How you can contribute

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Why contribute?

The success of any open-source project lies with the community contributing its collective energy, knowledge, enthusiasm, and effort. The KnowledgeBase is a resource developed and monitored by the user communities to benefit potential, new and existing DSpace or Fedora users.

Who can contribute?

You do not need to be a developer or even an expert to contribute. If you have experience using DSpace or Fedora, know a lot about a particular feature/functionality and/or if you know how to communicate information effectively, we welcome your contribution. We are always looking for content contributors (people to willing to write/present/edit content) as well as content moderators (people who review and provide feedback to content contributors).

What is the goal of the KnowledgeBase? 

The main goal of the KnowledgeBase is to improve the entry level experience for DSpace or Fedora users. The intention is to show what the technologies can do and how how to set up a repository and get it running. The KnowledgeBase is NOT intended to be a duplication or replacement for the official software documentation for either DSpace or Fedora. Rather, it is intended to be a supplemental on-line resource, including dynamic content delivered through various methods (text, screencasts, presentation slides, webinar recordings, etc.) which describe specific examples to make the material as accessible as possible.

Delivery Tools

The KnowledgeBase is designed to communicate information using a variety of methodologies. Since not all people take in information in the same way, the intention is to offer a text based guide, short recorded screencasts, presentation slides as well as webinar recordings.  All of these delivery tools will be found in the KnowledgeBase wiki, integrated into the Table of Contents framework. 

Text content and images

Text content and relevant images (screen shots, diagrams, etc.) are the foundation of the KnowledgeBase wiki. The KnoweldgeBase uses the Confluence "Documentation Theme" and has been customized to provide a unique look and feel. The information is organized based on a draft Table of Contents proposed by DuraSpace in consultation with community members. Community members should feel free to change/add topic items as they see necessary. Detailed guidelines/recommendations for creating text based content, including a template, can be found here.

Screencasts

Screencasts are available to provide users with a quick visual 'how to' reference. Screencast videos appear as embedded links through out the KnowledgeBase and are generally stored on Youtube.com. Detailed guidelines/recommendations for creating screencasts can be found here.

Slides

There are many useful conference presentations which take a deep dive on topics. While the usefulness of some presentations can be time sensitive, many have long term value to the community. Slides files appear as embedded links throughout the KnowledgeBase and are generally stored on Slideshare. Detailed guidelines/recommendations for posting slides can be found here.

Webinars

-->copies should be permanently archived/stored in a repository

-contributor post video to youtube, tagged as DuraSpace and DSpace/Fedora

Create content template for dummies

contributor attribution

Confluence Tools

Embedding Video/Slides using Confluence's Widget Connector
(http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/DOC/Widget+Connector+Examples)
Examples of embedding Vimeo, Flickr, YouTube, SlideShare, etc. into Confluence.

Screencast.com Widget Connector Extension
(https://plugins.atlassian.com/plugin/details/33430)
Jing, Camtasia, Screencast.com videos can now be embedded in Confluence using the Widget Connector.

ScreenSnipe for Confluence
(https://plugins.atlassian.com/plugin/details/28446)
Create easy and powerful screenshots at hand - directly from your Confluence (with no client-side installation). Creating beautiful and informative release notes, technical documentation or clear, visual comments was never simpler.

TaskDock for Confluence
(https://plugins.atlassian.com/plugin/details/13744)
Communication and workflow for your content. Project tracking, tasks, and messaging for your wiki. Includes JIRA integration.

How to Create a Screencast for KnowledgeBase

Introduction

A screencast is a video of someone showing how to do something on a computer.  The screencast software captures what is happening on the computer screen along with an audio recording of the speaker explaining what he or she is doing.  Many people enjoy learning online procedures from screencasts, and the KnowledgeBase makes frequent use of the screencast format for teaching people how to use or deploy our software.

You can create your own screencast and contribute the resulting video to KnowledgeBase.  There are four parts to creating screencasts:   1. Planning what you are going to present,  2. Choosing screencast recording software, 3. Making the recording, and 4. Producing the final screencast video. This guide will walk you through those steps.

Planning

First, select the topic of your screencast.  Good topics for screencasts are ones that show people steps for completing a task online.  The viewer will be watching a recording of your computer screen, following your mouse movements, and listening to your explanation of what you are doing.  To the extent that your recording is clear, interesting to watch, and instructive, your screencast will be a success.  Here are some guidelines for planning your screencast:

• Pick a topic from the KnowledgeBase table of contents for DSpace or Fedora.  Make sure you give your screencast the same name as the KnowledgeBase topic you've chosen.
• An effective screencast lasts in the neighborhood of five minutes.  It might be necessary to go longer if you are describing a process that needs to be presented in one piece.  On the other hand, you may want to divide your topic into two or more screencasts, if appropriate (e.g., "Getting Started with DSpace Access Controls, Part One" and "...Part Two").
• Do you need to write out a script for your screencast?  Perhaps, but not necessarily.  A simple outline might do, or just some reminders on a page.  Informal, extemporaneous screencasts are not at all uncommon on the Internet.  You may find it easier not to juggle a written script while you're navigating through the flow of screens.  In any case, you will probably want to rehearse your presentation a couple of times before recording it.
• Make sure your computer software is configured for the screencast.  In addition to the screencast software (more on that next), you will need to have an application environment set up for whatever you are going to demonstrate (e.g., Internet connection, if required; applications installed; test data pre-configured, etc.)
• Your best bet for quality audio is to use a headset with microphone.  We have found that the Logitech USB headsets work very well, but most any USB headset should do nicely.

