ira 10 19:10:10 Zapata	welcome everybody to the meeting on the Sao Paulo CMS proposal...
 ira 10 19:10:11 toya	the agenda for the meeting?
 ira 10 19:10:22 Zapata	I've compiled an agenda... hang on...
 ira 10 19:10:32 toya	ok
 ira 10 19:10:53 Zapata http://techmeet.sarava.org/English/CMS20060910MeetingAgenda
 ira 10 19:11:06 Zapata	he goal of this meeting will be to:
 ira 10 19:11:06 Zapata	    * Rally people behind the project
 ira 10 19:11:06 Zapata	    * Establish some structure for the project
 ira 10 19:11:06 Zapata	    * Set the implementation of the project in motion by defining and assigning the first tasks 
 ira 10 19:11:20 Zapata	Agenda:
 ira 10 19:11:20 Zapata	   1. Introduction
 ira 10 19:11:20 Zapata	   2. A clarification on the proposal, including a definition of the goal and opportunity for Q&A
 ira 10 19:11:20 Zapata	   3. Definig the first tasks: organization, CMS survey
 ira 10 19:11:21 Zapata	   4. Structuring the CMS requirements lists
 ira 10 19:11:23 Zapata	   5. Establish CMS review procedure
 ira 10 19:11:25 Zapata	   6. CMS brainstorm
 ira 10 19:11:31 Zapata	   7. CMS review assignments
 ira 10 19:11:33 Zapata	   8. Mailing list, Wiki
 ira 10 19:11:35 Zapata	   9. Next meeting 
 ira 10 19:12:05 Zapata	I would appreciate it if someone else would volunteer to moderate...
 ira 10 19:12:24 ryan	what the hell, i'll do it
 ira 10 19:12:43 Zapata	well
 ira 10 19:13:08 Zapata	I figured you and I were gonna do most of the talking...  but if you want to, it's fine by me
 ira 10 19:13:21 ryan	well, anyone else? otherwise i'll do it
 ira 10 19:13:56 ryan	its ok, i know how to moderate & talk at the same time
 ira 10 19:14:10 Zapata	ok
 ira 10 19:14:17 ryan	ok lets start with one-sentence introductions
 ira 10 19:14:39 ryan	i'll go in alphabetical order in the channel, get your  intro ready so you just have to hit enter, please
 ira 10 19:14:42 ryan	i'll start
 ira 10 19:15:27 ryan	i'm ryan -- i work with sf indymedia for 6 years now,  also global tech, also linefeed (parallel group). i've worked with sf-active and i was in sao paulo for techmeet, i'm all for combining forces and easing the burden on people doing stuff now
 ira 10 19:15:31 ryan	end
 ira 10 19:15:42 ryan	Zapata: you're next in reverse alphabetical
 ira 10 19:16:10 Zapata	I'm Zapata aka Max. I'm a member of indymedia  netherlands / contribute to the mir CMS / involve myself with various other informal indymedia stuff
 ira 10 19:16:16 ryan	zak?
 ira 10 19:16:24 Zapata	end
 ira 10 19:16:33 zak	i'm zak, part of imc uk for about 3 years, and one of the traven (mir hosting server) admins
 ira 10 19:16:37 <ryan>	txopi?
 ira 10 19:16:52 txopi	i'm txopi. i collaborate in basque imc. we use kosmos
 ira 10 19:16:58 ryan	toya?
 ira 10 19:17:03 toya	i am toya from imc-brasil  was in the techmeet
 ira 10 19:17:04 txopi	sorry, we use mir at kosmos
 ira 10 19:17:16 ryan	sandoz?
 ira 10 19:17:31 sandoz	i am jan based in Berlin. New to indymedia, but have  friends there. I am interested in the indymedia 2.0 process have some visions about.
 ira 10 19:17:36 ryan	RobBoston?
 ira 10 19:17:38 RobBoston	Rob from Boston, MA, US, previously with Boston  Indymedia for 3 years as web admin among several other internal roles.
 ira 10 19:17:41 ryan	rhatto?
 ira 10 19:17:50 rhatto	i'm rhatto, doing tech stuff for brasil.indy since 2001  and host a few other imcs; end
 ira 10 19:18:00 ryan	rebe|
 ira 10 19:18:01 rebe|	I'm rebe| from denmark. Been acitve for little more than a year. Not very technical though. We're currently looking for a cms to replace our current oscailt 2.0. I'm interested in the development and therefore a spectator here. [end]
 ira 10 19:18:08 ryan	nah
 ira 10 19:18:19 nah	i'm nah from imc-brasil
 ira 10 19:18:25 ryan	maxigas_
 ira 10 19:18:36 ryan	maxigas_ is idle as hell
 ira 10 19:18:39 ryan	kwadronaut?
 ira 10 19:19:04 ryan	as is kwadronaut
 ira 10 19:19:06 ryan	Kvn?
 ira 10 19:19:08 Kvn	Kevin.. admin with worcester indymedia 2+ years -100%  Non-techie -- really glad to see CMS changes coming
 ira 10 19:19:13 ryan	init
 ira 10 19:19:24 init	hi, I'm init, I'm from Berlin, IMC-Germany, I worked on  "mir" from the beginning, did css and html, config-stuff, since I'm no java-coder, right now I work with rails a lot, volunteer at a local not-for-profit-provider in Berlin, called so36.net
 ira 10 19:19:27 ryan	gus
 ira 10 19:19:30 *	gus -> imc-brasil/collective sao paulo, was also at  techmeet 2006.
 ira 10 19:19:37 ryan	gdm
 ira 10 19:19:52 ryan	idle, elisa?
 ira 10 19:20:08 ryan	idle, ekes?
 ira 10 19:20:30 ryan	idle, Devin?
 ira 10 19:20:38 toya	ping ekes 
 ira 10 19:20:42 *	toya pinging thsi ppl
 ira 10 19:21:22 ryan	hmm ok clara is idle, i think. clara?
 ira 10 19:21:22 Devin	devin -- in Chapel hill now, have helped with tech in  Richmond VA and 
 ira 10 19:21:22 Devin	tampa bay, am a professional programmer, interested in code. have worked with 
 ira 10 19:21:23 Devin	dadaIMC, started to get into sf-active but haven't  really groked it yet; 
 ira 10 19:21:41 ryan	chrisc?
 ira 10 19:21:56 ryan	boud
 ira 10 19:22:03 boud	boud - imc poland volunteer, our local city Torun is about to organise as a local city imc - we expect to use samizdat http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Devel/SamizdatEngine (ruby based inymedia CMS which has optional wiki for contributors) - the idea of joining forces sounds good to me. An "alternative" de-facto-indymedia in poland uses drupal. end.
 ira 10 19:22:07 ryan	bertagaz
 ira 10 19:22:10 *	bertagaz from nantes, france, involved in some indy tech working groups and his local IMC (which is trying to switch from this awfull spip-indy ;]) </end>
 ira 10 19:22:17 ryan	angdraug
 ira 10 19:22:19 angdraug	I'm angdraug: author of Samizdat CMS (Ruby),  Debian developer, tech for IMC Belarus (running Samizdat), now in Sheffield UK. end.
 ira 10 19:22:25 ryan	Alster
 ira 10 19:22:41 *	boud away - back in 5 minutes
 ira 10 19:22:55 ryan	Alster!
 ira 10 19:23:13 bertagaz	tsss
 ira 10 19:23:16 bertagaz	hi angdraug :]
 ira 10 19:23:22 ryan	A-Kaser
 ira 10 19:23:25 angdraug	bertagaz: hi!
 ira 10 19:23:48 ryan	idle, simon seems idle...
 ira 10 19:23:54 ryan	PseudoPunk
 ira 10 19:23:56 A-Kaser	?
 ira 10 19:23:59 *	alex (name@localhost) gehitu da #cms
 ira 10 19:24:06 PseudoPunk	I'm Bart from Belgium and sf-active coder. end
 ira 10 19:24:12 ryan	A-Kaser, give an intro
 ira 10 19:24:13 alex	argh, that's what i missed..
 ira 10 19:24:20 Alster	i'm alster, take part in a couple IMC tech working  groups, am located in hamburg, germany. more about me at http://sarai.indymedia.org/~alster
 ira 10 19:24:30 ryan	pietro
 ira 10 19:24:43 ryan	pietro seems idle, how about patrick?
 ira 10 19:24:44 A-Kaser	I'm Francois from Belgium, I have some servers  used in mirror
 ira 10 19:24:52 ryan	i think its too early for patrick, 1pm
 ira 10 19:24:58 Zapata	lol
 ira 10 19:25:00 toya	lol
 ira 10 19:25:36 ryan	occam?
 ira 10 19:26:02 ryan	ok how about mtoups?
 ira 10 19:26:26 ryan	mat?
 ira 10 19:26:45 ryan	ian
 ira 10 19:26:46 ryan	..?
 ira 10 19:26:55 Zapata	alex
 ira 10 19:26:56 *	alex is from imc germany. i do tech stuff, some  Mir-documentations and use Mir a lot :)
 ira 10 19:26:56 ryan	alex: you want to give an intro??
