Re: Propositions for articles/ideas

[Claus Schwarm <c schwarm gmx net>]

Hi, Vincent!

On Tue, 21 Mar 2006 21:32:55 +0100
Vincent Untz <vuntz gnome org> wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> I'd like to propose three ideas for GNOME Journal. Let me know if you
> think they're interesting and if it's okay to have this in the next
> issue.
> 
>   + have an editorial-like column. However, this would be written by
>     some people proposing an editorial. The idea is really to make it
>     easy to submit some thoughts about GNOME. It's already possible to
>     do this by submitting an article, however people don't think about
>     it this way. I'd be interested to send some propositions for such
>     a column ;-)
> 

Looking at your answer to Lucas, I like the idea to have more articles
similar to John's: Slightly subjective but from a well-educated
viewpoint. A good opinion-piece, so to say.

I think, such articles would rock but I'm not sure whether it makes
sense to make it a column.

 * Due to its layout, the GNOME Journal is not well suited for lots of
   columns. With 4 articles, we already are a heavy read. We wouldn't
   have much space left for other articles with 3 or 4 regular columns.

 * What you are looking for is tricky to organize, IHMO. When
   advertising this -- say: on Footnotes --, we may get bad opinion
   pieces. Just think of "TopDown" starting to bitch about GStreamer or
   so. Or somebody submitting stuff about Mono.

I'd really like to get your article. If you want more of them, why not
write about it in your blog? For example, what you liked about John's
article, that you're thinking to write one about community, too, and
that you'd like others to do so, too.

While you at it, we have a 'articles wanted section' in the wiki, and
our submission deadline for the next edition is April, the 1st.
Guidelines are available on the wiki. Don't forget to mention this when
you're blogging about it. ;-)


>   + create a "How I got there?" regular section. The idea here would be
>     to let people explain how they got involved in GNOME, what they
>     found hard/easy, what they love/hate, etc. There's already a good
>     candidate for a first article (Joachim, who's been rocking on the
>     docs) :-)
>     This would be an interesting complement to the current "Behind the
>     scenes" section, and it would help newcomers know how they can start
>     contributing. Also, it will help the GNOME community understand some
>     existing barriers.
> 

Again, I'm sceptical about too many columns. I agree with Lucas that it
may clash. And, in fact, we can hardly get people to write about the
things they love -- software; whether reviews or tutorials. They won't
start writing about themselves to recruit more volunteers.


>   + extend the feedback idea I read about somewhere. This would be a
>     "Letter to the journal" section, where people could send some
>     positive/negative feedback about GNOME in general (and not only
>     GNOME Journal). We could then ask someone who knows about the
>     commented stuff to write a small answer. Eg, someone writes to
>     say that the file chooser could really be better (in an argumented
>     way) and we ask Federico to write a small answer.
>     We would need to announce this in an issue to get things started.
>

I also like the "Letter to the journal" idea. It's from Stro of
gnomesupport fame. However, I like to test the forum first.

Judging from the comments we recieved so far on OSNews and
Footnotes, there are seldomly any opinions about the journal or the
articles; it's usually just a discussion about Mono, more Mono, even
more Mono, and one about GStreamer in the last edition.

In fact, the only letter I can remember was about the use of the word
"macedonia" in the title, and even this issue led to a flame war on
footnotes.

The GNOME Journal seems to lack something compared to, for example, TUX.

> What do you think about all this?
> 
> Vincent
> 
> -- 
> Les gens heureux ne sont pas pressés.
> 
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