ERT Journal - Your feedback please!

[Srirangan]

ERT Mentor's Journal: Mentors collectively posting entries into their journal that would get categorized into topics.

Does the community like the concept? Here is an implementation:
http://expertsrt.net/journal/

PS: You can login with you current accounts. Mentors please get in touch, we will need to manually mentorify your accounts. ;)

[nicholassolutions]

This is something Sri and I have been playing around with for a few days. As a side note, you can also check out the forum, which we have migrated the current threads to (they will not be updated to show activity here -- it's for proof of concept only and notifs are not yet implemented there, so keep any important discussions here).

Mentors can make journal articles and comment in those of others. Regular members cannot make articles, but can comment on them after they are written. The idea is to generate discussion on articles and help streamline the content generation process. The idea could also potentially be used as a "classroom" setting with some slight modifications, so that the Mentor presents a lesson plan, and helps seekers work through the material afterward in a Q&A related to the article.

Meanwhile, the forum (either here or in that implementation) can continue to serve as a community meeting point.

Everyone PLEASE take a minute to see how this works and post your opinions. This is only a very rough implementation, and your opinions will determine the extent to which it should be pursued further, and what directions we should take.

[rdivilbiss]

mentorfy me please, (or whatever you call it.)

[nicholassolutions]

done..sorry for the inconvenience...we were only able to import the user/pass and not the user levels...I'll be working on updating those for everyone now.

[nicholassolutions]

OK, all mentors have been added. If I missed anyone, please PM me and I will add you.

[rdivilbiss]

http://expertsrt.net/journal/node/19#comment

Rod: This is a good idea. 2 considerations...

   1. using the existing articles (which might not be much of a problem considering there are some HTML tags available, and
   2. Should we have more of a wiki type interface, so the original article could more easily be expanded, editted or corrected (possibly based on other people's comments?)

Also: (aside) How are URLs treated?

http://www.expertsrt.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7213#7213

[quote inserted by matt]

[rdivilbiss]

more considerations re: using this blog software for articles.

Images and Links:

http://www.expertsrt.net/journal/node/623#comment-6123

I like the semi-integration with the forum....maybe for the most part this could replace the forum..IF..we can include images in the mentor posts and live URLs without opening up XSS holes.

I do not think either images(image links) or hyperlinks would be needed or desireable in the post article comments.

I also like that we can play with and preview the pluses and minuses before deciding if it is or should be part of the whole site.

Excellent job.

Maybe these comments belong someplace else?

[quote inserted by matt]

[nicholassolutions]

In response to Rod's first comment:

good idea

1) Yes, I think it would be pretty easy to import some articles that exist at ERT.com...both in this journal format and as separate, standalone 'story' pages. It would be a good way to try out the format.

2) I was thinking of this too, although I'm not sure how difficult it would be to implement. It would certainly be possible to give all mentors authority to change any journal article, but I'm not sure about preserving the history which is one of the best parts of wikis. I'll look into it.

[nicholassolutions]

Re: the handling of images and URLs, I haven't had time to toy around with it much yet. There are some bbcode modules available, but they didn't work perfectly. At worst, we could probably develop our own, and plug the image optimizer into that setup the same way it is here. If we run everything in the [ url ] .... [ url ] tags through the same sanitizer I've been using on some of the other pages, XSS should not be a problem.

[nicholassolutions]

The other piece that is VERY nice is that you can subscribe to be notified via email of changes in all different types of content, and you can organize how and when the information is sent pretty extensively in your profile. The emailing does not work perfectly, so that would take some additional development effort.

[rdivilbiss]

A blog (journals) may have another useful purpose beyond articles.

e.g. Maybe a modified wiki for articles because you build a living breathing document which can change as time changes.

For example. An article written 3 years ago about using JavaScript methods to include a text file into the body of a web page might have discussed using the IFRAME.

Some months later someone mentione you could load the IFRAME in a hidden DIVision, and use DHTML and innerHTML to grab the contents and manipulate the text file contents before plunking them down into your page body.

So the article gets updated and is still fresh and meaningful. The link is the same, all the better for bookmarks and SEO.

Then later yet, someone realizes the XMLHTTP remote scripting object has become ubiquitous and can now be used to include the text file using JavaScript. So the article again is updated and is even a better resource.

I think articles in a wiki have the potential to be a greater resource and more likely to become part of a person;s permanent reference (of bookmarks, etc.) giving us a virtual knowlege base as it were.

Static story pages and the blog do not quite take us to that level.

Also, with categorization, maybe instead of the first article being modified, we end up with three JS include articles, each children to a main article discussing the pros and cons of the idea along with links to the child articles.

Food for thought.

Were that the case, the blog would still be great for op ed type opinion pieces, which may ultimately germinate via discussion into an article or simply offer valuable insight about an existing article.

[rdivilbiss]

The other piece that is VERY nice is that you can subscribe to be notified via email of changes in all different types of content, and you can organize how and when the information is sent pretty extensively in your profile. The emailing does not work perfectly, so that would take some additional development effort.

I think I saw RSS feed icons for those of us who were inclined to use that technology.

[nicholassolutions]

I really like that idea. It's kind of like a pyramid, refining content up to the level of article:

forum/Q&A --> blog/comments --> wiki article + children

There is a module called a 'book' that allows multiple members to collaborate on content distributed over several pages. That might serve as a good starting point for the 'top of the pyramid'. There are also some wiki modules available. If we move forward with this, it would largely be a matter of just installing and playing with some more toys and seeing what works, and modifying it.

Thanks for mentioning the RSS -- I forgot about that. Like the email notifs, it's quite easy to customize it so you get exactly the information you want.

[nicholassolutions]

BTW, I'm sure as more people join the discussion, this will come up, but there's a lot in a name. Personally, I don't really like the name "blog"; I associate it with self-important people who spend all day in front of the computer writing about how much life sucks...Of course, that's just me, but the connotations will be important, especially if we are trying to use a 'new' system of content development...The important thing is that we come up with a method for refining content from the Q&A to the Article/Tutorial level, and choose names that immediately convey what we mean.

forum->blog->book is probably not it
forum->journal->article is better IMO, but maybe still may carry connotations that tend to confuse people about their intended purpose.

[seandelaney]

Guys

I must say this is a brillant idea - well done.

im loving it so far with its clean and professional look!

 :cheers:  =D>  =D>  =D>  =D>  =D>  =D>  =D>  =D>  =D>