Thread: PostgreSQL Magazine #01 : Let's get it started ! help wanted !
hi guys, The issue #00 of PostgreSQL Magazine was a demo and it proved that there's a public for a regular magazine dedicated to PostgreSQL. The stats from the pgmag.org website show that the PDF version is the most popular : we got approx. 4000 readers for the demo issue. Meanwhile the paper version was warmly welcomed at pgcon and others conferences.... More info here : http://www.pgmag.org/00/feedback I can't speak for other people involved in this demo issue, but for me it's been a fun and rewarding experience. Therefore i'm happy to put the issue #01 on track ! This version will be keep on with the general layout and structure of the issue #00, but mmeanwhile many modifications and improvements will be made, based on the feedback we received over the last months. Although I did a lot of work by myself for the issue #00, i want to be clear that PostgreSQL Magazine is intended to be a community driven project. So if you are interested by this projetct, come on board ! We need Editors, Graphic designers, Reviewers, Translators and of course writers. Even if you don't a previous experience in the media, you can help the project in many ways ! I've open a dedicated mailing list for the project so that we don't flood the psql-advocacy list ;-) You're all welcome to this list. Even if you're just a reader of the magazine : https://groups.google.com/group/pgmag/ According to me, here's a basic idea of what the pgmag #01 would look like : The obvious theme for the issue will be PostgreSQL 9.1 ! This time i'd like to have 48 pages, with richer content and graphics. I also plan to publish this in november. I think the magazine could have an "every-6-month" release policy. Anyway these are just a few guidelines, any aspect of the magazine can be discussed and improved. In particular, we need your insights in the following areas : * Page Format / Layout / Design * Number of pages * Frequency * who's our "Target Reader" ? * Copyright & license * Business model (advertisement ? sponsors ? let readers pay ?) * Even the name of magazine may change if someone comes with something better ;-) If you have something to say on any of these topic or if you have some time to spend to build a community-driven media or if you want to participate to the PostgreSQL project in a creative manner, please join us ! And don't forget to follow us on twitter : http://twitter.com/#!/pg_mag -- damien clochard dalibo.com | dalibo.org
Damien, > The issue #00 of PostgreSQL Magazine was a demo and it proved that > there's a public for a regular magazine dedicated to PostgreSQL. The > stats from the pgmag.org website show that the PDF version is the most > popular : we got approx. 4000 readers for the demo issue. Meanwhile the > paper version was warmly welcomed at pgcon and others conferences.... And I'm still planning to distribute it at pgOpen. > Although I did a lot of work by myself for the issue #00, i want to be > clear that PostgreSQL Magazine is intended to be a community driven > project. So if you are interested by this projetct, come on board ! Well, in the course of the US Letter stuff, I had to figure out Scribus, so I'm now able to help with layout. One request though: can we use standard TrueType fonts, and not Ubuntu-specific fonts? > We need Editors, Graphic designers, Reviewers, Translators and of course > writers. Even if you don't a previous experience in the media, you can > help the project in many ways ! If we have a budget, I have a good graphic designer who is inexpensive but not free. > I've open a dedicated mailing list for the project so that we don't > flood the psql-advocacy list ;-) If you want. This list is nonbusy enough that it could host magazine discussion until people complain. > According to me, here's a basic idea of what the pgmag #01 would look > like : The obvious theme for the issue will be PostgreSQL 9.1 ! This > time i'd like to have 48 pages, with richer content and graphics. I think it would be better to have less pages of higher quality. It'll be hard enough to produce another high-quality 24-page magazine. Heck, I think you should consider 16 if you're planning to publish twice a year. > * Business model (advertisement ? sponsors ? let readers pay ?) I think we should have sponsored advertisements. > * Even the name of magazine may change if someone comes with something > better ;-) Gods, please no naming arguments! ;-b -- Josh Berkus PostgreSQL Experts Inc. http://pgexperts.com
On Thu, Aug 25, 2011 at 4:32 PM, damien clochard <damien@dalibo.info> wrote: > hi guys, > > The issue #00 of PostgreSQL Magazine was a demo and it proved that > there's a public for a regular magazine dedicated to PostgreSQL. The > stats from the pgmag.org website show that the PDF version is the most > popular : we got approx. 4000 readers for the demo issue. Meanwhile the > paper version was warmly welcomed at pgcon and others conferences.... > do you know what happen with the translations? never finished? > * Frequency my only opinion here, is try to coordinate one of the editions with the release of a new version (at least with a one month boundary) -- Jaime Casanova www.2ndQuadrant.com Professional PostgreSQL: Soporte 24x7 y capacitación
