Hi Matt, I'm glad you took this idea which we informally discussed at the training and ran with it! I think it is a brilliant idea and would love to see it happen. I took the liberty to post your idea to the Plone Marketing wiki, so that others can see and riff on it. http://www.openplans.org/projects/plone-marketing/the-ploneys
I will also add this to the list of topics to discuss on the next meeting with the Plone Foundation marketing committee. Nate 2009/2/14 Xavier Heymans <xav...@zeapartners.org> > Hi Matt, > It is a very good idea. One comments, maybe the list of "Suggested possible > categories" could be extended to include non technical expertize. > > Xavier > > > On 11 Feb 2009, at 21:39, Matt Fisher wrote: > > Hi list, > An idea came up very informally at the Jazkarta Developer Training in > Montreal last month. I've thought about it enough since then to post it > here. I did check and haven't seen it mentioned in the list archive, but I > imagine some discussion on this topic has happened at least once. I've tried > to flesh out some of the angles for sake of discussion, but what follows is > meant only as a first poke. Here's the idea: > > *Proposal: *1st Annual Ploney Awards > *File under: *Marketing, viral and social > *What is it: *Lightweight, semi-serious recognition for outstanding > products, contributions and innovations in the Plone community in several > categories. > *How it might work: *Open submission process would involve > self-certification on a relative scale of best-practice-ness. Finalists > (say 4-6) in each category chosen from the open submission pool would be > required to write/post/present a short case study and perhaps a walkthrough > of the code as a minisymposium/code fair for display at/for the annual > conference. Final general voting takes place online sometime near the > conference timeline. Prizes are small, and hopefully fun. > (Pls note that my working assumption would be that this is to promote > contributions and involvement from developers other than hardcore experts. > Of course, that's a soft line to draw and probably just reflects my > assumptions about who knows how much.) > *When*: Winners to be announced at annual (fall) Plone worldwide > conference. Open submission period begins yearly on, say, World Plone Day in > the spring. Finalists announced and final voting period some time relative > to annual worldwide conference. > *Suggested possible categories:* > Newbie add-on product (Best 1st time submission from new developer(s) of a > new product), > Newbie theme, > Newbie flavor (where flavor = customization of Plone buildout or site > policy to turn it into something that doesn't immediately resemble an > out-of-box Plone), > Best overall add-on product, > Best theme, > Best flavor, > Best whole number product release, > Next big thing (for innovations not ready for production, but super > exciting anyway), > Best developer utility > (would probably recommend against conferring something like a VIP award-- > would rather focus on solutions & innovations, not persons/personalities) > > *Business case: * > *The best-of-breed angle:* > On various lists, there's an ongoing discussion about identifying and > promoting good, forward-looking contributions. From the viewpoint of > community development, the idea about having awards isn't so much about > getting the 'best' stamp as much as it is about making a public display of > what is meant by 'Plone best-of-breed.' The idea of self certification and > then open voting hopefully sidesteps the argument against Plone Foundation > endorsing or formally certifying projects. And, if finalists and winners are > encouraged to explain their code/design/use cases, hopefully info on > best-of-breed thinking disseminates and inspires. > *The fellowship angle:* > It's easy to think that unless you're a core/full-time/jedi developer who > understands all the ins & outs, you're not really, really contributing to > the wider community. Some small, community-originated kudos to a larger > bunch of people is a good thing. Potentially, it extends a source of pride > to developers who are expanding the reach of Plone in ways other than "core" > development. Also, newbie categories would give an indication of reasonable > first horizons for less experienced folks. > *The (re)engagement angle:* > It's probably a bit much to expect the first go around, but having a > structure & timeline to bounce off of may eventually encourage revisiting > code changes that need to checked in, or betas to finalize, etc., if this > thing takes hold. > *The viral marketing angle:* > Make an incentive for developers to tinker with a few products, themes or > buildouts they may have missed. Give people a simple reason to talk up plone > on their facebook page, their blog, or on twitter. Make '2009 Ploney > finalist' and '2009 Ploney winner' website badges that could generate viral > attention. Make a facebook voting app or badge, etc. Let people solicit > testimonials if they want. Give a reason for a press release, and a > timeframe that generates a little buzz for the conference. > *The fun angle:* > If it's framed as an edutaining display of creative problem solving and not > so much a competition, then this could be a lot of fun. Fun == good. > *The academic angle:* > 3rd party development influences the direction of the crowd. I'd think > there'd be some intrinsic value in having a yearly snapshot of commendable > contributions as a way to diagram the evolution of Plone. > > > Of course, this is a sketch, and experience tells me that semi-competitive > things make some people happy and others very angry. I do think there's a > way to do this that's seen more as cooperative/celebratory than competitive, > & I think that would be the angle to explore. I'd be willing to work on this > if there are a couple more people who think it's worth pursuing. > > What do you think? > > Cheers, > > Matt Fisher > > * > * > > > > _______________________________________________ > Evangelism mailing list > Evangelism@lists.plone.org > http://lists.plone.org/mailman/listinfo/evangelism > > > > _______________________________________________ > Evangelism mailing list > Evangelism@lists.plone.org > http://lists.plone.org/mailman/listinfo/evangelism > > -- Nate Aune - na...@jazkarta.com http://nateaune.com (personal blog) http://jazkarta.com (open source technology solutions) http://twitter.com/natea (daily updates)
_______________________________________________ Evangelism mailing list Evangelism@lists.plone.org http://lists.plone.org/mailman/listinfo/evangelism
