Or how about Hack Camp? We all go out in the woods with just our tents, laptops, solar panels, and satellite internet connections… *ducks for cover*
Seriously though Rogan, I love the idea. Justin On Jul 11, 2012, at 4:24 PM, Tara Robertson wrote: > This is an awesome idea. > > You might want to check out CurateCamp, something that the digital library > folks have been doing for a few years for some inspiration on format and how > to keep costs down: http://curatecamp.org > > I think they usually do it at a university over the summer to keep things > really cheap. I recall that participants stay in dorms and the total cost for > everything was about $50 (can't remember if it included basic food stuff). If > someone at a university (with a dorm) in a city that's an airport hub offered > to host, it could be pretty cheap. > > Cheers, > Tara > > On Wed, Jul 11, 2012 at 11:23 AM, <[email protected]> wrote: > Proposing the 2012 Evergreen "Hack-A-Way" > > As we closed out the last Evergreen conference the Oversight Committee > discussed looking at new ways to promote the common interests of the > community. As everyone knows, the Evergreen community is fairly young and as > it grows the Oversight Committee is finding it's way. The Oversight > Committee began as a way to put Evergreen's assets in the community's hands > and facilitate the local hosting of the annual conference. Today, I would > like to introduce a proposal for another task we would like to take upon > ourselves and for which I volunteer myself. > > I call it the Hack-A-Way, both because the goal is to facilitate hacking away > at the code and as a pun off a getaway. In short, the goal is to provide an > opportunity, at the midway point each year between conferences, for > developers to meet in person and to continue the momentum they develop at the > conference. This goal came directly out of the developer community, who find > in person collaboration is extremely useful. > > And frankly, promoting this labor benefits everyone. This can not be under > stated. I speak for the Oversight Committee when I say this is a good idea. > I speak for myself when I say this is a wonderful idea. > > So, how do we make this happen? > > I'm proposing a combination of use of a host's resources and soliciting funds > for this project. A working group is forming with some from the Oversight > Committee and some from the hosting site (once it's selected). > > So, is this like a developer conference? > > No. This will be much more low key, more motel than hotel and more take out > than fine dining. There won't be seminars or classes, unless they > spontaneously come out of the developers themselves. However, I will ask for > a local coordinator and ask for proposals from those willing to host it. > Those interested in hosting should send me an email stating their interest > and what they can provide (even meeting room space with Internet is valuable) > and who from their location can work with us. The most qualified hosting > site will be selected and we will work with them to select dates. > > How big are we talking? > > We're talking fairly small at first, though the more developers who can > attend on their own dimes and the more grants we can give out will increase > it's size I'm sure. The developer community itself isn't very large. > Really, they do a lot of work relative to their size. This first year we may > be looking at anywhere from half a dozen to two dozen. Hopefully, in future > years with more time to prepare we can grow it a little bit and I'm sure > ideas will come out of the developer community to use the event to it's > fullest advantage. > > Isn't this basically a hackfest? > > Yes. I'm suggesting a name because as we go for sponsorships having an > identifiable name is useful and the term hackfest is used very generically. > > So, what would funds go to? > > Everyone able to afford their own expenses would be expected to. Ideally, > otherwise grants would be given out to help cover travel, food and lodging. > How many expenses we can cover will be determined by the number of > sponsorships we can gather and the more we have attend the more sponsors we > can probably solicit from. Any excess funds will go the community pool. > > How would we qualify people? > > Well, other than requiring that it be developers, we haven't figured that out > yet. But doubling up on rooms is encouraged. > > What else will money be spent on? > > Not much, but I do hope to supply them with copious amounts of caffiene so > assume a snacks and refreshment budget. Awake coders are productive coders. > > Can non-developers attend? > > This is something we really need feedback from the development community on > but the goal at this time is for this to be an event for those who contribute > code to Evergreen and perhaps others active in the technical community, not > to make it a mini conference. > > So, where will this money come from? > > Our goal is to seek sponorships for the event. Individual donors can > certainly give small amounts but we also hope that Evergreen related > businesses and large institutions will be willing to buy sponorships since > this work directly benefits them. The hat will get passed around. We will > provide sponsorship levels and we will be working on finding ways to provide > exposure for those willing to pay for higher level sponsorships and thus > provide an incentive for donors to dig deep. > > > - Rogan Hamby > >
