User:Zabek/Getting Miqra Started

Here are some basic steps and things we need to consider about starting up a website:


 * 1) Getting a wiki website: The very first thing we need is someone who has the expertise to get us the appropriate web address and upload the software. This entire proposal is based on the assumption that we will be a wiki, and that we will use Wikimedia software (for technical details on setting it up, see: User's Guide and installation). However, even this is not at all clear until we all agree upon it. Right now even that is only a suggestion, and maybe people have other good ideas. The main person who needs to consider this most, of course, is the person who will deal with websites and software.
 * 2) Going online: Using Wikimedia software, when the website initially goes online it will have nothing more than empty "stub" pages in the various languages spoken by the initial contributors (apparently Hebrew, French, and English).
 * 3) Building a Parashah Index: The initial contributors will build a user-friendly Main Index for Torah Readings, Haftarot, Megillot, and the books of Tanakh in each language domain.
 * 4) Uploading Sample Recordings: The initial contributors will select one of the weekly parashiyot, its haftarah, and also one short megillah (Ruth?) and produce a number of recordings with cantillation by several different readers for each text. The readings will then be uploaded to the website and linked to the Main Index.
 * 5) Going Public: When the user-friendly Parashah Index and sample recordings for one full parashah are finished, then we can "go public"! We can advertise ourselves on various discussion groups and websites by saying: "Look at the sample parashah already online. FEEL FREE to download it and listen to it offline. YOU TOO can donate your OWN recording of a Parashah, a Haftarah, or a Megillah! Here is how to do it using our Index…"
 * 6) Even before we are ready to "go public," other interested people may find our wiki website and want to help. We should encourage them to do so!
 * 7) Expenses: There are some monetary expenses in setting up a website, even with volunteers like ourselves. As far as I know, getting the domain name (web address) involves paying a fee (I don’t think it costs very much money). Plus we have to consider bandwidth, which is the "load" involved in uploading and downloading relatively big audio files for recordings (and it costs money). Initially, with just a few sample recordings, it shouldn’t cost too much, but if we succeed and grow bigger then it could end up costing a significant amount in the future. So we need to discuss how we are going to fund at least the initial costs, which will probably be relatively small, among ourselves.
 * 8) Once we have something to show for ourselves, we may be able to find a web host that will be willing to host a volunteeer public service project like this.

Current Suggestions for Web Hosting
(It looks like the overall price range is pretty clear.)
 * Infomaniac (suggested by IL)
 * Host Excellence

Prerequisite tools
Note that to install MediaWiki you need four components:
 * MySQL - an SQL database to store the Wiki text, user list etc.
 * Apache - a web server to serve the HTML web pages
 * PHP - the programming language that MediaWiki is written in
 * MediaWiki itself, which is a suite of programs written in PHP

The above sites seem to provide MySQL and PHP. They don't mention anything about Apache. But I really know to little about this whole area.

Storing Audio at other locations
Our material meets the criterion to be stored at other locations meant for open-source audio. Actual uploading and downloading could be done there, while we provide the quality-control for the links. Two possibilities:


 * Wikimedia Commons - for files in Ogg Vorbis only (.ogg)
 * Internet Archive (Open Source Audio collection)