Changing The Name & Starting The Website

[Stuart Herbert]

Hi everyone,

I have some work to do in the run-up to October for my tutorial days
at PHPNW11 and ZendCon, and then after that I've cleared my free time
to focus on starting to write about the PHP Fundamentals :)

Earlier this year on Twitter, following on from a conversation between
Jeremy, Rob and I at #phpuk11, we discussed changing the name of this
group to better reflect what we want to achieve, and we seemed to
settle on the name of the Digital Engineering Educational Program
(DEEP). This group remains focused on addressing the skills gaps with
PHP developers, but we also want to be able to extend this to other
communities in the future.

With that in mind, I've registered 'demovement.org' today.

The next step is for us to get a website up on that URL, and to start
populating it with content based on the mindmap we built up last
year. The folks at uxmovement.com (as an example of another group
trying to do something similar) use Wordpress. We need to decide what
we want - a blog, a wiki, a magazine format like AListApart.com,
something else?

Let me know your thoughts.

Best regards,
Stu
--

[Stuart Herbert]

Just to follow up my own post :)

I think it would be a really good idea if we also wrote a manifesto to guide our work, a la the Agile Manifesto.  WDYT?

Best regards,

Stu

--

--
--
Stuart Herbert

e: stu...@stuartherbert.com
t: +44 7966 284577
w: http://www.stuartherbert.com/
b: http://blog.stuartherbert.com/

[Paul Court]

I like the "Behind the site" idea that a few people use (eg, http://www.dasprids.de/behind-the-site). And we can use the site itself as an example during some of the tutorial stuff. But not at the expense of actually getting the content up - So, use wordpress if it helps.

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[Rob Allen]

On 15 Jul 2011, at 15:07, Stuart Herbert wrote:

> Hi everyone,
>
> I have some work to do in the run-up to October for my tutorial days
> at PHPNW11 and ZendCon, and then after that I've cleared my free time
> to focus on starting to write about the PHP Fundamentals :)

Free time... Free time... I vaguely remember that concept :)

> Earlier this year on Twitter, following on from a conversation between
> Jeremy, Rob and I at #phpuk11, we discussed changing the name of this
> group to better reflect what we want to achieve, and we seemed to
> settle on the name of the Digital Engineering Educational Program
> (DEEP). This group remains focused on addressing the skills gaps with
> PHP developers, but we also want to be able to extend this to other
> communities in the future.
>
> With that in mind, I've registered 'demovement.org' today.

Sound's good. Want me to host it or send you the content from the current wiki? We should probably set up a demovement google group.

> The next step is for us to get a website up on that URL, and to start
> populating it with content based on the mindmap we built up last
> year. The folks at uxmovement.com (as an example of another group
> trying to do something similar) use Wordpress. We need to decide what
> we want - a blog, a wiki, a magazine format like AListApart.com,
> something else?

uxmovement seems far less structured than I imagined our content would be. For instance, I click on "Wireframes" and there's no indication of what level any given article is at or which sub-category it belongs in (e.g. tools, how-to, etc).

I think that if we're going to provide tools for users to track the content that they have read and understood, along with providing the ability for a user to pick a "course" through the content, then we'll need our own site or something like moodle.

I think that a wiki is a good place to write the content and organise it as that allows easy reorganisation and can be done now.

Regards,

Rob...

[Stuart Herbert]

Hi Rob, everyone,

On Tue, Jul 19, 2011 at 2:27 PM, Rob Allen <r...@akrabat.com> wrote:

Free time... Free time... I vaguely remember that concept :)

I start a new job late August.  I'll be working away during the week.  Plus side is no longer commuting 4 hours+ a day.  Downside is lots of time to fill on an evening once I'm settled in.

 

> With that in mind, I've registered 'demovement.org' today.

Sound's good. Want me to host it or send you the content from the current wiki?

If no-one objects, I was thinking of hosting it, mostly so that I can run it off a Linux box.  It'll make customisations a little easier to do and test over time.

 

We should probably set up a demovement google group.

I know Jeremy is keen that we don't just focus on technical skills, but also on building a credible profession too.  One thing we could do is close this Google group, and move instead to a group on LinkedIn.

Thoughts?

 

uxmovement seems far less structured than I imagined our content would be. For instance, I click on "Wireframes" and there's no indication of what level any given article is at or which sub-category it belongs in (e.g. tools, how-to, etc).

Agreed.  I think they're a useful example of getting content out there.

