Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: sample document library: laying the groundwork

[Dirk Herr-Hoyman (hoymand]

On Feb 13, 2007, at 1:04 PM, Tree Bressen wrote:

> > > Lastly, once it's all compiled, is there anyone out there
> > > that would be willing to make this sample library available online?
> >
> > Personally I would love to see this on the Cohousing USA Website  
> > rather
> > than on somebody's personal host. (Of course, I can't speak for the
> > office/web folks there as to the appropriateness/do-ability of  
> > this...)
>
> Personally i think that as long as there is a link from the Coho-US  
> site,
> it would be ok if the library were hosted elsewhere.  Putting a  
> project
> formally within the purview of an organization means grappling with
> organizational politics, and that can slow things way down.  I  
> notice how
> well this email list functions, without any organizational affiliation
> (hats off to Fred, of course).
Tree, I'll have to be on the other side of this one.  Having an  
organizational home will grease the wheels of both getting this going  
and keeping it going.  You'll have the same "political" discussions,  
they
will just go faster :-)

> On the wiki question, i have mixed feelings.  I personally feel  
> fond of
> wikis.  I resonate with the concept.  I'm confident the appropriate  
> wiki
> software could be located, for free.  In principle i think it could  
> work
> fine.  But when it comes to actually doing it on the ground, i have  
> two
> concerns:
>
> 1. I think it would still need to be moderated and paid attention
> to.  Given that, it might actually be *less* labor for one well- 
> organized
> person to receive documents and post them appropriately than for  
> one or
> more folks to track changes to a wiki, check out each change and  
> make sure
> it is furthering the purpose of the site.  I'm suggesting that it  
> could be
> easier to play gatekeeper at the intake point, just like our public
> libraries do.
>
> 2. My observation is that most people who are comfortable enough with
> technology to use email can send documents as attachments (or as text
> within the body of a message), but that there are many email users  
> who find
> wikis too much of a technical challenge to use--they might read  
> pages on a
> wiki just like they would on any website, but they will not post or
> edit.  In this case, that could mean that many available documents  
> will
> never get posted, which would obviously derail the purpose of the
> library.  This concern could perhaps be addressed by having a  
> moderator who
> receives and posts documents from anyone who's unsure how to post  
> documents
> themselves.

Yes I agree the technology of a wiki can be a barrier.  But, I will  
point
out the Wikipedia examplar of how those barriers are overcome with  
desire.

Someone will need to watch over this.  I consider that a Good Thing.
> One more note, about format.  I understand why it is probably  
> preferable to
> have the library in PDF or text rather than Word.  But i think a  
> lot of
> community policies are currently available in Word, and not  
> everybody is
> set up to convert from Word to PDF, and if they go to text-only  
> then they
> lose the formatting that makes the document more readable.  If the
> moderator (Andrew or whoever else steps forward) is willing to receive
> items in Word and then do the conversion to PDF before posting the  
> document
> in the library, that would ensure maximum access.  And i don't  
> think it
> would be that much extra work; but since i'm not the person who has
> volunteered to do the work, i will also support requirements  
> requested by
> those who are.

Conversion to PDF can be done easily enough.  Especially if you have
a Mac :-), where this is standard issue.  Or you buy Adobe Acrobat.   
Or you use a freely available PDF converter.

I'd not get stuck on that point, it will sort itself out.
If the information is important, someone will convert to PDF.

--Dirk

> Cheers,
>
> --Tree
>
>
>
> -----------------------------------------------
>
> Tree Bressen
> 1680 Walnut St.
> Eugene, OR 97403
> (541) 484-1156
> tree [at] ic.org
> http://www.treegroup.info
>
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--
Dirk Herr-Hoyman
Member of Arboretum Cohousing
Madison, WI
http://arboretumcohousing.org