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Where Can You Post Your Technical Experiences?
Dishwasha asks: "For the past several months I have spent an inordinate amount of time wrestling with video conferencing. The compatibility issues between different video conferencing equipment and network hardware are enough to make a seasoned network administrator pull their hair out. When it comes down to it, there's not a lot of good documentation on how to actually implement video conferencing. I'd like to help other people save time by sharing my experiences, but I don't have the time or resources to maintain what would ultimately be just a few unorganized web pages. Has anybody set up a website and/or forum for submitting general HOWTO's? I'd envision something similar to Linuxdoc but categorized by technology and moderated."
Run your own blog, where you describe your work and you answer visitors' questions. You can even get slashdotted if it's interesting enough :)
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nico
Nico-Live
Since you're looking for a more or less generalized database of human knowledge. Even a categorized database of computer knowledge would be extremely broad and informative.
The modest solution with modern-day technology is still quite basic:
1) Create an HTML page describing your experience.
2) Use keywords and clear title so that people will find you.
3) Submit to Google.
4) Submit to some sites that cover the topics specific to your case. Most of the online publications will gladly accept free content, if it matches their topic.
Send a bunch of query letters to publications, online and off. There's definitely a market for articles like this.
Alex.
I for one would be very interested in this info.
I recently got a webcam, and I'm having a hell of a time getting decent videoconferencing through anything at all.
Yahoo Messenger works but not in super webcam mode, giving a wonderful 1.5 FPS. MSN Messenger works but not with audio. Etc...
I'm on ADSL going through a router using NAT and a firewall.
Set up your own technical blog. Doesn't need tons of personal information or frequent updates, just things you learn/stumble across.
OR...
Find an appropriate usenet newsgroup, and post to it.
I always try there after my initial googling fails. I am usually able to turn over a few stones there and find what I'm looking for.
/* oops I accidentally made a comment, sorry */
3) Submit to Google.
How do you "submit to Google" [obvious double entendre/sexual innuendo notwithstanding]?
Is there a form you can fill out that says "Please send your spider to this DNS Address/Path/Filename and cache the contents you find there"? Is this a free service, or does Google charge you for the effort?
I too have wondered where to put "stuff I figure out". For instance I've figured out a lot of stuff on Linux and OS X that I couldn't find in one well-written place, I've figured out how to disassemble various products like TVs and computers and would like to write down my experience so others don't make the same mistakes I did like cut through an important wire, etc.
Mostly very short little paragraphs, not even sure how I would organize some of them.
I think the best thing would be to just put them in RSS format and get together with a bunch of other like-minded folks to create a searchable archive. All the feeds could be combined on each site, like a cross between a web-ring and an agreggator.
Just a thought as I really wouldn't want to go out of my way to give out free advice but if it was easy I would do it.
I would recommend that you ues UseNet for this. Write up your how-to or knowledgebase document so that it CLEARLY explains the problem and the appropriate steps to resolve it. For an example format get a knowledgebase article from Microsoft or Novell. Then post it to the appropriate newsgroup, making sure to use a clear simple title that acurately describes the issue (think about the keywords you searched for when you first encounterd the problem). Google takes care of the rest for you by archiving the message for posterity. Then, whenever you or anyone else needs that information again, it is a simple matter of searching Google Groups for your post.
Compile it into an easy-to-read website with minimal reliance on anything more than JPG and HTML.
Find a moderate web host that can scale when you need it
Submit this page with a fully relevant meta/title tag to the leading search engines.
Sit back and watch sites mirror yours and the content appears zipped up on the P2Ps. Branched/Appended version will flower everywhere.
Congratulations! You've just provided valuable content to the world without imposing any new barriers of entry.
mug
I recommend posting (via Google or whatever means you find appropriate) a detailed and well-written summary of the problem and your solution, with keywords.
- - -
I did this over a year ago after banging my head against a wall for weeks getting my Gateway FDP1500 LCD monitor to work with my GeForce MX DVI card under Linux.
I stumbled across a solution that someone had posted to a mailing list, but the site had been taken offline, so the only copy available was from Google's cache. Luckily, I saved a local version of the cached page, because a short time later the information no longer came up on google search at all.
Determined to keep this information out there for others to see (and because I knew I'd lose my copy sooner or later) I wrote a short how-to article with the necessary monitor specs and XF86-Config settings, then submitted it to comp.os.linux.setup via Google Groups.
Just this month, I discovered that Suse (like most other distributions, Knoppix being a notable exception) still doesn't configure X properly with this monitor, and my personal copy of the info was long gone. So I searched on Google Groups for "Gateway FPD1500", and up came my posting: "Gateway FPD1500 LCD Monitor -- how to make it work under Linux."
