calendaring and scheduling with MediaWiki

Hello,

While searching for a "killer app" for convincing
my colleagues of the 
advantages of a wiki (see the thread on corporate wiki
success factors), 
I realized that calendaring and scheduling might be a very
good thing to 
start with.
This way everyone could, for example, enter their periods of
absence 
(e.g. vacations, out-of-office meetings etc.) in the wiki
without the 
hassle we currently have with these issues (we're mostly
using an Excel 
sheet for that at the moment).

However, I wonder how best to present the respective data.
Using the EasyTimeline extension probably wouldn't be a good
thing for 
starters, as its use is a little more complicated than the
basic wiki 
syntax.
A huge table might do the job, but its "source
code" (i.e. wiki syntax) 
would probably look like a huge mess to most of my
colleagues.
So that leaves me with an ordinary sequential list - maybe
with years 
and months as (sub-)headings? The whole thing might look
something like 
this:
http
://scratchpad.wikia.com/wiki/Simple_Timeline

Hmm, come to think of it, a shared Excel table might
actually be better 
then - also because it'd be easier to highlight weekends and
holidays 
there!?
What do you think of my assessment of this situation - any
ideas?

Thanks a lot in advance!


-- Frederik
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Hi Frederik Dohr,

In this case, I think that the best bet would be to get
Google Apps
for your domain (or use their server with a Google domain)
and have
either a shared calendar or a shared excel sheet.  A wiki is
not
designed for something as simple as this.

If you want to do it in a Wiki, however, you could make a
large table
but include each section with a template.  Then tell your
users that
when they want to add in their vacation time or what not,
they just
follow the link to the proper template and never see the
table code.

I hope that this helps,
Kasimir Gabert

On 12/2/06, Frederik Dohr <fdg001gmx.net> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> While searching for a "killer app" for
convincing my colleagues of the
> advantages of a wiki (see the thread on corporate wiki
success factors),
> I realized that calendaring and scheduling might be a
very good thing to
> start with.
> This way everyone could, for example, enter their
periods of absence
> (e.g. vacations, out-of-office meetings etc.) in the
wiki without the
> hassle we currently have with these issues (we're
mostly using an Excel
> sheet for that at the moment).
>
> However, I wonder how best to present the respective
data.
> Using the EasyTimeline extension probably wouldn't be a
good thing for
> starters, as its use is a little more complicated than
the basic wiki
> syntax.
> A huge table might do the job, but its "source
code" (i.e. wiki syntax)
> would probably look like a huge mess to most of my
colleagues.
> So that leaves me with an ordinary sequential list -
maybe with years
> and months as (sub-)headings? The whole thing might
look something like
> this:
> http
://scratchpad.wikia.com/wiki/Simple_Timeline
>
> Hmm, come to think of it, a shared Excel table might
actually be better
> then - also because it'd be easier to highlight
weekends and holidays
> there!?
> What do you think of my assessment of this situation -
any ideas?
>
> Thanks a lot in advance!
>
>
> -- Frederik
> _______________________________________________
> MediaWiki-l mailing list
> MediaWiki-lWikimedia.org
> http://mail.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l
>


-- 
Kasimir Gabert
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While I'd love to see that, the Google Apps idea ain't gonna
fly; I've 
had enough trouble convincing them of the wiki thing...

Also, the main reason I chose this calendaring/scheduling
issue was to 
find a convincing initiatory use of the wiki, to make
co-workers 
familiar with using it.
So introducing yet another collaboration tool would only
undermine my 
goals at this point...

I really like the idea of using separate templates -
unfortunately, I 
barely know how to implement that.
Like, how big should such a "section" (or the
table itself, for that 
matter) be then - a single table row? That would probably be
too complex 
already.
Plus creating such a huge number of templates - with one per
day, then 
we'd  365 per year, on a single page! - probably wouldn't be
advisable 
for many reasons (e.g. performance)...

Sorry for not being very helpful myself here.


