The Picture Framer's Knowledgebase (roll your own)

[John]

Ladies and gentlemen of the forum,

Announcing a new resource for framers at: - http://www.theframers.co.uk/pmwiki/pmwi ... n.HomePage, but please read on before paying a visit.

As our industry begins to move into the 21st century technology appears to be beginning to play a prominent part. We have computerised mount cutters, we enjoy the ease with which we can price a frame with a wide selection of pricing software and we gain from the easy access to our suppliers via Internet directories.

So why not take this techno joy even further and learn form each other. We have doing that to a small extent in the past year or two with the advent of framers forums like http://www.thegrumble.comand www.theframersforum.com. But this wealth of knowledge can be exploited even further by setting up a Wiki.

Before you e-mail me, this is not a character form star wars. It is instead a fantastic way to share knowledge and gain advice when it comes to framing and all that is related to framing.

A Wiki is a collaborative framing encyclopedia, where visitors can create and edit contributions, for example www.wikipedia.org. The Wiki would work in tandem with the framers forums allowing the ragtag collection of excellent advice to be gathered into one authoritative reference site for all to use. With a few simple clicks the visitor not only could learn that there is such a thing as conservation glass but where it comes from and how it benefits the final piece. With photos, tutorials and general tips the Wiki has the potential to become a framers bible.

This is where you guys come in. You are the authorities, the skilled craftsmen and women who are responsible for contributing to making the Wiki great. By following the simple instructions on the front page of the site http://www.theframers.co.uk/pmwiki/pmwi ... n.HomePageyour expertise and knowledge can become part of this new and exciting framers encyclopedia. You also have the ability to edit contributions adding to the advice that is already online, or even disagreeing with it.

The site as it stands is a blank canvas, just waiting for input to give it structure and life. I have resisted the temptation to impose my own ideas regarding layout and content, preferring to let it evolve by consensus.

John

[markw]

John
could be a great resource - how do you manage the issue of postings on this forum on technical, and presumably useful "database" knowledge. The forum runs as a debate - often straying from the point - but often amusing its contributors. Wiki's are less about debate - more about defining and redefining views.

I noticed that you have added some structure to the blank canvas - I suspect that the majority of posters will be unsure of the layout and construction - it needed some structure to initiate a response - you now need to encourage some past posters to contribute on subjects where they have shown some real expertise - square frames could fill a lot of space on textile framing - evans the frame must have learnt a fair bit about Morso's by now.

I shall do my best to get posting - might even get to grips with the simple formatting - very misleading word "simple" not sure if it implies that your a complete moron if you don't understand - or - we have tried hard to accommodate even the mentally subnormal - still means that unless you are fairly competent with computers you are going to find this a challenge at first.

[John]

Yes Mark, I have added a bit of structure in order to make the thing a bit less daunting. But hopefully it is flexible enough that it can evolve into something of real value as we gain experience with it.

Thanks for getting the ball rolling, you will find that this defining and refining thing can be quite addictive. You have been warned!

'Simple' is a relative term and seems to be bandied about a bit too freely when the wiki is being discussed by the cognoscenti. However, entering ordinary text really isn't too difficult. And perhaps with time, some of us will gain enough expertise to introduce a bit of creative formatting, upload a few images, etc. So don't worry too much about fancy formatting, as long as the content is there, the style can always be introduced later.

Take a second look everybody, it should be a bit clearer now. But if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch.