[OLPC library] [Olpc-open] Suggestion for Terms of Use for content

[Edward Cherlin]

On Jan 19, 2008 7:32 PM, Seth Woodworth <seth at isforinsects.com> wrote:
> We need a system to categorize our data like in your links Carol, and I
> agree that the current state of the wiki is pretty bad.  But if you look at
> projects like Wiki-Commons, or free-reading, a wiki *can* be a lot better
> organized.  We just don't have enough dedicated and informed people to fix
> the wiki.  Information doesn't spread well yet.

One of the problems I see is that OLPC has not hired the staff of
technical writers proposed in the autumn. Tradition holds that this is
because geeks don't believe in documentation, ;-> as witness man
pages, %-[ but it is clear that there are other reasons for the
disarray at OLPC more generally. (I also hear, indirectly, that there
are people at MIT's Sloan School of Management who would like to help,
but somehow feel that they must be asked first. I don't know how true
that is, but asking couldn't hurt.) The position of Documentation Lead
has been on the Job page for months, but nobody has been hired, and in
fact Kim Quirk told me that a decision had been made not to hire any
tech writers at that time.

More volunteers would help. A way for the volunteers to get organized
would help. Is there an official Volunteer Coordinator (aka
Cat-Herder-in-Chief)? I assume not. It wouldn't have to be a paid
position, to start, although I think that OLPC has been foolish in not
hiring more organizers, and people for a number of other functions.

Even a place to sign up, with some indication of the greatest felt
needs, would help. The first step would be to restructure the
Volunteering page, and having somebody volunteer to keep it current.
We need to discuss what else exists and what information sources there
are before we can have a proper idea of how this page should be
organized.

We have volunteers for

* Development, with repository and bug tracking
* Localization, with Pootle
* Documentation ??
* Wiki reorganization ??
* Content librarianship ?? Needs matrix organization by document and
language, at least, with license management.

I don't know whether anybody is doing

* Legal ?? There are innumerable restrictions on what can be published
in various countries, with religion and politics being two of the top
restricted categories. Somebody has to go over these requirements with
experts from the ministries concerned. Also we need a
country-by-country analysis of import laws that would affect the
laptop and its contents and accessories, and government contracting
and purchasing laws and regulations. (My father used to do this sort
of thing for getting insurance policies approved in 50 states by 50
different Insurance Commissioners.) What are the differences between
Common Law countries and Napoleonic Code countries? What other systems
are used in multiple countries? What treaties and treaty organizations
affect these issues?
* Recruiting ?? There is no shortage of people with the skills we
need, and many of them have the available time and inclination. We
need to reach out to them.
* Country tracking ??? None of this is on the Wiki, except in a
conjectural state. Somebody needs to monitor the state of negotiations
with each prospect country, and provide guidance to the volunteers on
languages to target for localization and a number of other matters.

Some kinds of information need to be in a repository or database, not
just a Wiki, where organization has to be created and maintained
manually.

What else?

Well, Earth Treasury is separately recruiting artists, musicians,
sound engineers, filmmakers, linguists, and others to aid the children
in recording their heritages and publishing them to the world. Also
people in business, and every adjunct profession, to help the children
go into business together. And other things. None of that is within
the OLPC mission. Should it be?

Oh, and the children need to have a place to connect around the world.

> On Jan 19, 2008 6:04 PM, Carol Lerche <cafl at msbit.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> > Seth,  sorry for sending this once to you and then to the list.  On
> reflection I felt it should go to the list as well.
> >
> >
> > Truly the wiki is NOT the best way to organize content such as the
> activities page.
> >
> > Yes, the countries will be the arbiters of taste as to what is shipped on
> each of their xo's but what about the next step?
> >
> > Here are examples of completely different way to organize this type of
> content (not very beautiful but quite a lot more functional than just a
> list):
> >
> >
> > http://www.cmsmatrix.org/matrix/cms-matrix?func=search
> >
> > or
> >
> > http://www.codeweavers.com/compatibility/search
> >
> > I think we need a search by age/grade level, subject matter, localization,
> countries using, minimum build requirement, maturity/bugginess, tag (where
> an app could have multiple tags that were optional and possibly pejorative!)
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > The current activity page is pretty hard to use -- in the computer
> science/database world I think we could term it a "heap".
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Carol
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Library mailing list
> > Library at lists.laptop.org
> > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/library
> >
> >
>
>
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>
>



-- 
Edward Cherlin
End Poverty at a Profit by teaching children business
http://www.EarthTreasury.org/
"The best way to predict the future is to invent it."--Alan Kay