Posted: Mon May 17, 2004 2:29 am Post subject: [Asterisk-doc] Minutes of the first "conferece call"
Well, we're off to a great start! By the time I got to the conference,
hermie and I were the only ones around. The conference call didn't seem
to be working correctly (or maybe I was the only one dialed in), so we
had the discussion over IRC.
Here are the things we discussed:
Project goals: We discussed the goals of our project, and agreed that
our first priority is getting some good "dead tree" documentation for
Asterisk. A secondary goal should be to try to get the book published
if possible. Along those same lines, we agreed that the book should be
published under an "open" license.
Level of detail: We discussed what level of detail we ought to go into
with regards to Asterisk. We decided that the book should be aimed
towards someone who has a solid understanding of Linux (or BSD, for
those of you who lean that direction) systems administration. (In other
words, we're not going to teach you how to use "vi" to edit text
files.) The book will also assume that the reader has at least a basic
understanding of telephony.
Process: Until we get so many volunteers that it becomes burdensome,
we'll use the mailing list to discuss changes and propose writing
certain chapters. The suggestion was also made that we elect people to
be "section leaders" over a section of the book, and they would make
sure all the chapters in that section are being worked on and have a
consistent feel. In the future, we may write some web-apps to help
facilitate the management of the different sections being worked in.
Focus: We discussed whether to focus on finishing the layout before we
start writing chapters, or to just get the chapters written and then
finish worrying about the layout. At this point, we've got a fairly
good layout, and we really need to start writing some documentation.
The decision was made to start writing docs, and to review the layout at
a later time, when we could view it in the context of having at least a
few chapters completely fleshed out.
Communication: We discussed having regular meetings to keep up interest
and discuss the state of the project. We're hoping to make meetings
such as this a regular event. Should we get together every week? Every
two weeks?
Leadership: It was decided that we probably shouldn't elect Blitzrage
as our leader when he's not present in the meeting. When we have more
people in the meeting, we should elect a leader. (You dodged a bullet,
blitzrage... you really dodged a bullet.)
That's it, folks... If you don't like what was decided, then show up to
next week's meeting and we'll discuss more. Until then...
Well, we're off to a great start! By the time I got to the conference,
hermie and I were the only ones around. The conference call didn't seem
to be working correctly (or maybe I was the only one dialed in), so we
had the discussion over IRC.
Ugh, my Internet was being funky all day. I was around, unfortunately I
couldn't get connected to the conference in time.
Quote:
Here are the things we discussed:
Project goals: We discussed the goals of our project, and agreed that
our first priority is getting some good "dead tree" documentation for
Asterisk. A secondary goal should be to try to get the book published
if possible. Along those same lines, we agreed that the book should be
published under an "open" license.
I agree. I think we need to start thinking about doing something like
Digium does and have people sign a waiver or something to release the
documentation to the group. If we are ever going to have this published, we
obviously need to have some sort or legalities figured out before we get too
much further.
Quote:
Level of detail: We discussed what level of detail we ought to go into
with regards to Asterisk. We decided that the book should be aimed
towards someone who has a solid understanding of Linux (or BSD, for
those of you who lean that direction) systems administration. (In other
words, we're not going to teach you how to use "vi" to edit text
files.) The book will also assume that the reader has at least a basic
understanding of telephony.
How much telephony background are we going to expect? Is there going to be
a section on some of the basic's of telephony? I honestly don't have a very
strong background in telephony, other than what I have taken in college and
learned through the use of Asterisk. Obviously someone should know how a
telephone works, at least in some context...
Quote:
Process: Until we get so many volunteers that it becomes burdensome,
we'll use the mailing list to discuss changes and propose writing
certain chapters. The suggestion was also made that we elect people to
be "section leaders" over a section of the book, and they would make
sure all the chapters in that section are being worked on and have a
consistent feel. In the future, we may write some web-apps to help
facilitate the management of the different sections being worked in.
Agreed. I would like to see the http://www.asteriskdocs.org website be
used a bit more. I'm curious what backend we should use, or should we write
a custom backend? The custom backend idea seems like excessive work, when
we can probably just customize and existing one. I'd at least like to see a
news/announcements section just to make the website look active.
