FRC booK behind the design

[Ravage457]

Does anyone here wish that FIRST would of kept going with the books that they made for 2006 and 2007 season, that had the team that had won certain engineering awards, and they showed what the teams did and thier process

I wish FIRST could start that again, i really enjoyed the books. Does anyone know why they stop

[pwnageNick]

I think enough copies weren't purchased to make a profit. I personally found them very interesting and helpful.

-Nick

[ebarker]

I am pretty sure the issue is someone needs to step up and do it. It is a huge amount of work and the authors of the previous efforts are super busy with other things.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by ebarker

I am pretty sure the issue is someone needs to step up and do it. It is a huge amount of work and the authors of the previous efforts are super busy with other things.

It is a huge amount of effort. I'll poke the guy and see if I can get an update.

[Joe Ross]

Here is what the Author, Vince Wilczynski, said in 2008:

Originally Posted by Vince

Having worked with Rockport Publishing over the last two years on the project with Stephanie, I would like to share my understanding of the current edition of the book.

I'm really proud of both books, and especially so with the last one where Rockport produced a high quality publication. Stephanie and I greatly appreciated receiving the material from the teams that made these books possible. It was always hard to "not select" each team that submitted the information knowing how hard they worked to assemble the documentation.

As for the status of the project, sales of the first book were not strong, but Rockport went forward with the second book since they said they would. So the bottom line is that there will not be a third book.

[ebarker]

Originally Posted by pwnageNick

I think enough copies weren't purchased to make a profit. I personally found them very interesting and helpful.

-Nick

As nice as glossy printed books are, maybe it it time to transition to an e-book. That removes this issue. Low cost of production, high accessibility of information.

In order to help move the process along, maybe the author becomes more of an editor. Teams can submit, or be invited to submit, high resolution photos and a substantial written narrative.

The editors can pick which submissions will make the final copy, and re-write the narratives to align it with the production standards.

Maybe Vince could be convinced to be Editor-In-Chief, and he can direct a team of editors to manage the process ?

The e-book could have a standard template format for the whole production, and a template for a 1/2, 1 or 2 page team spread that focuses on a the teams effective design or strategy.

The teams could submit a design or be invited to submit a design. It doesn't necessarily need to be a winning design but an effective design with merit. In other words there needs to be some editorial rigor to the process and not just a collection of not too useful information.

I'm game.

2 cents.

[SteveGPage]

Originally Posted by ebarker

...
I'm game.

Count me in, too!

We have a great photography and writing team, and would be happy to assist. We have also published a couple of children's books, and are in the process of converting to e-books, so see that would be a great avenue for the behind the design series.

Just my 2.71828... cents.

Steve

[Starke]

Originally Posted by Ravage457

Does anyone here wish that FIRST would of kept going with the books that they made for 2006 and 2007 season, that had the team that had won certain engineering awards, and they showed what the teams did and thier process

I wish FIRST could start that again, i really enjoyed the books. Does anyone know why they stop

FRC Designs launched Behind the Design before Summer 2012! We always welcome editors to email me with submissions to the site. Check it out!

http://frc-designs.com/btd.html

[Starke]

Originally Posted by SteveGPage

Count me in, too!

We have a great photography and writing team, and would be happy to assist. We have also published a couple of children's books, and are in the process of converting to e-books, so see that would be a great avenue for the behind the design series.

Just my 2.71828... cents.

Steve

Steve,

Send me an email and we can get started! Looking forward to it!

Matt

[ebarker]

I suggest FRC Designs launched Behind the Design and the e-book complement each other.

The e-book can be an electronic 'coffee table' e-book. The website can then have information in depth, and more....

[d235j]

I'd love to see something similar in concept to http://www.aosabook.org/en/index.html — but with teams and designs, rather than open source projects.

[avanboekel]

We (2338) own both books (at least 2006...). We often refer back to them for inspiration throughout the build season.

[Lil' Lavery]

Still bummed 116 couldn't submit in 2007. We only attended one regional, and ended up with a Judge's Award for both our robot and outreach efforts, rather than a technical award so we weren't eligible to submit.

[Starke]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

Still bummed 116 couldn't submit in 2007. We only attended one regional, and ended up with a Judge's Award for both our robot and outreach efforts, rather than a technical award so we weren't eligible to submit.

I would love to have that robot on FRC Designs! Send me an email and we'll see what we can do to put you on FRC Designs: Behind the Design!

Matt

[JVN]

The quality of the submissions is the important factor in success of a project like this. The books were awesome because teams took some time to provide good raw material, and Vince & Stephanie took the time to polish up some fantastic final chapters.

It is easy to say "we should do this! We'll post it on XXXX site!" but without the quality articles, this is just talk.

How many teams take the time to create a submission worthy description of their robot and publish it? Overall system details? Details of subsystems? Documentation of iterations? Post-Mortem Analysis?

This is a very chicken/egg discussion in my book...

-John