 ira 10 19:27:13 alex	i tried pushing indymedia 2.0 at PGA
 ira 10 19:27:13 ian	hi
 ira 10 19:27:16 alex	done
 ira 10 19:27:17 ryan	ok fine, thats it
 ira 10 19:27:26 ryan	oh alright, ian - give an intro
 ira 10 19:27:35 ian	hi, i'm ian with san francisco imc
 ira 10 19:27:46 ian	i do some tech stuff, but would mostly help with design  and content stuff
 ira 10 19:27:50 ian	indymedia 2.0++++
 ira 10 19:27:52 ian	done
 ira 10 19:28:13 ryan	ok, so first we have clarification of the proposal
 ira 10 19:28:16 ryan	zapata, you want to do this?
 ira 10 19:28:28 ryan	just talk and signify that you're done with "end"
 ira 10 19:28:36 ryan	then we can do some kind of ordered Q&A if necessary
 ira 10 19:28:38 ryan	Zapata: go
 ira 10 19:28:47 *	boud back
 ira 10 19:29:46 Zapata	so...
 ira 10 19:30:22 Zapata	during the techmeet in Sao Paulo, a group of indymedia-affiliated techies have discussed a proposal on the future of indymedia CMSes
 ira 10 19:30:59 Zapata	given the structural understaffedness of the various  codebases
 ira 10 19:31:30 Zapata	as well as the fact that, feature-wise, the world outside is way ahead of us (see for instance sites such as youtube)
 ira 10 19:32:06 Zapata	the idea is to, instead of developing multiple indymedia-specific CMSes, to look for a single non-indymedia CMS and focus on customizing it for indymedia
 ira 10 19:32:35 Zapata	a more detailed proposal text is available on http://techmeet.sarava.org/English/CMSProposal
 ira 10 19:32:48 Zapata	I presume most people here have read it...
 ira 10 19:33:26 Devin	...
 ira 10 19:33:34 Zapata	I've already asked several people not present in sao paulo what their opinion was... I would also like to give the opportunity to people here to vent their opinions
 ira 10 19:33:49 Zapata	ask questions...
 ira 10 19:33:53 Zapata	and so on
 ira 10 19:33:54 Zapata	end
 ira 10 19:34:13 ryan	ok so just do some like /me wants to talk
 ira 10 19:34:18 ryan	and i'll keep an order of speakers
 ira 10 19:34:43 ryan	are there specific questions related to clarifying what is in the CMSProposal?
 ira 10 19:34:50 ryan	i'll give a few minutes for ppl to read/ask
 ira 10 19:35:03 *	txopi wants to talk
 ira 10 19:35:37 ryan	ok txpoi..
 ira 10 19:35:40 txopi	i think this is a very good proposal
 ira 10 19:36:21 txopi	i wonder if we have clear that althought we choose an cms out side the customization work probably will be quite big
 ira 10 19:36:28 *	elijah (elijah@localhost) gehitu da #cms
 ira 10 19:37:14 txopi	and when new versions and features are added tho the codebase, the mantain work will be similar to the work we/you are doing to mantain this indymedia's cms
 ira 10 19:37:14 *	boud has a question
 ira 10 19:37:15 txopi	end
 ira 10 19:37:24 *	Zapata would like to respond to txopi
 ira 10 19:37:30 ryan	Zapata, respond, then boud
 ira 10 19:37:51 Zapata	the amount of customization work will depend a lot on the exact CMS we would choose
 ira 10 19:38:09 Zapata	but naturally, we won't find a CMS that will be fit for all CMSes straight out of the box
 ira 10 19:38:43 Zapata	one part of the proposal is also that we would join forces... i.e. developers / admins /templaters from different codebases would work together on 1 project
 ira 10 19:38:44 *	skep (skep@localhost) gehitu da #cms
 ira 10 19:38:58 Zapata	and generally, the real benefits from this proposal will be reaped in the future, not in the present
 ira 10 19:39:24 Zapata	the maintainenance work in the future will, hopefully, be a lot less than what we do now: right now we also must maintain basic CMS functionality, not just indymedia-specific functionality
 ira 10 19:39:24 Zapata	end
 ira 10 19:39:56 *	bertagaz raises
 ira 10 19:40:05 ryan	boud
 ira 10 19:40:22 *	init raises too
 ira 10 19:40:28 boud	question: Road map 1. 2nd paragraph: i'm wondering how  strict "non-indymedia" CMS means - does this mean all CMSes other than mir/sf-active/dada ? In other words, will we exclude mir/sf-active/dada from the list of candidate CMSes, or will we exclude all CMSes which are listed on http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Devel ?  end
 ira 10 19:40:52 ryan	mm i can answer
 ira 10 19:40:54 *	Zapata would like to respond to that (unless ryan wnats  to do it)
 ira 10 19:41:04 *	Zapata says go ahead... :-)
 ira 10 19:41:07 ryan	i dont think it necessarily excludes indymedia CMS'es
 ira 10 19:41:19 ryan	i was going to put sf-active on the list to evaluate just for due course
 ira 10 19:41:37 ryan	maybe we'll do that with the others but a key requirement is a wide developer base
 ira 10 19:41:53 ryan	which imc cms'es are kind of lacking, but we can discuss
 ira 10 19:41:58 ryan	zapata, right?
 ira 10 19:42:03 ryan	end
 ira 10 19:42:09 *	Zapata raises in response
 ira 10 19:42:19 ryan	go on zapata, then bertagaz
 ira 10 19:42:58 Zapata	I'm a bit more pessimistic, I think indymedia CMSes  really lack the vitality of a sustainable project
 ira 10 19:43:08 Zapata	but it's ok to consider them anyway I guess
 ira 10 19:43:09 Zapata	end
 ira 10 19:43:11 Devin	are we waiting or did i get disconnected?
 ira 10 19:43:29 ryan	bertagaz
 ira 10 19:43:32 ryan	Devin: waiting?
 ira 10 19:43:36 bertagaz	do you know what is the opinion of sf-active people about that? Would they join this initiative? Keep developping sf-active? I'm not sure they are here ATM...
 ira 10 19:44:11 bertagaz	oh
 ira 10 19:44:12 bertagaz	end
 ira 10 19:44:13 bertagaz	:]
 ira 10 19:44:14 PseudoPunk	bertagaz: if the cms proposal comes through I jump on the train for sure.
 ira 10 19:44:34 *	boud s/train/bandwagon/ ;)
ira 10 19:44:38 ryan	same here, i'm willing to help get the cms proposal activated also
 ira 10 19:44:54 bertagaz	ok so now I know who is sf-active people ;]
 ira 10 19:45:01 ryan	ok end of speaker's list. anyone else have questions/comments specifically towards clarifying the proposal?
 ira 10 19:45:11 Zapata	init!
 ira 10 19:45:22 toya	:39  * init raises too
 ira 10 19:45:22 init	I think the that it will be very hard to find a maching existing CMS, we would have to adapt our "fork" each time the original code changes. We have accumulated a lot of knowledge about what it is exactly that WE need. There is a lot of mistakes, we would not do again. So maybe it'll be less work to start a new codebase from scratch, using existing frameworks, like Zope or Ruby-on-Rails. But the evaluation will show that.  Apart from that I would like to take a step back
 ira 10 19:45:38 ryan	oops, sorry
 ira 10 19:45:39 ryan	thanks toya
 ira 10 19:45:45 *	Zapata raises in response
 ira 10 19:45:50 ryan	zapata then
 ira 10 19:45:55 init	but that is more stuff a wiki-diskussion
 ira 10 19:46:21 init	questions like what IS our Date, what jobs do the server nodes in the imc-network do.
 ira 10 19:46:46 init	like posting, moderation, storage, backup, db-backup,  mirror....
 ira 10 19:47:05 init	more like imc like a protokoll, not just one software.
 ira 10 19:47:21 init	shout have prepared a text on that , sorry... end
 ira 10 19:47:31 Zapata	ok
 ira 10 19:47:43 Zapata	as I asid before, a perfect match will be impossible to find
 ira 10 19:48:03 Zapata	but as close a match as possible will be very useful I  hope
 ira 10 19:48:24 *	zak raises in response 
 ira 10 19:48:31 Zapata	I wouldn't think we should fork the cms, we should find a CMS where customizations are easily made and are maintainable across different versions of the CMS
 ira 10 19:48:54 Zapata	the knowledge we have accumulated we can employ both in the customizations but also in the original CMS, if applicable: nothing stops us from contributing to the CMS
 ira 10 19:49:07 Devin	(got it now in bulk - thanks)
 ira 10 19:49:16 Zapata	zope (I'm less familiar with ruby) might be an excellent candidate to start from...
 ira 10 19:49:22 Zapata	it's definitely a candidate for me
 ira 10 19:49:46 Zapata	on the general imc-network issue, I agree there's a lot of reflection and re-organization that might be done, but...
 ira 10 19:49:51 Devin	ruby is fun
 ira 10 19:50:01 Zapata	the future of indymedia will include the need for a CMS 
 ira 10 19:50:30 Zapata	so we'll have to cover that 
 ira 10 19:50:32 Zapata	and the rest should be discussed in a different meeting I'd say
 ira 10 19:50:34 Zapata	end
 ira 10 19:50:39 ryan	zak
 ira 10 19:50:47 zak	i think a lot of this will become clearer once we actually begin matching the features of existing CMSes to our requirements.
