On Thu, Apr 28, 2011 at 3:44 PM, Scoville, David J. <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

...

> However, I'm not sure this is clear enough.

Yes, it's too vague. Maybe just an additional phrase or two could
tighten it up, though I don't have a good suggestion ATM.

> I want to fight for the option
> of having a portion of our 3 developer FTEs be available for work on OAE
> (next-gen Sakai) AND/OR by working within the Community, if and when there
> is not sufficient "sensible" work to keep them busy with CLE.

Right, me too. But we'll need to figure out how to define "sensible."

> I'll give an example: we shouldn't expending a lot of resources on building bells and
> whistles into rwiki* when we could be spending those resources to help out
> with xwiki, even though xwiki isn't technically part of OAE. It just makes
> more sense to work with the Community to leverage the synergy. It benefits
> us as well as others.

Yes, good example.

One thing that complicates this is that OAE should completely
eliminate the need for wikis (because every page in OAE has wiki-like
features).

Still, xWiki could still, in theory, be leveraged in OAE.

That could suggest a few different strategies, then, for improving
collaborative authoring:

1. invest in improving rWiki (would only pay off for a couple of
years, and you'd get minimal bang-for-buck)

2. invest in xWiki (better bang-for-buck, but unclear for how long)

3. don't invest in improving wiki stuff in CLE at all (use Google Docs
and wait for OAE, and put that investment somewhere else)

So a smart governance process would need to be aware of these
different options, and be able to balance them, including against
other priorities.

> Working on other issues in OAE such as the
> assessment logic that Bruce has introduced makes a lot of sense, but not
> everyone will see it that way. So we need to make this Community approach
> clear.

Exactly. People need to be aware of the strategic landscape in order
to make sensible, forward-looking, decisions.

We almost need to come up with a roadmap diagram to help visualize this.
-- 
Bruce D'Arcus
Associate Professor, Graduate Director
Department of Geography
Miami University
234 Shideler Hall
Oxford, Ohio 45056