-- Frederik


----- Original Message -----
From: Kasimir Gabert
Date: 2006-12-02 17:22
> Hi Frederik Dohr,
>
> In this case, I think that the best bet would be to get
Google Apps
> for your domain (or use their server with a Google
domain) and have
> either a shared calendar or a shared excel sheet.  A
wiki is not
> designed for something as simple as this.
>
> If you want to do it in a Wiki, however, you could make
a large table
> but include each section with a template.  Then tell
your users that
> when they want to add in their vacation time or what
not, they just
> follow the link to the proper template and never see
the table code.
>
> I hope that this helps,
> Kasimir Gabert
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MediaWiki-l mailing list
MediaWiki-lWikimedia.org
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On 12/2/06, Frederik Dohr  wrote:
> While I'd love to see that, the Google Apps idea ain't
gonna fly; I've
> had enough trouble convincing them of the wiki thing...
>
> Also, the main reason I chose this
calendaring/scheduling issue was to
> find a convincing initiatory use of the wiki, to make
co-workers
> familiar with using it.
> So introducing yet another collaboration tool would
only undermine my
> goals at this point...
>

You might try semantic mediawiki extension
(http://ontoworld.
org/wiki/Main_Page). It's not super simple, and I
also agree with Kasimir, google apps for your domain would
be the
easiest if you want a calendar. I played around with
semantic
mediawiki for this purpose though, it works, but it's
certainly not
simple for people who don't like computers.
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Thanks; I wanted to take a look at the Semantic Wiki
extension anyway, 
so I might as well do it for this purpose then.

But it looks like I'll have to find another killer app for
our wiki...


-- Frederik


----- Original Message -----
From: cohesion
Date: 2006-12-02 22:37
> You might try semantic mediawiki extension
> (http://ontoworld.
org/wiki/Main_Page). It's not super simple, and I
> also agree with Kasimir, google apps for your domain
would be the
> easiest if you want a calendar. I played around with
semantic
> mediawiki for this purpose though, it works, but it's
certainly not
> simple for people who don't like computers.
>   
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Is my understanding of your situation correct?
-> You have a corporate environment, yet no shared
calendar such like 
Lotus Notes. You have convinced your colleagues to use a
Wiki, but 
(still looking for an "initiatory use") you don´t
know what to use it 
for and therefore you want to create a calendar application
for the Wiki 
which is not existing nor the real purpose of the Wiki?

No offense intended, but I guess I´d use Powerpoint before
trying to 
have MusicMaker to create presentations.... <vbg>

Have a good weekend, regards
Chris


cohesion schrieb:
>
>> Also, the main reason I chose this
calendaring/scheduling issue was to
>> find a convincing initiatory use of the wiki, to
make co-workers
>> familiar with using it.
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> Is my understanding of your situation correct?
> -> You have a corporate environment, yet no shared
calendar such like
> Lotus Notes. You have convinced your colleagues to use
a Wiki, but
> (still looking for an "initiatory use") you
don´t know what to use it
> for and therefore you want to create a calendar
application for the Wiki
> which is not existing nor the real purpose of the Wiki?
Well, yes and no. I realized there is great potential for a
wiki 
improving the workflow in our project team.
However, this would require my colleagues to realize the
potential 
benefits of employing a wiki. Plus, as we all probably know,
getting 
people to change their habits is quite a challenge.
Thus I'm trying to lure them to the wiki by providing them
with a topic 
that they are all interested in, and which also happens to
show the 
superiority of the wiki concept for certain tasks.
So in a nutshell, I'm hoping that exposure will lead to
enlightenment...
> No offense intended, but I guess I´d use Powerpoint
before trying to 
> have MusicMaker to create presentations.... <vbg>
>   
No offense taken. Constructive criticism is always welcome!


-- Frederik

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On Saturday 02 December 2006 22:37, cohesion wrote:
> On 12/2/06, Frederik Dohr  wrote:
> > While I'd love to see that, the Google Apps idea
ain't gonna fly; I've
> > had enough trouble convincing them of the wiki
thing...
> >
> > Also, the main reason I chose this
calendaring/scheduling issue was to
> > find a convincing initiatory use of the wiki, to
make co-workers
> > familiar with using it.
> > So introducing yet another collaboration tool
would only undermine my
> > goals at this point...
>
> You might try semantic mediawiki extension
> (http://ontoworld.
org/wiki/Main_Page). It's not super simple, and I
> also agree with Kasimir, google apps for your domain
would be the
> easiest if you want a calendar. I played around with
semantic 
> mediawiki for this purpose though, it works, but it's
certainly not
> simple for people who don't like computers.

