Penguin Producer Redesign

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reteo
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Penguin Producer Redesign

Post by reteo »

Recently, a number of unpleasant circumstances came together to wipe out the Penguin Producer website content, and I just found out the backups cannot be restored. Most of that information was pretty out-of-date, however, so can probably benefit from a rewrite. However, while I could probably stick a bunch of notes in Markdown files on a fileshare, if I'm going to share my notes, it seems like a good idea to get an idea for how people want them to be available.

Should I just make another blog? Or perhaps should I go Wiki instead? Or perhaps skip the text and go into the whole "show his work" thing by making a podcast or a video stream? What would you all prefer? I'd like to also open it up to other people who want to provide content focusing on Linux media production (not just music, mind you, but all the fine and peforming digital arts, including music, audio performance, video, writing, graphic arts, etc.), so it doesn't stagnate when I suffer writer's block, or its nastier cousin, Impostor Syndrome.

What do you guys think? What do you think I should do for a relaunch?
Lampros Liontos (aka Reteo Varala)

The Penguin Producer - Tips, tricks and techniques for producing multimedia with Linux.
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Re: Penguin Producer Redesign

Post by nils »

I think you should join an existing site and I suggest libreav.org
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Re: Penguin Producer Redesign

Post by reteo »

Huh. I'll be honest, now that you brought my attention to that, it kind of puts my goal with the Penguin Producer in sharp relief.

The intended audience for the Penguin Producer has always been the beginning producer, someone who wants to produce quality media using "open-source software," while still wet enough behind the ears to still think that's a buzzword. These are the people who have heard of Linux, but don't know that it can make a good media production platform, or, if they are curious, aren't really sure where to start, or what they need to get started. They are not looking for the details, but the basics, with just enough references to get familiar with the software, and maybe do some decent work. I'm not looking to specialize in one specific aspect of media, but provide enough variety to get anyone started in the right direction without running afoul of the long-abandoned projects, the highly-technical tools, or the super-pre-alpha eventually-going-to-be applications.

Libre Audio Video, however, seems to be more of a reference for those who are already in the know. It seems to be more or less a list of links to community sites and technical references, as well as a list of software programs with only enough to tell someone who knows the field what the software does. On top of that, there is a pretty marked specialization on audio and music tools that I'd be very uncomfortable diverging from.

I agree that joining an existing site might also be an important step. I'm admittedly not the most social person, despite my interest in design, production, and documentation, and could probably stand to spend more time in the trenches, as it were. However, I've had the domain name for 9 years, and have produced documentation for 4-5 of those years, and I'd like to keep doing something productive with it, and am just trying to make up my mind on what I can do with it, and was hoping for suggestions.

All the same, I definitely appreciate the suggestion. :)
Lampros Liontos (aka Reteo Varala)

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Re: Penguin Producer Redesign

Post by LAM »

A blog and a video/streaming series would be cool! :D

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Re: Penguin Producer Redesign

Post by Basslint »

Hello,

first I read your post and I have to give you my props for returning to college after a layoff, that surely takes some guts :D

Next, my props for not wanting to give up on Penguin Producer.

I think times have changed a lot, the era of blogs is not gone but the web has gotten on one end a lot more centralized (with platforms like Facebook and Medium) and on the other end a lot more decentralized (with things like the Fediverse). In the true spirit of FOSS, I think the Hubzilla instance idea is the best.

Edit: I actually agree with @LAM, a video series would be the best for beginners
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Re: Penguin Producer Redesign

Post by jonetsu »

Maybe you could offer videos on some of those (music/audio) learning sites to make them visible to a larger audience. In any case it could be a practical idea to put a timestamp on any produced information. Through the years I found that one recurring problem when searching for practical information out there is finding outdated material that does not apply anymore or worse, that does not really apply anymore.
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Re: Penguin Producer Redesign

Post by externalmidi »

reteo wrote: Mon Nov 16, 2020 10:47 pm Recently, a number of unpleasant circumstances came together to wipe out the Penguin Producer website content, and I just found out the backups cannot be restored.
The site backup at archive.org should provide some use. :wink:
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Re: Penguin Producer Redesign

Post by reteo »

externalmidi wrote: Wed Nov 18, 2020 2:22 pm
reteo wrote: Mon Nov 16, 2020 10:47 pm Recently, a number of unpleasant circumstances came together to wipe out the Penguin Producer website content, and I just found out the backups cannot be restored.
The site backup at archive.org should provide some use. :wink:
Why bother when most of that information is out-of-date? Advances in software and kernels means that most of the landscape has changed by now. Heck, I've even learned how to not completely suck at music, so it seems like a good idea to just make all the content freshly-squeezed. ;)
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Re: Penguin Producer Redesign

Post by externalmidi »

reteo wrote: Wed Nov 18, 2020 7:02 pm Why bother when most of that information is out-of-date?
The same reasons that Linux distros keep earlier versions available for download, and Wikipedia keeps its page history available to view. Redundancy is good and history is useful. Projects can get forked and earlier methods can return to use.

I'd certainly consider putting a link to the archive on the new site.
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Re: Penguin Producer Redesign

Post by reteo »

That's fair.

