[sakai-pmc] VOTE: Sakai 10 help file screensteps proposal

[Sam Ottenhoff]

+1 we're ready to get moving on re-designed help for Sakai 10


On Thu, Dec 5, 2013 at 4:01 PM, Anthony Whyte <arwhyte at umich.edu> wrote:

> *PMC vote called*
> On 5 November 2013 Sam Ottenhoff proposed that we create/edit Sakai 10
> help content using the screensteps.com collaborative authoring
> environment. [1]  ScreenSteps is a commercial service offering a Plus plan
> at $99.00/month. [2]   No material objections were raised to Sam's
> proposal, a copy of which is appended below.  However, since the
> ScreenSteps proposal requires a cash outlay, a formal request for funding
> will need to be made to the Apereo Foundation Executive Director.  Given
> this requirement, PMC members will be polled publicly in order to ensure
> that clear support exists for the proposal.
>
> *Polls open*
> Voting is now open and will conclude no later than Tuesday, 10 December
> 2013, 16:00 UTC.
>
> As a reminder, a "+1" vote signifies approval.  A -1 vote constitutes a
> material objection that must be accompanied by a detailed explanation.
>  A single -1 vote will block action.  Blocking votes can be overridden by a
> 2/3 majority roll call vote of active PMC members.
>
> ______________
>
> [1] *http://collab.sakaiproject.org/pipermail/sakai-dev/2013-November/025087.html
> <http://collab.sakaiproject.org/pipermail/sakai-dev/2013-November/025087.html>*
> [2] http://www.screensteps.com/; http://www.screensteps.com/pricing
>
>
> *Proposal for Sakai 10 help files*
> *Author: Sam Ottenhoff*
> *Date: 5 November 2013*
>
> *Proposal: *For Sakai 10, we should replace much of our help content with
> role-focused, image-heavy content.  Our existing help content displays the
> same content for instructors and students and includes few images.  I
> propose that we delete the existing help files that are contained within
> the individual Sakai tools, author new content in a documentation-friendly
> system, and export that image-heavy new content into Sakai's existing help
> tool.
>
> *Proposal for Authoring: *I propose that Apereo pay for a community
> account in the commercial system called ScreenSteps Live (
> http://www.screensteps.com/).  ScreenSteps would allow ten of our trusted
> community members to collaborate and edit documents in the shared system
> for $99/month.  ScreenSteps would be used as a collaborative editing
> system; the content would be exported and held within Sakai's existing SVN
> repository.
>
> *Why ScreenSteps and not a basic HTML editing system? * These are the
> primary reasons I can find:
>
> a) ScreenSteps makes adding and annotating images incredibly easy.
>
> b) ScreenSteps allows exports into PDF guides and HTML (that we would use
> to import into Sakai's existing help system).
>
> c) ScreenSteps could allow institutions to easily export into an existing
> campus system like Wordpress or ZenDesk.
>
> d) Institutions that want to heavily customize their own help could pay
> for their own ScreenSteps account.
>
> *Proposal for Sakai changes: *I believe the changes in Sakai would be
> relatively minor.  Here are the changes I would look to make:
>
> a) Delete all existing help files in individual tools.
>
> b) Develop a script that could easily import a ScreenSteps HTML ZIP export
> into appropriate help directories.
>
> c) Add functionality to help tool that will differentiate content based on
> role (Student vs Instructor/teacher vs learner)
>
> If there are other developers interested in re-doing help, we could
> consider replacing the existing help with a simplified version that
> depended on simple HTML files, ElasticSearch (already in for Sakai 10), and
> a more streamlined appearance.
>
> *Who is going to edit this new content? *Longsight has staff dedicated to
> rewriting help files between now and Sakai 10's release.  We also believe
> there are existing community members who are eager to work on restructured
> help files.
>
> *What about multi-lingual content? *Sakai's existing help tool supports
> multi-lingual content.  ScreenSteps allows multiple sets of content to be
> created, or the static HTML could be translated manually or using a tool
> like Crowdin.
>
> *How is the content licensed?  *The content would be exported and
> licensed as ECL 2.0 content held within our SVN repository.  Contributors
> to the collaborative editing should sign CLAs similarly to developers.
>
> *What if ScreenSteps goes away? *Then we are in the same boat we are in
> now.  We would need a new system for collaboratively editing HTML-based
> help documents besides manually editing HTML inside an SVN repository.  If
> we consolidate help files and remove them from within each individual tool,
> this should become much easier.
>
> *Other possibilities that have been discussed: *The Edia Knowledgebase
> tool would be a nice replacement for the existing help tool, but it does
> not currently support multilingual content like our existing help tool.  I
> also built a Drupal-based proof of concept for editing existing help files (
> http://sakaihelp.longsight.com).  I view ScreenSteps as a refined version
> of that POC that has much better image editing capabilities and much better
> export possibilities.  Also, a ScreenSteps account should be controlled by
> the Sakai community where the Drupal-based proof of concept is tied to
> Longsight.
>
> Attached: a screenshot of a quick POC of ScreenSteps-exported content
> using the existing Sakai help tool.
>
> Sample of a ScreenSteps guide used by Canvas:
> http://guides.instructure.com/m/8470
>
> Canvas has a document about how to contribute to their ScreenSteps
> documentation:
> http://guides.instructure.com/s/2204/m/4151/l/41924-how-do-i-contribute-my-training-materials-to-canvas-guides
>
> Thoughts, comments, or realistic alternatives for Sakai 10 help files?  If
> I hear no objections, I'd like to get started on some of the technical work
> in early December.
>
> --Sam
>
>
> anthony whyte | its and mlibrary | university of michigan |
> arwhyte at umich.edu | 517-980-0228
>
>
>
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