[DotGNU]Re: Meet-a-thon

[Peter Minten]

Hi,

I've done some more thinking about the meet-a-thon. The meet-a-thons are
like periodic milestones for DotGNU. They help us see the big picture,
how DotGNU works on the meta-project level, not just on the project
level. They make us come out of our own projects and build bridges to
other projects. In short they help making sure that DotGNU doesn't get
fragmented into all kinds of little projects that don't really work
together anymore. 

While we are standing at a milestone it maybe a good idea to take a
snapshot of the meta-project. Such a snapshot could consist of a
document describing in short what progress has been made since the last
snapshot (the last meet-a-thon), where the projects are now (what
functionality is done) and what is coming up (in the near or distant
future).

Beside taking the big picture the meet-a-thon could do other things:
* It would make a good opportunity to help newbies getting into the
project.
* It could be a good chance to inform the world about DotGNU through the
press if we handle it correctly (Gopal mentioned this in the
preparations for the last meet-a-thon).
* We could catch some industry attention with it.

Most interested press and industry folks won't come to the meet-a-thon
but may be willing to read a summary of it. The snapshot could be that
summary.

For the newbies it would be nice to have a who-is-who document available
before the meet-a-thon and the draft version of the snapshot so they can
follow the conversations.

In short I propose the creation of two documents:
- The snapshot document, I would call it 'the State of the Project'.
- A who-is-who-in-DotGNU document. This was planned anyway but due to
the disappearance of the newsletter it was never really formed. (About
the newsletter: the new website will incorporate many of the features of
the newsletter so I'll just wait until the website get's online and then
modify the newsletter plans to fit into the new picture.)

It would be nice if the who-is-who document would be ready as a draft
before the meet-a-thon, during the meet-a-thon it could of course be
updated, but it's nice for the newbies to know who to ask what questions
to :-). 
I propose the following structure for the document:
Name (optional for the nick only folks)
Nickname
Function (eg project leader in Pnet or developer in Forum)

It would also be useful to have at least an impression of the State of
the Project. Therefore I would like to ask the project leader to send a
small e-mail with what is done in the previous period and what
functionality is provided in their project now (or is very likely to be
in it at the time of the meet-a-thon) to me.

So folks, what do you think?

Greetings,

Peter.