitive that the wiki should be under 'Community'. Consider a section of How-to or something similar with subsections of School and other materials.

Also I believe that the tone of some posts are aggressive and not constructive. If contributors with a strong background in content development and very specific experience are welcomed this way, many will keep at bay.

Regards,
Antonio

Re: Proposal for "Maemo User School" hosted on maemo.org to replace Tablet School
 

I think we need some sort of mockup or proof of concept maemo school created to wiki. Maemo school can be completely separate and wiki is used only as a tool.