/srv/irclogs.ubuntu.com/2010/10/22/#ubuntu-learning.txt

jledbettermeeting here or #meeting?00:00
pleia2here00:00
pleia2but no doctormo :(00:00
jledbetterI'm sure any second now00:01
pleia2I guess I can just talk about some things and he can catch up if he comes by00:01
pleia2alright, so this meeting is to quickly talk about the status of learning materials and how we want to move forward with it00:01
pleia2it started out last year, doctormo put together a dozen or so classes which he released for review on his blog, all done in open office and exported to pdf00:02
pleia2then the deadly discussions happened: openoffice docs aren't translatable, as binaries, they aren't great in revision control00:03
pleia2so what format to use? and how can the format be shared between other documentation projects?00:03
jledbetterHaha. Deadly discussions.00:03
pleia2so we settled on asciidoc, but then learned -manual was using latex, and -docs uses docbook but they'll switch to mallard someday00:03
pleia2(maybe)00:03
pleia2so months and months of this, and we all got tired and bored and kinda gave up00:04
pleia2meanwhile, there are loco teams and people who still ask pretty frequently of the community if there are any premade classes they can teach at events, and we haven't been there to serve that need00:05
pleia2I think what we need to do is give up on the format discussion for now, and move forward with course-writing00:05
jledbetterCan always be ported, yes.00:06
* pleia2 nods00:06
pleia2we can keep it all in revision control, so whether we use open office or latex or docbook or whatever to generate our pdfs, the originals will be available in *some* format for tweaking00:06
jledbetterLooking up asciidoc and mallard. I've used latex but not the others.00:06
jledbetterYes.00:06
pleia2I've edited docbook and latex, but not much with the others00:07
pleia2and honestly openoffice is appealing because as a course-writer I can focus on content rather than format, and when I'm in course-writing mood that's what I need00:08
pleia2course writers shouldn't have to worry about asciidoc build errors :)00:08
pleia2(unless they want to!)00:08
jledbetterI tend to use something online so that I can get to it everywhere but can save as / make it whatever when ready.00:08
pleia2yeah, we had one guy writing his course on the wiki00:08
jledbetterThat's good as long as kept in sync with the repository00:09
pleia2hmm, so courses online we may want to still have something in revision control, even if it's just a text file telling people where to find the source00:09
pleia2but I think the number of people wanting the source may be limited, since classes are essentially delivered as .pdf00:10
jledbetterA central location to find everything is good. Looks like the wiki was doing that. Could link (source) (etc)00:10
pleia2I think we just see how this goes :)00:10
pleia2hmm, yeah maybe the wiki00:10
jledbetterAgreed. I'd like to put my source somewhere everyone can get it since I do like to do screenshots, programs, etc.00:11
pleia2great00:11
pleia2so I guess we should determine what our next steps are00:12
jledbetterWell, we can hm put the stuff somewhere (our blogs, etc) and link from wiki00:13
jledbetterJust to get us going? Then see how it goes.00:13
* pleia2 nods00:14
jledbetterI did notice that when I was trying to find all the OpenWeek/UserDays/DevWeek talks about X topic that I had to go through each ... word...00:14
pleia2ok, then maybe we get revision control rolling with some very simple steps on how to use it00:14
jledbettersprint? release? animal?00:14
pleia2I guess they are sorted by adjective?00:14
jledbetterWell, I just grabbed something from launchpad last night. Is that too technical for course writers?00:14
jledbetterAdjective. That works :)00:15
jledbetterYou know, part of me wants some of these topics to be "bugs" so I can find out what someone was thinking and how I can meet that need. Example: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Learning/DeveloperTopics -> Getting Funding00:16
pleia2oh, that's not a bad idea00:17
jledbetterAh, there is a project https://launchpad.net/ubuntu-learning-materials00:17
pleia2yep :)00:17
jledbetterStill learning how everything connects :)00:18
pleia2it would also be good for people who are just using the courses and have no interest in downloading the source, they can still give us feedback00:18
jledbetterYes. Definitely. The source view might be a little intimidating for some.00:18
jledbetterAnd I could see in one spot what's going instead of clicking lots of images on the wiki page to see where's what and what's where.00:19
jledbetterWould we use this to say "ok, we're starting this again"? https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu-learning-materials00:19
pleia2yeah00:19
pleia2ok, so I sorta see this all happening kinda organically, the most important step being that those who can and want to start writing classes00:20
pleia2starting with myself, since it'll be much easier for me to help new coursewriters if I've done one :)00:21
pleia2and whoever else wants to be a guinea pig00:21
jledbetterMe too.00:21
