On Thu, Mar 13, 2008 at 06:03:37AM -0700, rygle wrote:
I still think the classes are a great idea, but after looking at Ubuntu's IRC logs, I wonder whether there is a better medium for information to be delivered apart from IRC first, and then use the IRC stuff as a follow-up.
It may not be evident what the value of these are. The IRC sessions are not intended to be comprehensive, but short introductory pieces. The idea is that someone with 0 knowledge on the topic can sit in and absorb enough to whet their appetite.
But you're right that the maximum effect is gained when there are supplemental docs. In some cases where there are pre-existing documentation, the IRC sessions can be just summaries of them, highlighting the important bits. In other cases, unfortunately no documentation exists, but that's okay - the IRC sessions provide a motivation and opportunity to generate them: The teacher might write up some course notes, or the students might help in converting the raw IRC logs into something more formal.
Bryce