back to
UkMovingToMir
Timeline for the migration to MIR
Since
8 Apr 03 the technical implementation of regional pages for IMC's in the UK is a reality. We're hoping to switch to MIR on
June 1.
This twiki page is designed to collect ideas and develop proposals for the migration process, which should then go to the imc-uk-process or imc-uk-network lists. At the same time, we are building an easy-to-access documentation of the MIR process. Please feel free to add and edit.
Quick instructions on how to set up a regional feature in Mir are at
UkMirAdminTutorialRegional.
There's a
test site with a
test admin page to play around with and check out the looks of the regional pages. On 16 Apr 03, a
preparation site plus
preparation site admin was set up for the IMC collectives to regionalise content.
The migration process is being discussed/prepared on several communication channels simultaneously, i.e. twiki, email, irc, pubs, meetings, newswire of the test site. For a list of irc logs, go to
UkMirCommunication.
Contents
Switchover 16/06/2003
Zapata's list
20:16 <@Zapata> my list:
20:16 <@Zapata> old site taken out
20:16 <@Zapata> - .... disables open postings with a message on the old site
20:17 <@Zapata> conversion
20:17 <@Zapata> - andi dumps the dbs
20:17 <@Zapata> - andi copies them to kosmos
20:17 <@Zapata> - andi runs automagic
20:17 <@Zapata> - andi runs importtextfiles
20:17 <@Zapata> - andi copies new media items
20:17 <@Zapata> - zapata runs movemedia files
20:17 <@Zapata> generation
20:17 <@Zapata> - zapata runs some basic producers
20:17 <@Zapata> - zapata runs an rsync
20:17 <@Zapata> - zapata sets up a cron job to facilitate gradual
20:17 <@Zapata> generation of the site
20:17 <@Zapata> new site enables
20:17 <@Zapata> - .... enables open postings
20:17 <@Zapata> - .... tests open postings + media postings
20:17 <@Zapata> - .... posts a notice on the old site directing visitors to the
20:17 <@Zapata> new site
<@Zapata> the import process btw takes quite some time...
20:18 <@Zapata> I intend to generate only the latest articles initially and then let cron do it's
job during the 24 hours or so
20:18 <@Zapata> that way, open postings can be enabled quite soon...
A list from Chris
- Get a dump of the latest data from the old site.
- Import the latest data into Mir.
- rsync the content onto the new server
- Panic, bug fix, have some beer....
TODO 13/06/2003
- Clean up
/imc/mir/uk/ directory, /imc/mir/uk/old/ can move to /imc/mir/uk/php/newsite/, I dunno about what else is important...
todo List (12/06/2003)
- sort http://publish.uk.indymedia.org/ see http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-uk-tech/2003-June/001035.html
- rtsp in uk-config.properties: does REALMEDIA_DESTINATION_PATH="/var/www/uk.indymedia.de/site/rtsp" need to be inserted, or rather Producer.Realmedia.Path on line 178 amended?
- viewallposts:
- change imported hidden articles (status "not (yet) published articles") to articletype "hidden"
Zapata said: one sql command and they're what you want them to be...
- to add the "hide repeated" option:
- added articletype.repeatedhidden (id=22) (done)
- added lines IMCUK.ADMIN.Localizer:
addSimpleArticleOperation(new ChangeArticleFieldOperation?("hide", "to_article_type", "22", "1", true));
addSimpleArticleOperation(new ChangeArticleFieldOperation?("show", "to_article_type", "1", "22", true));
- corrected name in localadminproperties ---> still displays with ??? in uk/uktestadmin
- added repeated/hidden articletype to producer.xml
selection="is_published=true and to_article_type in (${articletype.opentrash}, ${articletype.newswire}, ${articletype.repeatedhidden})"
- still erring: show if an article is showing or hidden, see source error: "Couldn't get referent of webdb_create_formatted: freemarker.template.TemplateModelException: Map Adapter: no key webdb_create_formatted available"
- add autoproducer viewallposts.changed to config.properties
- change css to make boxes smaller
- vince's created regional navigation.publish.template with to_region=## in the end
zapata says: change ## into ${region.id} and see if it still works that way...
- top links still all linking to Ed Guidelines
- newswire archive: right column is empty: shouldn't there be a list of all archives?
- what is that "published" and "not-yet-published" about? do we need it?
Remaining tasks (10/06/2003)
- Ahimsa
- rsync
- http conf
- copy material over from poptel
- Media
- pics
- main body texts
- Other stuff
- customizing open postings (decide what criteria we want for validation, i.e. number of regions < 4, title, etc.)