 ira 10 19:50:49 zak	but i'm not sure what we need is *that* out of the  ordinary
 ira 10 19:51:05 *	toya raises her hand
 ira 10 19:51:37 zak	i'd hope that any patching won't be that widescale, and  that a lot of it will be just about providing an easy way to get the site structures we want, plus a few security measures like removing ip logging
 ira 10 19:51:42 zak	end
 ira 10 19:51:45 ryan	toya
 ira 10 19:52:11 *	nessie (nessie@xxx.xxx) gehitu da #cms
 ira 10 19:52:12 *	Devin raise hand
 ira 10 19:52:33 *	angdraug raises
 ira 10 19:52:36 toya	not sure if we should start to discuss thigns related  with how w ewill do it (zope, ruby etc) righ tnow or not
 ira 10 19:52:39 *	clara has quit (Read error: Connection reset by peer)
 ira 10 19:53:07 toya	end
 ira 10 19:53:17 ryan	devin
 ira 10 19:54:27 Devin	from a coding perspective, it is (almost) always the  case 
 ira 10 19:54:51 Devin	that after several years, there is alot one would do differently, a fresh start can often be a good thing
 ira 10 19:55:17 Devin	I don't think a switch is really throwing away -- we  keep the experience, and gain the help / interaction with wider community. 
 ira 10 19:55:34 Devin	basically speaking in favor, but want to be sure and honor the work of many in past
 ira 10 19:55:34 Devin	end
 ira 10 19:55:42 ryan	angdraug
 ira 10 19:55:49 angdraug	we need to add open-minded developer community  to the list of requirements
 ira 10 19:55:55 angdraug	I'm concerned about being carried away by the tide of a project with wide developer base and goals different from ours
 ira 10 19:55:59 angdraug	I'm also concerned about technical goodies getting ahead of social features of our software
 ira 10 19:56:00 angdraug	end
 ira 10 19:56:10 *	elijah raises hand
 ira 10 19:56:11 *	Zapata raises in response
 ira 10 19:56:11 ryan	ah yeah, i would add that in... that one thing i want to watch for
 ira 10 19:56:23 ryan	are projects which are obvious attempts at making a  company
 ira 10 19:56:37 ryan	even if its a volunteer project now
 ira 10 19:56:59 ryan	which means we have to scope out the core developers for these projects
 ira 10 19:57:05 ryan	Zapata, and then elijah
 ira 10 19:57:29 *	fernao (fernao@localhost) gehitu da #cms
 ira 10 19:57:34 Zapata	the character of the developer base for the CMS should  imo certainly be part of a requirement...
 ira 10 19:57:46 Zapata	but a discussion of the requirements list will be a later item in this meeting
 ira 10 19:57:50 PseudoPunk	ls
 ira 10 19:57:59 Zapata	the idea behind this proposal isn't about technical goodies
 ira 10 19:58:07 nessie	hi. I'm nessie from SF-IMC. I just tuned in to see what you all were up to. Don't mind me. I'm just observing.
 ira 10 19:58:14 Zapata	it's about sustainable development, maintenance and support for our CMS needs
 ira 10 19:58:48 Zapata	one of the reuslts of the low sustainability of the current efforts is, imo, that we do not have a lot of time to add features
 ira 10 19:59:17 Zapata	and are thus lagging behind commercial efforts such as youtube
 ira 10 19:59:23 *	bunny (bunny@localhost) gehitu da #cms
 ira 10 19:59:40 Zapata	which is certainly a reason why a lot of our target audience uses youtube to post their activism videos
 ira 10 19:59:48 Zapata	end
 ira 10 19:59:53 *	RobBoston raises in response 
 ira 10 20:00:01 ryan	ok elijah, then RobBoston
 ira 10 20:00:01 elijah	on the issue of starting from scratch:
 ira 10 20:00:02 elijah	(1) many experience programmer will tell you that
 ira 10 20:00:02 elijah	rewriting their code was the best thing that ever
 ira 10 20:00:02 elijah	happened. the second time you actually understand the
 ira 10 20:00:02 elijah	problem, and are not weighed down by past mistakes.
 ira 10 20:00:03 elijah	(2) when considering what to do, it should be based on  the
 ira 10 20:00:06 elijah	list of needs, not based on preconceptions on what will be
 ira 10 20:00:08 elijah	easiest.
 ira 10 20:00:30 elijah	(3) i do not like the idea of saying "we know what we  want, but we don't have the labor, so we will use something crappy"
 ira 10 20:00:41 *	Zapata raises in response
 ira 10 20:00:47 elijah	i would rather identify what we want, then say: ok, how can we get there?
 ira 10 20:00:51 elijah	end
 ira 10 20:00:59 ryan	RobBoston, then Zapata in response to elijah
 ira 10 20:01:44 RobBoston	Zapata: Maybe I don't understand the distinction you just made but I think 'technical goodies' is right up there with sustainability and responding to user needs.  Getting Web 2.0 architecture integrated is as necessary (like YouTube, as you did say) as security if we are to remain a viable new source.
 ira 10 20:02:35 *	zak also has a response to elijah
 ira 10 20:02:36 RobBoston	It's responding to user wants in addition to needs.  But that security and sustainability is alleviated if we pick up an existing CMS.
 ira 10 20:02:38 RobBoston	end
 ira 10 20:02:47 ryan	zapata, you have the floor
 ira 10 20:02:57 Zapata	I agree fully with RobBoston
 ira 10 20:03:25 Zapata	on elijah's remarks:
 ira 10 20:03:41 Zapata	I'm a lot more pessimistic on rewrites from scratch:
 ira 10 20:03:58 Zapata	those tend to be open-ended projects with little  certainty of completion
 ira 10 20:04:13 *	ga (ga@localhost) gehitu da #cms
 ira 10 20:04:34 Zapata	also, I would like to stress that I'm looking for a  pragmatic and practical solution to get out of the very stressfull situation we are (or at least I am) in
 ira 10 20:04:50 *	chrisc hi
 ira 10 20:04:52 Zapata	CMS maintainenance and support is really very time consuming for me now
 ira 10 20:05:19 Zapata	and I hope we can create a different situation that will be easier to sustain
 ira 10 20:05:21 Zapata	end
 ira 10 20:05:32 ryan	alright so...
 ira 10 20:05:46 *	txopi wants to talk
 ira 10 20:05:58 <ryan>	ok txopi, then we'll have a last chance for Q&A
 ira 10 20:06:16 *	elijah has brief clarifying point.
 ira 10 20:06:40 txopi	i think it is too soon to decide anything about start  from the scrach vs. customize an existing cms
 ira 10 20:07:22 txopi	i think we should analyze what we want exactly and how much the existing cms's fit out needs
 ira 10 20:07:22 *	Devin question
 ira 10 20:07:44 *	Zapata raises in response
 ira 10 20:07:55 txopi	after doing that we can decide if it is worth to start  from zero or not
 ira 10 20:07:56 txopi	end
 ira 10 20:08:13 ryan	elijah, Devin, Zapata
 ira 10 20:08:25 elijah	there are two separate issues:
 ira 10 20:08:26 elijah	(1) what will help current indymedia situation?
 ira 10 20:08:26 elijah	(2) what will keep indymedia relevent for the next five
 ira 10 20:08:26 elijah	years?
 ira 10 20:08:26 elijah	perhaps separate discussion threads and separate  solutions.
 ira 10 20:08:27 elijah	end
 ira 10 20:08:29 *	Devin withdraw
 ira 10 20:08:37 Zapata	ok
 ira 10 20:09:08 <Zapata>	I agree with txopi that, may the search for an  existing CMS prove fruitless, we may consider rewriting one from scratch (or start from an existing indy CMS)
 ira 10 20:09:17 *	zak withdraws
 ira 10 20:09:33 *	boud has clarifying question
 ira 10 20:10:09 Zapata	however, finding an existing non-indy well maintained CMS will be highly preferable imo
 ira 10 20:10:09 Zapata	in response to elijah:
 ira 10 20:10:11 Zapata	I think in indymedia we never get to issues such as (2)
 ira 10 20:10:11 Zapata	we're not in that luxury :-(
 ira 10 20:10:13 Zapata	end
 ira 10 20:10:19 ryan	boud?
 ira 10 20:10:48 *	init has a remark
 ira 10 20:10:50 *	zak (irc@localhost) has left #cms
 ira 10 20:11:06 *	zak (irc@localhost) gehitu da #cms
 ira 10 20:11:34 boud	it's just the term "indy CMS" - zapata seems to be the  main person using it, but it's a bit confusing - tikiwiki and twiki are indymedia cmses according to  Devel/WebHome, but i think what zapata actually means here is more like "sf-active/mir/dada" - so this is just a question about clarity...
 ira 10 20:11:40 boud	end
 ira 10 20:11:43 ryan	init
 ira 10 20:12:02 init	I think that the "mir"-problem (to few coders) is mostly  a java problem, I think new technologies like web-frameworks enable much more ppl to help with development.
