Chapter Lifecycle

Chapter Lifecycle

This doc describes the end-to-end process of a Web Almanac chapter, from planning to publishing.

0. Create content team (project owners)
   • create tracking issues for the chapter
   • assign authors
     • put out a call for nominations for authors
     • vet the nominees and gauge interest
     • select authors for the chapter
   • assign peer reviewers
   • assign data analysts
1. Plan content (content team)
   • decide on the scope of the chapter
   • decide on what metrics would be needed/feasible
   • brainstorm a chapter outline
   • divide author responsibilities
2. Gather data (analysts)
   • prepare for testing
     • instrument custom metrics to assist analysis
     • write queries
   • run test on HTTP Archive
   • analyze HTTP Archive dataset
     • run queries
     • save data to a spreadsheet
3. Validate results (content team)
   • review data for comprehension
   • prototype data visualizations
   • resolve bad data
4. Draft content (content team)
   • write first draft
   • embed data visualizations
   • iterate with technical review feedback
   • submit for publication
5. Publication (editors, developers)
   • enforce writing style guide
   • enforce data visualization style guide
   • cross-link chapters
   • generate markup
   • update project config
6. Translation (translators)
   • draft, review, and publish translation

0. Create content team

Project owners start by creating tracking issues for every potential chapter. The content team for each chapter may not necessarily be ready yet, but this enables contributors to see the chapters that are available to work on.

Contributors may either self-nominate or be nominated to author a chapter in its corresponding tracking issue or in the "call for nominations" issue, if there is one.

The project owners will vet author nominations, gauge nominee interest, and select the authors. The tracking issue reflects the selected author.

At any point, contributors may join the chapter's content team as peer reviewers or data analysts by announcing their interest on the tracking issue. Authors or project owners will update the tracking issue to reflect the status of the team, including: who the members are, their roles, and what roles are still in need of volunteers.

Authors can use their own discretion to add new authors to the chapter. Extra large chapters may necessitate 3 or 4 authors while small chapters may only need 1. Having more than 5 authors will likely lead to an imbalance of responsibilities, "too many cooks in the kitchen", or both.

Authors are only encouraged to author a single chapter to make room for other voices, but exceptions can be made for unstaffed chapters. Reviewers and analysts can contribute to as many chapters as they can afford.

The minimally viable content team is contains at least one author, reviewer, and analyst.

1. Plan content

2. Gather data

3. Validate results

4. Draft content

5. Publication

6. Translation