User:Immanetize/Beats Redux

The Problem with Beats

Docs Beats have become confusing to work with. The categories we fit research data into for the Release Notes has been loosely based around RPM groups, but those groups don't tell writers *where* to look for information, or *who* to talk to. The scope of these beats is too large, and even then, it can be difficult to pick the best place for something. We've gotten away from the concept of "claiming" a beat, mostly because contributions have waned. Restructuring the beats to have a more clearly defined scope should make it easier for writers to begin research and prevent redundant efforts.

The structure of the Beats does not need to be reflected in the Release Notes. The proposed beat divisions are based around areas of community, not functionality, to aid in community participation. The beats are a research tool, not a draft document. The final Release Notes is fully focused on functionality, and content should be restructured when committed.

Basic Release Note structure

Each single item in the Release Notes should convey a useful amount of information about the software it represents, such as:

• What is the thing?
• What does it do?
• What's different about it in this release?
• How do I use it?
• Where do I learn more?

For example:

Coffee Pot Control Protocol - It's real!

The popular http server apache in Fedora 25 has gained the ability to communicate with RFC2324 compliant devices. Combined with a new driver abstraction layer called libperkybeans, web developers can now use Fedora to build applications that will manage and administer one of their organizations most important resources.

[ example code here ]

For more information on implementing this technology, refer to:

• http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2324.txt
• example.org/libperkybeans/api-docs
• fedora_cookbook/brew_coffee.html

Proposed New Beats

Easy Beats

System Wide Changes

Covers topics addressed in http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/21/ChangeSet#Fedora_21_Accepted_System_Wide_Changes_Proposals .

Self Contained Changes

Covers topics addressed in http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/21/ChangeSet#Fedora_21_Accepted_Self_Contained_Changes_Proposals

Change Beats SOP

• Each Change proposal has a tracking bug. Writers who wish to cover a specific Change should identify themselves as the "Docs Contact" in that tracking bug.

• Each Change proposal is announced and discussed on the devel@ mailing list. Writers should read the threads related to their Change, ideally participating in that discussion, and ensure that concerns about documentation and usage of the change are adequately represented in the Release notes.

• Writers should communicate with the developers involved to draft copy, and check in with them at milestones to ensure the copy is relevant, accurate, and adequate.

• Ideally, the workload for covering *all* Changes would be distributed among a large number of writers. Someone should also volunteer to wrangle for each class of Change, assisting in coordinating other writers and picking up the slack as needed.

• Assignments should begin as soon as Change proposals are presented for discussion.

Critical Path Beats

A defined set of packages that can be listed via yum groups info @groupname.

The package sets can be covered by a single writer, or coordinated between a few, but the changes in each of these important packages should be documented.

Special Interest Group Beats

Sub-communities of the Fedora Project based around special interests have developed into SIGs. Members of SIGs collaborate their packaging efforts and often have dedicated mailing lists.

While not all SIGs appear active on their mailing lists, their members may still be active. Working a SIG beat may include researching past SIG efforts, defining a set of packages, reaching out to maintainers in the SIG, and checking pkgdb to see what those maintainers have been up to recently.

To keep this kind of persistent, secondary research separate from release-specific content, use the beat's Talk: page for notes.

https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Category:SIGs has a list of groups that should be reviewed for writer assignment. A SIG Beats wrangler could reach out to these groups to see if a member might volunteer to cover the beat, or coordinate efforts between existing writers.

It is *very likely* that SIGs will be sponsoring Changes. If you're covering the beat for a SIG, please also cover their changes. If you're covering a Change, be sure to check in with the sponsoring SIG to see what else they're working on.

Some areas of particular interest may include:

Amateur Radio

The HAMs in this SIG like to play with radios. There are a lot of amateur radio packages in Fedora. These packages might have new and exciting features, add or remove support for various devices, or offer notable usability changes. There might be new packages, or old packages that have been retired.

Find this SIG via https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/SIGs/AmateurRadio

Astronomy

Fedora has tools for astronomy enthusiasts ranging from simple start charts to advanced 3D modelling and telescope control systems. The members of this SIG are watching the sky, and using Fedora to do it. Amateur astronomers will find Fedora an attractive alternative to expensive proprietary software they just don't need to look up from their backyard, but there's something to offer even serious enthusiasts and professionals. Changes here might be feature adds, more or less supported telescopes, new or retired packages.

Start at https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Category:Astronomy_SIG .

Audio Creation

Audio production is a highly specialized use case. While Fedora easily accommodates simple editing, advanced users require complex applications, hardware support for various peripherals, extremely low latency systems, and targeted audio backends like jack. The Audio Creation beat isn't just about packages; this use case is affected by changes in the kernel and audio subsystems and how they affect non-default systems that are specifically configured for audio production.

This is another area where proprietary solutions will be prohibitively expensive for amateur users. Fedora might be used for recording small local bands, for example.

Find the Audio Creation SIG at https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Audio_Creation

Big Data

Massive datasets, gargantuan clusters, and mind-bending queries are business as usual for Fedora's Big Data SIG. Their efforts put Fedora at the cutting edge of statistical analysis. The packages in this area are often featured as Changes, with functionality that's highly desirable for large businesses. Developments in this area can be large and involve interaction between many existing and new packages.

Get talking to the Big Data SIG at https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/SIGs/bigdata

Education

Software can be very expensive for a large quantity of machines, as can keeping those machines updated to keep up with changing system requirements. Many schools have adopted linux systems for the lower cost, improved security, and specialized software they can provide. Large projects like Sugar Desktop or LTSP are especially targeted at an educational environments, besides general purpose things like office suites. With schools increasingly suffering from limited budgets, Fedora can be an attractive option.

The educational solutions in Fedora aren't just Free, they're *good*. Help the next generation learn on open source systems by covering the Education beat and talking to the SIG via https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/SIGs/Education .

Fonts

The Fonts SIG maintains the font collection in Fedora, as well as packaging standards for fonts and licensing guidance. Fonts are *artwork*, not just code, and Fedora users take advantage of the wide variety of quality fonts for desktop publishing, design work, websites, and more.

Catch up with the Fonts SIG at https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Category:Fonts_SIG

Games

Who doesn't enjoy a little recreational computing now and then? The Games SIG looks for free and open source games for Fedora, puts a tremendous abount of work into packaging them, and even produces a Games Spin, a version of Fedora preloaded with many games. Gaming on linux is becoming increasingly popular, and these folks work to make sure that free software has a place in that world.

Meet the Games SIG at https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/SIGs/Games

Machine Learning

Artificial intelligence combines with open source effors in the Machine Learning SIG. This group hasn't said much about themselves at https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/SIGs/ML , but they're undoubteldy doing interesting work. Check in with them, and see if better coverage in the beats can generate interest in their efforts.

Medical

The Medical SIG works towards a complete suite of software applications for the healthcare industry. There's already workflow management, dental tools, imaging tools, patient records management, and more. The healthcare industry isn't just huge hospitals; there are independent practitioners, family doctors and dentists, home care nurses, etc that could benefit from offerings that Fedora has *today*.

Let these potential Fedora users know what we have to offer by covering the Medical beat and talking to the Medical SIG at https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/SIGs/FedoraMedical

Printing

Printing is a *very* common task for Fedora users. The Printing SIG works to improve printer support. Writers taking this beat will cover changes in packages and features listed on https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Printing

3D printing is addressed in a separate beat.