News
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20 April 2023 Coko Community Products Collaboration Guidelines
Collaboration is crucial for the success of community products such as Ketida and Kotahi. To ensure that all parties involved in the collaboration process are on the same page, a process has been outlined. This process helps to clarify what is trying to be achieved, understand if there are duplicate or complementary features that are already on the roadmap, and solve problems with existing features. In this article, we will outline the process for collaborating on Ketida and Kotahi.
Steps for collaborating on Ketida and Kotahi:
- The Proposer approaches the respective Project Manager to discuss the feature:
The Proposer is the person who is proposing a feature for development. The Proposer should approach the respective Project Manager to discuss the feature. This is to help clarify for both parties what is trying to be achieved. - The Proposer writes up the feature as an issue in the project’s GitLab repo:
Once the feature is discussed, the proposer should write it up as an issue in the project's GitLab repo using the feature proposal template. This outline does not need to be comprehensive, but there should be a description of what the feature is, how it affects workflows and interfaces, and some notes about the technical approach. The proposer should include mocks where appropriate. - The Project Manager discusses the proposal with the Lead Developer for the project:
After the proposal is submitted, the Project Manager should discuss it with the Lead Dev for the project. There may be further consultation with other members of the Coko team, if necessary. - The Project Manager and Lead Developer make comments on the proposal:
Once the proposal is discussed, the Project Manager and Lead Developer should make comments on the proposal. These comments should include suggestions for changes (revisions), if necessary. - Revisions by the Proposer occur if necessary:
If revisions are necessary, the Proposer should make the revisions. - The Project Manager and Lead Developer give a thumbs up:
When the proposal is ready, the Project Manager and Lead Dev should give a thumbs up. - Development begins in a feature branch in the project's repo:
Once the proposal is approved, development can begin in a feature branch in the project's repo. The Proposer should push local work to this branch regularly to avoid lost work. - A merge request is made when ready:
When development is complete, a merge request should be made. - The Coko project team check the code and functionality:
The Lead Developer, QA Engineer and Project Manager should check the code and functionality. - Report bugs and make comments for revisions:
If necessary, the Coko project team should report bugs and make comments for revisions. - Revisions occur:
If revisions are necessary, they should be made by the Proposer. - The code is merged by the Lead Developer when ready:
Finally, the code can be merged when ready.
To summarise, successful collaborations require good faith, transparency, and communication. The collaboration guidelines for Ketida and Kotahi have been created to facilitate this by ensuring that all parties involved have a clear understanding of the proposal, development, and merging processes. Importantly, following these guidelines should not cause any delay in development. In fact, if Proposers are ahead of the development team, it can actually accelerate the feature development and delivery process, as there will be less need for large-scale refactors, opportunity for cross-organisational collaboration of specific features, and a reduced likelihood of duplicate efforts.
Ketida Community
Resources:
- Website: ketida.community
Project Manager: Christina Tromp
- Email: christina@coko.foundation
- Mattermost: @christina
Lead Developer: Alex Georgantas
- Email: alex@coko.foundation
- Mattermost: @alexgeo
Kotahi Community
Resources:
- Website: kotahi.community
Project Manager: Ryan Dix-Peek
- Email: ryan@coko.foundation
- Mattermost: @ryandix
Lead Developer: Ben Whitmore
- Email: ben@coko.foundation
- Mattermost: @benwh
- The Proposer approaches the respective Project Manager to discuss the feature:
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13 April 2023 Amnet Launch Kotahi-based Nvcleus at the London Book Fair!
Coko has been working closely with Amnet for the past two years, and we are delighted to see the fruits of our collaboration. Amnet is now ready to launch their new journal solution, Nucleus, which is based on our Kotahi platform. This marks a significant milestone for Coko, and we are excited to see the positive impact it will have on the journal publishing industry.
At Coko, we have intentionally decided not to offer hosting services. Instead, we focus on building partnerships with hosting and service providers, like Amnet. This approach allows us to keep the cost of our software down for two main reasons: firstly, we don't rely on revenue from hosting; and secondly, we can introduce partnerships with multiple organizations to ensure competitive pricing. This strategy has been particularly important for Kotahi, as the journal sector has long been burdened by unnecessarily high costs due to exorbitant vendor pricing. We strongly believe that software should be open and as affordable as possible for end users, such as publishers.
We are thrilled to see Amnet launching Nucleus at the London Book Fair this coming week. Our partnership has been enjoyable and fruitful over the past two years, and we eagerly anticipate many more years of collaboration. We wish Amnet the best of luck at the London Book Fair and would like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation for their dedication and hard work. They are truly wonderful partners, and we are confident that their success will make a meaningful difference in the world of journal publishing. Good luck at the LBF, Amnet!
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11 April 2023 An Initial Scholarly AI Taxonomy
An article exploring an initial taxonomy for understanding Ai in publishing workflows. Publishing on the scholarly communications commentary site Upstream and authored by Adam Hyde, John Chodacki, and Paul Shannon.
https://upstream.force11.org/an-initial-scholarly-ai-taxonomy/
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11 April 2023 Key Kotahi features
Read moreA brief overview of some key Kotahi Features.
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4 April 2023 What is Kotahi?
Read moreKotahi means 'unified' in te reo Māori, symbolising the community collaboration of improving how research is shared and innovating new ways of publishing.