Yes Bill we certainly need videos... I am working on some, and we have a new contributor starting work on one, but we need help.
Even the video on the gallery page is dated. The biggest collection of videos is at olpc.tv I want to make a short film of every netbook I have booting Strawberry; some OEMs may be unaware that their hardware runs Sugar, for example look at Mike Lee's photo from NECC: http://www.flickr.com/photos/curiouslee/3677112272/ I'd like to edit short screencast films about usage scenarios showing collaboration. A film showing procedures such as downloading the Strawberry ISO, loading it, booting it would be useful too the screenshot I'm referring to is this one: http://www.sugarlabs.org/index.php?template=gallery&page=media_03 I guess I should call it Groups View :-) thanks Sean On Fri, Jul 3, 2009 at 8:28 AM, Bill Kerr<[email protected]> wrote: > Thanks for detailed and comprehensive report Sean. I hadn't understand the > importance of visuals and your report explained that very clearly. > > btw your report doesn't contain any links - I found the gallery page > http://www.sugarlabs.org/index.php?template=gallery&page=gallery but still > wasn't sure what you meant by this: > a great many websites carried screenshots of Buddy View with > collaboration; the large colorful icons in that screenshot kept their > visual code when thumbnailed, better than the Neighborhood View > > I guess your are referring to either the Groups or Journal screenshot? > > I had a look at the videos here: http://www.dailymotion.com/sugarlabs and > noticed that they don't have sound. Sound would improve them a lot. > > Related: I recently did a search for xo videos for a presentation - there > are a lot out there (you tube) and I found it difficult to find good ones. > Most are too general and often the quality is poor. In the end the ones I > picked out were either professionally done (eg. David Pogues NYT) or had an > interesting twist of gimick, eg. 9yo evaluating the xo or joel's video > showing two kids pulling it apart and putting it back together > > Possibly some high quality, high profile videos - some illustrating specific > interesting features or with an original creative twist (educational > bloggers might pick up on that) - would help promotion of sugar. > > On Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 7:42 PM, Sean DALY <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> We have had a successful media launch of the Strawberry release of >> SoaS; coverage is ongoing a week after the launch. >> >> I feel very strongly that a successful launch like this can only work >> if everyone is on board together, from developers to marketers, from >> packagers to designers, so I have preferred starting this integrated >> thread rather than continuing David's separate threads; I also feel >> that the longer-term SoaS-distro issue should be discussed separately. >> Although we did manage to avoid confusion from the last-minute >> timetable change through some hard work, we may not be so lucky next >> time; communication between teams is vital, especially as we grow. >> Routine work should of course stay compartmentalized, but I am >> convinced the key to a launch's success (aside from great software :-) >> is that we all pull together and make an extra effort at launch time, >> pulling back after launch. >> >> Coverage began with an article in MIT Technology Review a few hours >> before the press release went out; we were Slashdotted several hours >> later. This was followed by a BBC News report the day of the release, >> and we have been picked up around the world every day since by tech >> media, bloggers, and even some Spanish language print newspapers. >> >> I want to share some observations, and mention several techniques we >> used this time which multiplied coverage, as well as some missed >> opportunities. Comments are encouraged pleased. >> >> >> * Press release editing. >> We got the PR done 30 minutes before the Friday evening deadline and I >> thank Walter, Fred, David, and Caroline for their very helpful >> co-editing with me directly on the Google Docs document and IRC >> discussion. I had been concerned about an Activities positioning issue >> and we made a good choice through consensus. We were able to trim 150 >> words in the final minutes yet the final release had enough >> information to interest editors worldwide. >> >> >> * Prelaunch journalist briefings. >> Some journalists were briefed with the releases beforehand, under >> embargo. This common practice gives them time to decide if they want >> to work up a story or not and provides an opportunity for direct >> discussion with us for background and quotes. It also provides >> precious lead time for us to provide visuals (journalists won't waste >> time fishing, and without visuals will just google and snatch the >> first thing they find, including bad logos and dated screenshots). >> >> >> * The last-minute timetable change. >> We successfully spun the move of v1 from the "Q3 in the fall" to June >> as "part of the plan" and diverted some attention from the numbering >> with the Strawberrry code name which was universally liked. Only one >> news site noticed we had changed our story, and their coverage arrived >> late; journalists who have been following us kindly didn't bring it >> up. That said I can't stress enough that our very wide coverage was a >> direct result of our simplification of the numbering system to >> "beta-1" and "v1"; most news sites judged this release as our first >> major milestone since the creation of Sugar Labs. I agree with David >> and Caroline that our next major media push should stress content over >> technical info to generate teacher interest. As part of avoiding >> last-minute crises in the future, to avoid surprises I sent the press >> release to all the lists before it went out on the wires. The >> marketing team work is of course available to all. >> >> >> * Launch datelined LinuxTag Berlin. >> Do a Google