Hello, Nishit. I'm not sure what kind of response you were looking for. I
volunteered to be on the program planning committee for the upcoming Code4Lib
meeting, so part of me wants to respond from a program planning perspective.
I'm also a member of the anarchistic Code4Lib community, so I want to respond
from that one-person/one-vote perspective as well. So here is a reply with the
two perspectives rolled into one.
From the first perspective, this probably isn't the ideal mailing list to
bring up the question of scheduling this into the meeting. The meeting
planning is happening on the code4libcon Google Group
(http://groups.google.com/group/code4libcon). Hopefully you have been in
touch with the Code4Lib meeting hosts to see if they have any concerns or
objections to what you are proposing. If not, I'd do so pronto!
From the second perspective, I see a couple of problems. First, the proposed
schedule has the prototype built during the meeting itself. Others may voice
otherwise, but I go to the meeting to absorb the content from presentations
and to network with attendees. So I, for one, wouldn't be interested in using
the time during the week on heads-down coding. (Others may feel otherwise,
obviously.) (Also note that Code4Lib typically hasn't had a heads-down coding
challenge during the meeting like what I've seen at the Open Repositories
meeting. Not that it couldn't be tried, but you'd be swimming against a
strong tide of tradition at this late date.) Second, all of the selections
are being done by Elsevier, which is out-of-character for a highly
participatory group like Code4Lib. You might want to revisit that part to see
if you can get community engagement at the selection stages as well.
Thanks for sponsoring the meeting last year and this year. I hope this
constructive criticism is helpful.
Peter
On Dec 29, 2011, at 2:20 PM, Bhuva, Nishit (ELS-NYC) wrote:
Hello Everyone,
My name is Nishit Bhuva and I am the Partner Development Manager in the
Developer Network team at Elsevier. I am sure many of the Code4Lib
members must be aware of SciVerse Applications
http://www.applications.sciverse.com/action/userhome that are
developed on the Elsevier platform. For the members who are new to this
platform, the apps on SciVerse basically assist researchers in
accelerating their scientific study by saving time and effort and
presenting targeted information, rather than having them go through the
vast amount of scientific data available.
We are very excited about the Code4Lib conference. Elsevier was one of
the sponsors for Code4Lib 2011 and we are also on the sponsors list for
Code4Lib 2012. Since SciVerse apps are excellent tools that bring
precise scientific information at the fingertips of researchers, we are
interested in engaging with all members of Code4Lib to use their
expertise and assist the scientific community in accelerating their
research. To facilitate the engagement with Code4Lib members, we are
interested in organizing an App Challenge prior to and during the 2012
conference. This challenge will give Code4Lib members an opportunity to
showcase their talents on a global platform. Below is a draft outline
for the challenge we are interested in organizing (this draft is open
for discussion).
Stage 1: Submit your concepts/ideas for an app.
* Concept/Idea submission begins on January 9, 2012.
* Deadline for submission will be January 31, 2012.
* Submissions should include a detailed concept/idea description
and poster/slides showing functionality of the app.
* Top 10-15 concepts/ideas will be selected by Elsevier.
* Entries could be as individuals/teams.
Stage 2: Build an app based on selected concepts.
* The poster/slides of selected entries will be displayed on all
days of the conference.
* Members of the winning teams will build apps during the 4 days
of the conference (February 6 - 9, 2012).
* End deliverable will be a working prototype of the app.
* Three winners will be selected by Elsevier
* Winners receive cash rewards after the conference.
* Entries could be as individuals/teams.
Some of you might be wondering that what happens to concept/ideas and
prototype apps that are not selected. The good news is, these go to the
SciVerse Labs Applications gallery where:
* The concepts can be used by any developer to build apps and,
* Original developers of app prototypes will have an opportunity
to continue their work.
I would be glad to hear from all members about their thoughts on this
challenge and also discuss other possibilities to engage during the
conference.
Happy Holidays to all !
Best,
Nishit
--
Peter Murray
Assistant Director, Technology Services Development
LYRASIS
peter.mur...@lyrasis.org
+1 678-235-2955
1438 West Peachtree Street NW