- - -
The key here is to post your article in the appropriate newsgroup, and make your article stand out from the normal, casual conversation by making it highly informative, well-written and searchable (be descriptive and detailed in your subject line and body copy). This way, it's a genuine contribution to the appropriate newsgroup, rather than something that nobody but you will appreciate or be able to find.
I'd put it on your website. If it is well written and informative, people will find it, either via google, or some other engine. Once they do find it, and if it's good, people will link to it. Don't worry about putting it somewhere in particular. One of the nice things about the current incarnation of search engines is that the good stuff really does rise to the top. Plus, you have the added benefit of upping your pagerank. :)
RandomAndInteresting.comdefending the world from stupidity since 1979
Video Conferencing HOWTO: http://www.apple.com/isight/
Hey, I found it! All you have to do is go to Google: Then click on "Services & Tools," which takes you here: Then scroll ALL the way to the bottom, and click on "Site Map," which takes you here: Then scroll ALL the way to the bottom [sound familiar?] and click on "Submission Form," which takes you here: It's so easy, it's, like, I dunno, stealing candy from a Sabre Tooth Tiger...
And for the dipshit with the "nose-blowing and ass-wiping" comment: If there are, say, 20 URLs per page, and if you have to go three pages deep to find a link to the page you're looking for, then you've got about 20^3 = 8000 possible URL trees you would need to traverse before you would randomly stumble upon this little tidbit.
Me personally? I ain't undertaking a quixotic journey like that unless I've got some assurances that there's a pot of gold at the end of that there rainbow...
Dipshit. Fuckwad.
For my technical problems/questions, I generally use www.deja.com. Try the search term video conferencing compatibility issues at the site.
Duh, yeah, you already know it !!
I did.
Admittedly, most of it is incredibly boring if you're just randomly stumbling on it, but I get a fair amount of google hits.
I second the suggestion of submitting the work to a journal. Specifically, you could submit it to the LISA (Large Installation Systems Administration) conference, and get it into their proceedings. Or you could try ;login, the magazine of USENIX and SAGE.
Also, there's Sysadmin Magazine. If it's Linux related, there are a whole slew of Linux mags, of course.
"Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there" - Will Rogers
Well, this is exactly why I registered ITwiki.com, in hopes that I could build a community site that could become a knowledgebase of just such things. It's a WikiWiki Website, so anyone can edit anything. It's just a personal project, but who knows... might take off.
Prayer
I hope my little desktop machine survives slashdotting, and the ravages of the internet.
--Mike--
...as a videoconferencing consultant. Do you have any idea now much money big firms pay out to people like that? Not to mention the cost of the hardware - six-foot plasma screens and the like - which you get at a discount and then mark up substantially.
If you don't take advantage of this while you can, you must be a dope.
Ask.com would be goof for tutorials possibly, or even Wikipedia. Another good idea that has been mentioned, make a well organized clean(and simple! no fancy stuff, just the facts) website and get it on google and what not. Even sharing that text with the above links, along with letting the word out on related websites, and your information will reach it's audience.
epanorama is a very useful expansive digital resource.
.
. hmmm
Make your own webpage, it doesn't have to be complex. As long as your document uses the keywords that people will google for, people will generally be able to find your page. You would need to get a couple outside links to make sure the search engines index the page, though. Using your homepage URL in your Slashdot profile will suffice.
It's amazing what happens when obscure words get posted on the web. I get dozens of hits a day on my personal online dumping grounds for a variety of search terms.
You people should be thankful that Google does this shit for free.
Earth to /.ers: MONEY DOESN'T GROW ON TREES!!!
"... I'm a junior systems integrator at a small midwestern consulting firm. I never thought something like this would happen to me, but..."
This is actually what the whole Wiki revolution is for. Wiki is an easy-to-use web-based collaboration system. It's been in use for years at a number of great sites.
One interesting site, Portland Pattern Repository, contains lots of pages that various programmers have put together to describe their experiences programming. For instance, you can find a lot of information about the Singleton Programming Pattern.
Another site that really shows the power of Wiki is Sensei's Library (a website for learning Go.)
So I would look through the available Wiki's and see if any match your intended audience. Then start creating your pages and go to town...
Ars-Technica is a great resource for this kind of thing. Also Experts-Exchange is another good source. Write an article at the least. Submit or post as others have suggested with Wiki, blog, above sites or any other methods mentioned. Hopefully your company has a method to share information. Good on ya for trying to pass on some knowledge.
http://faqts.com/ works and has been around at least a few years. (Be patient after hitting "Save" over there, though; that aspect of the site was plenty slow today.)
Build a Knowledge Base - for FREE!
Anyone can build a FAQTs knowledge base. We are always looking for new topic areas and people willing to contribute and edit answers.
You can set up a new knowledge base yourself immediately, just create the new folders. If you don't feel confident, contact us and we'll do it for you.
"Be thankful you are not my student. You would not get a high grade for such a design