[FM Discuss] FM readers

[Joshua Facemyer]

DUDE!!!

I just had a crazy thought!!!  Unfortunately it has zilch to do with 
this conversation, except that it was spurred thereby :)  So I'll say my 
thought, then continue the conversation.

What if we had a live collaborative editing system?  I mean, two people 
or more could theoretically work on the same document, right?  I know 
what you're thinking: too much work, nothing available like that to 
borrow from, too many problems, etc.

But if one concept of booki is to make an ingenious and innovative 
writing framework (as well as incredibly *useful*), this would be a 
nuclear bomb of cool.  Imagine how online collaboration could work with 
that sort of ability!!!  It would be much like Inkscape's whiteboard 
tool (which is currently borked) - only for text.  I think

I leave it up the devs to decide if it is feasible.  Of course nobody 
will disagree with me that it would be awesomely coolio :)

See some comments below also:

adam hyde wrote:
> Along with this I was wondering how else we improve this situation. I
> feel I can only think rather simply about this subject. I can see the
> need to some kind of richer comment system on a per manual or chapter or
> paragraph level. However, I am wondering how we might tie this back into
> the WRITE backend so conversations about the same material is not
> necessarily split between 'readers' and 'writers' (as it is now).
>   
Great idea.  I wonder if it might be good to have a way for people to 
leave comments easily without having to create a login.  For security, 
though, these comments would never be public, but would only show up to 
registered editors.  There would be no way for them to track any follow 
up, but some people may be more inclined to use that type of feedback 
which is nearly effortless.  Of course, it may be more bother than 
benefit, especially with spammers.

Then, for those who wanted to login, they could actually take part in 
comment type "discussions" from their user login, and chat, etc.
> Also, I think Bob Steins Comment Press might be an interesting
> provocation, or it could be that we also consider a more live
> environment. How about a psuedo live comment system? I am liking, for
> example, the way the chat works in the WRITE interface, it is somewhere
> between a forum and a live chat. When you visit it you see the history
> of the discussion, but when you contribute it appears immediately -
> comments are not 'posts' as much as they are results of a chat...the
> line here is interesting I think, and I wonder if we might draw this out
> a little.
>   
How would that be different from chat?
> then there is the question of 'citizenship'. there must be a better word
> for it but this will do. writers have to register and then they are a
> named part of the clan. i think we will try and improve this component
> too - make better use of the 'user' (I hate that word) pages and better
> mechanisms for communication between writers etc. However, are we to
> treat readers as entirely transient? Do we treat them as a kind of
> migrant - someone that drops in and leaves a note -  or a citizen -
> someone that has a sense of belonging and might contribute more and more
> over time? is there a better analogy / illustration for thinking about
> the context of this reader 'citizenship'?
>   
Hmm...I wonder if you might want to consider doing something like this:

When you sign up, you're a reader.  From your account page, you can 
select certain manuals to appear in a main "reading" section, and even 
bookmark where you've left off, and leave comments regarding 
chapters/manuals/projects.  Maybe a few other things (like chat, etc).

Then, if you want, you can request to write as well (this could either 
be as easily as a link to add a manual to your "Write" section, or it 
could be a request to a project admin, or something in between).  Then 
you'd have a "Write" section along with your "Read" section where you 
could add manuals / projects you're involved in as quicklinks.

Admins would also have a "Manage" section for the projects they're given 
admin access for.
> any thoughts?
>   
See above ;)

JF