zakqwyI have been mulling this question over a bit in my head lately; I tried putting a post together on my phone late last night, but the numbered list function didn't seem to play nicely with Android/Firefox. Oh well, more time to sleep on it I suppose.
This all started when I realized that I tend to toss up project logs a bit more --ahem-- liberally than some fellow HaD.io users. There isn't currently a 'sort by number of project logs' option in the project view, but I'm guessing GimbalBot would slide in near the top of the list with a concerning 70 entries (and counting). I should start by saying that I don't think this is necessarily something I should be proud of; if sharing valuable information is one of the goals of this site, then over-documentation is just as bad as under-documentation if the added bits aren't important.
In any case, I've been running a thoroughly non-scientific survey in the back of my mind over the last year, trying to categorize the different use cases for HaD.io. A few that seem to pop up with some frequency:
- Blogging/Lab Notebook. Updates to projects aren't necessarily related to milestones; rather, they are summaries of a given period of working, such as a weekend or an evening of tinkering. I do this a ton; I'm guessing it can get a bit annoying for the folks that follow me.
- Finished Project Sharing. Might or might not be unique (the latter often indicated with something like "this has been done many times before, but here is my take..."). Usually marked Completed Project, or at least to the point of either (a) open-sourcing the whole thing and encouraging people to replicate and verify, or (b) trying to launch a Kickstarter or go after mass production. Or (c), throwing the project on the shelf so it can collect a bit of dust before being repurposed down the road.
- Feedback and Discussion. Asking for or providing suggestions for a design, sometimes (but not always) explicitly. I think we should always strive to encourage this type of discourse most of all, since we all bring a unique perspective to the table. We can always use more positive criticism/feedback.
- Placeholders. This post is sort of a placeholder, since it's far from being a finished thought. A lot of folks add projects that are placeholders--they don't have much content beyond a sentence or two and maybe a picture, and they might revisit the post in months or years. I'm doing this with my Rangemaster project; it's still something I want to do, but I'm waiting for the time to be right. I guess.
What else? How do you use HaD.io? How should we use the site? I love (1) because it gives me a running log of what I've done on a project, but is that the right way to use the site?
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I might have ignored this stack page because of the title that sounded like a person asking what this site was all about - and skipped it. Whoopsies.
1. Like you guys I like to log along but also use the page option quite often to document parts and little hacks. When someone else posts regular updates that are informative and you can learn something of it - it's the most valuable form. That's why I like the xrobots channel of @James Bruton on youtube that much.
2. I don't mind the sharing of finished products, as long as they deliver enough content to get the idea of how it works - that may be through a good video or logs combined with pictures. What I don't like are link drop projects without pictures - would be awesome to have a button like "give me more please" or "video proof or it didn't happen". The best finished project logs: showing a use case scenario or a How-To for the project. @Stefan-Xp posts some logs with new "little" projects that use his avr board #The Atmega Hearth.
3. Some people have to learn first how they can make their projects look more interesting and how to document properly. Giving feedback feels great when it is appreciated and getting positive-minded feedback is awesome. So when somebody posts a project here, I try to encourage them to post something more or hit the follow button if it looks half interesting. It can't feel motivating if your project won't get followers within the "first page of newest" period and your counters are stuck to zero. With 4798 projects and rising I hope that the developers of this site come up with something good to get attention to all of those projects and the communication going.
4. Placeholders - the problems with them would be solved with setting them to private. It's a shame that you have to waste that "first page of newest" period, if you only want to collect some data. I probably have around 20 of "I will definitely come back to this" projects that I would like to organize here, but I don't want them to show up just yet. That's where the grouping of projects feature would come in handy too, if it ever will happen.
I hope there will be a way to find out who you should/could connect to, because of the same created project themes, fields of expertise or rising interest in projects around something. There is enough data on here to get started with some clever algorithms. Something I'd love to play around with, if there is any chance of an API. And I want statistics for everything, pretty much like on thingiverse.com. I'm drifting off, but that's somewhat the future of how I would like to use this page. Maybe this place needs moderated groups a.k.a. "virtual hackerspaces" for interests and themes like the lists, but where you can post questions and hackers can join the group to get updates/ answer questions and also post projects or pages related to this.
Anyway, out here I already have more followers and feedback than I had over the years on my blog before. So I'm happy to log along in this great growing community (+platform).
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Why did I even bother to hit enter?
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I'm glad you did. :) I think some of the features already implemented here cover some of what your talking about, just are not used to its full potential yet, like teams/contributors or lists. I do get the feeling that some are discouraged here, so I like your ideas about groups for support! I vote they hire you to head the team :)
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hehe :) My question about the enter was more style related, because the newline break looks much better in the "write comment" box than the actual comments.. thanks for your support :)
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That's funny!
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I've thought a bit along these same lines... My current project is getting logged *quite a bit*, and might-as-well be a blog of its own... I'm sure some people may find it frustrating, but it's cool to see that others dig that sorta thing. As @frankstripod said, it's a good way of hashing-things-out. There've been many a time I've been working on something, and only upon writing about it do I make that key realization I'd been missing all along.
I do agree, as well, that if it's just a bunch of completed-projects, then it appears to be little more than a bunch of technical documents. If I wanted *just* that, I'd be looking at IEEE transactions. I'm not.
That-said, there could probably be some way to make the following-system a little more friendly to others' perspectives... E.G. If project-logs had a priority-level, or tagging-system... ish... "brainstorm" vs. "hashing-out" vs. "MAJOR BUILD PROGRESS" vs...?
Personally, I click "follow" on projects and think of 'em sort of like bookmarks. Following a "completed" project is a bit ridiculous, though, as there are seldom updates to bring me back to them.
Plenty more thoughts, but the caffeine is wearing off...
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I love this site! I would say #4 Placeholders! (Did I win something? #no one gets my sarcasm here:)
HaD.io allows me to get ideas out of my head and make room for more. A place to write long boring logs no one in real life would ever have the patience to listen to. I agree about the updates are not related to milestones, but I think it allows one to hash things out. I don't agree about you being annoying, I think each person uses it in his or her own way, and your 70 log project is awesome! I feel like I'm right there with you in the conversation.
I look back at how my projects were written, and think its an embarrassment to the technical world and to some technical documents I used to write (ISO9000.) I was never on board with HaD's over-idealistic "document as you go" theory, but in retrospect, I think it stops this site from being a long list of boring technical documents, and gives each user a unique personality. I bet your subconscious year long "non-scientific survey" (I think I did the same thing) gives you some insight into those personalities?
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