 ira 10 20:12:05 init	end
 ira 10 20:12:14 *	Zapata raises in response
 ira 10 20:12:19 ryan	go ahead
 ira 10 20:12:39 Zapata	on boud: if imcs wish to use tikiwiki and twiki, they're free to do so ofcourse
 ira 10 20:12:46 *	zert (zert@xxx.xxx) gehitu da #cms
 ira 10 20:12:48 Zapata	with indy CMS I mean the CMSes we actively develop
 ira 10 20:12:56 Zapata	and we being mostly me and the sf-active people
 ira 10 20:13:10 Zapata	dada is, if I understand correctly, without maintainer  at the moment
 ira 10 20:13:14 Zapata	on init
 ira 10 20:13:32 Zapata	the state of sf-active, a php solution, disproves your  point I'd say
 ira 10 20:13:39 *	angdraug has another agenda comment
 ira 10 20:13:45 Zapata	though I admit, being java-based doesn't make mir's situatiuon any easier
 ira 10 20:13:46 Zapata	end
 ira 10 20:13:52 *	boud raises in response
 ira 10 20:14:12 ryan	one comment -- to be fair, sf-active might have messed up by trying to write our own framework instead of using a wider-developed one
 ira 10 20:14:19 ryan	angdraug and then boud in response
 ira 10 20:14:32 angdraug	can we assess what resources we have?
 ira 10 20:14:34 *	shane (clack@localhost) gehitu da #cms
 ira 10 20:14:47 angdraug	as in, who wants and is able to work with what technologies?
 ira 10 20:14:48 angdraug	end
 ira 10 20:14:55 ryan	boud
 ira 10 20:15:38 *	zak raises
 ira 10 20:15:42 *	Devin will work on whatever decided if possible; very  experienced in perl, fairly in php, enjoying learning ruby
 ira 10 20:15:54 boud	If we use the term "we" in this way, then it seems to me that "we" = sf-active/dada/mir people and excludes many other indymedia developers/admins/templaters - IMHO if we do not look at the whole indymedia network, then we are already reducing who "we" are and reducing the number of us who can work together. Maybe i'm just being pedantic, but it seems to me important to remember that we're a big wide network. end.
 ira 10 20:16:11 *	Zapata raises in response
 ira 10 20:16:13 *	init want's to clarify that speaking of "web-frameworks" I thought of zope/RoR not php.
 ira 10 20:16:59 ryan	zak, zapata
 ira 10 20:18:05 zak	re frameworks: this is probably a middle road between "existing cms" and "from scratch" that would be a good fallback if there isn't already a suitable cms, rather than writing the whole web framework ourselves.
 ira 10 20:18:07 zak	end
 ira 10 20:18:28 ryan	zapata
 ira 10 20:18:44 *	Zapata agrees with zak and acknowledges init's point, although my point also stands imo :-)
 ira 10 20:18:46 Zapata	on boud's remark
 ira 10 20:18:54 Zapata	this proposal has been made because of a concrete situation:
 ira 10 20:19:02 Zapata	a situation that is unsustainable
 ira 10 20:19:08 Zapata	this happened to be my personal situation
 ira 10 20:19:17 Zapata	I discussed it with others, and they seemed to agree
 ira 10 20:19:18 *	Alster_ (alster@localhost) gehitu da #cms
 ira 10 20:19:29 *	briks (briks@localhost) gehitu da #cms
 ira 10 20:19:32 Zapata	I didn't discuss it with everyone, but ofcourse anyone who wants to join is welcome
 ira 10 20:19:56 Zapata	I do not however feel the need to come to a solution that is acceptable or desirable by everyone
 ira 10 20:20:00 Zapata	end
 ira 10 20:20:02 RobBoston	*twinkle*
 ira 10 20:20:20 *	Alster has quit (Killed (NickServ (Ghost: Alster_!alster@localhost)))
 ira 10 20:20:26 ryan	on that note,
 ira 10 20:20:35 ryan	lets move on to the proposed action going forward with an evaluation
 ira 10 20:20:38 ryan	zapata, could you talk about this?
 ira 10 20:20:42 *	Alster_ orain Alster bezala ezaguna
 ira 10 20:20:46 Zapata	ok
 ira 10 20:20:47 Zapata	so...
 ira 10 20:21:00 Zapata	there would seem to be two important steps to take
 ira 10 20:21:15 Zapata	1. would be to add structure, more on that later
 ira 10 20:21:23 Zapata	2. would be to actually look for candidate CMSes
 ira 10 20:21:40 Zapata	I would suggest to do 2. in the following manner:
 ira 10 20:22:27 Zapata	* We start here with going through the requirements  lists and add proper definitions, sanitize the list add to it, delete from it, etc
 ira 10 20:22:43 Zapata	* We have a brainstorm sessions to get to a (first) list  of candidate CMSes
 ira 10 20:23:15 *	zak raises
 ira 10 20:23:22 Zapata	* Volunteers go about reviewing these CMSes by holding them against the requirements list and reporting on this
 ira 10 20:23:37 Zapata	* We have a follow up IRC meetings to discuss these results and to decide how to go from there
 ira 10 20:23:43 Zapata	On the structure:
 ira 10 20:24:09 Zapata	* Right now, we use the techmeet.sarava.org wiki, it would be nice to switch to docs.indy or so, but it isn't up yet afaik
 ira 10 20:24:15 Zapata	* It would be nice to have a mailing list
 ira 10 20:24:22 Zapata	* It would be nice to have regular irc meetings
 ira 10 20:24:23 Zapata	end
 ira 10 20:24:25 ryan	note -> http://techmeet.sarava.org/English/CMSWhatWeWant
 ira 10 20:24:50 ryan	what we did in sao paulo is tried to be comprehensive in deciding on "must-have" functionality
 ira 10 20:25:01 ryan	so this can be the basis of evaluating candidate CMS'es
 ira 10 20:25:07 Zapata	there's also http://techmeet.sarava.org/English/CMSWhatWeHave
 ira 10 20:25:11 ryan	zapata has made a template of what this will look like
 ira 10 20:25:18 txopi	note -> that page is what we want (and we still don't  have)
 ira 10 20:25:28 ryan	that can be found here -> http://techmeet.sarava.org/English/CMSSurveyList
 ira 10 20:25:29 *	boud notes that seems to be points 3 4 5 6 7 8 of the agenda rolled together
 ira 10 20:25:49 ryan	boud, just giving an overview
 ira 10 20:26:18 ryan	so i suggest we begin by going through http://techmeet.sarava.org/English/CMSWhatWeWant
 ira 10 20:26:24 Zapata	well
 ira 10 20:26:28 ryan	and making sure this is correct, as it will be the foundation of the evaluation template
 ira 10 20:26:37 Zapata	I'd say let's do http://techmeet.sarava.org/English/CMSWhatWeHave first
 ira 10 20:26:43 Zapata	the list of current features
 ira 10 20:27:03 ryan	alright, that doesnt really require discussion. zapata, you want to run through that how you want?
 ira 10 20:27:11 ryan	then i'll moderate the "what we want" discussion
 ira 10 20:27:21 Zapata	so, in sao paulo we compiled two lists
 ira 10 20:27:39 Zapata	the "what we have list": the features existing in the  current indy CMSes we know (mostly mir and sf-active)
 ira 10 20:28:06 Zapata	the idea is that these features are absolute requirments: we'll have to have them before we can switch
 ira 10 20:28:22 Zapata	ofcourse these do not need to be present in the CMS per se, we might make them part of the customziation process
 ira 10 20:28:30 Zapata	but ofcourse the more there are out-of-the-box, the better
 ira 10 20:28:43 Zapata	and, it should ofcourse be conveniently possible to add them if they aren't already there
 ira 10 20:29:12 Zapata	the second list consists of existing wishes by IMCs, we'd like to have them in the near future
 ira 10 20:29:16 Zapata	so...
 ira 10 20:29:41 Zapata	let's walk through the items on http://techmeet.sarava.org/English/CMSWhatWeHave one at a time
 ira 10 20:29:56 Zapata	clarify them, perhaps change them... and at the end, perhaps add new requirements
 ira 10 20:30:21 Zapata	though, I think important for the process to keep this list as brief as possible
 ira 10 20:30:37 Zapata	since more requirements to cover also means a harder search/customization process, etc
 ira 10 20:30:51 Zapata	the first requirement
 ira 10 20:30:54 Zapata	anonymous open publishing
 ira 10 20:30:59 Zapata	speaks for itself
 ira 10 20:31:08 Zapata	so let's quickly move ot the netxt
 ira 10 20:31:17 Zapata	"distributed content storage"
 ira 10 20:31:33 Zapata	if one looks at mir right now, it's easily possible to make multiple mirrors...