Which I fear is a problem for MediaWiki in general ...
Anyway, suggestions to 
further simplify Semantic MediaWiki are always welcome. Or
maybe we need to 
improve the documentation?

-- Markus

-- 
Markus Krötzsch
Institute AIFB, University of Karlsruhe, D-76128 Karlsruhe
makaifb.uni-karlsruhe.de        phone +49 (0)721 608
7362
www.aifb.uni-karlsruhe.de/WBS/     fax +49 (0)721 693  717
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On 12/4/06, Markus Krötzsch  wrote:
> > You might try semantic mediawiki extension
> > (http://ontoworld.
org/wiki/Main_Page). It's not super simple, and I
> > also agree with Kasimir, google apps for your
domain would be the
> > easiest if you want a calendar. I played around
with semantic
> > mediawiki for this purpose though, it works, but
it's certainly not
> > simple for people who don't like computers.
>
> Which I fear is a problem for MediaWiki in general ...
Anyway, suggestions to
> further simplify Semantic MediaWiki are always welcome.
Or maybe we need to
> improve the documentation?
>
> -- Markus

No, I think it does a good job doing what its main design
is, saying
something like this article subject was "born in"
some date etc. But
using it instead of a Lotus Notes/Outlook/Google calendars
would be
rough for non-tech people. I don't really think it should
try harder
to be those apps though, its not. It is actually flexible
enough to
use in that way though, if you need to, but I wouldn't want
it to be
the use-case that I was hoping would switch people to liking
wikis.


If you're hoping to convert people, use mediawiki for
procedures and
documentation, that's way easier than calendaring 

Judson
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I actually use my private wiki for calendering purposes.

But indeed, this is not ready for the non-tech savvy people.
I used
Christof Damian's calendar extension for displaying.
I now have settled on a predefined 'article' format for the
individual days.
Then I wrote a Perl script (I am more comfortable with Perl
than with
PHP) that will check each day's article and notify me when
an
'appointment' is due.

It is merely a matter of convenience to keep it in the wiki
in the
first place. I have (as yet) no synchronisation of calendars
what so
ever, although the latest versions of Christof's extension
could just
help me out there (it seems it can produce iCal/vcal files).

On 12/4/06, cohesion <cohesionsleepyhead.org> wrote:
> On 12/4/06, Markus Krötzsch  wrote:
> > > You might try semantic mediawiki extension
> > > (http://ontoworld.
org/wiki/Main_Page). It's not super simple, and I
> > > also agree with Kasimir, google apps for your
domain would be the
> > > easiest if you want a calendar. I played
around with semantic
> > > mediawiki for this purpose though, it works,
but it's certainly not
> > > simple for people who don't like computers.
> >
> > Which I fear is a problem for MediaWiki in general
... Anyway, suggestions to
> > further simplify Semantic MediaWiki are always
welcome. Or maybe we need to
> > improve the documentation?
> >
> > -- Markus
>
> No, I think it does a good job doing what its main
design is, saying
> something like this article subject was "born
in" some date etc. But
> using it instead of a Lotus Notes/Outlook/Google
calendars would be
> rough for non-tech people. I don't really think it
should try harder
> to be those apps though, its not. It is actually
flexible enough to
> use in that way though, if you need to, but I wouldn't
want it to be
> the use-case that I was hoping would switch people to
liking wikis.
> 
>
> If you're hoping to convert people, use mediawiki for
procedures and
> documentation, that's way easier than calendaring 
>
> Judson
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> MediaWiki-l mailing list
> MediaWiki-lWikimedia.org
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>


-- 
----
Met vriendelijke groeten / With kind regards
Hans Voss
---------------------------------------
* Senior Consultant Open Source, Networking and Security
* google talk enabled
* General Open Sourcerer.
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