News search in English on "LinuxTag"... you will notice >> that our launch is the only widely aggregated news. In other words, no >> one else did a media launch in English from LinuxTag with coverage as >> wide as ours. This was effective because it showed that we are mobile, >> e.g. with roots in but not anchored to the Cambridge base. We also >> managed to create a "halo effect" for GNU/Linux; several articles >> including the BBC piece mentioned distributions. Although we make the >> choice (correct in my view) to not place priority on our FOSS nature, >> preferring to stress education, we raised the profile of Fedora with >> half a dozen articles which reported that information. The coverage >> gave us a boost at the booth, and the design sprint starring Gary and >> Mike helped us to have focused marketing materials for both LinuxTag >> and NECC. >> >> >> * Targeted mailing list bigger with each launch. >> We have a simple rule: anyone who writes about Sugar and/or OLPC gets >> onto the list. We are at 500 names and to date have received only two >> requests for removal (one from a small news outlet where other >> journalists remain on-list, one stating the address used is not the >> best one for PR submissions). We have very complete coverage of tech >> journalists, but spotty coverage of education news outlets including >> blogs, so I am turning my attention to that. Some journalists and >> bloggers who treated us unfairly in the past are not on the list or >> are sent the PR afterwards; of course, writers of tough but fair >> coverage get the PR like everybody else. Note that as most journalists >> receive dozens of such press releases every day, occasionally a >> journalist will learn of us through another news article, then search >> her mail to find our unread release before trying to find our press >> page. >> >> >> * Multilanguage PR in targeted press mailings. >> The press release went out in 5 languages: English, Spanish, French, >> Italian, and German. Bravo to the translators who provided me the text >> before the deadline! This was extremely effective in obtaining wide >> coverage, many sites digested the press release in the local language. >> Coverage in Brazil was late, I am convinced we would have had more >> coverage earlier if we had had a Portugese translation available (we >> still don't). Unfortunately, Christian was unable to post the >> translations to the press page, see next point. >> >> >> * Bottleneck problem for SL homepage and press page. >> Christian is very booked up with the little one and his work and has >> not been able to post the press release translations or a homepage >> callout for SoaS, as well as other agreed-upon requests such as a >> homepage link to the gallery page instead of to the QuickTime movie, >> the sitewide navbar, and links to visuals on the press page. We would >> have had even wider coverage with translated press releases up, and we >> need to examine how to avoid this bottleneck in the future. I myself >> did not find the time to prepare PDFs which include our logo and the >> PR visual and ideally our back catalogue of PR should be translated >> too, I may put these in the "one-hour contribution" section. >> >> >> * Availability of visuals. >> The fabulous SoaS beauty shot by my friend the talented Philippe >> Cantiniau and topped by Gary and Christian's last-minute work on the >> Strawberry "sugar on a stick" logo text was very widely carried by >> news outlets including the BBC because of its shininess, and >> apparently the confusion we feared between SoaS the ISO and the >> branded USB stick was not widespread - every article I saw mentioned >> it was freely available for download. It's sometimes debated that >> nonprofit libre software should not glorify "products", especially at >> the expense of software, but any observer should see that the OLPC >> XO-1 beauty shots had an enormous impact in raising awareness. Also, a >> great many websites carried screenshots of Buddy View with >> collaboration; the large colorful icons in that screenshot kept their >> visual code when thumbnailed, better than the Neighborhood View. I >> opened a Flickr stream for my Sugar-themed photos just before the >> launch and the BBC photo of the XO and Intel Classmate running Sugar >> came from there; I will add some screenshots too. I would like the >> press page to link to that photostream and Mike Lee's as well, >> journalists really like finding CC content they can use. >> >> >> * PR image hosted on SL site and not distributed with release. >> We fell down on getting our visuals well referenced. Fortunately many >> (but by no means most) journalists and bloggers followed the hyperlink >> in the press release, but Google Image searches are disappointing; a >> major Chinese news site published an old draft logo. The clear >> solution is 1) distribute an image itself as well as the link with the >> eReleases/PR Newswire release, as we did with the March release logo >> and screenshot, 2) as mentioned above make visuals easily findable on >> the press page and in the website gallery. >> >> >> * USB boot issue on older computers. >> Slashdot readers who did not RTFA complained of SoaS's uselessness >> with old PCs unable to boot from USB (due to BIOS limitation, I have a >> PC like that myself). Fortunately, clueful commenters informed readers >> about the boot helper CD. We reacted quickly by updating the >> Strawberry page and other pages of the wiki, with callouts about the >> boot helper CD; we were unable to change Christian's homepage as >> described above. In the future, we will want to have a Boot Helper CD >> visual available. The BBC article was updated three times during the >> day of the launch, and one of the running updates added info about the >> boot helper CD. >> >> >> * Wiki pages not quite ready at launch. >> The Strawberry page was posted as the release went out, but was poorly >> referenced from the wiki homepage, the Sugar on a Stick page, and the >> press