Advocacy Accomplishments (most recent at top)

• 2006/12/03 Put candidate PyCon slogans onto poll site and

  • let the community vote; tally the vote and report it to the graphic artist and swag coordinator.

• 2006/12/01 Fed material to author and reviewed writing of Python material in "Understanding Computers" college textbook (pub Mar/2007) to be published by Course Technology/Thomson Learning; lead passed to me from PSF.

• 2006/11/26 Led and finalized keynote speaker selection for PyCon.

• 2006/11/25 Participated in final selection of PyCon tutorials.

• 2006/11/21 Produced first draft of talk timeslot assignment.

• 2006/11/19 Participated in budget preparation for PyCon.

• 2006/11/17 Participated in final selection of PyCon talks.

• 2006/11/14 Get vector format of PyCon logo to the graphic designer.

• 2006/11/13 Made announcment re advocacy onto comp.lang.python, comp.lang.python.announce, and marketing@wingide.com mailing lists.

• 2006/11/11 Took a few quick photos at local bookstore for basic clipart for advocacy portal.

• 2006/11/10 Implemented a [http://advocacy.python.org/suggestionbox.html suggestion box] web form (Zope 3 component) that emails feedback to me at <advocate@python.org>; mail server on ximinez.python.org not configured to accept/deliver mail yet though.

• 2006/11/08 Implemented a [http://advocacy.python.org/docs/dept-careers.3600.en.1 web viewlet/component], under the Careers tab, that polls monster.com and dice.com once each day and plots the count of Python-specific job openings; retains up to 5 years of data.

• 2006/11/08 Established a [http://advocacy.python.org/getinvolved subportal], for those who want to help promote Python.

• 2006/10/31 Met over phone with Shane at O'Reilly to discuss how the various open source communities can work with O'Reilly; wrote up meeting notes on [http://python-advocacy.blogspot.com/2006/11/oreilly-seeking-ideas-on-partnering.html my blog].

• 2006/10/28 Presented a 2-hr code walkthru of [https://svn.python.org/www/trunk/advocacy.python.org/ the underlying structure of the advocacy portal] to the DFW Pythoneers, getting feedback and ideas.

• 2006/10/27 Coordinated with the PyCon graphic designer negotiating contract, getting it signed and so forth; we now have a photo montage at the top of [http://us.pycon.org us.pycon.org] although we're still looking for good photos.

• 2006/10/20 Worked short list of keynote speakers and got speaking commitments; we have [http://us.pycon.org/TX2007/Keynotes 3 firm] and 2 more candidates if our schedule has room.

• 2006/10/17 Contacted specific key individuals and send out emails encouraging various Python subcommunities to submit PyCon talks; we had 104 talk submissions for 2007 versus 70-odd for 2006.

• 2006/10/16 Added support for filterable documents to the advocacy site, and came up with a decent presentation layout for said documents.

• 2006/10/14 Prototyped up and did a code walkthru for the DFW Pythoneers showing how Python programs can participate on the D-BUS (desktop bus for Unix), querying and altering the hardware (such as detecting USB plug-in events and altering the laptop LCD brightness) using HAL. Also showed how to use the notification-daemon on D-BUS to pop-up balloon help and a brief touch on the wireless services provided by Avahi (zeroconf/rendevous) on the D-BUS. This talk came about as a result of my PyCon research into a possible One-Laptop-Per-Child keynote, where that project uses much of this same technology. [http://python-advocacy.blogspot.com/2006/10/tech-walkthru-d-bus-hal-notify-and.html Blogged].

• 2006/10/12 Reviewed the slogans for PyCon with the attendees of the DFW Pythoneers social, collecting input on how and what to select. We also discussed what we'd like to see at PyCon and how we could, individually, lead threads on comp.lang.python and other forums to encourage speakers to step forward.

• 200610/12 Worked on a [http://us.pycon.org/TX2007/TalkIdeas list of PyCon talk ideas], adding outlines to some, posting to comp.lang.python and comp.lang.python.announce. Also blogged the calls ([http://python-advocacy.blogspot.com/2006/10/call-for-members-of-panels-on-web.html here] and [http://python-advocacy.blogspot.com/2006/10/call-for-presenter-on-python-eggs.html here]) for talks and tutorials but I suspect those didn't get out because it was before any blog aggregators had picked me up. I have gotten a good offer for a talk about eggs, and a confirmed solid candidate for a keynote speaker.

• 2006/10/05 Gave a 60-min presentation at the local DFW Unix Users Group about dynamic languages and Python, as a follow-on to the main presentation given by Dave Thomas about Ruby and Rails. [http://www.dfwpython.org/static/DFWUUG_AboutPython/AboutPython.html My slides] are available on the club website, in [http://www.dfwpython.org/static/DFWUUG_AboutPython/AboutPython.txt docutils/restructured-text S5 format]. I'd guess the audience size was roughly 15-20 people. [http://python-advocacy.blogspot.com/2006/10/group-discussion-about-dynamic.html Blogged].

• 2006/10/03 Migrated over the prototype portal from advocacy.dfwpython.org to advocacy.python.org.

• 2006/09/30 Added sponsor logos back to PyCon site

• 2006/09/30 Reworked PyCon site to support IE

• 2006/09/28 Gained access to the correct portion of Python SVN to hold my creations, both software and content.

• 2006/09/25 Put out call for PyCon talk and tutorial ideas; post my suggestion list.

• 2006/09/22 Had a virtual host added to the Apache configuration for ximinez.python.org that points to the advocacy portal work area, along with cgi-bin for a few tools such as Nabu.

• 2006/09/22 Installed onto ximinez.python.org a tool set: Python2.5, Docutils, Zope 3.2.1, Pyscopg2 DA, Nevow/Stan, Nabu.

• 2006/09/22 Established on ximinez.python.org a root directory under which to install the advocacy tools and content.

• 2006/09/21 Got a DNS subdomain, "advocacy.python.org", pointed to ximinez.python.org, one of the python.org machines.

• 2006/09/20 Got an account on the PostgreSQL database on ximinez.python.org, under which to install the various tables for dynamic content.

• 2006/09/20 Got a shell account on the python.org machines and familiariing myself with the architecture and filesystem layout of each.

• 2006/09/17 Restyled the us.pycon.org website to something closer to the look of www.python.org.

• 2006/09/15 Assisted Doug Napoleone with sysadmin support for rolling out the new, Django-based PyCon Submission system.

• 2006/09/12 Produce a glossy sheet and a business card for a install fest being held in Australia. Set up a file library to hold them at:

  • http://advocacy.dfwpython.org/@@/collaterals/ (soon to be at advocacy.python.org instead)

• 2006/09/11 Subscribed to the pydotorg mailing list to get getting involved in discussions.

• 2006/09/07 Arranged for the creation of the mailing list <advocacy@python.org> and the email alias for myself of <advocate@python.org>.

• 2006/09/07 Finalized the contract for the position.

• 2006/08/25 Expanded collection of ArticleIdeas.

• 2006/08/20 Established [:Advocacy:list of magazines] for article submissions and starting collecting ArticleIdeas.

For active discussion on advocating for Python, please join the mailing list at [http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/advocacy]

CategoryAdvocacy