[Clipart] Status of the uploads to the website

Sun Sep 20 20:33:12 PDT 2009

Hang in there everyone.

OpenClipart is about 2-3 years ahead of it's time.  Is it the right 
idea?  Absolutely. Like most things just a little ahead of their time, 
though, it takes a while for technology/software/social climate to get 
it all together.

So take heart and be patient.

And recruit, please.  Anyone you know who is in a position with time and 
talent to contribute.  University/college students, friends - anyone 
with a talent and idea and an interest.

Get them involved.

Treat it like a fun project.  Like a puzzle you would work in your spare 
time to get all the pieces together.

One little bit at a time.  The end picture will be awesome!

Alan

chovynz wrote:
> I'm not the one who can answer your questions.
>
> And yes, I'm well aware that this mailing list is for everyone not
> just Librarians. I did not state otherwise. :) I agree with all that
> you have written.
>
> However, as I replied, as far as I know (which is an educated guess),
> only Jon, Michi and Basil(?) can fix this particular problem. And they
> haven't said anything in reply to the emails which I've sent them.
>
> Someone has dropped the ball, that I can't pick up (which I would have
> otherwise picked up), and don't know what skills are needed, since
> communication has effectively stopped. Which is sad, because the
> potential of OCAL is far more than this *little* group that we
> currently have.
>
> I don't know what we are waiting for. I don't know what the problems
> are, but everything has halted. This is not a good situation, and last
> time I tried to say something I was told -paraphrased "Remember this
> is a volunteer thing. Solutions take time." So ... Since I can't fix
> the problem, and this is a "volunteer thing", I decided to not push
> too hard and just wait. I can wait as long as I need to.
>
> If Jon or Michi ends up listening to you, that's great! we can move
> forward again. I frankly don't care who fixes the problem, as long as
> someone does. I can't. Good luck in attracting their attention. :)
>
>
>
> On 9/21/09, worms invasion <wormsxulla at yahoo.com> wrote:
>   
>> Well, thanks :-)
>>
>> I'm a subscriber to this list for almost 2 years now, so I do hang around
>> and talk occasionally ;-)
>>
>> This list is not only for librarians, it's actually the only mean Users, ,
>> Clipart contributors, Librarians, and Developers have to communicate about
>> OCAL. That's why it receives messages from list subscribers, and also bug
>> reports.
>>
>> As I was saying in my first message on Sept, 11th, uploads to OCAL have
>> stopped since July 31st.
>> Basically, it means that OCAL, which relies on users contributions for its
>> content, appears dead to both the group of Users ("No new cliparts
>> uploaded?") and to the Clipart contributors ("where am I going this new
>> clipart I made?")
>> These two groups are the most numerous groups among the Users, Clipart
>> contributors, Librarians, and Developers groups.
>> Another thing is that bug reports have not been touched nor assigned.
>>
>> I do understand that the limited number of people who might be able to fix
>> the errors are away or busy. On the other hand, there have been news posted
>> to the main OCAL page since the uploads ceased to work, so this means that
>> not all are busy all the time or away all the time.
>>
>> There are many other sites presenting cliparts to the public on the
>> Internet, OCAL is great because it represents a community effort to share
>> cliparts with the most "open" license. That was, I believe, the goal of its
>> founders, people from various projects (Ted Gould, Bryce Harrignton, Jon
>> Philips, among others... from the archive of this list, which goes back to
>> 2004)
>>
>> Now, if our site appears unmaintained for a long while - and 6 weeks *is* a
>> long time on the Internet - , users will simply be discouraged from
>> visiting, and will switch to another clipart site, which might, or might
>> not, support the same "cause". We will lose the benefits of years of
>> contributions and usage, and that will be a pity, really.
>> We will also lose the potential help of new developers, if
>> maintenance/development problems appear unanswered.
>>
>> So, what could be done? Maybe it would be worth to allow more people to be
>> involved with the site maintenance? It doesn't need to be a dozen people,
>> just a few... with the right permissions?
>>
>> Thanks for reading, and I hope, answering this concern.
>>
>> P.S.: I also see nothing new about what we call OCAL 2.0... but in my
>> understanding, this is less urgent (although it is important).
>>
>>
>>
>> --- On Sun, 9/20/09, chovynz <chovynz at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>     
>>> From: chovynz <chovynz at gmail.com>
>>> Subject: Re: [Clipart] Status of the uploads to the website
>>> To: "worms invasion" <wormsxulla at yahoo.com>
>>> Cc: clipart at lists.freedesktop.org
>>> Date: Sunday, September 20, 2009, 6:53 AM
>>> Nope. Just, there's nothing the
>>> Librarians can do.
>>> There's only a limited number of people that can fix the
>>> problems
>>> server side, and those are busy or away.
>>>
>>> Just hang in there. When Ocal 2.0 come out it'll be
>>> fantastic and I'll
>>> be pushing it on all my friends for all it's worth. (and
>>> that is worth
>>> very much!)
>>>
>>> On 9/20/09, worms invasion <wormsxulla at yahoo.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>       
>>>> Hello.
>>>>
>>>> So... Is OCAL dead?
>>>>
>>>> Cheers.
>>>>
>>>> --- On Fri, 9/11/09, worms invasion <wormsxulla at yahoo.com>
>>>>         
>>> wrote:
>>>       
>>>>> From: worms invasion <wormsxulla at yahoo.com>
>>>>> Subject: [Clipart] Status of the uploads to the
>>>>>           
>>> website
>>>       
>>>>> To: clipart at lists.freedesktop.org
>>>>> Date: Friday, September 11, 2009, 6:13 PM
>>>>> Hello,
>>>>>
>>>>> I was wondering whether there was any news about
>>>>>           
>>> the upload
>>>       
>>>>> problem to http://openclipart.org
>>>>>
>>>>> The last upload appearing is dated from July,31st
>>>>>           
>>> 2009, so
>>>       
>>>>> I guess the upload functionality hasn't been
>>>>>           
>>> restored yet?
>>>       
>>>>> We've seen at least two bug reports
>>>>> http://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23312
>>>>> http://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23527
>>>>>
>>>>> but nothing in them indicates what has been done.
>>>>> There is also no assignee to these bug reports.
>>>>>
>>>>> Is anyone in charge of checking out the situation,
>>>>>           
>>> or
>>>       
>>>>> investigating, or... doing what needs to be done,
>>>>>           
>>> why it
>>>       
>>>>> broke, etc.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks for any information - it would really be a
>>>>>           
>>> pity if
>>>       
>>>>> OCAL was dying because no clipart can be uploaded
>>>>>           
>>> :-)
>>>       
>>
>>
>>
>>     
>
>
>   