I am ever so slowly gearing up to start working on my dad's prosthetic hand project, which will probably take a year or more to see through to fruition. I anticipate that I might venture into uncharted territory in the arena of DIY prosthetics, and I would like all of my work to be on public record. Open source, in hi-res detail; not only source files. I would like to keep a chronicle of my progress, how I did what, at the time that I did it. I want people to know what I was thinking when I did what I did so that they can come up with a better idea. Also, that way I don't have to go back a year or two later and construct a retroactive "who to build a prosthesis" tutorial since I would surely forget some things. I would also like it to be an open forum where people can reply with questions/comments.
I've thought of 3 ways to go about it; I will outline them, give you my feedback about them, and I would appreciate your feedback, even suggestions outside my 3.
#1. Make a wordpress blog about it. I like this idea the least. It would give me the most freedom of structure and style, but I don't think it would get much exposure at all, and it's too difficult for people to reply; they simply won't reply. If they have a question, they might, but if they have a suggestion, they won't waste their time.
#2 Create a blog on AAC and post updates. I have only on a couple of occasions looked upon fellow AAC members' blogs. Not that I'm disinterested, but it just never pops up in my face so I don't think about it. Maybe if someone were interested in DIY prosthetics and googled, they might find my blog, but fellow AAC members who might have valuable input would likely never see it.
#3 Create a thread in general chat and continually post updates to it. This is not ideal, but it's the best idea I've got at the moment. It seems like the best opportunity for omnidirectional communication on the topic, but like most threads, it will likely veer off topic; several times, if kept open and active for 12+ months. It will be a chore for moderation to split it off many times. It will also probably turn into a server space hog, with all the pictures I plan to upload to it; not sure if that's an issue or not. Other issue is that some people might see a 75+ page thread and not even attempt to read through it to find out the current issue/challenge. For that reason, I will likely create other threads for specific issues, and copy or link the information back to the build thread.
So, what do you suggest?
I've thought of 3 ways to go about it; I will outline them, give you my feedback about them, and I would appreciate your feedback, even suggestions outside my 3.
#1. Make a wordpress blog about it. I like this idea the least. It would give me the most freedom of structure and style, but I don't think it would get much exposure at all, and it's too difficult for people to reply; they simply won't reply. If they have a question, they might, but if they have a suggestion, they won't waste their time.
#2 Create a blog on AAC and post updates. I have only on a couple of occasions looked upon fellow AAC members' blogs. Not that I'm disinterested, but it just never pops up in my face so I don't think about it. Maybe if someone were interested in DIY prosthetics and googled, they might find my blog, but fellow AAC members who might have valuable input would likely never see it.
#3 Create a thread in general chat and continually post updates to it. This is not ideal, but it's the best idea I've got at the moment. It seems like the best opportunity for omnidirectional communication on the topic, but like most threads, it will likely veer off topic; several times, if kept open and active for 12+ months. It will be a chore for moderation to split it off many times. It will also probably turn into a server space hog, with all the pictures I plan to upload to it; not sure if that's an issue or not. Other issue is that some people might see a 75+ page thread and not even attempt to read through it to find out the current issue/challenge. For that reason, I will likely create other threads for specific issues, and copy or link the information back to the build thread.
So, what do you suggest?
