[datacatalogs] Proposal: migrating datacatalogs.org to a new simpler setup

Fri May 9 16:51:26 UTC 2014

On 9 May 2014 17:38, James McKinney <james at opennorth.ca> wrote:

> The trouble with using Google Spreadsheets as the master data source is
> that its versioning is absolutely terrible.
>
> The current datacatalogs.org has good versioning, as would the CSV in git
> proposal.
>
> For me, the two criteria that need to be balanced are: easy contribution
> and good edit histories. The criteria are easily met when editing happens
> inside the app, because you can control everything. When you move the
> editing out of the app into git or Google Docs you lose one or the other. I
> suppose if GitHub supported spreadsheets editing then this wouldn’t be a
> problem. A YAML file would be somewhat easier to edit in git than a CSV
> file, but it would be more prone to corruption if a maintainer makes a bad
> edit, which can break the entire site.
>

Its a tough balance to strike. My feeling could be a google form or similar
but authoratative data in a git-managed csv - but you then need editors who
are git savvy.

Rufus

PS: re csv editing in github i note this should be data deck / data
explorer soon https://github.com/okfn/dataexplorer/issues/155 ...

> James
>
>
> On May 9, 2014, at 12:29 PM, Rufus Pollock <rufus.pollock at okfn.org> wrote:
>
> On 9 May 2014 17:18, James McKinney <james at opennorth.ca> wrote:
>
>> I use datacatalogs.org to maintain the list of Canadian data catalogs.
>>
>> I don’t see what file I would edit during a pull request. It looks like
>> everything comes from Google Docs. Is the "CSV in git" part not done? Are
>> reviewers expected to transform Google Form submissions into pull requests?
>> Will the data sources (CSV or Google Docs) be
>>
>
> No this part was about a proposal :-)
>
> My feeling was google form might be easiest for non-techies and then an
> editor/reviewer merges that either into primary google spreadsheet  or into
> a csv in git.
>
>
>> synced with datacatalogs.org before the switch?
>>
>
> Yes.
>
>
>> I see the new process as making it more difficult for non-tech-savvy
>> maintainers to maintain their catalogs - they need to rely on git-savvy
>> people. In any case, will the current catalog maintainers have commit
>> access so that we don’t need to wait on OK staff to merge
>>
>
> That's why Google Spreadsheet option might be better.
>
>
>> pull requests? I think the CSV should be in a separate repository.
>>
>
> To be clear whatever DB is it will be open to current catalog maintainers
> whomever they are (nothing  to do with OK staff :-) - other than they being
> maintainers)
>
>
>> I’ve created new issues, and issues #8, #10, #16 should be the priority
>> before any switch.
>>
>
> thanks and good suggestions.
>
> Rufus
>
>
>

-- 

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