Tools November Report

TEITAC Communications Task Force Tools Report

Jared Smith, National Center on Disability and Access to Education

Task Force Members

• Jim Tobias
• Mike Paciello
• Bruce Bailey
• Gregg Vanderheiden
• Jessica Brodey
• Debbie Cook
• Jared Smith

Tools

• TEITAC.org Website
• Mailing Lists
• Wiki
• Calendar
• TRACE Online Hand Raising Utility

TEITAC.org Website

• Provides access to all tools
• Not publicly editable

Mailing Lists

Currently 10 lists:

• teitac-committee (89 – Committee members only!  Primarily announcements)
• teitac-general (70)
• teitac-websoftware (101)
• teitac-video (51)
• teitac-telecom (61)
• teitac-hardware (32)
• teitac-closed (32)
• teitac-subparta (64)
• teitac-documentation (43)
• teitac-tools (21 – Communications Task Force)

• Primary mechanism for communication
• List details are found at http://list.teitac.org/
• Change subscription settings
• Request/change your password
• Change your e-mail address
• DIGEST version
• Temporarily halt mail delivery
• Send messages to {listname}@list.teitac.org
• You must be subscribed to a list to post to it
• Multiple e-mail addresses?  Let Jared know
• Filter on subject line – [teitac-telecom]
• Limit posts and replies to teitac-committee list

Mailing List Etiquette

• Do not set autoresponders and vacation messages to reply to the list … or temporarily disable delivery … or add "out of the office" or "vacation" to the subject line.
• Trim replies to display only relevant portions of the original message.
• Keep subject lines simple.  Do not change subject line unless topic changes.  Digest users must trim messages and modify subject line.
• Limit "me too", "thank you", or other less relevant messages.
• Replies go directly to the list, not to the sender.
• Report abuse or other problems.

Mailing List Archives – list.teitac.org/mailarchives

• Publicly accessible
• Searchable
• E-mail addresses are removed to avoid spam

Wiki

• Wiki – What I Know Is…
• A knowledge document network.
• Great for documentation and sharing of knowledge.  Less good for conversation.
• Anyone can create/edit pages.  Must register and verify e-mail address first.
• Compare changes (diff).
• Each subcommittee has a "working space" or main page.

Interface functionality is available to

• Link to all tools
• Access All Pages or Recent Changes
• Set your preferences
• View your watchlist
• Add a page to your watchlist
• Discuss a document
• Edit a document
• Edit a section within a document
• View a documents change history
• View a documents table of contents
• Document names should be descriptive.
• Power comes in inter-linking documents.
• To create a document, enter the document name into your browser – http://teitac.org/wiki/DOCUMENT NAME … or create a link to the new document and follow that link.
• Avoid / ? & in document names

Wiki Editing

Simply enter the text you want to display, like you would in a text-only e-mail.  WikiText is only required for additional formatting.

WikiText

• == Headers ==
  • Headers provide structure to document and are used to automatically generate table of contents
  • Start with 2nd level header (two =’s)
• Lists
  • * bulleted list
  • # numbered list
• Formatting
  • ``italicized text`` = italicized text
  • ```bold text``` = bold text
  • `````bold and italicized text````` = bold and italicized text
• When editing a document, leave a descriptive summary

WikiText Links

• http://teitac.org/
• [http://access-board.gov/ Access Board homepage]
• [[Hardware Meeting 11-12-06]]
• [[Hardware Meeting 11-12-06|Notes from Monday's Meeting]]

Wiki Tips

• It’s difficult to break the wiki (but please don’t try).
• Be respectful of the work of others, but wiki is all about change and contribution.
• Wiki is primarily self-governing.
• Plenty of help resources online.  Ask for help.
• Don’t worry if it’s broken – let others fix it.
• Identify subcommittee members to be wiki editors.

Subcommittee Meeting Protocols

Currently at Subcommittee meeting protocols

Calendar

• Lists all upcoming committee and subcommittee meetings.
• Subscribe to Google Calendar.
• Recommend an event (TEITAC only).

How can we help?

• Are the tools working?
• Are other tools needed?
• Subcommittee face-to-face meetings?