New Idea- Freelance FIRST

[Aaron Knight]

Willing to help....this sounds like a really good idea.

Lemme know what I can do to help......

Aaron Knight
Webmaster and Videographer
Team 891: Neverending Chaos....
http://first891.topcities.com

[RogerR]

I'd love to help, but I'm not sure how much I can do. I am profecient in photoshop, and getting better in 3ds (I am also good at lightwave, for what its worth). I'll do what I can to help the cause.

either way, it sounds wicked cool.

email is origanal2@aol.com

[Yan Wang]

I'd be willing to work on graphics design through stuff like Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, Fireworks, and Illustrator.

One suggestion is that a web template should be made for teams who need them. This would entail a SIMPLE layout without all the glamour but a good layout for posting news, dates/events, team only info, pictures, and perhaps a forum.

[miketwalker]

There is a system I started on last summer that I'll probably finish up this summer for teams. It's a members area system easily configurable, I wrote all of it and it's good for planning events and outputting to the main page and all. Once I finish it I'd be more than glad to contribute it.

[AlbertW]

love this idea.

let me know if you need my help in any way

Albert Wu
PR/Media Design on HRT (1072)
http://www.harker-robotics.org/ - not done, but i'm workin on it!

[Joe Matt]

THANKS FOR THE REPLIES! I'm thrilled about how many people want to help! The beauty of Freelance FIRST is that, no matter how small it is, you CAN help the FIRST community! Even if it's just some pre-made buttons on Photoshop that teams could use on their website, it's all good!

I'm talking with some people around me now about logistics and creating a business plan. My think it's a great idea and they might let me buy some webspace.

I'm thinking about having this a lot like Chiefdephi, have it hosted by one team, but everyone can submit ideas.

Look for more info as the week progresses. I WANT to have this up before this comming XMas at the latest.

[Josh Hambright]

I'd love to help...

Amanda from 1020 and i have been discussing starting something similar yet a little different for the state of indiana... Keep me updated and i'd love to help!

[Brandon Martus]

Originally posted by monsieurcoffee
One suggestion is that a web template should be made for teams who need them. This would entail a SIMPLE layout without all the glamour but a good layout for posting news, dates/events, team only info, pictures, and perhaps a forum.

I think the ubergeeks have something like this .. someone does.

[Adam Y.]

One suggestion is that a web template should be made for teams who need them. This would entail a SIMPLE layout without all the glamour but a good layout for posting news, dates/events, team only info, pictures, and perhaps a forum.

I was thinking php nuke but then again there has to be something better and easier to use.

[Joe Matt]

To keep up to date on all the new info, just keep reading this thread whenever a new post pops up. I might start a newsletter just to get this thing started, but that's not high on the prioity list.

[Joe Matt]

Not to double post, but this is a little more important.

I have set up an e-mail address for Feelance FIRST, freelance_first@yahoo.com. HOW ORIGIONAL!

Send an e-mail to there if you are intrested. I'll then add you to the budy list and I'll send out our FIRST e-mai tonight!

[edit]Email addres was edited to add an "_" to it[/edit]

[Madison]

Originally posted by JosephM
I'm thinking about having this a lot like Chiefdephi, have it hosted by one team, but everyone can submit ideas.

While there are obvious logistical advantages to giving control over this to one team, in that it may be easier to take care of administrative overhead (i.e., paying the bills), I'd rather that such an effort remain without an affiliation to any team.

Among my concerns is that the fate of the effort lie with the people the people that are giving their time to make it work. I wouldn't want a member of a specific team who may be "hosting" this effort to feel they have any input solely because of their membership on that team. I'm not sure if this would be a problem or not.

However, beyond that, I think it's important that the concept of 'freelance' but kept in mind as the effort develops. If it's associated with a single team, or even a group, it is no longer 'freelance.'

Now, that's not to suggest that people who're participating on teams can't contribute. Quite the contrary, really. . . my goal would be to see this exist as a forum where anyone can come and contribute the ideas they and their team used -- and more valuably, the ideas they didn't use.

We've all seen the amazing robots and circuits and code that some of FIRST's best teams have entered into these events, year after year. Imagine the stuff that didn't get that far!

With all of that said, I think finding a web hosting service should be among the last priorities. What, so far, does anyone have that they can host, anyway?

There's no use in investing anyone's money into a hosting plan, domain name, etc., when there's still lots and lots of work to be done building the infrastructure of such a system. I wouldn't want to let that money go to waste on a "Coming Soon" page when it could be better spent later.

Instead, we should create an outline of this effort. What is being proposed will take enormous effort to catalog and organize while keeping everyone sane in the process. There is a lot to be decided - from website design philosophy and programming to content hierarchy to feedback methods and everything in between.

I have my own ideas about what could be done, but they're a bit nebulous in some aspects. I'll write them down and post them if anyone's interested.

While the infrastructure is being developed, it's also important that we begin to accumulate content to place within that infrastructure. Again, opening a site with no content is pretty useless and the easiest way to kill something right off the bat.

When Freelance FIRST debuts, it should, for all purposes, be a fully functional, self-sustaining website with a lot of pre-existing content.

This isn't going to be easy by any stretch of the imagination, but the potential is enormous. But, let's not get ahead of ourselves. Everything starts as a sketch on paper first, this included.

[Gui Cavalcanti]

I'd be thrilled to help out. I can't code the way I used to, but I am good at teaching the basics to people. I could assemble some powerpoints, spreadsheets, things like that... I could even finish up my gear calculator to spit out gear ratios and tooth ratios for FIRST robots.

Let me know what you need! I'll email that address.

[Adam Y.]

What, so far, does anyone have that they can host, anyway?

I'd hate to tell you but I have a rough draft of something I want to submit and quite and few tutrorials that need to go from my mind to paper. After this week I may have a nice project on getting started in electronics done. All I would need to do is write about it.

[Joe Matt]

You just basicly descibed the whole phisosophy behind this M. I agree that no team should single handedly back-it, but this was something raised by the hand, my parents. I don't want this to become a problem where the dog bites the hand.

As for that business play, I'll post it and send it out tonight.