[Systers-dev] Hello and invitation to screencasting project

[Jennifer Redman]

Thanks Jennifer!
I'm moving this to a new thread to make sure we don't have any interested
people on Systers-dev who have unsubscribed from the other thread gsoc
related thread.

Everyone should feel free to start editing the wiki with their ideas and
suggestions for potential podcast platforms and topic areas (maybe somewhere
we could get a systers/devchix channel and won't have to worry about
bandwidth and storage requirements for now)

Something like:

http://www.odeo.com/

Wiki located at:

http://systers.org/systers-dev/doku.php/systers_pod_screen_casts

Jen

On Mon, Jul 13, 2009 at 8:35 AM, Jennifer Lindner <jen at jenlindner.com>wrote:

> Hi Systers-dev,
>
> My name is Jennifer Lindner and I'm a member of DevChix. With Jennifer
> Redman, we've been beginning a project to increase the visibility of women
> in technology, and DevChix is interested in producing tech screencasts for
> learning purposes as well. I'm going to cross-post a message summarizing our
> current thoughts on it -- it contains particular points where our two
> organizations might work well together, but of course there are probably no
> real limits there. So anyone who's interested, welcome!
>
>
> Begin cross-post:
>
>
> OK, I've gathered some thoughts on production and tools, content, and
> process. I have to say - daunting though it rather is, it's very exciting to
> envision, too. All feedback is warmly welcomed.
>
>
> Production and Tools
>
> So let's get into how to do this. I found a few free web-based tools for
> audio and screencasting (and if anyone has heard of or worked with any
> others please let me know). My goal is to make it easy for any of us to
> record audio and screen/audio/visuals, and to record conference calls for
> multi-user discussions, and then export the resulting files so that they can
> be incorporated into our (I hate this word but it applies) branded template.
> There's Audacity for recording audio on one's own machine (
> http://audacity.sourceforge.net/), web-based Audio Hijack Pro (
> http://www.rogueamoeba.com/audiohijackpro/) for recording skype calls and
> web-based Screencast-o-matic (http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/) for
> capturing audio & visual.
>
> I've used Audacity a bit and briefly tested Screencast-o-matic, seem fine
> at first glance.
>
> I'd like to test Audio Hijack for recording a Skype call this week. Who can
> be on hand some evening this week - Weds? Thurs? - for a test conference
> call?
>
> I'm setting a goal for myself to create and post (on the Systers wiki) a
> few sample pod and screencasts using these tools by end of this week.
>
> Susan P -- would you consider being point person on hosting/publishing with
> Systers/ABI? Sounds like you're the one best in a position to handle it.
>
> Content
>
> I'm in agreement with Victoria that podcasts would be the best way to
> handle panel discussions of broad general topics, and gender issue topics.
>
> I would love to have some podcasts of advanced technology topics that
> supersede particular languages/systems etc: master slave databases,
> encryption hashes, etc, highlighting how they're used in production or real
> world applications generally.
>
> I'd also love to have some history casts - First There was C++; the Rise
> and Fall of Java; From Perl to Python; Setting up your Linux Distro, Then
> and Now .. these are off the top of my head, but the idea is stories of real
> history in technology, to help new women in tech get a sense of this moment,
> to produce a bit of documentary of our own. I'm thinking just two-five
> minutes for both general discussion and history topics.
>
> For the tutorials, I'd love to produce how-tos, quickstarts, current topics
> and intermediate-to-advanced screencasts on particularly thorny or fun
> topics within the technologies we decide to cover.
>
> On the topic of gender issues: besides discussions, I see a real need at
> this point for intros to prominent women in tech, for the purposes of
> increasing the number of women speakers at conferences. I think they'd need
> to be screencasts in order to show the work of these women, their sites,
> links to slidecasts/presentations etc, but mostly they could be audio, and
> would only need to be about two or three minutes as well, I'm thinking.
>
> What are people's thoughts on the idea of general topics and history? This
> and the introductions seem like a great point of involvement for Systers,
> what do you think, Jennifer R? (yes, many many Jens/Jennifer in tech ;)
>
> And it's time to begin soliciting tech topics: all those who've expressed
> an interest in content (Lori, Eleanor, Victoria, Desi - and everyone who's
> interested), let's begin assembling a list. Let's do it on the systers wiki,
> here:
>
> http://systers.org/systers-dev/doku.php/subject_areas
>
> On the matter of branding.. I like the DevChix tagline Boys Can't Have All
> the Fun. I think it's very important for these to have an element of
> light-heartedness, of highlighting the enjoyment that is a big part of this
> work and our experience. Jennifer R, does Systers have a logo? Would Systers
> want the ABI logo in there with the DevChix logo? Maybe this is a matter
> that deserves its own topic, discussion between our two groups?
>
> I'd like the format of our casts to be consistent, something like this:
> welcome music, intro, announcements of current conferences or meetups
> /credit to Systers/ABI & DevChix, topic, links, outro music.
>
> And as for music, I think this is also something we should open up for
> solicitation and discussion. I like the music Nola's friend did, but as long
> as we're doing this I think it's worth polling our collective tastes. Here's
> Nola's friend's mp3, and I can start with a particular favorite of mine, too
> - by all-female band Electrelane. Maybe they'd license to us cheap:
>
> http://rubygeek.com/podcast.aif
>
> http://jenlindner.com/take_the_bit.mp3
>
> Process
>
> The thing with this is, it's extremely advisable to publish some sort of
> content weekly, or perhaps bi-weekly with certain things, but regularly. And
> I think it'd be great to time these so that we can publish them on Thursday
> nights, to take advantage of Twitter's Follow Fridays.
>
> What I'm thinking is that we produce some general podcasts to have on hand
> for those times we can't produce new content. Perhaps start with those, or
> start them in tandem with the technology-specific casts. I'd like us to have
> a small review committee and volunteers to sanity test code. And as a last
> catch-all, we publish internally and post to Systers-dev and DevChix to get
> all the eyes we can before going live.
>
> And for people who have some but not much time to contribute, maybe we
> could have a research arm to this. She could research a topic or person and
> post the results to the wiki, for whoever decides to do the cast to begin
> working from.
>
> Thoughts? Who wants to be part of review and testing?
>
> Jennifer R, I'm going to write a more introductory version of this email
> for Systers-dev - or maybe just an introduction to the discussion, and
> cross-post.
>
> Allrighty then. best---
>
> Jennifer
>
> photoblog: www.jenlindner.com
> jen(at)jenlindner.com
> twitter: jenlindner
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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