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May 06, 2008
Melb PC and me
This is a (very small) preview for Bleeding Edge visitors, and an explanation for my recent silence. As I posted earlier, I joined the Melb PC committee to do something about the blog, rather than just being critical (not that I'm apologising for being critical, but it was becoming increasingly apparent that the workload on the much-reduced committee was simply too great.)
Since then then the project has blown out, and now involves overseeing the complete re-organisation of the entire Web site. I've prepared a proposal which goes to the committee tonight, and assuming it's accepted, it's going to be pretty busy around here.
It's a massive task, and it won't happen unless we can gather a lot of support from all sections of the group. I think it's absolutely essential if Melb PC is to survive. If you're interested in the group's future and you have some spare time ... What are we talking about? Who has spare time these days? ... If you're prepared to help, let me know.
The plan is by no means complete, and I'm sure the group will be prepared to consider any suggestions, so if you have ideas, I'd love to hear them. I think we have an opportunity to do something that will create a fantastic community resource online, extend the influence and the reach of Melb PC, and be a lot of fun to be involved with.
For instance, I'd love to get the team which has done such a brilliant job on the Bleeding Edge forum involved. They know a lot about building a community, and managing a forum, which will be an essential element of the re-development.
More details after the meeting.
Posted by cw at May 6, 2008 11:19 AM
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Comments
So.... what transpired?
Posted by: anandasim ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://bleedingedge.com.au/blog/nav-commenters.gif)
at May 7, 2008 01:46 PM
Did it go as planned. On a side note, one thing the magazine is lacking is a programming section.
Posted by: Tim Hawthorne (n3v3rmiss) at May 7, 2008 08:40 PM
I think it's quite accurate to describe the response as enthusiastic. The entire committee seems to have thrown their support behind the project, and we'll all do a weekend workshop on it within a couple of weeks, before taking it to the SIG convenors' meeting and throughout the club.
So we're on our way. Our Matt has signalled his willingness to help, which is a great relief to me, because frankly I'm finding the load right now is just a bit too much for an old duffer like me. I'd really like some more volunteers. Right now, I'm looking at a proposal to have the site become an authority on consumer selection of electronic products. We've got the expertise, and if we allocated teams to various areas, and gave them some guidelines and resources, I think we could come up with something that would be very useful. I have to say that I don't think Choice does as good a job as it ought to in these areas. Why not Melb PC?
Posted by: cw at May 8, 2008 09:32 AM
What would a programming section look like, Tim? Who'd be able to write it?
Posted by: cw at May 8, 2008 04:06 PM
Great work Charles, on the very beginning of something that hopefully will become a great resource for PC users. Maybe a 'Green Guide' of the web !! ??
Posted by: member at May 8, 2008 05:36 PM
That sounds like a great idea Charles, maybe you should create a topic in the forums designated to Melb Pc. The first two topics could cover what needs to be done and allow people to volunteer for certain sections and the second topic can provide advice on how to improve the website or magazine.
Posted by: Tim Hawthorne (n3v3rmiss) at May 8, 2008 08:40 PM
That sounds like a great idea Charles, maybe you should create a topic in the forums designated to Melb Pc. The first two topics could cover what needs to be done and allow people to volunteer for certain sections and the second topic can provide advice on how to improve the website or magazine.
Posted by: Tim Hawthorne (n3v3rmiss) at May 8, 2008 08:57 PM
The programming section could consist of programs that can enable programming and provide reviews about them such as Eclipse v Netbeans etc. Also it can provide tutorials on writing good code, programming in different languages such as C and Java. But we should also consider web based programming and database programming so it should be able to cover PHP, JSP etc, mySQL.
So basically it can be a review of products, a tutorial and also best practices.
As to who will write it, there is probably many programming professionals out there that could write it, I myself know my way around certain programming languages, such as java, php, javacript, and mySQL. But I am no expert though and there will be better qualified people than me out there willing to give it a shot.
Posted by: Tim Hawthorne (n3v3rmiss) at May 9, 2008 03:59 PM