[awards-program] Meeting Notes: Awards Meeting 17 December 2007

[Jim Grisanzio]

fyi: I pinged docs-discuss and i18n-discuss today to gage interest and 
get some conversations started. Although we don't have an i18n category, 
they can participate within one of the other categories. That goes for 
other CGs as well, of course.

Teresa Giacomini wrote:
> Hi Folks,
> 
> Here are my notes from our meeting today.  Please let me know if I 
> missed, or misrepresented anything.  In order to make headway and get 
> something to legal by the end of the week, we decided to meet *daily at 
> 4pm PT* this week. 

Every day is ok except for your Fri (which is my Saturday). Usually Sat 
morning is ok, but not this week.

> Dial-in Info:
> -------------
> 866-651-9314
> 865-525-0765 x44404
> p/c 1234403
> 
> ================================================================================
> Meeting Notes:  17 December 2007
> ================================================================================
> 
> *ATTENDEES*
> Alta Elstad
> Teresa Giacomini
> Joey Guo
> Jim Grisanzio
> Jesse Silver
> 
> *ACTION ITEMS*
> - Each owner noted below will research their area and return with as much information
>   as possible on that area.
> 
> *DECISIONS*
> - Proceed with the categories and distribution originally proposed until we hit an
>   obstacle that tells us we cannot proceed in that direction.  For example, if no one
>   in the community steps up to review, judge etc specific categories.

I think this is key. We need as much direct involvement in managing the 
program as possible since we will be potentially engaging large numbers 
of people. We'll specially need experts who will act as judges. We've 
announced the program on the announce list and on the main discuss list 
and the Advocacy list, and it's been in high profile blogs and in the 
press. So, I think it's safe to assume that people have been notified. 
This week, after our individual efforts, we'll make decisions based on 
the info we have.

Can you give us a sense of Sun's upcoming deadlines?

> *GENERAL DISCUSSION*
> 
> *Prize Amounts*
> - should they vary by geography?

I vote no on this. I think it should be based on who participates and it 
shouldn't matter from where they participate (unless there is a legal 
reason involved).

> - do we have to have a pre-defined amount?
> - can we approach all categories like a grant program and determine the award amount on
>   the merits of the proposal?
> - what about first, second, third level type prizes?
> - classify by difficulty and quality
> - smaller awards will spread across more people - build community
> - large awards for fewer people may spark more interest

I vote for a few large prizes and many small ones.

> - need to strike a balance
> - save some big chunks for higher quality things
> 
> *Distribution of Prizes*
> - geographic component:  number of participants?  size of potential market?
> - first submitted
> - best submitted
> - what if we do not get anything submitted for a particular area?
> - individuals or teams
> - may want to use Wildcard category for grand prizes for particularly innovative ideas

This was an interesting idea for the Wildcard.

> *Potential Reach*
> - for the OpenSolaris Programming Contest in China, promotion was done to over 2000
>   students; 300 registered for the program.
> 
> *Owners by Area*
> - Student Research - Teresa
> - Device Drivers - Jesse/Joey
> - Apps and Packages - Teresa (acting)
> - Documentation - Jim/Alta
> - Wildcard - Joey
> 
> *Decisions/Actions Needed in Each Area* (owners to drive)
> - develop list of eligible work
> - inform appropriate communities and projects
> - determine if all work will get the same award level
> - figure out how to track who is working on what - or do we care?
> - establish criteria for judging
> - get judges
> 
> *Comments on Device Drivers*
> 
> Very hard for people outside the company to get the data sheets from the manufacturers.
> Need to take good care of the IP issues.  Chris Baker was really down on the idea because 
> it is difficult to decide which drivers.  Best drivers come from relationships between Sun 
> and other companies.  Dan Roberts think that this is not true and we can do drivers.  
> Suggestions were made to contact the Starfish project, the IHV group that supports drivers
> (James Liu), the Beijing driver group (Paul Lee), Garrett D'Amore and Juergen Kiel.

Jim
-- 
Jim Grisanzio http://blogs.sun.com/jimgris