IBM Redbooks | Residencies | Best Practices for Building Web Applications for Domino 8

February 8 2008

Since many of you believe actions speak louder than words...

The ITSO in conjunction with Lotus is conducting this remote residency to create a new deliverable that uses wiki technology. Wikis are a relatively new Web browser-based technology that allows remote collaboration to create a new form of on-line document. You can be a part of this leading-edge pilot for a new way of delivering quality technical documentation. Getting involved in this project will give you an opportunity to learn new collaboration tools and techniques, to learn more about developing Domino applications for the Web, and as with other ITSO residencies, to pass your knowledge to other IBM employees, business partners, and customers. Working alongside and exchanging knowledge with other highly skilled residents and some of the top experts in the IBM Lotus community, you will develop a competitive edge that will serve you well in successful deployment of creating and deploying Domino Web applications. In addition, you will get recognition for being an author of this wiki!
So, some of the same methods and benefits as Redbooks are in place, it's run by ITSO, and in the end, the recognition is there in the same way as in the past.  Would love to see some passionate authors contribute to this one and show what success looks like.

Link: IBM Redbooks | Residencies | Best Practices for Building Web Applications for Domino 8 >

Ed Brill Highland Park, IL USA Category:  Notes and Domino 8  Add/View Comments [17]

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  1. 1  Stuart McIntyre http://collaborationmatters.com | 2/8/2008 10:57:04 AM

    Hmmm, well at least we seem to have the semblance of a plan now... Though just one redwiki project isn't enough to convince me that this is the way forward.

    Also, 3 weeks, 20 hours a week, so 60 hours of commitment to the project. No compensation, no travel, no expenses, no meeting other influential/interesting folks and learning from them.

    Will be interesting to see how many partner/end user organisations are prepared to allow their key consultants/developers to get involved...

  1. 2  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 2/8/2008 11:03:58 AM

    Define "meet" in 2008 terms, Stuart?

  1. 3  Mick Moignard http://www.mickmoignard.com | 2/8/2008 11:28:00 AM

    While meet in 2008 terms rarely means face-to-face, there's nothing to beat one personal encounter in such a project - it's then so much easier to work with people electronically.

    I also rather echo Stuart's comments about the 20 hours a week that are expected to be committed, when there seems to be little direct recompense of any sort. It would be a very lonely 20 hours, I think.

    However, let's not be negative before we see any results. I won't be participating, but I wish those that do every success and I will appreciate their efforts.

  1. 4  Volker Weber http://vowe.net | 2/8/2008 11:41:34 AM

    Remote residency - is that house arrest?

  1. 5  Ben Poole http://benpoole.com | 2/8/2008 12:00:32 PM

    I didn't do a redbook residency, although I would have liked to. For those I know who did do one, part of the appeal was spending 4 - 6 weeks somewhere new (e.g. Boston) with a team of like-minded individuals. That's definitely lost here, although of course the kudos factor of the old red books looks to be preserved. Like Mick said, let's wait and see -- anyone who contributes deserves a big slap on the back!

  1. 6  Axel  | 2/8/2008 12:19:15 PM

    From what I hear writing technical books never pays out well per hour. Folks do it to become recogniced experts in a certain field. At least the new process is more open for those interested in contributing without living near Boston.

    As a consumer of technical books I wait for the result before pronouncing a judgement.

  1. 7  Kerr  | 2/8/2008 1:11:04 PM

    @7, As I understand it, the old model was that IBM didn't pay as such, but you got expenses, flights, hotel, etc.

    I could see there being appeal in being able to crash some local IBM facility if there was a few people contributing from the same area. For example you could probably get a few people from London to pitch up at Bedfont Lakes. This would be especially interesting if IBM layed on some interesting kit to play with. Obviously this would not preclude other members of the team working from home or in other sub groups.

  1. 8  Kerr  | 2/8/2008 1:12:19 PM

    Did a post disappear or am I just going loopy? It should be @6 above.

  1. 9  Axel  | 2/8/2008 2:10:38 PM

    How many redbook authors were not from IBM?

    The new schema may make it easier to participate for those outside of IBM.

  1. 10  Kevin Mort  | 2/8/2008 3:28:26 PM

    @8 - Not sure but it looks like you were responding to your own post there. : )

    As a "consumer" of Redbooks and all other manner of IBM documents, and one who works remotely, printed books are not something I obtain much of these days.

    I personally like this new wiki idea. I do like a Redbook's quanity of content and ideas on a particular topic all in one place. It seems to me that a wiki could do the same thing.

    Credit for authorship does mean something, so with that given...it looks good. The time issue, well I know for one I would have difficulty with that time commitment.

  1. 11  Richard Schwartz http://www.rhs.com/poweroftheschwartz | 2/8/2008 4:30:11 PM

    This is a step forward. There was never compensation. Going on-site was very helpful for building a team, but the on-site component was great for some contributors and a major deterrent for many other possible contributors.

  1. 12  Hynek Kobelka  | 2/9/2008 4:01:50 AM

    I also see that this could be an improvement because:

    - the redbooks contain excellent knowledge and many could be used for years. However now they tend to outdate after a time, and it would take only little effort to update them. The wiki allows such an option.

    - the majority of employed "experts" never got an approved "vacation" for 4 weeks to travel to Boston and do something which only improved their reputation. The new requirement of working from home 20 hours a week is so much easier to meet.

    I actually hope that this will lead to even more "redbooks".

    Let's wait an see :-)

  1. 13  John Head http://www.johndavidhead.com | 2/9/2008 12:02:36 PM

    I love the remote residency part. I might be able to actually do one of these in the future, when the correct topic comes up.

    I just hope they find a way to allow the content in the wiki to be put into a pdf with a button ... then we could have something we can print and read, if you are into that :-)

  1. 14  Ben Poole http://benpoole.com | 2/9/2008 6:32:32 PM

    "I just hope they find a way to allow the content in the wiki to be put into a pdf with a button"

    Hey, that's the EASY bit!

  1. 15  David DeWell  | 2/10/2008 10:24:57 AM

    After checking out the link and looking at the list of residencies - this seems to be the only one scheduled that is Domino for the next 6 months or so.

    The greatest need for documentation is in the area surrounding the eclipse client. This one seems to be focused on best practices around web development. Although this is a good topic, I think the wiki's should have a focus in the more difficult disciplines as well.

    There are plenty of advanced topics in that list so maybe when they are compiling another list, they might want to consider some other topics - or maybe take the Mary Beth route and ask for some input of topics might be a good idea. Or maybe make a category in ideaJam - if they watch it.

  1. 16  Adam Smye-Rumsby  | 2/10/2008 1:36:07 PM

    The new model for producing Redbooks will encourage greater participation, which ultimately I hope will improve the quality of each deliverable. With the lower cost of a remote residency, hopefully the spectrum of topics can be expanded also.

    Having completed my second Redbook last year however, I'm sad that there will be limited/no opportunity in the future to visit new places and meet new like-minded people on a Residency. Undoubtedly in the past this was a major motivator for authors (in addition to the kudos of getting our names on the cover).

    Let's hope the pool of capable and committed authors doesn't diminish significantly with this change.

  1. 17  Paul Robichaux http://www.robichaux.net/blog | 2/11/2008 9:18:55 AM

    As I've said before, the whole idea of Redbooks is an excellent one, and something that I wish other vendors would adopt (hey, Oracle, are you listening?) I think that @9 hits the nail on the head-- I'd expect greater participation from the community if folks don't have to travel. It would be nice for remote work to be an option, though, rather than a requirement.