User:AndrewArmstrong

I'm a member of Nottinghack!

Huzzah!

I have worked on:

• Various costumes
• Craft projects
• Some woodworking
• Laser stuff

Working on:

• More costume work
• Laser cutter docs.

I do things like this at the space:

• Play games
• Programming
• Model painting (rarely :) )

Laser Cutter notes

• London one: https://wiki.london.hackspace.org.uk/view/Laser_Cutter/Instructions
  • suggestion to do images with lines instead of engraves: http://wiki.evilmadscientist.com/StippleGen
  • DPI versus Scan Gap: http://diylaser.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/laser-engraving-and-dpi-scan-gap.html
  • Materials: http://www.atxhackerspace.org/wiki/Laser_Cutter_Materials
    • Safety notes!
• Tons of docs to do
• Fix the Demo version of LaserCut

Wiki to do

Some annoying things

• Fix the editor so undo works (doesn't in plain or rich text modes!)
• Add a bot to alter the Agenda page to point to the newest agenda each month

Layout

Currently: all categories!

• Content on some categories makes it hard to navigate
• Things are buried under up to 3 or 4 levels deep, and only ever in one place; try finding the latest agendas (try and guess what sidebar category they are under!)
• Some are messy, under or overused, or outdated or even simply missing.

Proposal: Keep categories, add centralised pages for easier navigation of the core point of the wiki

• Pages maybe as below.
• Idea: Maps of larger areas or even the entire space to aid navigation?
• Idea: Sidebar more heavily focused on useful links (added "Useful Pages" purely as a stop gap)

Remember that pages can automatically list a categories contents or even subpages of it.

Additional: Missing content

• Rooms to centralise information: Workshop, Spray Booth, Electronics Area, Blue Room, Members Storage, Studio, Kitchen, Toilets, Craft Storage, Relaxation-o-matic space (info on lighting, cleaning, contents etc.)
• "Where is X roughly" lists
• Activity pages, to gather similar tools/processes/consumable information or at least basics/best practices on them so members know they can do it here: Woodworking, Metalworking, Art, Craft, Sewing, Electronics, Screen Printing, Laser Cutting (already mostly here), Spray Painting (or painting in general), Artemis
• Pages on how to use the space: Locking Up (too sensitive? posters only?), Space Lighting, Space Power, Space Cleaning, Space Access (back entrance, elevator etc.), Space Recycling, Space Bins, Space LAN points, Space Printers, etc.
• Things about the future of the hackspace: Pledge Drives, Layout Designs, Wish Lists (including voting? might be possible through templates), etc.

Will need:

• A fair few templates to make this easier (automatic categories, automatic information)
• A better layout plan; a hierarchy of types similar to the myriad of categories.
• Removal or revamp of some unnecessary pages (failed pledges, things we no longer have, random pages with no content).

Subpages?

Wish: To use subpages, which I have used successfully on other wikis to organise content and aid navigation

• This might be enabled, will test, it basically means that not everything would need a unique top level name; for instance you could have:
  • "Members Meetings/Agenda/2013-04-03" as a page. Navigation to "Agenda" woudl provide information on how they work and a listing of the latest ones, while "Member's Meetings" would detail how they work and link to subpages like "Members Meetings/Action Items".
• Would not be perfect but might help (and is mostly automatic!)
• Will need a lot of planning. Also:
  • Does anyone else really care? (ie; does this mean I do it if I think it's cool? what is activity like on the wiki?)
  • Would this help or hinder wiki usage anyway?
  • Is it really necessary?

Nottinghack partially has this kind of organisation anyway; although it is a bit messy.

Likely: Sort cateogries and pages first and see if that improves it enough.