One other thing... While I've got a pretty solid collection of topics to cover, it might not hurt to ask if you have any suggestions for more. Who knows, maybe there's something I'm not aware of that would be beneficial for beginners into the media landscape?
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Re: Penguin Producer Redesign

Post by externalmidi »

reteo wrote: Thu Nov 19, 2020 6:11 am maybe there's something I'm not aware of that would be beneficial for beginners into the media landscape?
I don't know about the broader media landscape, particularly. As far as the Linux landscape is concerned, then tutorials on how to migrate from Photoshop to GIMP/Glimpse would be really useful, as would tutorials on how to migrate VSTs from Windows to Linux. Even just Windows migration in general. One thing the Linux landscape is still quite short on is well-written text tutorials that are easily discoverable on the web. This is mainly an SEO problem. Having video-only tutorials siloed on Youtube, Peertube or Rumble, for instance, doesn't make them particularly accessible from a text search engine. Although, it is useful to see the process in a video. A text tutorial with a video to watch, as well, would be a very good method of handholding beginners to Linux.

:)

edit: You know what? I'm amazed that somebody hasn't automated that process already. Using a speech recognition program to extract the text from a video and have that visible directly to a search engine.
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Re: Penguin Producer Redesign

Post by reteo »

externalmidi wrote: Fri Nov 20, 2020 4:25 pm I don't know about the broader media landscape, particularly. As far as the Linux landscape is concerned, then tutorials on how to migrate from Photoshop to GIMP/Glimpse would be really useful, as would tutorials on how to migrate VSTs from Windows to Linux. Even just Windows migration in general. One thing the Linux landscape is still quite short on is well-written text tutorials that are easily discoverable on the web. This is mainly an SEO problem. Having video-only tutorials siloed on Youtube, Peertube or Rumble, for instance, doesn't make them particularly accessible from a text search engine. Although, it is useful to see the process in a video. A text tutorial with a video to watch, as well, would be a very good method of handholding beginners to Linux.
I can only go so far on that end... I've been exclusively Linux-using since before Windows 95, so everything I know is Linux. Even with my college education, I used my Linux tools for all the necessary projects, and the results were enough for me to get my telecommunications degree. I know a lot about the Linux side of things, but I really don't have the information on the Windows or Mac OS sides to assist in transitioning.
externalmidi wrote: Fri Nov 20, 2020 4:25 pm edit: You know what? I'm amazed that somebody hasn't automated that process already. Using a speech recognition program to extract the text from a video and have that visible directly to a search engine.
How often have you used voice-to-text? Have you enabled YouTube's captioning? It's not a precise science yet. And I've worked with a company that does transcriptions. The sound quality is sometimes bad enough that even my human ears has a hard time piecing things together.
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Re: Penguin Producer Redesign

Post by glowrak guy »

I find that people who are passionate on some given topic(s),
and become good communicators, will draw readers, listeners, viewers,
and partners into their topic, and/or their passions. I once came across a pair
of team sportscasters, who were a delight to listen to, even though the sport
was meaningless to me. They were honest, clever, witty, synpathetic, and full
of related knowledge and statistics, and their presentations are never dissapointing.
They love what they do.

There is a radio talk show with co-hosts who've been together for years,
but the energy, devotion, and good will with which they communicate transcends
the topics at hand. It's always a pleasure to tune in.

If you devote your presentations to what interests you, you'll find that
the best ways to present one topic, may not suit some other topic. Video, sound, photos
text, and live interaction, all can have a place, and the content will frame compelling passion.
Regularity and consistancy will reward your fans, who will become loyal fans,
and the fun escalates from there. When exclusivity and superiority arise,
it is best to leave them alone to their own means. People need help, and crave encouragement,
and time is short. As the saying goes, nobody guarantees us another tuedsay :wink:
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Re: Penguin Producer Redesign

Post by khz »

One aspect would also be the autonomous availability of content. It could be that if you centralize information on platforms like Youtube you might not be able to download it for offline documentation or that the platform will bring other innovations or even be discontinued.
Decentralized information on the net (different platforms/HP/...) in different forms/formats would be my vote.
I still like to read your content today. Also to be able to remember past days/techniques and to be able to understand the technical chronological course, the ideas of that time ... .
. . . FZ - Does humor belongs in Music?
. . GNU/LINUX@AUDIO ~ /Wiki $ Howto.Info && GNU/Linux Debian installing >> Linux Audio Workstation LAW
  • I don't care about the freedom of speech because I have nothing to say.
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Re: Penguin Producer Redesign

Post by reteo »

Okay, here's what I am thinking of... if anyone has any background, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

For the main site, I will focus on making it a Mastodon instance. The idea is that this will allow me to combine original articles with content curation in a way that doesn't end up looking like I just cribbed the stuff. That way, the content keeps coming, even if I'm not the one writing it. If I open it up, I'm sure others can also do some curation on the Penguin Producer concept.

For writing articles, I'm kinda leaning toward WriteFreely. This tool is integrated with ActivityPub, meaning that it will interact with the Mastodon instance, providing a more comprehensive comment section, as well as integration into the larger Fediverse and a way to bring my own content and curated content together.

For music and video, I'm not going to even attempt to host those directly; I am not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination, and I can only imagine what the bandwidth costs of video and audio would be like. I'll just stick to YouTube and SoundCloud for now.

The basic idea is this: I use the Mastodon instance for the purpose of posting simpler thoughts and links to curated content. Then, I use WriteFreely to write my articles (as I did in Wordpress in the past), but this time, I will also use those articles as scripts to produce videos posted on YouTube. I will embed the video in the WriteFreely post, and then link to it in the Mastodon instance.

Again, if anyone has any experience with these platforms, I'd love to hear their thoughts on it.
Lampros Liontos (aka Reteo Varala)

The Penguin Producer - Tips, tricks and techniques for producing multimedia with Linux.
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