 ira 10 20:31:42 Zapata	by simply using an apache and rsync combination
 ira 10 20:31:45 *	zak raises
 ira 10 20:31:56 Zapata	this facilitates the ability to deal with a lot of hits
 ira 10 20:32:17 Zapata	I, however, think a new cms doesn't necessarily have to do it in the same manner:
 ira 10 20:32:39 Zapata	I would be satisfied with a possibility to make multiple "light" mirrors, not necessarily static mirrors
 ira 10 20:32:41 Zapata	go ahead, zak
 ira 10 20:33:04 zak	there are different meanings that "distributed content  storage" can have, as you say
 ira 10 20:33:39 *	Devin raises
 ira 10 20:33:48 Zapata	what is meant here is the mir mirroring feature
 ira 10 20:33:49 zak	while mir has the ability to create multiple caches of the html pages easily, these aren't sufficient to recreate the site if the primary server goes down
 ira 10 20:33:56 *	init raises
 ira 10 20:34:15 zak	which would be provided by, for example, mysql-style database replication of the underlying content storage
 ira 10 20:34:47 zak	for some cmses, a set of squid accelerators could provide a similar performance boost to the mirroring setup
 ira 10 20:34:48 zak	end
 ira 10 20:34:54 ryan	devin, init, back to zapata
 ira 10 20:35:13 *	ryan notes to get on the CMS discussion mailing list, send a blank email to cms@techmeet.org
 ira 10 20:35:16 Devin	good point zak. anonymous open publishing seems assumed,  yet 
 ira 10 20:35:33 Devin	some dada installs store hashed IPs which could easily be cracked by feds, etc.
 ira 10 20:35:51 Devin	so anonymous vs. anti-abuse measures needs prioritization, clarification
 ira 10 20:35:53 Devin	end
 ira 10 20:35:57 ryan	init
 ira 10 20:36:00 init	Producing flat-html files is the one "top-feature" of mir, applied right, you can do much more with it than just mirroring, Just move the whole document-root to a CD-ROM (or zipfile) and use it for offline browsing
 ira 10 20:36:42 init	I have been looking for that in many other CMSs none does it out of the box. would be sad to lose that. end
 ira 10 20:36:45 *	zak raises in response to init
 ira 10 20:37:08 ryan	zak
 ira 10 20:37:10 ryan	then zapata
 ira 10 20:37:26 zak	i agree it's useful, and have used it for offline demos myself in the past
 ira 10 20:38:09 init	...and it helps bridging the digital devide.
 ira 10 20:38:09 zak	however, like most things, it also comes with drawbacks -- the most apparent being the long regeneration time required after redesigning a set of templates
 ira 10 20:38:28 zak	but i'm not sure how deep a discussion of this we want  to get into at this stage
 ira 10 20:38:30 zak	end
 ira 10 20:38:46 ryan	ok, back to zapata
 ira 10 20:38:50 Zapata	on zak's first point:
 ira 10 20:38:57 Zapata	the feature meant is the mir mirroring feature...
 ira 10 20:39:12 Zapata	so I would suggest renaming the requirement to "easy  mirroring capability"
 ira 10 20:39:32 *	zak agrees
 ira 10 20:39:35 Zapata	the other feature zak mentioned is, if I'm correct, on the "what we want"-list, since we don't have it right now
 ira 10 20:39:46 Zapata	on devin:
 ira 10 20:39:56 *	Anna (anna@localhost) gehitu da #cms
 ira 10 20:40:20 Zapata	indeed the anonymous requirement is an excellent example  of something that is very indymedia-specific
 ira 10 20:40:26 Zapata	and very important for us
 ira 10 20:40:27 ryan	 
 ira 10 20:40:34 Zapata	which explains why it's at the top of the list ;-)
 ira 10 20:40:38 Zapata	on init
 ira 10 20:40:41 *	chrisc raises
 ira 10 20:40:53 Zapata	I would say that storing an imc on a cd is nice, but not a day-to-day requirement
 ira 10 20:41:01 Zapata	indeed, very few cmses have this feature
 ira 10 20:41:12 Zapata	but as zak says, there are drawbacks as well
 ira 10 20:41:27 Zapata	I would still say that "easy mirroring" without requiring static mirrors is what we need
 ira 10 20:41:39 Zapata	since this will cover the most important use of mir's static mirror feature
 ira 10 20:41:54 Zapata	while your use can still be done by using a clever wget  script or something similar
 ira 10 20:41:56 Zapata	end
 ira 10 20:42:09 ryan	well, back to the list, then :)
 ira 10 20:42:15 Zapata	chrisc
 ira 10 20:42:18 Zapata	is first
 ira 10 20:42:19 ryan	oh 
 ira 10 20:42:19 chrisc	Bricolage, the Perl CMS, which runs  www.theregister.co.uk and salon.com generates static content, however it don't have user accounts, anon publishing etc
 ira 10 20:42:22 chrisc	end
 ira 10 20:42:38 ryan	zapata..
 ira 10 20:42:41 *	chrisc http://www.bricolage.cc/
 ira 10 20:42:45 Zapata	the next requirement: syndication -out/in
 ira 10 20:42:54 Zapata	most indymedia sites offer rss feeds
 ira 10 20:43:05 Zapata	which are in high demand by users
 ira 10 20:43:12 Zapata	some indymedia sites also import rss feeds
 ira 10 20:43:36 Zapata	for instance indymedia.org uses it to come to a feature  wire with features from all the different indymedia sites around
 ira 10 20:43:43 Zapata	end
 ira 10 20:43:55 ryan	...
 ira 10 20:43:58 *	RobBoston raises
 ira 10 20:44:03 Zapata	go ahead
 ira 10 20:44:27 *	boud syndication in/out is definitely a Good Thing
 ira 10 20:44:29 RobBoston	Sorry, are we marking things down on the  wishlist here as either 'would be nice' or 'essential.'  Came to mind thinking of this; I'
 ira 10 20:44:35 RobBoston	I'd say RSS would be essential
 ira 10 20:44:36 RobBoston	end
 ira 10 20:44:41 Zapata	in response:
 ira 10 20:44:42 ryan	this isnt the wishlist
 ira 10 20:44:44 ryan	this is what we have
 ira 10 20:44:46 Zapata	these are all essential features
 ira 10 20:44:50 Zapata	since we already have them
 ira 10 20:44:56 Zapata	ok
 ira 10 20:45:00 Zapata	the next requirments:
 ira 10 20:45:01 Zapata	search
 ira 10 20:45:14 Zapata	a no brainer...
 ira 10 20:45:16 *	Alster raises
 ira 10 20:45:22 Zapata	go ahead, alster
 ira 10 20:45:36 Alster	I'm a bit irritated by this.
 ira 10 20:45:49 Alster	You're saying the features we already have are  essential.
 ira 10 20:45:56 Alster	I don't think this is the case for all of them.
 ira 10 20:46:14 Alster	We sure have a lot of featuresin some of the CMS'  currently being used by IMCs which are not essential.
 ira 10 20:46:25 *	Devin suggests you say so case-by-case as we discuss a  feature
 ira 10 20:46:27 Alster	... and offten not being used either.
 ira 10 20:46:52 *	zak agrees with devin
 ira 10 20:47:09 Alster	so it would be better to make sure we have a deep looka  t all the features currently provided by the several cms and sort out those which really are considered essential.
 ira 10 20:47:24 Alster	it's well possible some are being missed right now, unless it has been done this way.
 ira 10 20:47:30 Alster	end
 ira 10 20:47:41 Zapata	I would agree with devin as well
 ira 10 20:47:52 Zapata	are there any features I mentioned that you deem not essential?
 ira 10 20:48:21 Zapata	also the list has been compiled according to your suggestions... some of mir's features are not on it for example, since no IMC  uses it 
 ira 10 20:48:28 Zapata	end
 ira 10 20:49:02 Zapata	shall I go on with features?
 ira 10 20:49:06 Alster	No. I'm more afraid we're missing some which we already have, which are essential, but we're not aware of it, and which we may be missing in the future requirements list
 ira 10 20:49:08 ryan	unless somsone has a response
 ira 10 20:49:26 *	zak raises in response to alster
 ira 10 20:49:30 Alster	the 'no' referred to "are there any features I mentioned that you deem not essential?"
 ira 10 20:49:32 Alster	end
 ira 10 20:49:56 *	boud raises on WhatWeHave
 ira 10 20:50:17 ryan	zak, boud, zapata
 ira 10 20:50:18 zak	i think we had "any other existing features" for discussion after this list anyway, so perhaps we can look at that further then?
 ira 10 20:50:20 zak	end
 ira 10 20:50:44 ryan	boud
 ira 10 20:50:46 *	Alster is fine with zak's suggestion
 ira 10 20:51:04 boud	we haven't got up it yet, but it seems to me that  "send article to a friend" may not be essential - it seems turned off in most indymedias (i vaguely remember seeing it in use a few years ago) (maybe it was turned off because it was abused?)  end
 ira 10 20:51:13 boud	s/up it/up to it/g
 ira 10 20:51:43 Zapata	let's discuss that feature when we get there
 ira 10 20:51:50 boud	ok
 ira 10 20:51:56 Zapata	I'll now list a number of features that I suspect are  not controversial...
 ira 10 20:52:03 Zapata	* The ability to create multiple instances
 ira 10 20:52:03 Zapata	It should be possible to host multiple IMCs on a single  server
 ira 10 20:52:03 Zapata	* Multimedia handling
 ira 10 20:52:03 Zapata	It should be possible to post images and videos, as  these are used frequently by our user base
 ira 10 20:52:03 Zapata	* Categories 
 ira 10 20:52:05 Zapata	It should be possible to organise content (i.e. postings) by category, region, type, etc
 ira 10 20:52:14 Zapata	* Good performance on affordable hardware
 ira 10 20:52:14 Zapata	Our often improvised equipment should be able to host  the IMC sites
 ira 10 20:52:23 Zapata	* customisability 
 ira 10 20:52:52 Zapata	IMCs should be able to organise their postings in a custom way. Also it should be easily possible to add indymedia customizations.
