FRC Blogged - Administrative manual is out

[Jessica Boucher]

The only constant in FRC is change. Learning to adapt to change in competition is the best way to prepare for change in real life.

I'm disappointed that this award isn't better received. Here's why:

1.) When the website award was created, it was a big deal to HAVE a website.
As opposed to when the award started, web presence is the norm. Creating the structure is no longer special. Creating important content that transcends the noise is.

2.) Championship-only exposure means better judging. No, really.
From a volunteer coordinator perspective, it was a total pain in the butt to find qualified professionals. Web Evaluator Advisors hated chasing evaluators down to do the judging. Evaluators hated a longer and longer survey. Teams complained for years that the judging was not standardized. Why not call the whole thing off?

So let's mull around the idea of a CMP only award. Who would judge it? The judges? No, they have enough going on and it doesn't fit their schedule. Web Evaluators? No, because they don't exist anymore. A panel of amazing individuals who know their way around the internet? Now you're talking.

Side note: If I was HQ, I would open the award up to any team participating in FRC, not just the teams at CMP. I would hate to see a team make an amazing piece and not get awarded for it.

Other side note: If you're looking for people to join your panel, I volunteer as tribute.

3.) Social Media at its core is a NUMBERS game.
This is my biggest point: why are a group of ENGINEERS not jumping up and down about something that can now be quantified? My pundit guess is that this award goes to the team that can best show their reach into the world, not the team that spams the most.

At the heart of it, it's not just creating the content but explaining your results. And guess what? Explaining the results? Adds to your web cred. My top read post on my blog is still that #omgrobots thing. And that's over a year old.



Bring it on, FRC. I'm so excited to see what comes next.