[Radiance-general] Radiance wiki proposal

Wed Feb 5 17:34:30 PST 2014

Chris, Andy et. al.,

Now that this is going to happen here is my 2 cents.

I think everybody agrees that there is already so much really valuable
information in the email list. I have personally found the answer to many
of my questions by reading the emails from the archive but always suffered
from the poor layout. The attachments are missing and in some cases it is
really hard to follow the conversations.

I would be happy to devote some time to develop the code to parse the email
archive and put them in a better format that is easier to follow. I
personally like the layout of Grasshopper discussion pages which is similar
to many other pages on the web. Just a random example: (
http://www.grasshopper3d.com/forum/topics/window-forms-param-data-binding)

Any of the options provides an API that let us problematically generate
discussion pages from the current emails?

Mostapha

On Wed, Feb 5, 2014 at 8:20 PM, Andrew McNeil <amcneil at lbl.gov> wrote:

> Awesome! Does anyone else feel the urge to pledge some time to adding
> content to a Radiance wiki? Any hour for hour matches? (KQED is having it's
> pledge drive this week, so I'm in a pledge drive kinda mood).
>
> Andy
>
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, Feb 5, 2014 at 4:55 PM, Chris Kallie <kallie at umn.edu> wrote:
>
>>  Andy, et al.,
>>
>> Proposal sounds very good. I pledge 40+ hours before June 21, 2014. Is
>> there a consensus on which wiki site is best?
>>
>> Thanks to all!
>> Chris
>>
>>
>> On 2/5/14 5:51 PM, Andrew McNeil wrote:
>>
>> Chris,
>>
>> Sorry if some of us appear to be cynical, but I thinly you're off the
>> mark dismissing those with less enthusiasm as naysayers who "fundamentally
>> misunderstand or loathe the concept" of wikis.  I think I can speak for
>> everyone when I say that we would love for there to be the level of
>> documentation you propose. Unfortunately funding for documentation isn't
>> available, so it is generally a personal time activity.
>>
>>  As Rob pointed out (who, by the way, has been instrumental in making
>> Radiance available to Windows users and deserves all of our gratitude)
>> setting up and hosting a wiki isn't much of a hurdle, so a pledge to do
>> that isn't all that meaningful. Instead, a pledge to spend 200 hours this
>> year creating content for a wiki is substantially more meaningful, and
>> would likely be met with more enthusiasm.
>>
>>  As Axel pointed out in his 2006 presentation, most of the work of wiki
>> documentation is done by 1% of the users. It's nice to think if you build
>> it they will come, but unfortunately that has been demonstrated false (at
>> least for this community) and we'll need to do more than just "hope that
>> the community makes an effort to upload content."
>>
>>  Ultimately, the challenge you'll face in starting a successful wiki is
>> getting buy-in from a broad base of users and motivating 1% of the Radiance
>> community to contribute substantial time adding content. Unfortunately, I
>> think you'll have to rely heavily on the people you deem naysayers, because
>> they are the ones who have been in the community the longest. Your appeal
>> to the students in the community to do the heavy lifting seems misguided,
>> we spend significant time helping some students with their problems only to
>> never hear from them again after their dissertation is completed, so I
>> don't think they share your motivation.
>>
>>  Here's my 2 cents on what will make your efforts a success:
>> 1 - Make a more meaningful pledge towards creating a wiki rich with
>> content
>> 2 - Proactively seek buy-in and support from everyone within the Radiance
>> community (not dismiss  people with less enthusiasm as naysayers).
>> 3 - Work tirelessly to deliver content. Unfortunately you'll probably be
>> working alone at first.
>>
>>  If you decide to proceed by pledging a substantial amount of your time
>> to add content, I will pledge 40 hours of my personal time this summer to
>> add content.
>>
>>  Good luck and godspeed my friend,
>> Andy
>>
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Feb 5, 2014 at 12:19 PM, Chris Kallie <kallie at umn.edu> wrote:
>>
>>>  Thank you Andy and Greg,
>>>
>>> Please do consider the points I've raised in the last email, and let's
>>> hope that the community makes an effort to upload content. I am willing to
>>> partake in the organization and uploading of portions of the
>>> radiance-online content, but a plan of action would be a good first task.
>>>
>>> Also, there are numerous ways to set up a wiki. I personally like the
>>> homepage of http://wiki.blender.org/ and was able to teach myself
>>> everything I needed to learn through their intuitive structure. The
>>> software is provided freely by: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki--I'm not an advocate of any particular wiki distro, but some just work
>>> better and look prettier than others.
>>>
>>> Thanks to all!
>>> Chris
>>>
>>>
>>> On 2/5/14 2:18 PM, Greg Ward wrote:
>>>
>>>  A hearty "second" to Andy's motion for a Radiance FAQ.  As someone who
>>> is frequently re-answering questions that have already been asked (but I've
>>> forgotten I answered them already), this would be my top priority as well.
>>>  Someone knowledgeable would have to dig through the archives and pull out
>>> the interesting questions, and I'm not the best person for that.  There are
>>> also the old-old archives that should be mined for still-relevant
>>> information, and these are better organized and therefore easier to delve
>>> into:
>>>
>>>  http://radsite.lbl.gov/radiance/digests_html/rad_dig_HOME.html
>>>
>>>  Cheers,
>>> -Greg
>>>
>>>  *From: *Andrew McNeil <amcneil at lbl.gov>
>>>
>>> *Date: *February 5, 2014 11:04:46 AM PST
>>>
>>>
>>>   Hi Chris, Rob,
>>>
>>>  radiance-online.org is set up as a community website for anyone to add
>>> and edit content. Danny and I are the only ones to have done anything, but
>>> that's not the intent. It's not quite a wiki because we feel it needs a bit
>>> more editorial oversight to remain relevant and accurate, but anyone can
>>> contribute regardless. Anyone should feel welcome to register, send me an
>>> email, and I'll promote you to author.
>>>
>>>  I also won't get in the way of, and may even contribute to, another
>>> wiki attempt. But i'd ague that an FAQ is more necessary.
>>>
>>>  Andy
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
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