 ira 10 20:53:01 *	Devin raises
 ira 10 20:53:05 Zapata	go ahead
 ira 10 20:53:19 Devin	"customisability" is over-broad term compared to others  in list 
 ira 10 20:53:44 Devin	people will be using this list to evaluate -- hard to evalutate on broad terms
 ira 10 20:53:49 Devin	possible to specify more?
 ira 10 20:53:50 Devin	end
 ira 10 20:53:54 Zapata	true, but it's also a broad requirement... 
 ira 10 20:54:20 Zapata	one of the sources of this requirment was mir's feature of flexible producer creation and templating
 ira 10 20:54:38 Zapata	perhaps I should work on a text to clarify it more  concretely... I'll work on that... in the meantime, let's go on
 ira 10 20:54:51 Zapata	ok?
 ira 10 20:54:57 Devin	yes, thanks
 ira 10 20:55:07 Zapata	* internationalisation / translation
 ira 10 20:55:33 Zapata	The indymedia network is global. A lot of different languages are spoken. A lot of IMCs work with multiple languages. 
 ira 10 20:55:41 *	zak raises
 ira 10 20:55:48 Zapata	Translations of postings are a key tool in this
 ira 10 20:55:50 Zapata	go ahead, zak
 ira 10 20:56:19 zak	i'm not that familiar with the multi-language sites. however i think there are a lot of levels of internationalisation
 ira 10 20:56:30 *	txopi wants to talk
 ira 10 20:56:43 zak	and i think it's important that we identify which ones we already have (and so are essential) and which ones are still wish-list
 ira 10 20:56:44 zak	end
 ira 10 20:56:57 <ryan>	ok txopi
 ira 10 20:57:39 txopi	i think internationalisation should be a different point
 ira 10 20:58:27 txopi	usually this kind of features are clasified as localization (coins, hour formats...) and internationalization (languages...)
 ira 10 20:59:03 ryan	ok, zapata can oyu mark that change?
 ira 10 20:59:04 txopi	the tanslation feature is not very common and should be analyzed apart
 ira 10 20:59:05 ryan	and lets keep going
 ira 10 20:59:06 txopi	end
 ira 10 20:59:13 ryan	we gotta get through this list because the next list is the real discussion
 ira 10 20:59:19 Zapata	Ok
 ira 10 20:59:25 Zapata	let me rephrase
 ira 10 20:59:29 Zapata	internationalization
 ira 10 20:59:47 Zapata	The ability to present an IMC site in multiple languages
 ira 10 20:59:59 Zapata	for the navigational aspects
 ira 10 21:00:18 Zapata	including the ability to easily add a supported language
 ira 10 21:00:20 Zapata	translation
 ira 10 21:00:23 *	Kameron (Kam@localhost) gehitu da #cms
 ira 10 21:00:44 *	chrisc the CMS must do UTF-8, but these days I think  most do already... 
 ira 10 21:00:44 Devin	navigational = localization = much easier than on-the-fly translation
 ira 10 21:00:46 Zapata	The ability to allow users to anonymously translate postings
 ira 10 21:01:18 *	nah has quit (Read error: Connection reset by peer)
 ira 10 21:01:19 *	fernao has quit (Read error: Connection reset by peer)
 ira 10 21:01:20 Zapata	both features exist and both features are used frequently, though internationalization is the more widely used
 ira 10 21:01:31 *	PseudoPunk notes l10n is important too: 24h/12h times, d/m/y vs m/d/y, ...
 ira 10 21:01:58 Zapata	anyway, I consider this to be one of the easier to understand requirements...
 ira 10 21:02:07 Zapata	shall we go on? :-)
 ira 10 21:02:17 ryan	yes
 ira 10 21:02:18 *	txopi agrees
 ira 10 21:02:25 Zapata	* comments 
 ira 10 21:02:25 Zapata	The ability to comment / add clarification / updates to an article is an essential feature on most IMC sites
 ira 10 21:02:25 Zapata	* anti-abuse measures
 ira 10 21:02:25 Zapata	Unfortunately, a lot of IMC's have to deal with a lot of abuse: spam, trolling, ddos attacks. The CMS should offer the tools to deal with this.
 ira 10 21:02:34 Zapata	* easy moderation
 ira 10 21:03:10 Zapata	moderation of open postings is one of the least favourite tasks in indymedia collectives. This should be as easy as possible. Think about removing spam postings, hiding racist postings entirely from sight (as is required in some countries)
 ira 10 21:03:19 Zapata	* calendar 
 ira 10 21:03:40 Zapata	A lot of IMC sites have a calendar where people can post there activism events on
 ira 10 21:03:47 Zapata	* features 
 ira 10 21:04:10 *	angdraug raises on calendar
 ira 10 21:04:13 Zapata	Most IMCs work with an open newswire and a middle (feature) column with postings by the editorial collective.
 ira 10 21:04:16 Zapata	go ahead, angdraug
 ira 10 21:04:26 angdraug	how much of a calendar we want?
 ira 10 21:04:32 angdraug	end
 ira 10 21:04:46 *	Morten^Toft (k@localhost) gehitu da #cms
 ira 10 21:05:03 ryan	this is just what we have
 ira 10 21:05:05 ryan	not what we want
 ira 10 21:05:11 ryan	zapata.. go on with the list
 ira 10 21:05:21 Zapata	* documentation 
 ira 10 21:05:32 Zapata	We need a well documented CMS.
 ira 10 21:05:39 *	zak raises
 ira 10 21:05:42 Zapata	go ahead
 ira 10 21:06:26 zak	i agree that's something we'd like... although i'm not sure how documented our existing ones are. is that a "what we have" or a "what we want"?
 ira 10 21:06:28 zak	end
 ira 10 21:06:38 Zapata	agree
 ira 10 21:06:42 ryan	this is all "what we have"
 ira 10 21:06:44 *	boud raises on calendar
 ira 10 21:06:57 ryan	we need to save discussion of requirements/"what we  want" for next topic
 ira 10 21:06:59 ryan	boud?
 ira 10 21:07:29 boud	i thought that the most used calendars right now are  e.g. radicalendar and use either non-free software or non-free servers or both...
 ira 10 21:07:45 boud	so i don't know if we already have it in a genuinely free software indymedia sense
 ira 10 21:07:47 boud	end
 ira 10 21:07:48 ryan	mm sf-active has a calendar built-in
 ira 10 21:07:52 ryan	i think this refers to that
 ira 10 21:07:54 ryan	zapata?
 ira 10 21:08:06 Zapata	true
 ira 10 21:08:08 Zapata	it's not in mir
 ira 10 21:08:22 Zapata	it's sf-active's calendar we're talking about
 ira 10 21:08:26 boud	ok
 ira 10 21:08:40 Zapata	I'll go on
 ira 10 21:08:42 Zapata	* send article to a friend
 ira 10 21:08:42 Zapata	Speaks for itself
 ira 10 21:08:52 Zapata	* scaling 
 ira 10 21:08:52 Zapata	It should be possible to deal with varying number of hits on sites. If the G8 comes to town, an IMC site may suddenly have to deal with hits an order of magnitutde bigger. The CMS should make it possible to deal with this. 
 ira 10 21:09:00 Zapata	send an article may not be that important
 ira 10 21:09:14 Zapata	scaling is a part of two aforementioned requirements imo
 ira 10 21:09:17 *	luisfelipe (luisfelip@xxx.xx) gehitu da #cms
 ira 10 21:09:19 Zapata	I would suggest removing these two
 ira 10 21:09:31 *	Devin agree
 ira 10 21:09:44 *	zak agrees too
 ira 10 21:10:02 *	gus _o/ about the send an article problem..
 ira 10 21:10:05 *	txopi wants to talk
 ira 10 21:10:14 Zapata	go ahead, gus
 ira 10 21:10:52 *	Alster agrees with removal of those, too
 ira 10 21:10:53 gus	well, "send an article" option could be used to spam,  like happened in imc paris
 ira 10 21:11:22 Zapata	right, so you would agree to remove it from the requirements list :-)
 ira 10 21:11:31 gus	i think that option is only good for features <end>
 ira 10 21:11:41 <Zapata>	txopi?
 ira 10 21:11:45 txopi	i'm absolutely agree about removing 'send article to a  friend' from the list
 ira 10 21:11:54 ryan	....
 ira 10 21:11:56 ryan	this is what we have
 ira 10 21:11:58 ryan	not what we want
 ira 10 21:12:08 txopi	i know
 ira 10 21:12:19 ryan	so, to the extent 'send article' is something we have ...
