Replying to Katie. *I noticed that you are not on the chandler-users@ list -- subscribing to that list and reading up on the archives would be a good way to catch up on conversations about how people are using Chandler.* ** I think you're right. I've subscribed to Chandler's users list.
*As we discussed earlier, these two activities could be combined a bit -- use the user stories as ideas for the demo scripts, etc.* *Mimi and Sheila will likely be working on similar activities. It would be interesting to get a fresh take and see what someone else would do with a demo and/or screencast.* ** I have combined some of the ideas that you have mentioned and present it below. I would like to get feedback on the relevancy, or there lack of--for Chandler. Chandler Gallery The idea is to have a gallery (along the lines of: Get testimonials from users: text and/or video), ideally Video, for users to show-off unique ways that they have been able to use Chandler. I'm not attached to any one specific way to do this. I could see many benefits from both a marketing perspective and in terms of resources for us to allow users to put their videos in YouTube or google video and just allow them to put links in Chandler's website. Katie's requirements: > - Create a demo script and/or a screencast of a demo > - Get testimonials from users: text and/or video > - Write up feedback from users on the new website designs that Mimi is > working on (once she sends them out) > - User documentation > - Evangelism/Marketing *How I feel this idea addresses the requirements that you mention above:* - This would allow users to give their testimonials. I think we should have flexiblity to allow users to submit screenshots, audio, video, text. - Marketing/Evangelism would be from multiple angles from the Chandler website and from Youtube, google video, etc. Other blogs, etc. - As users put their video's up and show how they organize information in chandler this would naturally demo Chandler's functionality - This would also serve as an (advanced) User doc. Going through a cut and dry 'how to use Chandler' is ok to begin with for the basics of setting up and understanding functionalty. But beyond that, it's so much more interesting to see someone else's personal 'art work' and understand how to make Chandler work for them. Let the beauty of the 'art work' (how other people user Chandler) inspire new 'artists' (new chandler users) to learn about complex 'painting' techniques (using Chandler to benefit them self) - Have functionality for voting on the videos (how google video and Youttube have). Also allow users to post comments on each video. This would be a natural way for Chandler core team to receive feedback *Advantages of this idea:* The nice thing about this idea is that it would be user driven for the most part. All we would do is set up the framework and the gallery. By using existing frameworks like Youtube, we could get the gallery flying in no time. It would be very exciting and rewarding to see people coming up with creative uses for Chandler. I know I would definitely regularly go to get pointers of how I could improve on getting more out of Chandler. *For Chandler Team* We would facilitate users to put their ideas in a "Chandler Use-case gallery" where other users can vote on "usability", "innovation of idea", "originality", "ease of use of idea" etc. As other users start to vote for which videos are more desireable/less that would give the support team in Chandler invaluable data on which functionalities are hitting home and which aren't. If users can post comments, we'll understand the 'why' too. ** *For end users:* It would be an ego boost to users as they compete to be the top voted idea for 'Using Chandler'. I know I would definitely be competing hoping to find the latest creative way to use Chandler so that my video would be top rated in the Chandler Gallery. The above idea is based on this theory: Marketing that works for traditional software doesn't work for Chandler because we are different I have been reading through many different blogs in about Chandler and one difficulty I am seeing that we have is a recurring theme about the difficulty in marketing and appealing to target users about Chandler. The question everyone seems to be asking is: "How do we get more people interested in Chandler?" *Why Chandler is not like traditional project/time management software* Traditionally, when we talk about a target user for a software that helps with organization, we are talking about someone with analytical skills that is good at "figuring out the software and then is able to adapt him/her self to how it works." That's how Excel, MS Project, etc work. You figure out the rules of the system and then adapt what you want to do to how the software system does the entire time you use the software. But that is not the target user for Chandler (from what I've understood). Chandler asks the user to initially make a little investment into understanding the product, but after that, the tool is supposed to be flexible enough to be whatever it is the user wants it to be. *Traditional Software Compared to Math & Computer programming: *In other words, to draw an analogy, if traditional software used for organizing was more like math. In math & computer programming there are rigid rules that you have to master before you can do anything. And anything you do is limited by those rules, and you never break it. You have to be very innovative, analytical (and a lot of education) and have that kind of aptitude to translate your day to day requirements as a user into a mathematical model. That's how computer programming works. *Chandler Compared to Art* Chandler is more like art class (or cooking class) than math class. In art, sure you have to take the time to learn a few of the tools (ingredients) and colors and crafts but just mastering these things is not enough. To really make use of Chandler, you need creativity a lot more than analytical skills. Chandler has an amazing ability to be able to represent your way of thinking in a very customized (personal) way. I think a lot of people are so used to the traditional way of thinking about software that this concept of innovation & being able to choose how you think of organizing is almost intimidating. I wonder if a lot of people think "Just tell me what it does and I'll just think that way." Flexibility gives the user the option to "make mistakes." There are people who don't want that responsibility (even in relation with themselves). But when you see other people's examples, it so much easier to model yourself from a live example that you can watch on video. *How do you market and encourage people to us Art Products?* So what I'm saying is that if you want people to buy your art products so that they will want to be artists (chandler users), you first have to inspire them with art (amazing ways people are benefitting from Chandler today). I think we need to see lots and lots of examples of art work on Chandlers Gallery. It's when you see these type of personal use case examples that people's own thinking will start to make connections. "Oh, I can do that. Hey I could use that." "Oh that's a cool way to use it." "You mean to say I can do that?" Chandler becomes whatever in the hands of the person using it. It becomes whatever it needs to be in the hands of a innovative and creative person. So what I feel we need is stories. Lots of stories of how people like you and me are making Chandler work for us in working and collaborating. There needs to be a culture around 'creative uses of Chandler.' And from there you almost start a competition to come up with the most original and useful ways to use Chandler. You get other people voting on what's the most innovative use of Chandler. And the Core chandler team changes our focus based on this type of valuable feedback. Your thoughts on this? And please don't hesitate to be direct on this. I don't mind criticism when I have confidence the other person knows where I'm coming from :-). The sooner I understand the constraints, the faster I will be able to be more effective as a team member. Praj *Katie said:* *Hi Praj,* *Thinking about this a bit more, I'm guessing that the first two items would make the best initial projects.* *I noticed that you are not on the chandler-users@ list -- subscribing to that list and reading up on the archives would be a good way to catch up on conversations about how people are using Chandler.* *We have a set of screencasts here: **http://chandlerproject.org/Projects/PreviewDemos*<http://chandlerproject.org/Projects/PreviewDemos> *A bit more about the tasks: - Demo script: At minimum, a series of actions someone might take when giving a live demo of Chandler. You could also create sample data to start out with (saving it to a *.chex file that could be reloaded by the demo-er).* *- Screencast: like the above screencasts, a walkthrough of a demo with a voice over and/or explanatory text* *- Testimonials from users: interview users, get quotes. Take videos of people using Chandler. This might require a little legwork in that you'd have to find some users who were willing to talk with you -- the users list is a good place to start.* *As we discussed earlier, these two activities could be combined a bit -- use the user stories as ideas for the demo scripts, etc.* *Mimi and Sheila will likely be working on similar activities. It would be interesting to get a fresh take and see what someone else would do with a demo and/or screencast.* *Cheers, Katie*
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