 

I think that if we're going to provide tools for users to track the content that they have read and understood, along with providing the ability for a user to pick a "course" through the content, then we'll need our own site or something like moodle.

I think that a wiki is a good place to write the content and organise it as that allows easy reorganisation and can be done now.

Alright.  Let's go for a wiki for the content, and a blog + mailing list for announcing new content as we produce it.

 

Best regards,

Stu 

[Rick Ogden]

Hi everyone,

I think Stuart has covered most things. I think a wiki is the correct approach but the content must be structured and not just a web of articles linking to and from each other.

Also we could enable it to be relatively language agnostic. I'm not saying we shouldn't use code examples, but if we structure with that in mind it would be very easy to substitute the them for a different programming language. From the original phpfundamentals wiki there were very few things which I thought were problems specific to php development. With the new name we could open it to a wider audience.

Rick

[Rob Allen]

On 22 Jul 2011, at 10:15, Stuart Herbert wrote:

Hi Rob, everyone,

On Tue, Jul 19, 2011 at 2:27 PM, Rob Allen <r...@akrabat.com> wrote:

Free time... Free time... I vaguely remember that concept :)

I start a new job late August.  I'll be working away during the week.  Plus side is no longer commuting 4 hours+ a day.  Downside is lots of time to fill on an evening once I'm settled in.

Congratulations!

 

> With that in mind, I've registered 'demovement.org' today.

Sound's good. Want me to host it or send you the content from the current wiki?

If no-one objects, I was thinking of hosting it, mostly so that I can run it off a Linux box.  It'll make customisations a little easier to do and test over time.

Fine with me :) 

 

We should probably set up a demovement google group.

I know Jeremy is keen that we don't just focus on technical skills, but also on building a credible profession too.  One thing we could do is close this Google group, and move instead to a group on LinkedIn.

Thoughts?

As long as it looks like an email list, I don't mind where it is.

uxmovement seems far less structured than I imagined our content would be. For instance, I click on "Wireframes" and there's no indication of what level any given article is at or which sub-category it belongs in (e.g. tools, how-to, etc).

Agreed.  I think they're a useful example of getting content out there.

 

I think that if we're going to provide tools for users to track the content that they have read and understood, along with providing the ability for a user to pick a "course" through the content, then we'll need our own site or something like moodle.

I think that a wiki is a good place to write the content and organise it as that allows easy reorganisation and can be done now.

Alright.  Let's go for a wiki for the content, and a blog + mailing list for announcing new content as we produce it.

 

Works for me.

Regards,

Rob...

[David Goodwin]

<lurk mode="off">

> On Tue, Jul 19, 2011 at 2:27 PM, Rob Allen <r...@akrabat.com> wrote:
> Free time... Free time... I vaguely remember that concept :)
>
> I start a new job late August. I'll be working away during the week. Plus side is no longer commuting 4 hours+ a day. Downside is lots of time to fill on an evening once I'm settled in.

Congratulations!

David.
</lurk>

[Stuart Herbert]

Hi Rick, everyone,

On Fri, Jul 22, 2011 at 10:35 AM, Rick Ogden <ri...@phpnw.org.uk> wrote:

I think a wiki is the correct approach but the content must be structured and not just a web of articles linking to and from each other.

+1

 

Also we could enable it to be relatively language agnostic. I'm not saying we shouldn't use code examples, but if we structure with that in mind it would be very easy to substitute the them for a different programming language. From the original phpfundamentals wiki there were very few things which I thought were problems specific to php development. With the new name we could open it to a wider audience.

+1 on opening it to a wider audience.

I think the content will have to seem language / technology specific most of the time, if only to appeal to our target audience (who we believe will be coming to us to learn their skill gaps + how to plug them).  With some prior planning + trial and error, hopefully we could create content that is cheap to adapt to (say) the PHP and Python communities, and be concrete enough that each community will come away feeling they know what their next step is.

Best regards,

Stu

[Rick Ogden]

Hi,

On 22 Jul 2011, at 11:36, Stuart Herbert wrote:

Hi Rick, everyone,

On Fri, Jul 22, 2011 at 10:35 AM, Rick Ogden <ri...@phpnw.org.uk> wrote:

I think a wiki is the correct approach but the content must be structured and not just a web of articles linking to and from each other.

