For over a year now, we've been talking about creating from scratch, a Practical Users Guide for our Heartland trailers. This is a daunting task and has yet to get off the ground.
Recently, there's been some discussion about collecting up all the user supplied solutions to issues that have arisen with one's trailer. Diesel Engineer (DE) has pushed me (in a good way) into creating some sort of online guide to these issues/solutions. I asked DE to create a quick sort of template for a few examples in it. He has done so and I like it.
Thinking about how we can "easily" harvest and consolidate all the issues/solutions out there, I played around with several options last night. How this is managed as a back office function if of little consequence to the forum users but how it is presented and used is certainly of significance to you.
As of this morning, I have a Microsoft Access database up and running here at Heartland Owners Forum Headquarters (my home ). That database includes a primary data table with a few examples provided by DE. I then created a report to display that data. Then I exported that report both as a series of web pages and as an Adobe Acrobat file.
It is important to note that while I have moved the Practical Users Guide forum and initial thread into this new forum, that for now, this new project does not replace the thought of creating and having a Practical Users Guide. I think we just need to see how far this easier project gets us and then we can go from there on potential further development of a Practical Users Guide, if there is still interest, if there are volunteers etc.
DE and I will collaborate over the next week or so, on a design for the user report and a method of data collection. Then we will ask for a couple of volunteers who are capable and self-motivated to go out on the forum in the sections they are assigned to harvest the issues and solutions and populate a template with them and send them into me for incorporation to the database.
I in the mean time will work with DE on editing issue/solutions submitted via templates, on building an index and on creation of the final display product.
We'll update our progress under this forum. If anyone wants to nominate themselves for the harvest team, please send DE a PM.
I'd say qualifications for a harvester are:
- Literate with Excel, Word and Acrobat
- Proficient in using forum search tool
- Has the time required (couple hours a night for a week maybe) to do the work
- Proficient at Copy/Paste functions
- Proficient with working with long and complex URLs in order to establish links in the template to the issues/solutions
Guidance in these areas will be provided for the harvesters but training in the use of the applications (MS-Office etc.) may not.
Thanks,
Jim
Recently, there's been some discussion about collecting up all the user supplied solutions to issues that have arisen with one's trailer. Diesel Engineer (DE) has pushed me (in a good way) into creating some sort of online guide to these issues/solutions. I asked DE to create a quick sort of template for a few examples in it. He has done so and I like it.
Thinking about how we can "easily" harvest and consolidate all the issues/solutions out there, I played around with several options last night. How this is managed as a back office function if of little consequence to the forum users but how it is presented and used is certainly of significance to you.
As of this morning, I have a Microsoft Access database up and running here at Heartland Owners Forum Headquarters (my home ). That database includes a primary data table with a few examples provided by DE. I then created a report to display that data. Then I exported that report both as a series of web pages and as an Adobe Acrobat file.
It is important to note that while I have moved the Practical Users Guide forum and initial thread into this new forum, that for now, this new project does not replace the thought of creating and having a Practical Users Guide. I think we just need to see how far this easier project gets us and then we can go from there on potential further development of a Practical Users Guide, if there is still interest, if there are volunteers etc.
DE and I will collaborate over the next week or so, on a design for the user report and a method of data collection. Then we will ask for a couple of volunteers who are capable and self-motivated to go out on the forum in the sections they are assigned to harvest the issues and solutions and populate a template with them and send them into me for incorporation to the database.
I in the mean time will work with DE on editing issue/solutions submitted via templates, on building an index and on creation of the final display product.
We'll update our progress under this forum. If anyone wants to nominate themselves for the harvest team, please send DE a PM.
I'd say qualifications for a harvester are:
- Literate with Excel, Word and Acrobat
- Proficient in using forum search tool
- Has the time required (couple hours a night for a week maybe) to do the work
- Proficient at Copy/Paste functions
- Proficient with working with long and complex URLs in order to establish links in the template to the issues/solutions
Guidance in these areas will be provided for the harvesters but training in the use of the applications (MS-Office etc.) may not.
Thanks,
Jim