I've been thinking of some few ideas for if/when we are able to get some active members (and switch over to our permanent platform). I figured instead of keeping them in my head or in an offline text file, I would just start a discussion to keep track and collaborate with everyone on what might be the best direction to take as the community takes shape. Largely what this community will function as, of how people utilize this space will depend on all of you, the members - so I'd love feedback and buy-in from the members as you all join. (Pardon any typos or grammer mistakes, as I'm on mobile).
Ideas:
- I have a personal leaning to enjoy short term projects and impulsive little experiments (as I often struggle to commit to longer term projects, and often drop and repickup old projects). I say this, because I think maybe others are the same - and it might be nice to have little events that don't require a long term commitment, but provides an opportunity for people to either collaborate with others for a short little project, or even provides an idea for them to work on something themselves. In short: maybe we could host something like a monthly event such as a "game jam", or "try something you've never tried before, and expect to be terrible at - then share your result". Or just other little quirky things to motivate and encourage learning, experimenting, or collaboration and community building.
- I'm not sure how I want to implement this (or what possibilities nodeBB forum software will allow), but I like the idea of the forum providing a space for people to list/showcase what they are working on, and an easily queryable by other members looking to possibly contribute to another project. This could be as simple as something similar to a "bio" on the profile, or a forum that is dedicated to listing projects - but often forums discussions mean old projects (but possibly still active " get pushed to the bottom. I like the idea of a dedicated page that lists "all active member's projects" or something. This is a loosely thought out idea - but essentially the intent is that I want to provide a way to put the member's ideas and projects front and center stage - to promote collaborattion and discussion around the projects that are passionate about.
- Another "loosely" formulated idea- but I want to find a way to encourage diversity in the community. What I mean is I don't want the forum to gather such a narrowly focused group of people, that we turn off people from other disciplines...which I think happens a lot in technology specific communities. I want to encourage people who are creative and curious about different things. I want painters, programmers, writers, musicians, game developers, tinkerers, etc to all feel welcome and share their knowledge, and feel comfortable cross-collaborating with other disciplines. I know this is a bit overly hopeful and reality will likely differ, but I think it's more of an "ideal" that I would like to strive for and encourage. (So less of an idea and more of a philosophy?)
I'll add more as I think of them. And I encourage you all to add your own or provide critiques to my mine.
