User group meeting agenda & minutes 2 Apr 2008

= Proposing ideas for this agenda =

To propose or discuss ideas for this agenda, please use the Discussion tab above. As the meeting draws near, we will review the items proposed on the Discussions page and decide which ones should get highest priority on the agenda.

= Agenda =

Administrative items

 * 1) Assignment of time keeper, note taker, and facilitator
 * 2) Introduction of members: 10 seconds for name and desired takeaways. David Samuelsen
 * 3) Today's agenda preview
 * 4) Where we'll look for initial ideas to cover (feedback page and agenda discussion page)
 * 5) Where to propose items for next agenda

Information items

 * 1) Change in meeting time from 2:00-3:00 to 1:30-2:30 (Michael) The change will give us the ability to vacate the meeting room in time for the next group and still have time for our interactions.
 * 2) Tech moment (Mollie) Places you can go on the system to test. You are welcome to use your user page. Go to personal tool box when signed in and use your user page. There are two places titled "sandbox". We do have a test system where more testing can be done. the address is . Feel free to test things here. The test system can be accessed at the Family History Library. Information on the test system and sandboxes may be deleted at anytime so consider long term testing on your user page.
 * 3) Retiring the Feedback page and redirecting to the forum (Michael) The contributor forums (Tech Forums) are getting more use. When you are on the wiki and click on the feedback link there are two ways to go. If you have feedback on the design of the site you should go to the forums. Since the forums were started the Feedback page in the wiki has seen little activity. Discussion page for each article page is being used some also. A poll was added to the forum to measure user interest in retiring the Feedback page on the wiki. The vote is for ending use of the Feedback page. We will redirect the Feedback page to a new page which will take users to the forum. Geoff- What is wikipedia doing for their feedback? The Member Tech may make some users uncomfortable. Jimmy- There may be many people uncomfortable with jumping into the tech forums. Barbara Baker has not even gone in because it seems too technical. Darris- Maybe we could do a demo of the "Discussion" tab to help show how to use it. Michael- So back to the topic of discontinuing use of the "Feedback" page, can we end it. Phill- What is the purpose of the "Feedback page". Michael- it is trying to a lot of things at once. Can we at least say the feedback page is not the place to go to report issues of how the site is working. Geoff- I'd really like to see the seed bed more robust, so all the nuts and bolts are not a main concern. I want the users to come to this and find great content. Michael- I think we are all on that page but where does that play into discussion of page naming conventions. How do those two things relate. Geoff- having a hodge podge or baby blanket of content is a big concern. Jimmy- I think we need a navigational network, channels. I think a lot of people would send a lot of good suggestions if we made it easy for them with four or five easy channels. The subject would determine how they would look. Michael- What I would love to do is start a conversation on the forum, and after vetting it on the forum and getting it semi baked moving it to the wiki discussion page. Once it is a little more fully baked then an article could be started. Is the consensus that we can do away with the feedback page?
 * 4) Place-naming conventions (Michael)
 * 5) FHL favorites and the wiki (Michael)
 * 6) Show &amp; Tell: Linking to important Welsh Websites (Darris)

Discussion items
= Minutes =

Facilitator was Michael Ritchey, Note taker was Darris Williams, Time keeper was [Add name here].

1. Change in meeting time from 2:00-3:00 to 1:30-2:30 (Michael)The change will give us the ability to vacate the meeting room in time for the next group and still have time for our interactions. 

2. Tech moment (Mollie)Places you can go on the system to test. You are welcome to use your user page. Go to personal tool box when signed in and use your user page. There are two places titled "sandbox". We do have a test system where more testing can be done. the address is [n]. Feel free to test things here. The test system can be accessed at the Family History Library. Information on the test system and sandboxes may be deleted at anytime so consider long term testing on your user page. 

3. Retiring the Feedback page and redirecting to the forum (Michael)The contributor forums (Member Tech Forums) are getting more use. When you are on the wiki and click on the feedback link there are two ways to go. If you have feedback on the design of the site you should go to the forums. Since the forums were started the Feedback page in the wiki has seen little activity. Discussion page for each article page is being used some also. A poll was added to the forum to measure user interest in retiring the Feedback page on the wiki. The vote is for ending use of the Feedback page. We will redirect the Feedback page to a new page which will take users to the forum. Geoff- What is wikipedia doing for their feedback? The Member Tech may make some users uncomfortable. Jimmy- There may be many people uncomfortable with jumping into the tech forums. Barbara Baker has not even gone in because it seems too technical. Darris- Maybe we could do a demo of the "Discussion" tab to help show how to use it. Michael- So back to the topic of discontinuing use of the "Feedback" page, can we end it. Phill- What is the purpose of the "Feedback page". Michael- it is trying to a lot of things at once. Can we at least say the feedback page is not the place to go to report issues of how the site is working. Geoff- I'd really like to see the seed bed more robust, so all the nuts and bolts are not a main concern. I want the users to come to this and find great content. Michael- I think we are all on that page but where does that play into discussion of page naming conventions. How do those two things relate. Geoff- having a hodge podge or baby blanket of content is a big concern. Jimmy- I think we need a navigational network, channels. I think a lot of people would send a lot of good suggestions if we made it easy for them with four or five easy channels. The subject would determine how they would look. Michael- What I would love to do is start a conversation on the forum, and after vetting it on the forum and getting it semi baked moving it to the wiki discussion page. Once it is a little more fully baked then an article could be started. Is the consensus that we can do away with the feedback page? 

4. Place-naming conventions (Michael)

There are more system constraints than realized. See the "Help Talk:Naming conventions" page for a list of decisions needed. Each one of the decision points will be added as a thread in the wiki forum.

5. FHL favorites and the wiki (Michael) Don does not want to have whole pages devoted to favorites dedicated to links. We want the links to be selective and very closely tied to the place pages &amp; topics.

6. Show &amp; Tell: Linking to important Welsh Websites (Darris)

Attendees
Michael Ritchey, Jimmy Parker, James Sorenson, Phill Dunn, Geoff Morris, Barbara Baker, Mollie Forbes, Darris Williams, David Samuelsen, Anne Roach, Thomas Lerman