Why not build our own? PHP-NUKE is great, if you want a form site... have you guys figured out where your gonna get hosting with a database (and php i assume)?

more ideas for what they're worth
 

From reading the posts above it seems like you have a bunch of guys across the nation who really want to do this thing. That's truly great.

Perhaps you might consider having each regional writer make a particular "column" and post it as a web page in it's own right. That way they have a certain autonomy and can edit freely. Some sort of central style sheet should probably be developed so the pages have some continuity and submissions are easily processed by your staff. You might plan to sit down and hash this out in Orlando.

The main editor would have a central hub link page which would headline each of the departments and hyperlink out to all those subsidiary pages. Of course each page would archive old articles somewhere in their individual sites so they can be accessed forever.

Hosting fees would be raised by some sort of group fund raiser. Selling ad space on the pages would probably cover it. If you host like we do, we are probably talking less than $100/year per department.

As a long term newsletter editor for a number of hobby groups, let me just warn you all however. At first these ideas are really exciting and everybody wants in. A year down the road when deadlines are getting tougher and tougher to meet the thrill tends to disappear, as do the writers. That is why I made the suggestion above- let a variety of new writers always be adding to the collection.

If you all can get organized and get the ball rolling my guys would be happy to promote the magazine here in the NE and we would certainly lend a hand where needed. We have a related idea already in the works for the coming year- more on that in the near future.

Get typing!!!!

WC

Like the idea! Sign me on for the software Q&A corps.

I'm really interested in helping out/writing for this webzine! Lemme know what you need! I'd love to interview/talk with teams or people... My email address is FIRSTae2004@yahoo.com :)

- Katie

I like how it's spreading words of FIRST...
 

I think it's a pretty cool idea from Colleen and Robby how this magazine is used to show people about scientist and technology, just like what FIRST is doing to us. I really like the idea how it's a compliment to FIRST, and spreading our name at the same time.

Robby said scientist should be treated like super heroes. I think that's a good idea too, since so many people have no ideas who are the scientist/mathematician/engineers responsible for shaping the world like it is today. I know they aren't directly related to FIRST, but think about it, if it weren't for them, then we wouldn't have this competition today with all these technology we are learning. Think about what would happen if no one ever made use of electricity, or discover theories about magnetism.

Mean while, I think we want to get people to want to get this magazine. We can do all the insider stories all we want, but outsiders won't have a clue what we are talking about. If we are telling stories about this team at that competition, or certain ruling made by FIRST, then only FIRST participants are interested in it.

We already got this forum, and the white paper section, chat room, nuts4first and other places we can have insider talks about this competition... So, why not improve and create more different forums and chat rooms to recognize different teams and their effort, and use the magazine to help introduce FIRST to the outside world?


I think that's why we should do this magazine for FIRST instead of for ourselves. If you want to write technical stuff about the robot, submit it to the white paper or nuts4FIRST, if we want to recognize teams effort, we can set up a website to do such things.

With so many people wanting to do different things, I don't think it will hurt to have multiple things going on.

Mean while, the thing we need right now is a couple of person to... take charge, or "take the blame" ;) so to speak. We have good ideas, but we are afraid that it won't work and ended up doing a bad job. Well, I say we get someone to step up and stop that worrying people have. It will be nice if there's someone to tell us what to do, and us writers just do our job.

I am still thinking between having one person, or having a group of few people... The thing about working with a group is that we can get different ideas and view points... people can check each other's work and make it right. The downside is, however, in a small group people tend to be worry that others won't agree with him/her, so they feel the need to get approval of others while they don't feel free enough to just do the thing they want to...

Having just one person is the exact opposite of that....

Ups and downs... What do you think?

my suggestion:

venturesonline.com

I know of 4 sites hosted there, and I'm totally pleased with their service, uptime, speed, etc.

I am interested in the layout & graphic design part of it. I've done a few websites, and various different graphic design projects. Dunno if being all the way up in Toronto would get in the way of participating..?

A main "team" is always better - you'll never get a group of people who always agree with each other 100% (heck i bet everybody knows that from their team). Also, the pressure & workload will be divided amongst a few people, rather than put all on one person.

The time has come where we need people to make a firm commitment. We need people to step up and state what subject they are going to write about and in what time frame. Something like:

I <your name> commit to write an article about <your topic> for the FIRST magazine by <when you will have it done>.

If you are committing to write a recurring column please state the frequency at which you will submit.

I Gene Falendysz commit to organize a draft copy containing your articles for review within 7 days of receiving enough copy to fill 10 8.5 X 11 pages.

We also need people to make a commitment to participate as editorial staff. (A visionary board to set direction for the magazine and review committee for the submitted articles.) We should aim to limit this group to no more than 7.

As soon as we get at least 4 people committed to the editorial staff I will organize a net meeting of some sort to review the direction of this thing. The first goal of this group will be to develop a mission statement for this magazine.

Gene

Excellent Idea!
 

I think an online magazine focusing on FIRST is an excellent idea.

Tim Gates
Team #288
RoboDawgs

I agree here. It would be really cool to code our own php "content management system" (blah buzzword). Somone I know has written his own: http://www.qzx.com/cms/ (source at http://www.qzx.com/zap/ ). I haven't set this up for myself, though, so I can't really vouch for it.

What kind of traffic are we looking at? More to the point, Brandon, how much bandwidth does chiefdelphi.com utilize? I might be able to provide hosting on a nice server (what www.theapesofwrath.org) is on...

I know php, and PostgreSQL, and am willing to contribute however I can.

I, Stephen Rawls, commit to write a PBasic article by April 7. Note: I could do it in a shorter time if needed, I just thought I'd give myself extra time since I've got regionals to go to and shchool work to do.

Stephen

I, Jeff Wetzel, commit to being on an editorial staff.

What I am commited to.
 

I am basicly commited to anything that might need to be done. I am very able to work on editing, writing, researching, and other things, all in all almost all tasked that are to be completed. well i will get to yall later.

Mike O'Brien
Team 384:rolleyes: