During the talk on Saturday, Jack showed off an article that included a sample resume in several formats. I think this is a great idea. It’s one thing to read an article about how to write a type of letter/resume/what-have-you, but it often makes more sense if one can read and even crib off of a sample to get started, even if the information in it is made up. Blank pages are daunting, and I’ve been wanting for some time to be able to include samples. I understand that the feature is still in test, but that makes it a great time to talk about it. Here’s what I think about samples. 1. Samples need to be able to be added and edited by the community. It’s not just because we might someday find a typo in one, or want to update something to reflect new information or improvements. It’s because it’s the wiki way and the right thing to do. With or without staff help, this is a community website, and should remain so. 2. Samples should have some consistent way to say that they are samples and to show, if appropriate, which information will need to be substituted. I am sorry to say that not everyone seems to be able to figure out that a sample is just that, and that they need to fill in their own information before sending it along. I say this because I once interviewed a candidate for a job, and got back what must have been a thank-you note explaining that the candidate felt that their skills in cartography could help us better manage our fleet. The job had to do with managing a database, not a fleet, and that note cost the candidate the job. 3. We should be able to post multiple samples per article. There are entire books of sample resumes and letters, because there are so many different situations and ways to format, and so on. The times I’ve had to write something difficult, it has been very helpful to be able to choose from among samples to find something that is right for me. 4. (I think this was Elocina’s comment Saturday) We should consider using the ability to attach a document for things other than strict samples, such as downloadable/printable patterns for crochet and knitting. (For folks that don’t know it, crochet and knitting both have shorthands that looks like “dc in 1st st from hook. Sl st 24” etc. It would make for a lousy article but can be much easier to read for those conversent in the abbreviations.) I would take this a step further. It would be great if there were some way to upload a PDF that shows the shape of a piece of material I need to cut out in order to make a project work. That said, I will certainly understand if such non-text things come later. 5. Let’s think twice about translating samples directly to (or from) other languages. An appropriate business letter in Spanish would come across as absurdly formal and overblown if you just translated the words to English. This is a good reason to have multiple samples per article in English, too. In some places, it’s expected that you’ll put your birth date on a resume. In the U.S., it should definitely not be there. I’m looking forward to seeing this feature take shape. What does everyone else think of it so far?
I agree! Since this is a wiki, our articles are collaborative and can be edited by anyone, why can’t samples be edited by anyone? If someone has an idea for improving a sample, they can just click on an Edit button and add it! Also, I love the idea for downloading things like crochet and knitting!
In terms of point 4, I thought I had mentioned sewing patterns, but I don’t remember. The right terminology may be “template” however, instead of “sample”. I think this would be useful for other craft articles and even carpentry type articles, where you need to know how big the pieces should be.
I like the idea of “template.” There are many things that need plans, patterns and templates of various sorts, and it’s one of the things we don’t do too well yet. The downside is that, depending on what file types we allow, we may have difficulty editing or patrolling them. I could envision an article that suggested downloading a 3D model and printing it out, but I’m not sure who among us would have the ability to patrol or edit that sort of file.
This reminds me of a similar issue with videos. People could post new videos or different videos, but not edit the current ones. I don’t know if allowing people to just post templates without giving other people a way to edit them, however, would be the answer. It would be much easier to edit a document that had a knitting pattern (which is usually all text) or common crochet abbreviations than a PDF of a 3D model, and I agree that there should be a way to edit these samples.
Great post. This sparked a discussion within the wikiHaus about how we could make samples better. Here are some things we are working on as a result of this: 1. We added to the engineering backlog building a way for community to upload samples. I totally agree that in many cases more samples, the better. It makes it possible for the reader to chose the sample that is most appropriate to their unique situation. Given the length of the engineering backlog, I have no idea when this will be complete, but it is on the list2. Once we build #1
we could conceivably use this as a way for samples to be edited since people could download the old sample, improve it and upload the new one to replace it. This upload / download process is probably the best we can do to edit samples. These aren’t stored in wikitext and don’t lend themselves to actual wiki editing. They are things like spreadsheets, word docs, PDFs of forms, PDFs of sewing patterns, etc. These file formats are not supported by mediawiki for easy, diff based editing. I can’t promise this part will work. But after we build #1
, we can see if this is feasible. Regarding translation outside of English, I don’t think this is currently being planned, so we don’t have to worry about that problem for now.
Hibou8
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Also, in regards to the crochet/knitting. At least for crochet, some people use patterns that use symbols (they look like a bunch of crosses and circles arranged in the shape of the finished item). It bears no resemblance to English, Japanese, or any other language, but I have no idea if they are the same in other countries. There should be some way to put these on too. They are very helpful, even if you don’t use them as your main guide. (sorry for the late post)
(For those who want to see this symbolic language, there’s an excellent piece here, which we really should have in some form: http://www.mypicot.com/beta/follow_crochet_diagram.html
) Hibou8, My guess is that the first stuff to be supported as editable samples will be text, or formatted text. It’ll be useful for articles about letters, reports, and resumes, but not so good for articles about graphic design, crochet, or woodworking. There are lots of types of articles that could do with supplementary materials, and not all of it is the sort of thing that is easy to edit, or to make editable. I’m not sure where one would find a crochet pattern editor. Searching Google results in people and instructions in becoming one of those people, but it does not result in software, much less free software. Even simple patterns like what shape to cut out of a piece of fabric or wood might be challenging to get to a point where it is easy for people to create them.
