[HacktionLab] Exciting news from HacktionLab

[Adelayde Skidmore]

On 26/01/2012 15:04, JimDog wrote:
> That was originally pretty much exactly what I had in mind.
>
> In a personal sense I think a one size fits all approach in
> signposting people to radical tech providers is inherently problematic
> given the range of people this could be useful for.
I disagree with making such a obviously sign-posted split on content.

I like the idea of making the site accessible to everyone at the first
count and having a 'nerd-gag' on all content.  But how about, as has
already been mentioned, we provide links where relevant to detailed
information for tech peer reviewing / scrutiny?

I think that half the issue is that Techs believe that they can't
explain things to lay people in simple language**.  I think that it will
be a good discipline for us to have to explain stuff in lay language. 
My belief is if you can't explain something in a language that someone
else can understand, then you probably don't fully understand what it is
you're trying to explain and why.  That's not intended to be a dig about
what people do and don't know, but what I'm trying to highlight is that
perhaps we need to make sure we fully understand the whys and wherefores
of what we're offering and take up the gauntlet of making ourselves
understood to the multitude.

I feel that that would be better than what I feel is the rather devisive
step of dividing the masses between tech and lay at the doorstep.  One
of the objectives of BarnCamp and the point of the booklet and the
workshops is to make technology accessible to all who need to use it,
not draw a dividing line between those with the knowledge and those without.

There is also the desire to translate the site, to Spanish at least, and
therefore the less and simpler the content we have, the easier this job
is, the easier it is to maintain.

Don't forget as well that the existing web sites already have a lot of
information on, and perhaps should have a lot more, and that this
shouldn't be on the TTFA site, which is just a 'gateway' site to offer a
more coherent front-end to the network of projects that we're involved in.

So for example, on TTFA we explain simply what a WP blog site is and how
to get one, we then link out to Network23 for more information,
including a page there on how it works and how to set your own one up. 
So we're not having to re-write everybody's content, but rather
augmenting their content with a simpler interface. 

Therefore I propose the following:

1. We keep the content on TTFA simple, that there is only one version of
the content where possible, and that it's written in lay language and
that any technical terms or acronyms are explained using the HTML
<acronym> tag.

2. We encourage all the various projects to include a page on their
sites that explains the technical details of the services in depth,
should there be a need to.

(This makes sense to me and it means consistency across the board.  For
example, there's nothing technical to say about the booklet, or about
BarnCamp, so what would we put on those pages?)


AS


**This argument is not just for techs, it goes for all walks of life.  I
quite often feel put off and frustrated by fellow activists who have
studied politics or some other sociology-oriented subject, who find it
difficult to jump off the band-waggon of rhetoric and explain things to
me and others in a simple language that we can all understand: i.e. I
didn't study the writings of Marx for three years, so I've no fucking
idea what you're on about my friend!


>
> JD
>
> ----- Reply message -----
> From: "Mike Tonks" <fluffymike at googlemail.com>
> Date: Thu, Jan 26, 2012 09:13
> Subject: [HacktionLab] Exciting news from HacktionLab
> To: <hacktionlab at lists.aktivix.org>
>
> This example comes to mind...
>
> http://www.bigv.io/indepth/
>
>
> > Here's an example of I imagined the 'plain English' versus 'geek speak'
> > might be implemented for a email service provider.
> >
>
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