Summer has arrived! Time to get this group started

[Dave Lester]

Happy Memorial Day to all. I hope everyone is grilling burgers and
watching parades and all of that fun stuff. But Memorial Day also
means that summer is here, and the 3rd week in June is fast-
approaching (which is when we said we'd get started)! I'd like to get
the ball rolling in the Humanist Makers group, and set a deadline of
June 5th to get the schedule finalized.

I have some initial ideas for how this group can work, so I'd like to
pass them by you, get feedback, and then we can solidify them and move
forward. I'll also start a few other threads on the group regarding
building vs reading, and how to assign readings. Start your own
threads, and create new pages too -- this is meant to be a
collaborative effort.

My initial schedule called for the group to start on June 15th, and
end August 9th. Is that cool? I know everyone will be going on
vacations at different times, so I expect people to fade in and out
when they need to. That means we have 8 full weeks.

One big question I have deals with reading vs building, and the
expectations of everyone in this group. I've a separate thread to
take gauge where everyone is (http://groups.google.com/group/humanist-
makers-reading-group/browse_thread/thread/7b5f3dd0d4ab601e), but my
initial idea was that we could be simultaneously tinkering while
reading some great books at the same time. Depending on the interest
levels of the group, that may mean we should alternate weeks (one week
for building, the next week for reading), or we can have a light load
of each and do both. What do you think will work better?

The other question relates to how we go about grouping readings -- I
think it'd be helpful if we had a group leader each week to spur
discussion or maybe lead us w/ some questions. How does that sound?
I have only read a few of these titles so far, but maybe Bill and
others could help bunch a few of these reading together or thin out
this list?

Relating to building, it'd be helpful if we decided a platform as a
group -- to make things easy, I'd propose that we choose between
arduino (hardware) or processing (software), or maybe a mixture of
both for those who want to be extra awesome. I've started a poll to
gauge interest: (http://groups.google.com/group/humanist-makers-
reading-group/browse_thread/thread/9e6d24abc511d81a)

That's it for now -- run with ideas, and let's have fun. Your
feedback will help immensely.

Dave