- in the admin section, when we view a list of articles or comments, what do we want as actions (like hide/unhide) and do we prefer checkboxes or listboxes?
- UkMirRss
- publishing, search and all these open functions do not work (they link to uktest stuff)
- Redirects
- publish domain and regional subdomains
- apache stuff on kosmos
- i18n non-ASCII imported texts, eg old site | new site
Bugs
- Publishing: video, PDF, SWF files types appear not to work (Zapata was looking at this)
- Publish page: sometimes inexplicably shows up in mixed german / english. Unpredictable, haven't isolated the cause of it yet.
Tasks (updated - 04/05/2003)
On the network level
- Static documents: we have to write definite versions ( at least for the launch) of the static documents (mission statement, editorial guidelines, support us, etc.) with which every collective in the United Kollektives agree | UK Mir Web Docs
- topics and article types: Which ones do we need for the launch (we can of course add other topics later) - a discussion has started on the tech and network lists. There are now two different topics boxes: for regional topics (navigation.regions.template) and a thematic topics (navigation.topics.template). All the UK and Oxford templates now call these two boxes. To add a topic, go to the admin section, to super-user functions, topics, then add a topic with "url-archive: issue". It will be classified as a thematic topic. | examples | info from german IMC | thoughts from lancaster | on themes and subjects | types, topics and RSS | collated info on UkMirTypesAndTopics?
- Regional IMC's: which regional imcs are ready to be online for the launch (of course if they are not ready they can join later when the site is properly working)
- AFTER SWITCH: Admin privileges: do we set different admin privileges or not, if so we have to do it!
(update 07/05 andi: zapata says is not implemented yet, will take a few more months) (update 3/11 ana: privileges are better refered to as roles; one person can have different roles. zapata says this is for next version of mir - more months. ana currently preparing database with people's preferred roles)
- UK and global features: how will the features on the UK site work - generated automatically from the local features, or written by a special UK features group? (update ana 3/11: issue died out. features list deals with uk front page middle column; features done manually) And will we do Global Features? If so, who will do that and how?
(update ana 3/11: uk usability list created for this task)
- new IMC process for the regional URL's and the updating of cities.inc (the list of IMC's that appear on the left of every - almost - IMCs in the world) - how will it work
- United Kollektives: how decisions will be taken on the network level, and we have to write a clear explanation of this and of the way the United Kollektives will function in general for the regional collectives (especially for new collectives that could join later) - based on the emails sent by ionnek I suppose | Common Grounds - intro | Common Grounds - snapshot
On the regional level
- static documents: (regional mission statement, etc., or I suppose you can take the UK one if you agree with it, or take it as a starting point and customise it, or whatever)
- design: (you can copy all the templates in the oxford subdirectory and customize the stylesheet for an easy way to have a customizable functional site) | UK Mir Regional Pages Setup HOW TO
- Grab Your Articles: Task for regional IMC's: Go through the existing database and chose the features and articles you want for your IMC - to know how to do this check out UkMirGrabYourArticles - clarifying mails 1 | 2 |
- Admin section: get used with the new Mir admin section (on the uktest site) | test site (3/11/03, no longernecesary?)
- regional collective: how the regional collective will work concretely (meetings, editing the site, writing the regional features, watching the regional newswire, how decisions will be taken on a regional level, video crew, "journalists", how to cover big regional events, etc. etc. the basic indymedia work I suppose!
Other things to do
- database dumps Tech task: get newer dump of the existing articles and features. done on 16/4, added 17/4. Added again on 26 Apr, last story 65216.
- testing: test all the functions on the uktest site, list the problems and fix them...
- DONE (05/05) - except for the G8 call - broken links: links on the left (Video, Radio, G8, etc.)
- Global features: what do we do with that? (on the technical side: new template? new generator?)
- "Skip navigation" function: fix it
- publishing button: write the "do you need help with publishing" text (included in the Help section I suppose...)
- AFTER SWITCH - functions: "email this article" and "download in pdf"
- DONE - it was already fine... sorry! - videoloop
- protest.net: set regional parts in the protest.net calendar if possible | email about that
- DONE: they are all customized using the UK stylesheet at etc/producer/stylesheet.template - publishing pages: customize the publishing pages in /etc/open, remove Tables and stuff from them and use the CSS from /etc/producer/stylesheet.template instead
- DONE: viva zapata... - media problem: when you post a news, the input in the number of medias is weird... also I think you cannot upload videos
- final task: transfering: transfering everything from the uktest site to the new site
- Final step: Switching the DNS Tech task: change the DNS record for uk.indymedia.org so that it points to the new server rather than the old server. The imc-sysadmin list is the place to request this. Furthermore, the domain indymedia.org.uk has been bought by us and currently redirects from poptel to uk.indymedia.org - that redirection can very easily be changed to point to ahimsa. On poptel we could set up the old site, 2003.indymedia.org.uk, or active.indymedia.org.uk?
