[Rubyforchange-talk] Hi...

[Evan David Light]

Welcome aboard, Dave!

At the moment, we're still proposing charities that we could build  
web applications for.  Chad made a good post  while back that,  
frankly, should probably be added to the home page for the RubyForge  
project.  I'll repost it below.  About the only thing that we seem to  
have reached consensus on thus far is that we should probably MIT  
license whatever we write.

Repost follows below:
----
Hello Friends!

Now that we're a few days old here on the mailing list, I believe our
first order of non-logistical business is to find a first project.  I
don't know what the project is, nor do I have any great suggestions,
but I'm hoping someone on the list will have some ideas or some
friends who have ideas or some friends of friends....and so on.

Here's what I think we need:

* A 501(c)3 with a real application need which could have a
significant impact (the level of significance, of course, to be
determined)
* A person from that non-profit who can serve as the authoritative
customer for what the application should do
* A commitment of consistent involvement from that customer to help
drive feature requirements and provide feedback
* A (preferably same-city) "project lead" from this community to
serve as the point of developer continuity, so we're not trying to
piece together a cohesive application from too many random people's
hour-scraps on the weekends without someone who understands the full
context of the app.
* Hopefully a designer or two to help us make a decent UI.  Nobody
wants to use a UI that, for example, I made.  Yuck.

My suggestion is that we propose projects here and come to a
consensus (assuming that's possible) on what the final choice is.
I'd like to suggest a self-imposed deadline for us, but we have to go
out and locate customers so I'm not sure how long that might take.

If we're in agreement, then the obvious first step is to start
scouring for non-profits in need.  Ask your friends to ask your
friends for ideas.  DEFINITELY post on your weblog about it.  Let's
get the word out that help is out there for the right project that
needs it.

That being said, getting the word out is a whole other deal.  I think
we need a reasonable web presence and, hopefully at some point, a
more automated system for connecting non-profits with developers.
Let's save that for another thread.

Thanks!
Chad

----

On Aug 16, 2007, at 6:44 PM, Dave Mackie wrote:

> Hi all.
> I just subscribed to the list after seeing a mention on Chad  
> Fowler's blog in the write up on the Ruby Hoedown, and wanted to  
> introduce myself.
> My name's Dave Mackie, I'm in Cary, NC, and while I'm a newcomer to  
> Ruby (just in the last couple of months), I've been working in the  
> industry for the past 10 years.
> I'm excited for the opportunity to do something positive for "the  
> community" while at the same time developing my Ruby skills, and I  
> look forward to helping out in any way I can.
>
> Dave
>
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