On Wed, Oct 31, 2012 at 1:46 PM, jan iversen <jancasacon...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi. > > I think your md pages are SUPER....what I suggested was an additional wiki > page (actually someone else called it postoffice) where we put small tasks > that need to be translated / written etc. > > So I see your pages go hand in hand with Wiki pages, just too different > levels of interaction with the community. >
Right. So maybe when we do a wider "call for volunteers" we can offer three tracks: 1) Sign up for ooo-dev and "drink from the firehose" (our only current option) 2) A short intro on the wiki, one that doesn't exist yet, but maybe someone can write one. 3) A longer self-paced intro on the website (what I'm working on) They are volunteers, so we can't force them to do anything. But we can offer them a few choices. I'm happy to provide one of those choices. Who wants to provide another? -Rob > jan > > On 31 October 2012 16:59, Rob Weir <robw...@apache.org> wrote: > >> On Wed, Oct 31, 2012 at 11:51 AM, Kay Schenk <kay.sch...@gmail.com> wrote: >> > >> > >> > On 10/28/2012 04:30 PM, Rob Weir wrote: >> >> >> >> On Sun, Oct 28, 2012 at 6:29 PM, Andrea Pescetti <pesce...@apache.org> >> >> wrote: >> >>> >> >>> On 23/10/2012 Rob Weir wrote: >> >>>> >> >>>> >> >>>> New Volunteer Orientation root page: >> >>>> http://incubator.apache.org/openofficeorg/orientation/ >> >>> >> >>> >> >>> >> >>> This is an excellent resource. But we received a few requests from >> >>> prospective volunteers this weekend and I'm believing it would be >> >>> overwhelming to point them there. I still believe these documents are >> >>> excellent, but probably they are assuming our volunteer is above >> average, >> >>> or >> >>> at least willing to engage deeply with the project. They would be >> perfect >> >>> for me, for you, or for a newcomer like Jan who has the skills and the >> >>> mindset to understand in detail how things work. >> >>> >> >> >> >> And how do we know in advance which volunteers are like Jan and which >> are >> >> not? >> >> >> >> I think we should find some way to point them to the info and say that >> >> they are welcome to jump in and ignore this all, or skim it in >> >> parallel with direct participation, or read through this stuff first. >> >> It is entirely up to them. >> >> >> >> But generally, the more one needs to interact with other project >> >> participants and other systems and even other parts of Apache, the >> >> more this information becomes useful. Although not stated, one could >> >> almost say that "Level 4" would be becoming a Committer. So you are >> >> correct that this is a track for a more determined volunteer, >> >> >> >> >> >>> But we will also have (and we do have: most volunteers I see on the >> >>> mailing >> >>> lists in Italian fall in this category) volunteers who don't care that >> >>> much >> >>> about OpenOffice as a project: they use the product and just want to >> give >> >>> something back. They want to scratch an itch, or just to do something, >> >>> but >> >>> they are very task-oriented: they want something to do rather than >> >>> something >> >>> to read. For example, we may have translation volunteers who would be >> >>> perfectly satisfied if we e-mail them a PO file and tell them to grab >> >>> POEdit >> >>> and send the file back; and then they would consider a deeper >> engagement, >> >>> but not earlier. >> >>> >> >> >> >> Translation volunteers are different in many ways, but even there I >> >> think we need some solid orientation material. They won't go far >> >> before wondering why they cannot write to Pootle and the website, but >> >> others can. That leads us into discussion of roles at Apache, etc. >> >> And we really need to expose them to the Apache License at the >> >> earliest opportunity. We do no one any favors if we're passing around >> >> PO files via private mail, and receiving translations without any >> >> public record of contribution. >> >> >> >> In any case, this is an issue we've had for a while. Becoming a >> >> Committer is a higher hurdle than is appropriate for most translation >> >> volunteers, due to iCLA, etc. The orientation guides did not create >> >> this problem, they merely remind us of it. >> >> >> >>> And indeed they are not totally wrong: knowing how the Apache Board >> works >> >>> is >> >>> not needed to be able to translate a press release, or a few OpenOffice >> >>> strings, into Italian. >> >>> >> >>> Could it be that we need a "practical" entry point for people who want >> to >> >>> help and just want to do it immediately? Placing these information at >> >>> level >> >>> 3 of the "Volunteer Orientation" seems too much for volunteers who want >> >>> to >> >>> jump in and do something (while, again, the orientation guide is >> >>> excellent >> >>> for a skilled, determined volunteer). >> >>> >> >> >> >> Since "level 3" for translators does not exist yet, it may be too >> >> early to say whether or not is "practical". (I hope it will be >> >> practical). If we make it self-contained, it may be possible for it >> >> be consulted on its own for someone who is not seeking deeper >> >> engagement with the project. >> >> >> >> -Rob >> >> >> >> >> >>> Regards, >> >>> Andrea. >> > >> > >> > Rob, >> > >> > I still support this whole notion. But, maybe it would be better to go >> with >> > more of a "checklist" style instead of the in-depth explanations you >> have in >> > this document. >> > >> > What if you ported this to the wiki (Jan suggested this as well. cwiki is >> > easiest for me but I have no object to wiki.openoffice.org) so those of >> us >> > that are interested can more easily contribute to this worthwhile guide. >> > >> >> Of course you are free to start whatever wiki page you wish. But I'll >> be continuing with the mdtext pages I've started. This is based on my >> experience with providing orientation to many of our Symphony >> developers on how Apache projects work and how to participate in such >> a community. This approach works. Other approaches might work for >> others as well. But I'm going to give this a try. >> >> -Rob >> >> > Thanks for starting this. It is needed. >> > >> > -- >> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> > >> > MzK >> > >> > "Anyone who considers protocol unimportant has never >> > dealt with a cat." >> > -- Robert Heinlein >>
