WikiEducator:Community Council/Meetings/First/Motiondump

WCC Meetings
1st Meeting	Agenda

Motion Text

This motion is to emphasize the need of creating a monthly wikipedia-like dump for wikieducator to back up the content in case of emergency and also to make it available for offline use. This way wikieducator can be used both in online and offline context. (: This motion was tabled 17:59, 27 October 2008 by Minhaaj)

Discussion

I very much support the notion of User's being able to backup their work themselves. For example, in Wikispaces, Users there can download a zip file containing all the pages of their space. With Wikieducator, it may be more practical to download a zip containing all pages in a category (as I wouldn't want to have one whole dump to seperate out). Jim Tittsler has developed a simple way to download a zip file based on a collection. A person needs to first create a collection and save it, then provide Jim's downloader with teh URL to that collection. It will then offer a zip for download that contains all the pages as html and images used in each page. It is easy to create a large collection quickly by adding a category page to the collection - all pages in that category are added to the collection automatically.

Jim's tool needs some refining, and probably needs to sit on another server. But it is workable now - at least enough for user testing and obtaining feedback. I think we should reference Jim's tool in this motion.

A backup feature as comprehensive as Jim's tool already is should be made available asap if Wikieducator hopes to win credibility in the eLearning and social media sector --Leighblackall 03:08, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

Hi Leigh, I can see that you're thinking of a range of operational issues - thanks. We run daily backups of WE data so that in the event of a server meltdown we'll be able to rebuild the WE site. Therefore I don't think that this is a "valid" motion in the sense that we already provide for backup. However, your motion raises two important issues:

• The distinction between governance and operations. Typically, governance structures should not micro-manage and get involved with operational responsibilities. That said, we do not have a clear distinction between governance matters and operational issues -- hence the agenda item to discuss and hopefully propose the development of a governance manual on our agenda.
• The importance for our community to develop guidelines and/or procedures for dealing with requests to install remove extensions.

I really like your idea of providing users with the ability to download "collections" for local storage and/or adaptation offline. Jims web service is a step in the right direction -- however this is very much a proof-of-concept technology and will still need lots of work before we can implement this as production software. There are a couple of recent advances which we should also take into consideration -- namely the ability to download an Open Document Text (odt) format file from any collection saved in Mediawiki using the "Collection extension" (This is the Open Office file format). You can see an example of this which was recently installed on Wikibooks. WE will be implementing this feature when we migrate to our Phase II hosting solution -- which is planned before the end of this year. --Wayne Mackintosh 20:11, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

Hello Wayne.

I don't think that this is a "valid" motion in the sense that we already provide for backup.

Not my motion, this is Minhaaj's motion. My input here is merely a suggestion in the discussion area of the motion. The back up you describe is not the sort of backup I was suggesting. The backup you describe would be standard procedure I would have thought.

Jims web service is a step in the right direction -- however this is very much a proof-of-concept technology...

Well, compared to some technology already running on Wikieducator, considering that users currently do not have an option to download copies in quantity of their work, and my own trial of Jim's tool - it is ready enough, or certainly better than nothing.

There are a couple of recent advances which we should also take into consideration

Thanks, was aware of the ODT developments and they will by great when ready. Until then, Jim's tool would be good.

WE will be implementing this feature when we migrate to our Phase II hosting solution

I take it "we" means the same people who do things without a "Governance Manual"? --Leighblackall 08:30, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

Leigh, there is a both a timing and transition challenge in moving forward with community governance. We can't develop a Governance Manual in the absence of a duly elected council -- at the same time we have to get the mechanics of Phase 2 hosting in place - -contracts for leasing of servers, a server room to host the equipment, getting contracts in place for the technical team who assist with running WE on a day to day basis. I'm not sure what you mean by the same people who do things without a "Governance Manual" -- what do you propose? I rather that we work together in sorting out all the process detail regarding how our community will operate as our community governance model matures. --Wayne Mackintosh 10:25, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

Votes

Approval

--minhaaj 17:59, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

Result

Motion fails for lack of a second. --SteveFoerster 19:47, 9 December 2008 (UTC)