[TYPO3-UG US] questions / concerns about typo3.us

[Michelle Heizer]

Hi Zach,

Good questions!

First off, I know everyone is busy and I don't want to add to anyone's
workload. This is why I've tried to make a clear roadmap with tasks and
deadlines. I've also tried to be generous with the deadlines, but if
anyone has trouble meeting them, please let me know now instead of
later. I can try to find people to help you out.

On Mon, 2005-11-07 at 14:02 -0800, Zach Davis wrote:
> There's been a lot of back and forth discussion on this list. I've been 
> watching and not contributing much, mainly because I've been busy and 
> haven't had a chance to.
> 
> I can't speak for others, but I suspect that there are many freelancers 
> and agencies that would be willing to help out, given some instructions 
> on what to do. I'm certainly happy to build a custom extension or two if 
> that would help -- and I see that my name is on the schedule to work 
> with Greg to implement the template in XHTML / CSS. I'm ready to get 
> started on this as soon as I get a design from which to work.

I definitely appreciate your help on that project. I will give you and
Greg the design once I receive it. In the mean time, would you be
willing to write about your forum extension for the Product Section? I
have it scheduled in the architecture and I don't think anyone knows it
better than you. :) The format should roughly follow:

http://test.typo3.us/fileadmin/typo3us/template/architecture/rte10282005.pdf

Also, this goes for anyone, if you have your own extension, please take
a moment to write about its features and benefits. At the bottom,
include a profile about your company. Potential customers will not only
be impressed that you donated your time to write the content for the
site, but that you donated your programming for such a professional
extension. 

Also, how about a case study for CUNY or another project you've
completed, especially one that uses the forum? Those would make
excellent materials for the website and be great promotional tool for
your company.

Remember, it is your responsibility to market yourself on this website. 

> 
> I do have one question / concern -- there may be a lot of folks working 
> on this project, potentially, who may not be putting up a case study and 
> who may not want to pay $250, $500, $1000, $2000 or whatever to be on a 
> list of consultants, especially the freelancers among us (assuming this 
> idea is still on the table -- maybe it was shelved and I missed it). How 
> is typo3.us going to represent the agencies and freelancers who spend 
> time developing the typo3.us template, editing documentation, putting 
> together industry specific packages, developing custom extensions, etc?

Every piece of content, package, extension, documentation, etc. will
have the contributor's name and company with a link to their profile at
the bottom of the page it is listed on. We have 20+ volunteers and we
will promote anyone and everyone that makes a contribution. I also
planned on having a "volunteer of the month" showcase on the front page.
It should add a bit of personality to the site.

As far as the partnership, I equate volunteering with giving money and I
promise that partners can be people that have volunteered hours instead
of money. 

> Obviously, I'm all for giving back to the community and whatnot -- 
> goodness knows I've put hundreds of hours into the forum with almost not 
> monetary compensation. I see this typo3.us site primarily as a marketing 
> venture, as others do, I gather, and as such I'm wondering how we 
> foresee it helping the freelancers and agencies involved in its 
> creation? Is the idea that it will generally promote typo3 in the 
> states, which helps everyone (is this necessarily true? Will the little 
> guy benefit as much as the big guy?), or will people who help build it 
> be rewarded primarily through advertising spots on the site (in this 
> case, who will decide who gets the primo spots? Will there be a process 
> for this?). Will there be a contact form on the site that people who are 
> interested in finding a developer fill out (who decides who gets first 
> shot at the job? Who's checking the email for the contact address?).

I think we can all agree that our primary goal is to promote TYPO3 and
to build our community. With that said, we also know that this will be a
marketing tool and support system for freelancers, agencies and hosting
companies of all sizes. We have to remember that our community is made
up of a variety of people and all of them will benefit from the website
in different ways.

One of the goals of the partnership project is to generate more
qualified sales leads for everyone involved with it. That means that not
only do we want to help potential customers find a freelancer,
consultancy or hosting company, but the right one for the job. 

I've been holding off on the partners section (which will list benefits
including advertising, etc.) until we've had a chance to build more of
the website up. We still have volunteers joining in and donating
content. Everyone should have a voice about our partnership program and
so it's only fair to wait until we are further along in the project. I
promise that the partnership project will be in place before the website
goes live.  

In the mean time, there is plenty of work to do, so don't hesitate to
grab a product or a solution and do some writing! Off the top of my
head, we need content in our products section for news, versioning,
upcoming workspaces! extension, RealURL, poll, survey, quiz,
NewLoginBox, TemplaVoila etc. 

If anyone has any questions or concerns about the project, feel free to
email the list. 

Regards,

Michelle