> I’ve certainly brainstormed and discussed this informally with a few  
> people over the years, but nobody has ever picked this up and made  
> it fly.  I would *love* to see it happen, and am willing to help  
> make it so (both in my role as PF Board President and as a random  
> community volunteer

> I think you are very much on the right track with the ideas below.  
> I will offer a few additional thoughts a bit later this week when I  
> have a little more time to focus.

> best,
> jon

> From: evangelism-boun...@lists.plone.org [mailto:evangelism-boun...@lists.plone.org
> ] On Behalf Of Matt Fisher
> Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2009 12:39 PM
> To: Evangel...@lists.plone.org
> Subject: [Evangelism] proposal for plone awards

> 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

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