Le 26/08/2011 00:32, Jaime Casanova a écrit : > On Thu, Aug 25, 2011 at 4:32 PM, damien clochard <damien@dalibo.info> wrote: >> hi guys, >> >> The issue #00 of PostgreSQL Magazine was a demo and it proved that >> there's a public for a regular magazine dedicated to PostgreSQL. The >> stats from the pgmag.org website show that the PDF version is the most >> popular : we got approx. 4000 readers for the demo issue. Meanwhile the >> paper version was warmly welcomed at pgcon and others conferences.... >> > > do you know what happen with the translations? never finished? > I guess so... I must admit i've been offline most of the summer and i did not follow the various translating. This is one of the thing that need to be improved. >> * Frequency > > my only opinion here, is try to coordinate one of the editions with > the release of a new version (at least with a one month boundary) > Yes that'd be perfect. This more or less how the ubuntu's full circle magazine works. AFAIK it's the only open-source community-driven magazine that has 4 or 5 active translations teams. But despite that the various teams don't work at the same speed and frequency. So for now i don't want to put to much pressure on the guys translating pg_mag. Especially i think it's not a big problem if there a few months delay between the orginal and the translated versions. -- damien clochard dalibo.com | dalibo.org
Le 25/08/2011 23:51, Josh Berkus a écrit : > Damien, > >> The issue #00 of PostgreSQL Magazine was a demo and it proved that >> there's a public for a regular magazine dedicated to PostgreSQL. The >> stats from the pgmag.org website show that the PDF version is the most >> popular : we got approx. 4000 readers for the demo issue. Meanwhile the >> paper version was warmly welcomed at pgcon and others conferences.... > > And I'm still planning to distribute it at pgOpen. > Cool. Did you distribute some at OSCON ? >> Although I did a lot of work by myself for the issue #00, i want to be >> clear that PostgreSQL Magazine is intended to be a community driven >> project. So if you are interested by this projetct, come on board ! > > Well, in the course of the US Letter stuff, I had to figure out Scribus, > so I'm now able to help with layout. One request though: can we use > standard TrueType fonts, and not Ubuntu-specific fonts? > Actually this is even worst than that. I accidental choosed "Trebuchet" as the main font for most of the texts. I realized my mistake only a few weeks ago, when i discovered this font is owned by Microsoft. I don't even remember how i managed to install it on my computer... Anyway, of course the next issue will have a free-software and TrueType typeface. For now, i thinking of DejaVu which is quite popular in many linux distributions and shipped by libreOffice. >> We need Editors, Graphic designers, Reviewers, Translators and of course >> writers. Even if you don't a previous experience in the media, you can >> help the project in many ways ! > > If we have a budget, I have a good graphic designer who is inexpensive > but not free. > >> I've open a dedicated mailing list for the project so that we don't >> flood the psql-advocacy list ;-) > > If you want. This list is nonbusy enough that it could host magazine > discussion until people complain. > I may be blindly optimistic but i'm expecting some serious traffic, maybe more than the whole -advocacy list itself :) @Raymond : i'm not a big fan of Google Groups, but that's best service i've found so far. I don't want it to be hosted on a personal linux box and google seems to me as less crappy than of free mailing list services. >> According to me, here's a basic idea of what the pgmag #01 would look >> like : The obvious theme for the issue will be PostgreSQL 9.1 ! This >> time i'd like to have 48 pages, with richer content and graphics. > > I think it would be better to have less pages of higher quality. It'll > be hard enough to produce another high-quality 24-page magazine. Heck, > I think you should consider 16 if you're planning to publish twice a year. > 16 seems very small. There's always the generic pages (cover, back, table of content, news, editorial, etc. ), so that gives you approx. 10 page of "pure" content.... While making the issue #00 i realized that content is not a problem. Actually i had to much articles and couldn't put everything i wanted to... If think the PostgreSQL community produces a great amount of content every day : blogs, wiki pages, twitts, slides, docs, tutorials, etc... I don't have the stats but i guess that even planet.postgresql.org in itself aggregates more than 500 articles per year That being said i agree that we need to focus on quality rather than quantity :) >> * Business model (advertisement ? sponsors ? let readers pay ?) > > I think we should have sponsored advertisements. > >> * Even the name of magazine may change if someone comes with something >> better ;-) > > Gods, please no naming arguments! ;-b > ;-) -- damien clochard dalibo.com | dalibo.org