As announced last week, a range of projects to improve and expand the PublicLaboratory.org are in the planning stages. Some are making good progress and may be testing some ideas in the next few weeks. Here's a recap:

Subscriptions

Since email notifications were activated, more conversations are happening on the website, as people subscribe to each others notes and discuss things in the comments. Planned improvements include putting clear "Subscribe" buttons around the site and an easier to find/use Subscriptions panel on user dashboards. (see lead image)

Read more on Github: https://github.com/jywarren/plots/issues/122

Posting research notes

Many ideas have been raised for how to simplify posting your research on the website, including better documentation (a video?) and making it very clear that posting a research note is the same as open sourcing your work. Also see plans for an improved rich text editor.

Read more on Github: https://github.com/jywarren/plots/issues/161

User dashboard redesign

Your user dashboard is currently just a place to post research notes and view the latest posts -- but here contributors are exploring how the dashboard might display your recent edits, watched topics, and overall be more inviting and intuitive for new users.

Read more on Github: https://github.com/jywarren/plots/issues/123

Tool page redesign

Tool pages present information on Public Lab tools, but they can get out-of-date and are more aimed at newcomers. Folks are discussing how tool pages could be more useful to active contributors and experimenters who are actively improving and extending tools.

Read more on Github: https://github.com/jywarren/plots/issues/138

As always, everyone is welcome to chip in -- especially people with gripes and complaints, because we want to solve them!