Fedora survey results

[David-Paul Niner]

-----Original Message-----
From: fedora-docs-list-bounces at redhat.com
[mailto:fedora-docs-list-bounces at redhat.com] On Behalf Of Karsten Wade
Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2006 3:52 PM
To: For participants of the Documentation Project
Subject: Re: Fedora survey results

On Tue, 2006-01-03 at 14:41 -0500, Paul W. Frields wrote:
> On Tue, 2006-01-03 at 12:39 -0500, Tim Burke wrote:
> > I hope you all had a great holiday. Sorry for the delay, and a
sincere 
> > thanks to all who participated in the survey.  The results of this 
> > survey are hung off the fedoraproject.org marketing page under a 
> > feedback section.
> > 
> > http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Marketing/Fedora
> 
> I would highly recommend all DocMonkeys check out the results -- at
> least the summary -- listed on the URL above.  Of special concern for
> us:
> 
> A.  "Improve documentation and release notes" was priority #3 on the
> list of 12, right behind "Improve overall stability" and "Implement
new
> features."
> 
> B.  Documentation appeared on the performance list in position #11 of
> 11.  Yikes.  161 responses considered documentation performance as
> "strong good to excellent," while 277 called it "poor."
> 
> Certainly we all know that we're hampered somewhat by a lower level of
> involvement from the community than, say, Fedora Extras.  But surely
we
> have made and can continue to make improvements.  Let the discussion
> commence!

I'm both pleased and upset by the results.

Upset because it confirms what I've known, which is that we're falling
short of the need and it shows.

Pleased because ... well, the same reason.  What we're doing matters to
people, and they want more of it done right.

I would like to consider this as a marketing opportunity:

"X% of you think that Fedora documentation could use serious
improvement.  Want to help?"

"Think Fedora documentation sucks?  You can make it suck less."

> I think this should be on our agenda for today's FDSCo meeting if
> possible, so some initial responses can make it to the minutes posted
> here later tonight/tomorrow.

It's on the agenda, we'll maybe move it up the list?

- Karsten
-- 
Karsten Wade, RHCE * Sr. Tech Writer * http://people.redhat.com/kwade/
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--

I realize I'm an outsider here, so I'll keep my response short.

I volunteered a number of weeks back to work on some documentation (The
RPM manual, IIRC), and was told that someone would be divvying up the
sections and getting in touch with me soon.

So I waited.   Not being incredibly familiar with those involved with
the docs projects I didn't feel comfortable just barging in and taking
over editing responsibilities.

No one got in touch.

I suppose one could fault me for not being more assertive, but with a
project of this size it's difficult to know precisely where "the new
guy" should position him- or herself.

I'm just wondering if there is anyone else out there on the fringes
offering to help but just doesn't know where to start.

The marketing idea is keen, and could produce returns, but once you get
the fish on the hook how, precisely, do you reel him to shore?

DP