 ira 10 21:12:21 ryan	it stays on the list :)
 ira 10 21:12:23 txopi	but this feature isn't really important
 ira 10 21:12:34 *	zak raises
 ira 10 21:12:35 *	Zapata raises
 ira 10 21:12:37 txopi	mir, sf-active and other have a lot more features
 ira 10 21:12:58 txopi	about scaling, i think it is important to keep it
 ira 10 21:13:06 *	Zapata raises^2
 ira 10 21:13:14 kwadronaut	back online
 ira 10 21:13:18 txopi	end
 ira 10 21:13:27 ryan	ok, zak and then zapata
 ira 10 21:13:31 zak	i think this is "what we have, that we aren't happy to  lose"
 ira 10 21:13:36 zak	on scaling...
 ira 10 21:13:52 zak	i think it's a very broad term, as there are lots of ways in which a solution might scale or not
 ira 10 21:14:16 zak	for instance, mir scales very well in terms of number of passive visitors due to the static mirroring capability
 ira 10 21:14:42 *	Devin point of clarification: proposal was to merge concept of scaling into earlier "easy mirroring"
 ira 10 21:14:45 zak	on the other hand, some of the producers don't scale that well as the size of the site increases
 ira 10 21:15:01 *	Zapata in addition to Devin's point: and to "good  performence on affordable hardware"
 ira 10 21:15:16 zak	so i think we have to be specific on what ways our existing solutions scale well
 ira 10 21:15:44 *	boud i think zak explained it well: 'i think this is "what we have, that we aren't happy to lose"'
 ira 10 21:15:51 zak	re: affordable hardware -- experience with traven  doesn't suggest we necessarily have that at the moment
 ira 10 21:15:53 zak	end
 ira 10 21:16:07 ryan	ok, so let me just throw in here..
 ira 10 21:16:16 ryan	whatever this list means exactly, we arent really going  to refer to it again
 ira 10 21:16:20 ryan	ever, probably
 ira 10 21:16:42 *	sin^guia (sin^guia@localhost) gehitu da #cms
 ira 10 21:16:43 ryan	so, zapata, anything else on this part?
 ira 10 21:16:56 ryan	because then we can move to discussing requirements/evaluation list
 ira 10 21:17:20 Zapata	I agree the discussions we have right now aren't very important. And we're already busy for 2 hours
 ira 10 21:17:25 Zapata	I suggest we move on to the second list
 ira 10 21:17:26 ryan	yeah
 ira 10 21:17:32 ryan	alright, here we go
 ira 10 21:17:33 *	txopi agrees
 ira 10 21:17:43 *	zak raises before we move on
 ira 10 21:17:54 ryan	.. zak?
 ira 10 21:17:58 zak	we've talked quite a bit about existing mir and sf-active features
 ira 10 21:18:14 zak	i just want to be sure we haven't missed features in eg  dada, oscailt...
 ira 10 21:18:18 zak	if anyone is familiar with them
 ira 10 21:18:19 zak	end
 ira 10 21:18:21 *	txopi raises
 ira 10 21:18:33 ryan	well let's think of them and if so, and they are  relevant enough to be on requirements list, we can add them there
 ira 10 21:18:46 ryan	again, this list is just to have a discussion and we probably won't ever use it again
 ira 10 21:18:51 ryan	so getting it perfect isnt a top priority
 ira 10 21:18:55 <ryan>	txopi?
 ira 10 21:18:56 *	Devin raise
 ira 10 21:19:03 *	boud raises 
 ira 10 21:19:05 txopi	i'm not familiar with dada but i know that some features in the WhatWeWant list are present in dada right now
 ira 10 21:19:33 txopi	for example licensing options
 ira 10 21:19:42 txopi	and perhaps image galleries
 ira 10 21:20:01 txopi	about social network, dada has the post polling feature
 ira 10 21:20:03 txopi	end
 ira 10 21:20:26 ryan	alright, uhhh devin and boud? comments that must be made before we move on?
 ira 10 21:20:35 Devin	one feature in oscailt I like; not sure name;  sub-regions of an IMC defined by 
 ira 10 21:20:35 Devin	geography in their case but could be defined by subject perhaps as well
 ira 10 21:20:46 Devin	end
 ira 10 21:20:49 ryan	boud
 ira 10 21:21:21 boud	"user moderation - open editing" is a features we already have in an indymedia CMS - it's in samizdat and used by indymedia belarus and indymedia ukraine
 ira 10 21:22:00 ryan	done?
 ira 10 21:22:02 boud	so in the spirit of "what we have and don't want to lose", i guess we should add it
 ira 10 21:22:03 *	zak thinks devin's point is covered by "categories", as are mir's regions and topics
 ira 10 21:22:04 boud	end
 ira 10 21:22:08 ryan	ok
 ira 10 21:22:14 ryan	so
 ira 10 21:22:33 ryan	the next part is a list of requirements and/or areas of evaluation
 ira 10 21:22:50 ryan	so, take a look at http://techmeet.sarava.org/English/CMSSurveyList
 ira 10 21:23:07 ryan	we would like to fill out this page with CMS'es and "evaluation owners"
 ira 10 21:23:31 ryan	the evaluation owners would set up a demo of the CMS, allow others access to it on request, and then report-back to this group
 ira 10 21:23:45 ryan	report-back about how the CMS did with each requirement/area of evaluation
 ira 10 21:23:56 ryan	a template for this seen here -> http://techmeet.sarava.org/English/CMSSurveyReportTemplate
 ira 10 21:24:15 ryan	so, we should go through this list and make sure these things are clear and consistent
 ira 10 21:24:20 ryan	keeping in mind what this list is gonna be used for
 ira 10 21:24:38 ryan	lets stop there for a second
 ira 10 21:24:43 ryan	does that sound right to everyone?
 ira 10 21:25:12 *	boud saw no objections so i added user moderation - open editing to WhatWeHave
 ira 10 21:25:31 zak	we're talking about the list on http://techmeet.sarava.org/English/CMSWhatWeWant right?
 ira 10 21:25:56 ryan	no
 ira 10 21:26:00 ryan	er
 ira 10 21:26:01 ryan	yes :)
 ira 10 21:26:02 ryan	sorry
 ira 10 21:26:20 ryan	but i think we go through them one-by-one
 ira 10 21:26:46 ryan	ok well
 ira 10 21:27:05 ryan	if there is nothing in general about that plan-of-action, lets go through the list
 ira 10 21:27:15 *	zak is happy with that plan
 ira 10 21:27:38 ryan	ok
 ira 10 21:27:51 *	boud confused - are we working on WhatWeWant or  CMSSurveyList now ?
 ira 10 21:27:51 *	zak (irc@localhost) has left #cms
 ira 10 21:28:00 ryan	boud, CMSWhatWeWant
 ira 10 21:28:02 *	zak (irc@localhost) gehitu da #cms
 ira 10 21:28:05 boud	ok
 ira 10 21:28:09 ryan	alright so, lets start with the first item
 ira 10 21:28:17 ryan	"User logins (networkwide?)" 
 ira 10 21:28:26 ryan	the idea here is that we would allow user registration
 ira 10 21:28:49 ryan	so, users could own a username and authenticate with it  which would allow users to have identities that are protected
 ira 10 21:29:08 ryan	also, the idea was kicked around that it would be interesting to have the option of network-wide logins
 ira 10 21:29:30 ryan	i.e. if nessie registers at sf.indymedia.org, he can then go to germany.indymedia.org and log in as nessie with the same password
 ira 10 21:29:47 *	Alster would like to make a note on the evaluation process just introduced by ryan, sorry for being late.
 ira 10 21:30:05 ryan	so, we want to evaluate CMS'es and understand how they  handle user logins
 ira 10 21:30:09 ryan	Alster - go ahead
 ira 10 21:30:15 *	Alster is happy with the process, too, but notes that we must make sure CMSWhatWeHave is refactored to CMSWhatWeWant if CMSWhatWeHave will not be used as an evaluation factor in the future.
 ira 10 21:30:17 Alster	end
 ira 10 21:30:26 *	boud raises
 ira 10 21:30:34 *	clara (clara@localhost) gehitu da #cms
 ira 10 21:30:47 ryan	Alster - we have this one -  http://techmeet.sarava.org/English/CMSWhatWeWant
 ira 10 21:30:59 ryan	not sure what you mean?
 ira 10 21:31:51 Alster	you said that CMSWhatWeHave will likely not be used in the future. If so, we should make sure that everything listed in this docuemnt, which is basically, what we have now and what we want to keep, is also found in the new document
 ira 10 21:32:02 Alster	(CMSWhatWeWant)
 ira 10 21:32:04 Alster	end
 ira 10 21:32:16 ryan	sure, well, here is the opportunity to add anything at  all (including stuff from there) to the WhatWeWant list
 ira 10 21:32:21 ryan	boud?
 ira 10 21:33:05 *	kwadronaut raises
 ira 10 21:33:20 boud	the single user login could potentially go way beyond  indymedia - i'm trying to find the official name for this right now, but the idea is that someone should not have to make a zillion different logins with different passwords on different services
ira 10 21:33:43 boud	IMHO we should add the option that someone uses this if s/he wants it...
 ira 10 21:33:43 luisfelipe	boud: passport ?
 ira 10 21:33:44 boud	end
 ira 10 21:33:54 ryan	kwadronaut?
