Knowledge Base

[Ryan M.]

Originally Posted by Hutch

I understand there is a FIRST wiki... But I don't know how well an FAQ database would work since then someone has to manage it and manage submissions. And yeah, I just think a more sepcific wiki would be appropriate for this, rather than a database for the reason above.

It is possible (I'm almost positive) to create subsection type things in the wiki the FIRSTwiki is using. Maybe you could ask about that in the FIRSTwiki CD forum.

It wouldn't be that hard to setup and maintain a FAQ database. Here's kinda what I'm envisioning it as: (Leon, tell me if you're thinking of something completely different.)

Anyone can submit a new FAQ. When they submit it, they have to provide key words which are relevant to the content of the article. (They provide the keywords instead of an automated indexing so that a person can, for example, say something about "the robot controller uses a serial cable" in an FAQ about serial to USB converters. If it was automated, the article might come up in a search for help about using the PWM outs on the robot controller.) A moderator then receives a notification of the new FAQ item. They can read the FAQ and either approve or reject it.

If the database is getting hundreds of submissions a day, we can always just add more moderators. Probably more than ³/₄ths of the people on CD are overqualified for the job of looking for spam and non-FIRST things...

A person uses the database by typing in key words they want to search for. Results are displayed.