Posted by mlangfeld on March 21, 2011 at 4:20pm
I am a member of the Web Managers group on LinkedIn. A new subgroup is self-forming for Drupal Web Managers by request of several web managers of Drupal sites, with the comment by several that they don't find answers to their questions about managing Drupal websites on drupal.org
It occurs to me that most web managers create documentation, workflows and web governance documents during the course of their work. I know I do. So, as the group develops, I can see definite possibilities for encouraging participation in documentation here on drupal.org
I'm not sure this would work, though, so wanted to open it for discussion. Web managers are not primarily developers, and have different concerns. What do you think?
Comments
Good suggestion...
There are many roles that need docs.
Users, Content Editors, Content Managers, Themers, Devs, DBA's, SysAdmins
Unfortunately, I only see docs for all.
That makes for lots of docs for all, instead of suitable docs for some.
Role-driven docs seems to be the only way to have
folks both find and contribute to docs.
Jeremy Donson
Database and Systems Engineer
New York City
I looked for the group on
I looked for the group on LinkdIn and couldn't find it, but I'll keep looking :)
That was, essentially, one of the reasons I wanted to join the documentation team. A lot, if not most, of the documentation is meant for people who already know, understand, and breathe Drupal - which is great. But a lot of my clients, as I start to explain to them even simple things like how to check for status updates or even just how to add more content, get completely lost. I was hoping to help contribute to help bring Drupal documentation to people who are a little less techie.
I think in all, this will also help Drupal be a little easier for beginners. I like the idea that Drupal is not necessarily for the weak and is considered a much more advanced CMS than so many others (and rightfully so!) but I think it would benefit quite a bit if at least some documentation was targeted specifically for beginners.
The group is simply called "Web Managers"
The LinkedIn group is simply called "Web Managers". I think you'll need to be accepted for membership after you apply.
Then the subgroup is called "Web Managers Drupal". The admin of the main group has to accept you into that. The discussion that prompted this is called "Is anyone currently using Drupal as their WCMS? Would love to put together a user group if there is interest." by Michelle.
I see I was just accepted into the group, and there are three members so far today. So there's interest for sure, at least in a web managers group where people can ask their questions and hopefully others will help answer them.
Best, Marilyn
I think certain areas like
I think certain areas like the Admin guide http://drupal.org/documentation/administer, and the Beginner's Cookbook http://drupal.org/documentation/customization/tutorials/beginners-cookbook would tend to have docs that we could use help with from people who are more site admins than devs. That said, it will take some initiative on your side, either looking through the docs issue queue or those sections to find things you can help with! I may eventually get to organizing specific tasks that need to get done, but there is a lot of other stuff on my to-do list, so if you want to work on this stuff, just go for it!
If you need help more specifically knowing how to start on a piece of work, feel free to post questions here or on IRC http://drupal.org/irc #drupal-docs channel.
Here's what I thought might work
Hi Ariane,
I wondered about the administer section, and don't know the beginner's cookbook, so will take a good long look at both. I thought I'd participate in the LinkedIn group, see what kinds of questions get asked, then suggest that we take the knowledge we accumulate and apply it to drupal.org docs so that it's shared as widely as possible. So this might be longer-term rather than shorter-term, depending on the time I can dig up to work on it, and how quickly the group takes off.
I'm on IRC, so can reach you there, or here. Wish me luck and let's see what I can make happen, with anyone else here, like Fanaile, who's interested.
Best, Marilyn
I'm definitely interested :)
I'm definitely interested :) LOL, hope it's okay that I latched onto your bandwagon. I've been wandering around the drupal docs pages under "Getting Involved" for months trying to figure out how to get started. I even emailed a couple of the people listed that said they were able to mentor new contributors but never heard back from any of them...
Haven't gotten myself set up on IRC since buying the new computer, but I will go check it out. I found the group on LinkedIn, I think you can't see it until you at least apply to join the main group? But my memberships to both groups is pending :)
Ah! I'm so excited! :)
If you find some people who
If you find some people who want to team up on this, we can always start a "webmasters" working group/tag on http://groups.drupal.org/node/125669 too.
Thanks Arianek, I think that
Thanks Arianek, I think that would be a very good idea.
Also, how could I join the novices and beginners sub-groups? It says to just add my name to the list, but considering my newbie-status to the team and my complete ignorance regarding how to monitor/update issue queues (I have no issues posting to them though, LOL)...
Is this the type of stuff I should be asking about in IRC?
Let's team up
Hi Fanaile,
Wow, this is exciting. Yes, let's team up on this. I can't stay to discuss more right now.
Best, Marilyn
Hi Fanaile - I'll post here
Hi Fanaile - I'll post here in case others are wondering the same thing. ;)
All you do is add your name then look at the issues in the queue that is linked to there. All you do is find an issue you feel you can make some progress on (if you need help, ask in #drupal-docs or #drupal-contribute) and then work on it and update the issue to track your progress or ask for reviews (by changing the status to "needs review").
If you want to keep an eye on issues you've been working on to see if anyone's updated them, the best way is to look at the full list of issues you've been involved with: http://drupal.org/project/issues/user
There's a bunch of general intro information on working on docs here too if you're interested in reading through: http://drupal.org/contribute/documentation
Hope that helps!
Folks might also be
Folks might also be interested in checking out the Drupal Dojo webinar in which JHodgdon, a leader of the D.O. documentation team, talks about 'Contributing to Drupal via the Drupal Issue Queue'.
My first baby steps
I was at the DrupalConSF docs sprint and took my first (and til now only) baby steps with Heather's help, by looking at the issue queue, finding very simple comments to delete, submitting them for review, and then deleting. That kind of help frees up others to do higher level work, and every bit counts, I figure. I think I met you then, Ariane, very briefly.
Best, Marilyn
Great help!
Yes, identifying comments that can be deleted (or if they contain useful information, incorporating them into the doc pages themselves) is a great help to the Docs effort! Thanks!
For anyone else interested in this on-going task, we have a guide on how to do this:
http://drupal.org/node/135589
Drupal programmer - http://poplarware.com
Drupal author - http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920034612.do
Drupal contributor - https://www.drupal.org/u/jhodgdon
Yep baby steps are a good way
Yep baby steps are a good way to get more confident about editing docs and also chipping away at some of the ongoing tasks (we're working on building infrastructure tools to help limit how much time we need to spend on that sort of work down the line too).
I bet we did meet, but I was still recovering from a bad flu at DrupalCon SF and pretty out of it! Hopefully we'll get to catch up again down the line!