Quote:
Focus: We discussed whether to focus on finishing the layout before we
start writing chapters, or to just get the chapters written and then
finish worrying about the layout. At this point, we've got a fairly
good layout, and we really need to start writing some documentation.
The decision was made to start writing docs, and to review the layout at
a later time, when we could view it in the context of having at least a
few chapters completely fleshed out.
Should we at least have a look over the book and see if there are sections
we don't want to keep? I'm wondering if some of the sections we have setup
to have written are maybe a little too advanced, or slightly off the topic
of Asterisk use? Mostly the programming section... how indepth are we going
to get?
Quote:
Communication: We discussed having regular meetings to keep up interest
and discuss the state of the project. We're hoping to make meetings
such as this a regular event. Should we get together every week? Every
two weeks?
I suggest we have one at least once a week just to keep people thinking
about it, and fresh things in our minds. I agree that even if it's just a
short meeting, anything is better than nothing. What day and time seems
good, as I'd like to be able to get people in all time zones able to
participate... any suggestions? (especially by people from "the old world")
Quote:
Leadership: It was decided that we probably shouldn't elect Blitzrage
as our leader when he's not present in the meeting. When we have more
people in the meeting, we should elect a leader. (You dodged a bullet,
blitzrage... you really dodged a bullet.)
LOL. Well, come what may.
Quote:
That's it, folks... If you don't like what was decided, then show up to
next week's meeting and we'll discuss more. Until then...
> Here are the things we discussed:
>
> Project goals: We discussed the goals of our project, and agreed that
> our first priority is getting some good "dead tree" documentation for
> Asterisk. A secondary goal should be to try to get the book published
> if possible. Along those same lines, we agreed that the book should be
> published under an "open" license.
I agree. I think we need to start thinking about doing something like
Digium does and have people sign a waiver or something to release the
documentation to the group. If we are ever going to have this published, we
obviously need to have some sort or legalities figured out before we get too
much further.
If it helps, I was under the impression that we where using an open
license for this before I submitted any content.
Quote:
> Focus: We discussed whether to focus on finishing the layout before we
> start writing chapters, or to just get the chapters written and then
> finish worrying about the layout. At this point, we've got a fairly
> good layout, and we really need to start writing some documentation.
> The decision was made to start writing docs, and to review the layout at
> a later time, when we could view it in the context of having at least a
> few chapters completely fleshed out.
Should we at least have a look over the book and see if there are sections
we don't want to keep? I'm wondering if some of the sections we have setup
to have written are maybe a little too advanced, or slightly off the topic
of Asterisk use? Mostly the programming section... how indepth are we going
to get?
Whether a chapter is too advanced depends fully on if we place a
limitation on how advance we want to go or if we wish to limit ourselves
to a certain page count. If we an't worried about page count, I would
suggest we cover some of the advance sections as well so we can appeal
to a wider audience and possibly make it easier to get published later
on.
Quote:
> Communication: We discussed having regular meetings to keep up interest
> and discuss the state of the project. We're hoping to make meetings
> such as this a regular event. Should we get together every week? Every
> two weeks?
I suggest we have one at least once a week just to keep people thinking
about it, and fresh things in our minds. I agree that even if it's just a
short meeting, anything is better than nothing. What day and time seems
good, as I'd like to be able to get people in all time zones able to
participate... any suggestions? (especially by people from "the old world")
I'm not interested in giving up specific times for this. I will pledge
however to dedicate more time to filling in chapters where needed.
Between my work, my emerging art career, and other family work, I don't
have time to dedicate on a specific time schedule. So far everything,
work included, have totally flexible time so I can get what I need done.
--
Steven Critchfield <critch@basesys.com>
Posted: Mon May 17, 2004 4:18 am Post subject: [Asterisk-doc] Minutes of the first "conferece call"
Jared Smith wrote:
Quote:
Well, we're off to a great start! By the time I got to the conference,
hermie and I were the only ones around. The conference call didn't seem
to be working correctly (or maybe I was the only one dialed in), so we
had the discussion over IRC.
I'm willing to donate bandwidth/hardware to the cause.
One can always use IAX2/asterisk@switch-1.nufone.net/4569 to conference
and/or I can point a couple different DIDs at the same room, if necessary.
