discuss: Updated: Medical-HOWTO
Subject:
Re: [discuss] Updated: Medical-HOWTO
From:
Borden Rhodes ####@####.####
Date:
4 Feb 2011 22:07:40 +0000
Message-Id: <AANLkTikZqt=-n4hgq--TrpeO1m2ke3dQ+h21gt87VMbe@mail.gmail.com>
Good afternoon all,
Thanks to Sascha and company for the work in assembling the new
Medical HOWTO. A few things which I think are relevant:
1. The document needs a license so we know whether the rest of us can
tinker with it (fix spelling errors, redistribute it)
2. The howto links to two documents off the LDP's domain. Since we
have the capacity to manage documents in numerous formats and
languages, would Sascha consider managing the master copy at the LDP?
3. The document appears to be a directory of projects and links to
other information. I can appreciate that available software
constantly changes but I'm wondering whether it would be possible to
integrate some of the information from the external links
(particularly the link to Wikipedia) and integrate into the body of
the howto. The concern I have with linking a Wikipedia page is that
any idiot can post his alpha project. I very strongly suggest
limiting the howto's scope to packages which are reliable and actively
maintained.
4. I think the document needs to clarify the skill level which the
howto assumes. An "Assumptions" or "Intended Audience" section at the
top will help tremendously. I can easily see the HOWTO turning off
someone when they see that they need to set up Apache, MySQL,
configure modules and hand-edit config files to use a package. If the
audience is your standard GP who decided to dabble in open source at
her own peril, then you definitely need to provide a lot more hand
holding. If your doctors are anything like mine, you're too generous
assuming that they'd even know where to find a terminal, let alone use
it!
5. I would discourage the article from linking to wiki.tldp.org since
that's where new articles and articles undergoing repair go when they
are half-finished.
Those are my thoughts as a layman looking to the article for an
introduction to how to use open source software if I were a doctor
(which, thank God, I'll never be). I did find the article interesting
in exposing what software is available, but I think it just needs to
be focused a little more. I finish by saying that this is only my
opinion on the matter and I may be off on a few things.
With regards,
Borden