+1

 

Also we could enable it to be relatively language agnostic. I'm not saying we shouldn't use code examples, but if we structure with that in mind it would be very easy to substitute the them for a different programming language. From the original phpfundamentals wiki there were very few things which I thought were problems specific to php development. With the new name we could open it to a wider audience.

+1 on opening it to a wider audience.

I think the content will have to seem language / technology specific most of the time, if only to appeal to our target audience (who we believe will be coming to us to learn their skill gaps + how to plug them).  With some prior planning + trial and error, hopefully we could create content that is cheap to adapt to (say) the PHP and Python communities, and be concrete enough that each community will come away feeling they know what their next step is.

Yes, I agree we this. It's just a case of making the content and code loosely coupled enough to allow easy substitution and adaptation.

Rick

Best regards,

Stu

--
Stuart Herbert

e: stu...@stuartherbert.com
t: +44 7966 284577
w: http://www.stuartherbert.com/
b: http://blog.stuartherbert.com/

[Stuart Herbert]

Hi Jeremy,

You only sent your email to me. I'm assuming it was for the whole group :)

On Fri, Jul 22, 2011 at 2:02 PM, Jeremy Coates <jer...@magmadigital.co.uk> wrote:

Some points from the various emails:

- Congrats Stu on the new job!

Thank you all.

- Can we just rename the current Google group?

There doesn't seem to be any way to change the URL of the group at all. 

- I'm not sure LinkedIn groups cut it presently, I manage a couple and it's awkward at best.

Alright.  I guess our choices then are:

1. Stick with the 'PHP Fundamentals' group (this group) on Google Groups
2. Create a new 'Digital Engineers' group on Google Groups
3. Create a new 'Digital Engineers' group somewhere else (where?)
4. ??

Anyone got any preferences?  I'm not keen on 1.

- Wiki +1 for stuff beyond discussion, e.g. working something into a more polished form, then onto a   blog/CMS (WordPress is fine) platform to help publish anything for folk to access.

Last chance for anyone to speak up, otherwise this is what I'll setup.

- Wider audience +1 but that can happen any time, we need to make sure we're not going to spread too   thinly our message(s) (once we work out what they are I suppose), opening up too early may hinder   that?

Let me get some content written, and then there's something to edit / adapt :)

 Hope that makes sense :)

No more than normal ;)

Best regards,

Stu

[Jeremy Coates]

 

Hi All,

 

Some points from the various emails:

 

- Congrats Stu on the new job!

- Can we just rename the current Google group?

- I'm not sure LinkedIn groups cut it presently, I manage a couple and it's awkward at best.

- Wiki +1 for stuff beyond discussion, e.g. working something into a more polished form, then onto a   blog/CMS (WordPress is fine) platform to help publish anything for folk to access.

- Wider audience +1 but that can happen any time, we need to make sure we're not going to spread too   thinly our message(s) (once we work out what they are I suppose), opening up too early may hinder   that?

 

Hope that makes sense :)

J

--

[Rick Ogden]

Hi,

I too would be unhappy with 1. I think 2, or if there is something better out there 3. I don't see it as being a problem as the people who are interested in staying involved with this project will migrate, and the people who aren't aren't going to contribute anyway. We just need to publicise it well to the people who are members of this group that it is being deprecated in favour of a new one.

Also, what was the result of playing with Moodle? I remember that being discussed as a platform for hosting and organising the deliverables. I don't think it matters really what system we use as long as it's suited for exactly the way we want to deliver the materials (which we still have not decided on).

Rick

[Rob Allen]

On 22 Jul 2011, at 14:33, Stuart Herbert wrote:

Alright.  I guess our choices then are:

1. Stick with the 'PHP Fundamentals' group (this group) on Google Groups
2. Create a new 'Digital Engineers' group on Google Groups
3. Create a new 'Digital Engineers' group somewhere else (where?)
4. ??

Option 2 is the most obvious, unless you want to run and maintain a mailing list on your box.

Regards,

Rob...

[Stuart Herbert]

Hi,

On Fri, Jul 22, 2011 at 3:20 PM, Rob Allen <r...@akrabat.com> wrote:

Option 2 is the most obvious, unless you want to run and maintain a mailing list on your box.

Done. New group is called 'Digital Engineering Movement' : https://groups.google.com/group/digital-engineering?hl=en-GB.  I've sent new invites to everyone that I can, but some members of the group (Rob, Phil - this includes both of you) have set their permissions to disallow invites, so you'll have to join the new group manually, sorry.

Best regards,

Stu

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