Choosing Screencast Software

There are a number of software products that are suitable for creating screencasts.  Some of them are open source or otherwise freely available for download, others are licensed for a fee.  Techsmith's Camtasia Studio is a very full-featured commercial product for Windows or Mac. We have had good results with Screencast-O-Matic, which features a free online product for all platforms and is fairly simply to learn and use.  Quicktime, as available on the Mac, will record screencasts, though you will need a video editor like iMovie if you would like to do post-production edits.  There are a few Linux-only products that may be used. as well.  Consult our charts of Video Tools below for more information.

We recommend the following tools:

Additional options include:

What ever product you use for your screencast, we recommend the following:

• The optimum video resolution for your finished product is 1280 x 720, also known as widescreen, 16/9, or High Definition (HD) video.  Try to record at this resolution and define your video output the same way when you save your recording.  That will make it easiest for people to view the details of your screencast when they maximize their viewer to make it readable
• Save your screencast output as MP4, AVI, FLV, M4V, or MOV. 
• The products are usually not very complex, but all of them require a bit of a learning curve.  Get to know your way around the product you choose to the extent that you can comfortably configure, start, and stop the recording.

Making the Recording

Here are some guidelines for making a successful screencast recording:

• Do a test first.  Fifteen seconds or so will give you a good indication of whether your recording level is fine.  You may need to tweak it.
• Pause a few seconds before you begin speaking
• Speak slowly in a natural voice
• Begin with a one-sentence introduction of yourself and your subject (e.g., "Hi, this is........and I'm going to show you......."
• Viewers will be focused on your mouse pointer.  Try not to make extraneous movements or move around too fast
• With each on-screen action, tell people what you are doing to make sure they are following you.  (e.g., "Next I'm going to..." , "Now we will look at...")
• Small flubs or pauses are not necessarily reasons to restart the entire screencast! You don't need to deliver an award-winning performance, just one that effectively conveys what you are trying to teach.  If you are using a screencast product that includes editing capabilities, you can usually cut out the portions you don't want to be in the final recording. 
• No need for a concluding sentence if it's clear where your lesson ends, but a brief recap of what you have shown is fine.
• When you are finished speaking, pause a couple of seconds before stopping the recording.
• Be sure to save your recording right away!

Producing the Final Screencast Video

Your screencast will require some post-production work before it is ready for "prime time".  It's not a lot of work, but it does require learning some more features of the screencast software.  Minimally, we need go through the following steps:

• Create a title slide
• Fade from the title slide to the recorded lesson
• Fade from the end of the lesson to a closing slide (which can be a re-use of the title slide)

In addition, you may want to do some light editing of the recording--deleting small mistakes, unexpected pauses, dead space, etc.

If you prefer not to do this part yourself, that's fine.  We will do it for you.  Simply send the video to address@duraspace.org along with the title, your name, and your organization for the credits.  If you do want to try the post-production work, and your screencast software allows you to do this, here are some guidelines.

Title Slide:

• Use our title slide graphic as background.  For DSpace topics: knowledgespace:KB_screen_DSpace.jpg; for Fedora topics:  knowledgespace:KB_screen_Fedora.jpg 
• Add three text lines to the slide centered vertically and horizontally:  Title (Arial 48 Bold), Your Name (Arial 36 Bold), Your Organization (Arial 28 Bold); Color: Black or "DuraSpace Turquoise" (see knowledgespace:spec)
• Duration:  5 seconds

Transition From Title to Lesson:

• Insert a fade to black
• Duration:  2 seconds

Closing slide:

• We reuse the title slide for this purpose.  
• Insert another 2 second fade to black before the closing slide
• Duration:  2 seconds

Optional:  Organizational Slide. You may add an Organizational Slide right after the initial Title Slide if you wish to add organizational branding to your screencast.  Please use the following guidelines if adding an Organization Slide:

• Begin with "Screencast Contributed by"
• Logo no greater then 20% of screen dimensions
• Corporate tagline and three or four services (optional)
• URL optional

Remember, if you prefer, we are happy to do your post-production work for you!

When finished, post your screencast at xxxxx.xxxxx.org and send an email notifying someone@duraspace.org.
We are looking forward to receiving your work!