Posted: Mon May 17, 2004 11:03 am Post subject: [Asterisk-doc] Minutes of the first "conferece call"
Quote:
-----Original Message-----
From: asterisk-doc-admin@lists.digium.com [mailto:asterisk-doc-
admin@lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Steven Critchfield
Sent: Sunday, May 16, 2004 11:39 PM
To: asterisk-doc@lists.digium.com
Subject: RE: [Asterisk-doc] Minutes of the first "conferece call"
> > Project goals: We discussed the goals of our project, and agreed that
> > our first priority is getting some good "dead tree" documentation for
> > Asterisk. A secondary goal should be to try to get the book published
> > if possible. Along those same lines, we agreed that the book should
> > be published under an "open" license.
>
> I agree. I think we need to start thinking about doing something like
> Digium does and have people sign a waiver or something to release the
> documentation to the group. If we are ever going to have this
> published, we obviously need to have some sort or legalities figured
> out before we get too much further.
If it helps, I was under the impression that we where using an open
license for this before I submitted any content.
I'm no lawyer, so I'm not sure the best way to go about this. I actually
just re-read the Open Publication License
<http://www.opencontent.org/openpub/> which we are using for this project,
and it appears to cover a section regarding hard publication (such as in a
book).
Section V. seems to cover the hard copy aspect. I seem to remember someone
mentioning something similar sounding to Part 3. I've copy/pasted it below.
"Finally, while it is not mandatory under this license, it is considered
good form to offer a free copy of any hardcopy and CD-ROM expression of an
Open Publication-licensed work to its author(s)."
Like I said, I'm no lawyer, just trying to cover all bases here :)
Posted: Tue May 18, 2004 2:15 am Post subject: [Asterisk-doc] Minutes of the first "conferece call"
Quote:
Level of detail: We discussed what level of detail
we ought to go into
with regards to Asterisk. We decided that the book
should be aimed
towards someone who has a solid understanding of
Linux (or BSD, for
those of you who lean that direction) systems
administration.
Hi,
I am rather interested in learning Asterisk in depth
and would like to participate and help however I can.
I was wondering if you have discussed whether it might
be a good idea to pattern the book after some other
book we all like -- is there a product-based book that
is so clear and lucid that makes us want to pattern
the Asterisk book on it?
It might help to clarify the work.
Vincent
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Posted: Fri May 21, 2004 1:27 pm Post subject: [Asterisk-doc] Minutes of the first "conferece call"
On Tue, 2004-05-18 at 04:15, Vincent Alcalde wrote:
Quote:
> Level of detail: We discussed what level of detail
> we ought to go into
> with regards to Asterisk. We decided that the book
> should be aimed
> towards someone who has a solid understanding of
> Linux (or BSD, for
> those of you who lean that direction) systems
> administration.
...
Quote:
I was wondering if you have discussed whether it might
be a good idea to pattern the book after some other
book we all like -- is there a product-based book that
is so clear and lucid that makes us want to pattern
the Asterisk book on it?
My favourite range of books for this type of thing is of course the
Nutshell range (O'Reilly). Model the book as if its going to be them
that publish a hard-copy. This overcomes the problems of "book about
installing Linux" - Let O'Reilly stick appropriate "more titles from
O'Reilly" in the back....
(Even if I've just committed the unpardonable sin by using the name
"O'Reilly" - they have a good layout to follow)
Usually, its the authors of the software that write the book. Does Mark
Spencer not get a chance? I actually thought that this was just a
project to generate better documentation - not a book.
(I'm also a newbie to Asterisk - about 8 weeks - and I have a live
system in operation for my company (2xBRI, 4xSIP)
Usually, its the authors of the software that write the book. Does Mark
Spencer not get a chance? I actually thought that this was just a
project to generate better documentation - not a book.
Digium have written a short paper on how to use Asterisk, however it has
become stale and is basically no longer written. They are too busy
concentrating on the actual coding of Asterisk. We started this project in
order to generate documentation for a project which had none. The wiki has
become an invaluable source of information since the inception of the book,
although I prefer the format of a book over the format of a Wiki (personal
preference).
Mark Spencer would be MORE THAN WELCOME to write documentation, however, he
is already quite busy with coding. Also, most programmers either suck at,
or hate, writing docs, so I'm pretty sure it's not them who write it :)
The purpose of this project IS to write better documentation. However we
are writing it in a book format. A long term goal of the project is to
eventually have it published, but that is a long time away :)
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