A discussion about the use of the Wiki (Tardis) as the public face of the Rolls Database

Premises

  1. The Rolls database should be the prime repository for all information.
  2. Access to the Rolls database should be limited, but contact information needs to be more widely available.
  3. Wiki pages extracted from the Rolls database are the most appropriate way of providing this for those with electronic access.
  4. Paper contact lists will continue to be needed, and should also be sourced from the Rolls database as directly as possible.

Suggestions

  1. Paper contact lists can be printed simply from the group lists in the database by the office. This runs into problems when the list of members is so long that it becomes a scroll box. Copying and pasting the scroll box contents into Word overcomes this.

  2. In order to minimise duplication of information, group lists on the Wiki should always be simply lists of wiki names, with all contact details in the associated home page. In practice, this means that group definition pages are the only lists of people. So for example, CouncilMembership should be replaced by Council/CouncilGroup.

  3. Home pages should be automatically exported from the Rolls database for all persons in roster or other groups. The export of all group members from the database is now possible, and both David and John have mechanisms for generating home pages from this export file.

Questions

  1. Are we happy to adopt the above suggestions?
  2. Is it possible to change the scroll box behaviour in lists of group members to eliminate the extra step above?
  3. What is the appropriate level of access for home pages? Note that wiki-savvy people can change this themselves. "All" may be too broad. "Known" limits it to logged in people. It could be further limited to members who share a group, but that may be considered too limited. Do we need to ask people individually?
  4. What should be included on a home page? Phone, email, and group memberships are there. Old paper lists often included spouse, for making phone calls. Is this possible? Is it desirable?