release itself. Updates were quickly added, but it will be much >> better in future to get this done at least 2-3 days before media >> launch; remember, some briefed journalists have the PR under embargo >> and will evaluate us based on the status of what is online. >> >> >> * Video of SoaS booting. >> One site did a home video of loading SoaS to a stick and booting it; >> this was very quickly widely referenced, which shows that either we >> don't have a good vid like that ourselves, or a publication has more >> credibility on the subject than we do, or both :-) >> >> >> * Mac compatibility. >> We were late in getting the updated VDI and instructions online. Mac >> users are a vocal lot :-) and are used to things just working so any >> efforts we can make to ease the Mac experience will help us with >> coverage. Many journalists write on Macs and some key articles in the >> past had screenshots from a Mac VM. Perhaps one of us (Dave B, Gary, >> Caroline, myself) could be a Mac emissary to the development team? >> >> >> * School server. >> We mentioned the school server in the PR, which has all the potential >> to be a solid solution with SoaS but requires work. Tech journalists >> didn't follow up on that in depth, but we need to work out how that >> support will be part of the SoaS ecosystem. >> >> >> * Perception of Sugar Labs as a company, or as part of OLPC. >> We slip the word "nonprofit" into our PR often, but we still see >> perceptions that SL is a company or is part of OLPC. Our homepage is >> clear on the latter, but unclear on the former, so we need to reflect >> that. >> >> >> * No OLPC briefing beforehand. >> The authors of the key articles in this launch sought comment from >> OLPC, who provided an odd statement from Professor Negroponte, odd >> enough that it was heavily edited or truncated by the journalists. The >> BBC published more of the quote than anyone, obliging us to respond >> that NN hadn't understood the tech. The statement did not make sense >> and was out of phase with what is currently under development, namely >> a Gnome/Sugar choice of default desktop similar to Apple's OS9/OSX >> solution of a few years ago. We are in contact with OLPC's PR people >> so as to smooth bumps prior to launches; perhaps Adam Holt can help us >> in this regard as well. >> >> >> * Infrastructure performance issues. >> The sites held up well due to infrastructure steps taken by the David, >> Bernie, Marten, and the Systems Team (torrent, mirroring, monitoring); >> hopefully we will not be swamped by the Chinese coverage which is >> growing quickly. >> >> >> * Coverage reporting. >> With each launch, I enumerate links to coverage; aside from >> celebrating :-), this serves a dual purpose: 1) enable local language >> speakers to evaluate quality of coverage, most useful when there is >> negative coverage (happily not the case this time), 2) simplify the >> later work of adding contacts to our targeted mailing list. However, >> the (unexpected!) volume of coverage was such that one member of the >> community complained. The suggestion was made to create a wiki page, >> but that doesn't help as far as identifying good, mediocre, bad, and >> indifferent (i.e. reprint of PR) coverage - it would never be to our >> advantage to publish ratings of journalists' work (all PR firms and >> corporate communication departments maintain journalist profiles, but >> in the strictest secrecy for obvious reasons). I liked the suggestion >> to regroup coverage in batches, and from five days after the release >> (when the risk of negative coverage was greatly reduced) I sent the >> batches to the marketing list only and not IAEP. I was very pleased to >> receive links from Carlo and Raul to coverage I would have missed in >> their countries; it's best-practice since I can then add the >> journalists to the list. Everyone's help in spotting coverage is >> appreciated during a launch and spotting negative coverage early is >> critical. >> >> >> * No coverage on some key tech sites. >> Some tech publications did not cover us this time, or came late to the >> party despite having received the targeted mailing. I have identified >> the sites in question and will add journalists to the list. In the >> case of OLPCNews, my impression after an exchange with Wayan (he's >> just published by "focus group" post) is that his daily coverage and >> proximity to the OLPC/Sugar Labs projects hid the significance of the >> release to the wider tech world. >> >> >> * Press-contactable. >> Our press page mail alias and softphone phone number, although >> sparsely used, enabled the BBC and a few others to reach us >> immediately. >> >> >> * Site statistics. >> I've chosen to not prioritize this for now (aside from worrying if we >> will have a China meltdown); Bernie provided me with a graph that said >> it all. In future I'd like to check the site stats during the launch >> period and report metrics to the marketing team, in particular the >> number of SoaS ISO downloads. Dailymotion page views seem small, >> indicating we need more content in there. >> >> >> * Contributor recruitment. >> The USA volunteers site, and our wide coverage, worked together to >> persuade several people to propose contributing to Sugar Labs. This is >> an excellent development and shows the positive impact wide coverage >> can have in other areas such as funding and partnerships. >> >> >> Please reply with comments and suggestions, especially ideas about how >> to obtain better coverage in education publications, blogs, social >> media, and newspapers. >> >> >> thanks >> >> >> Sean >> Sugar Labs Marketing Coordinator >> _______________________________________________ >> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) >> [email protected] >> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > > > _______________________________________________ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) [email protected] http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
