What are we doing wrong?

[Carl Symons]

> Date: Sun, 17 Jan 2010 10:48:27 +0000
> From: Phil Bull <philbull at gmail.com>
> Subject: What are we doing wrong?
> To: Ubuntu Doc <ubuntu-doc at lists.ubuntu.com>
>
> Hi guys,
>
> I've been reading the comments in news articles [1][2] about the Ubuntu
> Manual. No-one knows that the system docs exist. Seriously, read them.
> They think that the wiki is the closest thing we have to official docs.
>
> What are we doing wrong? My hunches are:
>
>      * People don't think to look in the System menu, or they don't
>        think that clicking the "Help and Support" button will actually
>        be helpful.
>      * People just use Google anyway, because it's faster and they're
>        more familiar with it.
>      * We aren't promoting ourselves enough.
>
> What do people think?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Phil
>
> [1] -
> http://digg.com/linux_unix/Ubuntu_Manual_Will_Be_Available_with_Ubuntu_10_04
> [2] -
> http://news.softpedia.com/news/Ubuntu-Manual-Will-Be-Available-with-Ubuntu-10-04-131201.shtml
>
> --
> Phil Bull
> https://launchpad.net/people/philbull
>
>
> Date: Sun, 17 Jan 2010 23:53:13 +1300
> From: Benjamin Humphrey <humphreybc at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: What are we doing wrong?
> To: Phil Bull <philbull at gmail.com>
> Cc: Ubuntu Doc <ubuntu-doc at lists.ubuntu.com>
>
> Hi Phil,
>
> This is what I have been thinking recently as well. The system docs are
> good, but for some reason they just aren't used enough - they don't seem to
> work. I can't work out why.
>
> I know from my personal experience, that the first thing I do when I install
> Ubuntu (and not only now that I'm a seasoned user but also when I first
> installed it) was remove the two default panel launchers for help and
> Firefox. In *my *opinion, they look *bad. *But, there doesn't seem to be any
> other way to attract the eye of the new user as long as we aren't allowed to
> put icons on the desktop by default.
>
> It's an interesting topic and I would love to see some statistics on how
> often people actually use yelp. I mean it's not like it's not obvious -
> there is the slide in the ubiquity installer slideshow about help and
> support, there's the icon on the* *panel *and *a menu entry under "System."
>
> I too would like to hear some other views on this.
>

My experience and behaviors about the system docs are similar. I've
been editing the new Kubuntu docs and am surprised at how much I've
learned.

A key to the system documentation may be that it is included with the
software, and is therefore "official" (i.e., directly sanctioned by
Ubuntu). For that reason, it is distinct from other methods of getting
answers. Google and the ()Ubuntu forums are messy...mostly right, but
occasionally the source of bad information.

The wiki is also "official". However, for someone new to FOSS,
probably coming from Windows, the idea of official, authoritative
online help is foreign. There's no Microsoft or Windows wiki that
comes close to the Ubuntu wiki.

Possibilities
1. The official system documentation and wiki could reference each
other, such as forums recommend starting with FAQs.

2. The community forums would probably support a similar
recommendation as #1. Beginners often arrive at a forum with questions
that have been asked and answered many times. But for a beginner, this
information is not very accessible. The forum environment is not
always helpful to absolute beginners. It would be beneficial to both
new users and the forum to point at the official information.

Kubuntuforums.net has the following in the forum header to head off
these beginner questions:
"IMPORTANT:  If you are new to KubuntuForums, please take the time to
read the following two articles:
    Please Read Before Posting
    SEARCH BEFORE POSTING"

Another entry could easily be a suggestion to read the official
documentation, along with instructions about how to find it. The forum
council and moderators should be open to the suggestion of including
references to the official documentation where it's appropriate. They
may need to become aware of what the official documentation offers.

3. Embrace the issue. If you can't fix it, feature it. One of the
things that sets open source apart from the proprietary software
ecosystem is the wealth of shared information. The system
documentation, wikis, forums are all ways to give users the
information they want.

This multi-modal information resource is one of the primary reasons I
use Kubuntu. In my experience, the Ubuntu community is by far the most
extensive and helpful. Whether the marketing materials say this or
not, it is a major "selling point". The system documentation is a key
part of that, even though there is no direct way of knowing the
click-through to the local help system. No way of knowing how many
people use it.

Carl