[wplug-board] Ideas for workshop/hackathon type events

Justin Smith justin at js-wordsmith.com
Wed Jun 19 11:35:24 EDT 2013


That's a very good base of suggestions, Pat. I agree with all of them. In particular, I'd like us to work on your idea for an organization management platform, but since the logistics for that would be difficult to work out, I think we're better off starting small and working our way up. 

The Web site is pretty much a "must have" because we cannot continue on with the wiki in such a state of disrepair. It reflects negatively on WPLUG's public image. The Android development idea would fit well with a GUM about Android, or maybe just about development in general. What Linux enthusiast wouldn't want to get started with programming? It's pretty hard to care about open source if you don't have at least some interest in the code.


On Tuesday, June 18, 2013 09:48:53 PM Pat Barron wrote:
> What I wonder is, even if we come up with a great idea, we'd need a 
> venue where it would be possible to do it.  Somewhere that:
> 
> * Could accommodate a small group of people (say, 6 to 10 participants) 
> for a full day, maybe even a full weekend
> * Would be a reasonably comfortable working space
> * Would have some sort of Internet access (preferably wireless) available
> * Wouldn't charge us an arm and a leg to use the space...
> 
> I am just at a loss right now as far as how we could find venues to 
> accommodate things like this.  

I've got the perfect solution: let's do something for a WPLUG member! Suppose that someone who saw my XBMC Raspberry Pi demonstration wanted to set up a multimedia streaming system at home, but he lacks the knowledge to do it. Enter WPLUG! We could go over to his place and put it together for him. It's free, the place is probably capable of accommodating a small group of people for a day, and you can almost guarantee that we'd have Internet access. And just think what a membership perk /that/ would be! It's sort of like a better take on InstallFest: the scope is much smaller, as it should be, given our past InstallFest attendance, and the recipient member can't complain about not being able to bring certain stuff since it's all there.

Since member hackathons would generate a lot of interest, we'd need a system to determine whose idea gets accepted. There are two potential options: a raffle or a merit system. 

For the raffle, let's say that every member who submits an idea gets one entry. If you recruit a member or work on a WPLUG project, you get an additional entry. That way, the people who do the most work are most likely to be rewarded. The raffle also means that people still have a fighting chance to win even if they aren't able to contribute as often as someone else.

For the merit system, we could use the same point score as the raffle, but the person with the highest point total automatically wins. If there's a tie, we fall back to a raffle. The merit system would reward the person who does the most work at the cost of possibly discouraging people who can't contribute as often.

Member hackathons would provide a real incentive to join, encourage participation, and foster a sense of community since we're going out of our way to help each other.
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