In the sequence of the following conversation:
and
... Last year I asked for a pre-conference Workbench course (an all day one)...
I think that there might be a general interest for some Community Knowledge Exchange training or workshop sessions, that could eventually be planned for the WTC2016 "gathering" (just in case, I'm talking of the WTC2016, and not of the www.WTC2016.us :-).
Some general topics that seem of interest to many of us:
- General strategies to write big code in Mathematica (the up-votes, stars and general activity of this post is a proof by itself)
- Create a deployable Player Pro CDF from scratch (encryption and licensing, DB access, etc.).
- etc.
I'm of the opinion that pre-conference sessions are preferred to post conference, for multiple reasons, as for example:
- we are all less tired
- it opens dialogue for the following days
- the U. Illinois homecoming is happening on the week after the WTC, and hence, each hotel night after the conference will be harder to get.
For many of us, including me, the WTC is a major event on multiple fronts, being one of them the investment to get there. Many of us are there on vacation time, share cost with the employer, or totally pay for it from our wallet. It is/would be a pity not to profit more from the occasion, when there seems to be enough interest on the above topics (I mean, enough on the presenters investment point of view).
I would like this discussion to be opened for both the independent and the less independent (WRI) presenters, but I was afraid of putting it on the community (where I think it belongs), before having some feedback from you and from the community moderator (since the WTC is, above all, a WRI event). If you are interested on this idea, as a presenter or not, please:
- propose topics that you would be interest to attend
- propose the topics or program you would be interested on presenting, expected duration, expected compensation, etc.. No need to excuse yourself on the compensation/monetary aspect, since, just the cost of getting there is already a reason by itself, and, I believe that, there is at least the cost of the presentation room that will need to be shared (something that would need to be coordinated with WRI, since they typically have the rooms reserved for preparatory work).
- discuss organisation aspects: schedules, duration, program overlaps (it is already a success if we get to this problem), recording/filming, etc..
EDIT 2016-06-07
I recently sent some e-mails to several members of this community, with the purpose of injecting some extra momentum into this topic. I'm very glad to say that I have been receiving, by e-mail, very positive feedbacks! and that hopefully, we will hear about some offers soon (if I haven't contacted you, please don't take it wrong... we are for sure interested on your offer too!)
There were some questions about money (most related to travel and stay expenses). Again, that's fine. And even compensation for the actual work is perfectly acceptable. But these remarks made me think on the different options to solve this problem.
So, I wanted to hear from you on the option of crowd funding this training. And if you are posting your offer, and you need some compensation, please let us know if this method fits you or not (again and again, no problem if not...).
We could imagine something like this:
- 1) $250 for the participation certificate (plus below offer)
- 2) $150 for one full day presence (networking opportunities, etc.), and including a launch box (plus below offer)
- 3) $50 for the screen and audio recording (plus below offer)
- 4) $10 for the deliverables
I don't know the international details of such monetary strategy, but I'm sure we could figure out how to make this work.
Compensation would be distributed against receipts (just tickets and hotel up to 3 nights; maximum value to be defined). If not enough is gathered, this would be distributed proportionally to the available amount (I haven't though on a solution if it exceeds, but, for instance, if it exceeds with the first three categories, the forth would be offered to the entire community, and the money returned; etc.). For lecturers not needing the travel and staying compensation, we could think of a fixed compensation (proportional to the intervention time, etc.). Again and again, if you think that this doesn't fit your offer, just let us know.
Obviously, I would love to hear comments from you like: "for category 3 and 4, I would be willing to crowd fund it, even if content of such events get delivered to the entire community..." Let me know of your feeling (also in respect to values, etc.).
Some extra notes:
- if you are posting a training proposition, please don't forget to mention the pre-requisite level recommended to attend your training. e.g. the participants should know by heart the content of the following documentation pages, or be at ease with the content exposed on the following book, SE post, etc.
- I want to remind that we are searching for advanced trainings on the use of Mathematica / WL, or on its application to specific fields.
- I think that a full day event of advanced training is incredible, a two tracks full day event is mind blowing, a 2 days event is...
- I think that each full day track needs at least 3 or 4 persons supporting it (lecturing, helping, etc.).
- When posting your offer, think on all of your best posts. The ones that really added considerably to the community. That had unique content, and solved questions that are hard to find by ourselves, and in some way, not available elsewhere.
My hope is for the end result of this effort to be a complement to all documentation and training content currently available. A complement that solves the complicated questions that we typically have on the application of Wolfram technology (Mathematica, CDF, Cloud, etc). Best practices on how to write complicated interfaces, very lengthy pieces of code, protect your code for commercial delivery, best practices on linking an external library, from A to Z. A complement that, for some part, is already dispersed in SE answers, and that we, as a community, will profit to compile on a more structured way, and deliver it on a live and engaging format.