jledbetterI want to make a course. Just not sure what.00:22
pleia2I'll touch base with doctormo regarding what we can use for revision control (we can just use wiki and blogs for now), and his thoughts on bugs00:22
jledbetterOk.00:22
* jledbetter must blog more.00:22
pleia2well, that's all I really had in mind for this meeting :)00:23
jledbetterAny movement on this at UDS?00:23
pleia2I don't think so00:24
jledbetterOk00:24
pleia2at the last UDS we had this big collaboration meeting with -manual and -docs, but that never ended up going anywhere00:24
pleia2I hate to say it, but -docs being non-committal on mallard has really been a problem00:24
* jledbetter looks these up00:25
pleia2mallard is gnome's documentation format thingy00:25
jledbetterI meant -manual and -docs00:25
pleia2ah00:25
pleia2yeah so the -docs team is what does all the official docs in ubuntu00:25
pleia2-manual is ubuntu-manual.org, they printed a book of documentation for lucid, it was pretty impressive, tons of new contributors, made contributing easy00:26
pleia2there was a lot of bad blood between the two teams because it seemed to be a lot of duplication of effort00:27
jledbetterWell, the weird thing is all I can find is the manual team.00:28
jledbetterHm, I can see how there'd be duplication00:28
pleia2https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-manual00:28
jledbetterLooks like they have their "code" on launchpad and using bugs.00:29
pleia2yeah00:29
jledbetterSeems to be working for them so that's good.00:30
pleia2I had actually forgotten about that00:30
jledbetterHm.00:31
jledbetterYes, not there. Ok, I also suggest having a link to the format we should use (not doc but practicals, etc) on the wiki too.00:33
pleia2oh yeah, that link I never can find and have to search everywhere for00:33
pleia2https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Learning/CourseLayout00:33
* pleia2 scrolled up to find it00:33
jledbetterAnd this is the one with the most finished ones: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Learning/SystemAdminTopics00:33
pleia2ugh, I hate the new wiki theme00:34
* pleia2 switches back to default00:34
jledbetterYou tried out light?00:35
pleia2yeah00:35
pleia2fixed width makes babies cry :(00:35
pleia2actually I'm probably just being old and change-hating00:35
jledbetterI like fixed width but folks here are changing my mind for these type of sites ;)00:36
jledbettertypes00:36
jledbetterLong day.00:36
pleia2admittedly I have fixed-width sites, but on things like wikis it just means the space to edit is tiny00:36
pleia2jledbetter: you coming out to mt view tonight?00:37
jledbetterNope. Flight fell through. Maybe next Thursday. Mutter.00:37
pleia2ok, don't tell anyone, I think my siamese just claimed the california cds for her own00:37
* pleia2 eyes cat in box00:38
jledbetterThat can't be comfortable.00:38
pleia2she loves boxes00:38
jledbetterDoes she love warm things too?00:39
pleia2yeah00:39
jledbetterMy Siamese did too. Including the hood on the fish tank. Never fel/l in thou00:40
pleia2oh wow00:40
pleia2hehe00:40
jledbetterspeaking of cats. Cat on keyboard moment.00:40
pleia2ok, I updated the Materials page to link to layout00:40
jledbetterGreat, thank you :)00:40
pleia2it would probably be good to link to a demo course too, I feel like a goofball linking to doctormo's year old blog post for such a thing00:41
pleia2maybe something on the wiki so it's more accessible than having to download pdfs00:41
jledbetterCan link to one of his blog posts for now and then to something newer when you have it. Just so that we're designing similarly. Also, helps poke the inspiration fire.00:42
jledbetterI can tell someone that does graphics did this wiki page :D00:43
pleia2yea, that's doctormo :)00:43
pleia2he's amazing with this stuff00:44
jledbetterThe two kinds of course materials is still confusing me a little but I think examples will help there too.00:44
pleia2yeah I think I'll have to nudge him about that description, it's not altogether clear to me either00:44
jledbetterYeah, looking at the Background Topics and Classroom Topics in SystemAdmin and it's not helping me. Hopefully a new description will help firm it up in my head.00:46
jledbetterAnd what "drafter" means ;)00:46
pleia2yeah that00:47
pleia2:)00:47
pleia2ok, added a link to doctormo's command line basics class as an example00:47
jledbetterMaybe it goes back to the doc formating discussions.00:47
jledbetterGreat00:47
pleia2yeah I'm not sure00:48
jledbetterOnly 29 members? That seems low.00:52
pleia2this team?00:52
jledbetterYes00:52
pleia2yeah00:53
pleia2people expire and don't return, plus we've been kinda lame about actually doing courses so not many have joined latelyh00:53
jledbetterAh, ok. It'll improve then :)00:54
pleia2yeah, I hope so :)00:55
doctormopleia2: Ah hell, I just woke up :-(04:17
doctormoOK so I've read the back ground, I think you're right about everything, nothing to correct.04:22
* doctormo kicks evolution in the balls04:22
pleia2I love being right about everything04:53
jledbetterHehe05:32
nigelbpleia2: now I know the origins of the 'p' - Princess!06:12

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