 ira 10 21:33:56 kwadronaut	network wide based username could be nice but i  suggest we odont focus on it, it has downsides too: wouldnt there be too many  same usernames used by people at different locations like anna in nyc, germany and prolly some other places too
 ira 10 21:34:09 kwadronaut	<end>
 ira 10 21:34:15 *	angdraug raises in response
 ira 10 21:34:19 ryan	angdraug
 ira 10 21:34:35 angdraug	if we do network-wide logins, we sould do it jabber-style
 ira 10 21:34:45 *	Devin raise on suggestion for current discussion process
 ira 10 21:34:51 angdraug	that is, user registers with IMC A, and the as user@imc-a at other IMCs
 ira 10 21:34:56 angdraug	end
 ira 10 21:35:08 *	txopi wants to talk
 ira 10 21:35:10 ryan	Devin?
 ira 10 21:35:16 *	boud luisfelipe: i'm not sure...
 ira 10 21:35:19 Devin	rather than worry what on what list now,
 ira 10 21:35:24 Devin	 someone is logging right?
 ira 10 21:35:35 ryan	?- i am logging
 ira 10 21:35:45 Devin	we can discuss priroities for all items, someone can  complie and present list for use in evaluations
 ira 10 21:35:49 *	boud logging too
 ira 10 21:35:54 ryan	yes, thats what we're doing!
 ira 10 21:35:56 Devin	we can discuss or accept
 ira 10 21:35:58 Devin	end
 ira 10 21:36:15 Devin	sorry, seems like we are trying to get too definitive  now, maybe jsut emk
 ira 10 21:36:17 Devin	just me
 ira 10 21:36:18 Devin	end
 ira 10 21:36:21 ryan	right, so unless there is an objection to evaluating  end-user logins, lets move on
 ira 10 21:36:25 <ryan>	txopi?
 ira 10 21:36:53 txopi	it think worlwide login isn't so inportant as in a pool  that someone did a years or so ago, the imc readers use to read in general just one imc
 ira 10 21:37:34 *	boud i think it's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenID i  was thinking of
 ira 10 21:37:44 ryan	ok, worldwide login is something to be evaluated, so  opinions noted, we can move on to the next item
 ira 10 21:37:44 txopi	the single sign-on (sso) feature is very difficult to reach and i think we should focus just on "user logins"
 ira 10 21:37:45 txopi	end
 ira 10 21:38:01 ryan	well, for instance, drupal supports this out-of-the-box
 ira 10 21:38:07 *	nessie has quit (Read error: Connection reset by peer)
 ira 10 21:38:08 ryan	so we want to know if a CMS has support for it or not
 ira 10 21:38:22 ryan	the next item is user access controls
 ira 10 21:38:24 txopi	ok, so separate the both features please
 ira 10 21:38:53 <ryan>	txopi: ok, i think thats good (i can take these  suggestions and modify the list after the mtg)
 ira 10 21:39:13 ryan	user access controls means that users should log into the site and we can control if they are admins and can edit the newswires
 ira 10 21:39:21 ryan	or if they are users and have publishing/etc rights only
 ira 10 21:39:36 ryan	comments/suggestions?
 ira 10 21:40:21 ryan	next two items are similar -- we need to evaluate the moderation system for newswires and give a good reportback on that
 ira 10 21:40:46 ryan	to understand all of our options related to rankings/users and admins moderating/etc
 ira 10 21:40:53 ryan	comments on this ..?
 ira 10 21:41:23 ryan	excellent. next item is detailed
 ira 10 21:41:26 txopi	wait
 ira 10 21:41:29 boud	boud raises
 ira 10 21:41:41 <ryan>	txopi, then boud
 ira 10 21:42:14 txopi	if you don't mind i want to ask what really means "user  moderation - open editing" (probably i don't understand because my poor english)
 ira 10 21:42:39 <luisfelipe>	txopi: something wikilike I think
 ira 10 21:42:59 luisfelipe	let the users moderate articles by making everything edittable 
 ira 10 21:43:05 txopi	mmh
 ira 10 21:43:09 ryan	mmm well
 ira 10 21:43:11 ryan	like this:
 ira 10 21:43:22 *	boud agrees with luisfelipe
 ira 10 21:43:23 ryan	1) sf-active allows admins to moderate articles as  local, global, open, etc
 ira 10 21:43:37 ryan	2) so, what kind of admin moderation can we set up with  each CMS
 ira 10 21:43:58 ryan	3) also, what are the options with users ranking articles, like 1-10 ratings of quality
 ira 10 21:44:06 ryan	4) also, what are the options with users editing their own articles
 ira 10 21:44:18 ryan	maybe this item should be expanded to include all these things
 ira 10 21:44:32 txopi	i understand, ok
 ira 10 21:44:37 txopi	thanks :-)
 ira 10 21:44:43 txopi	we can go on
 ira 10 21:45:00 *	boud still raised hand
 ira 10 21:45:05 ryan	boud
 ira 10 21:45:16 boud	just to say that "user moderation - open editing" is already part of WhatWeHave (samizdat)
 ira 10 21:45:19 boud	end
 ira 10 21:46:02 ryan	alright, so the next point
 ira 10 21:46:09 ryan	is to add social networking features to indymedia
 ira 10 21:46:12 ryan	including:
 ira 10 21:46:18 ryan	1) ability for users to maintain a profile about themselves
 ira 10 21:46:34 ryan	2) ability for users to keep track of articles/media they have published and edit it later after logging in
 ira 10 21:46:41 ryan	3) ability to have "friends" or a network with other  users
 ira 10 21:46:58 ryan	4) ability to have their own page, i.e. sf.indymedia.org/users/username which contains profile, list of articles they've published, their friends, etc
 ira 10 21:47:04 ryan	thats it, i think
 ira 10 21:47:06 ryan	comments?
 ira 10 21:47:06 kwadronaut	4) ability for other users/admin to contact author?
 ira 10 21:47:10 kwadronaut	oh that's in 4
 ira 10 21:47:26 *	txopi has no comments
 ira 10 21:47:59 angdraug	aren't 1 and 4 same?
 ira 10 21:48:14 ryan	well #1 refers to the page you edit the profile with
 ira 10 21:48:18 ryan	#4 refers to page others see the profile on
 ira 10 21:48:21 ryan	:)
 ira 10 21:48:59 ryan	ok -- next item
 ira 10 21:49:00 *	alex raises
 ira 10 21:49:03 ryan	go ahead, alex
 ira 10 21:49:14 alex	do we really want to change indy to a myspace for  activists?
 ira 10 21:49:24 txopi	xDD
 ira 10 21:49:25 ryan	i do :)
 ira 10 21:49:26 alex	i think indy should focus on anymous open publishing
 ira 10 21:49:34 *	txopi raises
 ira 10 21:49:37 RobBoston	i think it's a great idea
 ira 10 21:49:37 ryan	ok, anonymous publishing is not going to go away
 ira 10 21:49:45 ryan	but let me take a second here
 ira 10 21:49:45 alex	there are other initiatives, crabgrass tries to be exactly a "myspace for activists"
 ira 10 21:49:51 ryan	to add what was discussed in sao paulo
 ira 10 21:50:00 alex	this raises a whole bunch of security issues here
 ira 10 21:50:15 alex	and besides that, i think this should be discussed  broader than just from techies
 ira 10 21:50:25 pietro	alex: i dont think that is the goal of crabgrass
 ira 10 21:50:29 ryan	wait, wait
 ira 10 21:50:33 ryan	lets keep it ordered
 ira 10 21:50:41 <ryan>	ryan, txopi, pietro
 ira 10 21:50:44 ryan	alex, type 'end' when you are done
 ira 10 21:50:46 *	alex not done
 ira 10 21:51:03 alex	as i said, i really think we should focus on anonymous open publishing
 ira 10 21:51:34 alex	i'm all for eche checking out possibilities to give  users more direct power for their and other articles and even comments
 ira 10 21:51:42 alex	but that's a big discussion, too
 ira 10 21:52:05 alex	i think we can't add the point "profiles, social  networking.." to the "WhatWeWant" list just like that
 ira 10 21:52:23 alex	as a side note: are we still on track of the general meeting timeline or too far off? :)
 ira 10 21:52:26 alex	done
 ira 10 21:52:35 <ryan>	ok -> ryan, txopi, pietro
 ira 10 21:52:47 ryan	so, this was discussed in-depth in sao paulo
 ira 10 21:53:04 ryan	first, i think sf-imc has locally decided to go this  route and is gonna start implementing something ahead of schedule of cms development
 ira 10 21:53:37 *	boud alex: we're doing point 4., we sort of skipped 3.
 ira 10 21:53:38 ryan	second, security is definitely a concern. cops get paid  money to develop social network maps of activists and we would be creating these maps for them
 ira 10 21:53:52 ryan	so, user education would have to be part of this
 ira 10 21:54:05 alex	(users are dumb)
 ira 10 21:54:08 ryan	third, anonymous publishing is not displaced by this  feature set
 ira 10 21:54:29 ryan	fourth, i want to expand a little on why this is wanted
 ira 10 21:54:42 ryan	which is -- open publishing as we implement it now on  IMC was innovative in 1999
 ira 10 21:54:45 ryan	it was innovative in 2000