On Dec 3, 2006, at 10:47 AM, Steffen wrote:
On 02/12/2006, at 22.01, Hans-Christoph Steiner wrote:
On Dec 1, 2006, at 7:35 AM, Steffen wrote:
[snip] The good thing (tm) regarding makeing it blog'ish is that people will actively do something to make the site live since it will display there work. The bad thing is that it no doubt will be a mess in some sense. Even if there were made a detailed guideline for what a post ideally would consist of (fx documentation of some sort given the kind of content) it would not last if not actively moderated by some one or some "group". However, that "mess" might be a good price for activity, hence promotion, on the site.
I think a moderator would be good. It could be something like guest curator for the site. We could just have slots for guest curator, like monthly, then anyone can sign up for a slot via a web interface, but you can only curator, say once a year, depending on demand.
I'm all with you regarding the signing up for 'the job' though a web interface. And it could easily be a wiki-page with time slots ready to be filled.
We'll just have to find out what 'the job' is and if it's a good job, so to speak. There is a few boll in the air right now, and some of them i don't think will work too well, ie. being a good job, and other balls i don't think work together.
As i see/read it there is: 1a) An example section that is periodically chancing (fx monthly) an curated per slot. 1b) Mouch like 1a) but more in the blog format, such that it like having a new blogger presetting Pd work/art each period slot. 2) A news section as it is now, i.e. free for all to add to and not moderated. 3) A blog section presenting Pd work/art free for all to ad to, like the current news section. 4) A moderated version if 3) with periodically (fx monthly) chancing moderators/curators 5) A merge of 2) and 3) renaming it to something appropriate.
I think 5) could work, but both 2) and 3) will be messing up the front page, making it confusing to digest for the arbitrary reader (suggestion to fix that below).
I think 4) will be a "bad job", since it will rely on people to post before the post can be moderated. In fact i think i will be a "bad job" for both the poster and the moderator: The poster will properly have either to change part of the content or the moderator will have to change it. The moderator don't really earn any respect from the community by being the buggy man/women, and it will properly be dissatisfactory to have such little influence on what that will be posted - it will be more like being a clerk in the Pd store.
I like 1a) or 1b) the best, and think it could go with 2). Qua it being satisfactory It will be a "good job". If combined with 2) the concern about a messy frontpage ofcause also apply here, but...
... Fixing the mess might be as simple as doing a good design job. Fx by skipping the menu on the left (having it only in the top of the pages) and having only two columns of information on the front page (and one on every other page), one with news and one with the blog or curated examples of Pd work/art. That would ideally demand a more elaborate news items that can be read/viewed in the blog/ example column by clicking the associated news item in the news column. Note that this method will also make the 2) + 3) combo not messy.
I am fine with any of the above. But I think it would be nice to have a "curator". That gives it a different feel than self- promotion. We all have our websites and member pages for self- promotion ;). How that curator handles submissions would be up to them. So not so much a "moderator" necessarily, but really a "curator".
As for column layout, less columns sounds good to me if the nav menus are still usable.
.hc
------------------------------------------------------------------------
If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an idea, which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it to himself; but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the possession of everyone, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of it. - Thomas Jefferson