Website Community Group Proposal 2008

From Genunix

Jump to: navigation, search

Contents

Summary

To create a Website Community Group (CG) so Core Contributors with commit access to opensolaris.org can work on content and infrastructure projects in a transparent and organized way with Contributors directly involved in website development.

Background

At present the opensolaris.org Website Project is a subproject of the Tools CG, but it has become clear that it's not a good fit. The introductory paragraph on the Tools Project page says:

"The Tools community welcomes individuals interested in the implementation of infrastructure used to build and manage OpenSolaris. This infrastructure includes compilers, source managers and browsers, and OpenSolaris-specific development, build, and install tools (like wx, cw, and bfu)."

In contrast, the introductory paragraph on the Website Project page says:

"The website project covers both the development and operations of the opensolaris.org infrastructure."

While there are some shared areas of interest between the Tools and Website communities (e.g. the web application for the SCM system), it's not an extensive overlap. And as the web infrastructure evolves to allow plug-in services, there will be even less inherent connection between the Website work and the other Tools work. In contrast, website content and infrastructure issues are inherently connected (systemic changes to one will often result in changes to the other). Therefore, it would be better to promote the Website Project to a CG that subsumes the Website Editorial Committee proposed at the OGB meeting in November 2007.

Leadership

The Website CG will function with Core Contributors leading and making final decisions on putbacks in collaboration with Contributors. The Core Contributors -- who embrace the notion that "those who do the work get to make the decisions" -- also intend to add Core Contributors and Contributors to run Projects and participate in the process of evolving opensolaris.org. The addition of Contributors and Core Contributors will be based on experience, direct involvement, and work contributed to the project.

Benefits

A Website CG would have several benefits:

  • Help make website work more visible, which hopefully will attract new contributions.
  • Offer a single point of call for issues related to opensolaris.org.
  • Provide a natural home for those actively working on website-related projects, such as the new authentication and authorisation system, the online voting system, selection of a CMS/Wiki, and site look/feel. See Restructuring the opensolaris.org.org infrastructure.

The Website Editorial Board is not a good solution to the requirement for oversight of the content of the site home page. The Board is a departure from the Community Group/Project structure used by the OpenSolaris community, and seems to provide little benefit over existing mechanisms.

Details

The details of the proposal are as follows:

1. Restructure the Website Project into a CG.
2. Ask the OpenGrok Project (currently under Tools) if they wish to remain under Tools or move to the new Website CG.
3. The initial Core Contributors of the Website CG will be the same people that the OGB has recently recognized as primarily responsible for opensolaris.org
  • Michelle Olson (Facilitator)
  • Derek Cicero
  • Patrick Finch
  • Jim Grisanzio

We would also like to extend an offer of Contributor status to members of the Website Editorial Board and other individuals who have been actively involved in website content and development projects. Below are the names under consideration:

  • Barbara Lundquist
  • Stephen Hahn
  • John Plocher
  • Alysson Troffer
  • Elijah Wright
  • Ron De Mena
4. The following are an initial set of potential Project areas for the Website CG:
  • Website Editorial: Replacement for Website Editorial Board. Manages and schedules changes to shared site content, i.e. anything not owned by a particular CG or Project. Also responsible for site look and feel, layout and markup standards.
  • Operations: Issues related to the running of the site. Initial membership to be the same as the current tonic-ops group.
5. The existing website-discuss mailing list will remain the Website CG's main forum. The existing website-content mailing list will be replaced with website-editorial and used by the Website Editorial Project. Additional mailing lists will be set up as required.

NOTE: This proposal is based on Alan Burlison's revised 2007 Website CG proposal.

Retrieved from "http://wiki.genunix.org:8080/wiki/index.php/Website_Community_Group_Proposal_2008"
Personal tools