Hi colleagues
Coincidentally there seems to have been some discussion about the newsletter elsewhere that I wasn't aware of, so apologies in case this group seems a bit disjointed to start with or if I'm repeating things that have already been covered.
As you'll see, I've got in mind that the target audience for the newsletter is not somebody who visits drupal.org regularly. And there's a lot that goes on with the website over the course of a month which it would be useful to bring to the attention of people who are early on in their use of drupal.
So, for example, I could see it would be useful to point to:
- case studies: which significant new drupal sites have been launched, who has done something different)
- events: what upcoming events are there (besides those at a local level), what reports of past events are available
- forums: which queries have generated an interesting debate or prompted resolving a new and generic issue
- groups: any new groups that might have an interest to a wide audience (or perhaps they've all be created?)
- modules: new modules that extend drupal functionality, significant modules that have been upgraded
- resources: what new podcasts, screencasts, tutorials, etc, are there that show people how to work with drupal
- media: what significant mentions have there been of drupal elsewhere lately, whose said nice things about it
- blogs: what insightful articles have there been on Drupal Planet, what issues are drupal insiders thinking about/working on
- announcements: major announcements that affect drupal or drupal.org
I'm not thinking of simply a list of links, but maybe all it needs is just a short sentence or two explaining what each is about or it's significance. If there were up to five items in each category it would quickly add up to 30-40 items which would be more than enough for most people to usefully look at.
Perhaps what I'm thinking of should better be classed as a summary rather than as a newsletter. Personally I'm not sure if it needs to be something where we regularly go out and elicit original content for each time as this seems as if we'd be making our life harder than it needs to be.
Do others share this as being the right direction and see as being useful? Is there something else missing?
Comments
In the "old school" style,
In the "old school" style, we had original content, a lot of tips, events, interviews and Development Bits (everyone last one of which I wrung out of chx). I think we should leave room to continue this style.
I'm also working closely with the Association to give small text ads in the newsletter in return for the advertisers donations to the Association. The current idea is these would go into reverse-bounties, so the newsletter would not only inform it's readers, it'd be paying for making Drupal even better, and paying to people who do the work!
Robin
Old School _and_ the New Hotness
I'm partial to both ideas, and I could see a very sustainable and relevant newsletter that consists of:
In the old school style:
- a topical article
- an interview
- tips and tricks / how to
And in the new hotness style:
- case studies / notable new sites ()
- events (this is common to both old and new styles, actually)
- groups (whether new or just active)
- new/updated modules
- learning resources
- news / announcements
I guess I'd advocate keeping it somewhat loose. I'd rather see that than have an issue get hung up because it's missing some piece that no one's inspired to produce at the time.
2-3 larger pieces in the old style, a learning piece or two, and then links to relevant and timely info (like a digest of the last month in the life of Drupal).
I guess the thing I like about SimonP's suggestion is that it has a potential to provide a lot of "in case you missed it" information. And I see the newsletter format as being uniquely suited for this sort of info.
mlsamuelson
ads
Small text ads would be a good idea too. I like the idea of them being ear-marked to reverse bounties (and that might make them easier to sell, and maybe at a higher premium than otherwise), but that's up to the DA of course.
Aaron Winborn
Advomatic, Web Design for Progressive Advocacy, Grassroots Movements, and Really Cool Causes
Aaron Winborn
Drupal Multimedia (my book, available now!)
AaronWinborn.com
Advomatic
I'd
really like to know about a group thats getting its thing on that I wasn't aware of, heated discussions, and possible misadventures. Kind a like gossip.
I'm waiting to see how your going to cram all the info into a couple of pages really!
:-)