A WikiBook for VTK (was RE: [vtkusers] I think this is the problem.....)

[Prabhu Ramachandran]

>>>>> "JCR" == James C Robinson <j.robinson at kepler-systems.com> writes:

[...]
    JCR> substantial section of the user base. Why should we have to
    JCR> keep experimenting all of us individually? It is a total
    JCR> waste of time. If we are a real community (of users) we
    JCR> should be able to create a structure (on the web) where such
    JCR> valuable info is stored. We could have a proforma document to
    JCR> fill in and submit. I feel the suggestion of just going to
    JCR> the mail list and doing a search is a total cop out. There
    JCR> must be thousands e-mail, all very weakly titled and not in a
    JCR> structure that would make it easy to find anything specific.

I have been thinking about this kind of detailed user supplied, web
based documentation for a while and think that a wikibook model fits
this best.  I wanted to suggest it at some point of time but since I
am short of spare time I did not mention it.  Now that you've brought
it up, here is what I thought of.

Start a wiki based book on 

  http://www.wikibook.org

These can be written completely by users, are searchable and available
freely on the web.  Occasionally, experienced users can contribute
some of their tips on the site.  If every user on this list were to
just write a page we'd have a huge online resource thats freely
available and constantly updated.  If the users contribute and help
updating and adding material this would really work nicely.  However,
if the users don't take any interest, this will go nowhere.  I think
its certainly worth a shot.

A conventional wiki is another possibility but I think wikibooks seems
to fit what we want best.  We dont have to worry about setting up
infrastructure or anything of the sort, just get started, spread the
word and let the users have a go.

A good place to start would be:

  http://wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikibooks%3AAbout

and

  http://wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikibooks%3AWelcome%2C_newcomers


I am not sure what everyone thinks about this and how many would be
willing to spare time to write this.

For my part, I cannot afford any time for this in the next couple of
months but definitely later.

If someone can start things off after some discussion on this list I
think we can collectively fill a much desired need.


cheers,
prabhu