Decisions
Open Publishing model
Debates on [imc-uk-process], irc, and in local collectives looked at the pro's and con's of "moderation beforehand" and "moderation afterwards" models, in terms of practicality, legal and political aspects. Technically, it is possible to code different open publishing models for regional pages.
It was acknowledged that "moderation before" would lead to a more concise newswire, but that there might not be enough moderators to ensure that postings move quickly to the newswire. There is concern that "moderation before" might put us in a dodgy legal situation.
In the 15 May irc meeting, people from the imc collectives in Oxford, Sheffield, Cambridge London and Scotland (did i forget someone?) came to a consensus: To go live with a "moderation afterwards" model, to test it for a few weeks, and evaluate it at a network meeting in a few weeks - then make a decision. This consensus was mailed to [imc-uk-process].
After Sheffield meeting, decided we go with moderation afterwards model. (ana, 3/11/03)
Mails: intro |
3 models |
open wire + features archive |
Sheffield IMC
Regional IMC's / Regional Topics
Update from May 19th:
The regional topics box on the testpage now displays Oxford, Sheffield, London, Westcountry, Cambridge, Scotland, Leeds, Other Regions.
Cambrigde , Sheffield and Oxford have their templates set up, trained moderators and are ready to start. Scotland,
Liverpool, Leeds and
Westcountry and London are clearly interested, but need to decide about the date, train moderaters and/or set up templates.
Issue Topics
The testpage now displays a list of issue topics. We can of course add more later.
Mails: |
examples |
info from german IMC |
thoughts from lancaster |
on themes and subjects |
types, topics and RSS | collated info on
UkMirTypesAndTopics?
Launch
The "soft launch" of the page has started with a feature on the active imc uk site. Soft Launch means to announce a timeframe for the migration rather than a fixed date, as the exact date for the technical & network process is not predictable. The tech work depends on tech volunteers in several countries. And the imc groups in the uk network need to agree on decisions and learn how to admin the new site.
- technically, we are hoping to have the site up and running by June 1st.
- publicising the migration.
- DONE May 16: feature on active site with link to test site
- mailout (media groups, volunteers...)
- Launch parties?
--
IonNec - 10 Apr 2003
-- Added stuff about the DNS -
ChrisCroome - 13 Apr 2003
-- Added tasks from irc #uk 15 Apr -
IonNec - 15 Apr 2003
-- Added details to DNS, database dump, added link to ahimsa, rewrote. -
AndiE - 16 Apr 2003
-- Added task for network: check webdocuments -
IonNec - 18 Apr 2003
-- Added task for network: topics and article types -
IonNec - 20 Apr 2003
-- Added links to tech list -
IonNec - 22 Apr 2003
-- Added log 23 Apr
IonNec - 23 Apr 2003
-- Added Open Publishing model, and various details -
AndiE - 25 Apr 2003
-- Added 1. june as possible go-live date -
IonNec - 27 Apr 2003
-- Added links to Sheffield newswire email and types, topics and RSS email -
ChrisCroome - 28 Apr 2003
-- Updated the "tasks" section --
SocieteLibre - 04 May 2003
-- Added list of contents.
IonNec - 05 May 2003
-- Added the first DONE!
--
SocieteLibre - 05 May 2003
-- Added "publishing pages" and "media problem" --
SocieteLibre - 05 May 2003
-- Added irc log --
IonNec - 10 May 2003
-- Added two DONEs and specifications on what has been done for the topics list --
SocieteLibre - 10 May 2003
-- Added IRC log/summaries, moved stuff to decisions, dones, moved irc logs to
UkMirCommunication, updated --
IonNec - 19 May 2003
-- Added remaining tasks
SocieteLibre - 10 Jun 2003
-- Added remaining tasks
AndiE - 12 Jun 2003
-- Added another TODO list...
ChrisCroome - 13 Jun 2003
-- Added switchover list... --
ChrisCroome - 16 Jun 2003
--
AnaPena - 03 Nov 2003 Added updates - dated - about admin roles, uk features who?, moderation before or after
to top
