Re: [Inkscape-user] [Inkscape-devel] Fw: Release Marketing
Hi again, After some thought, I wonder if I might not have been very clear about continuing to participate in writing a release announcement. When I first submitted my draft, I did not realize that it was to be written for Inkscape users or artists. In addition to that, I didn't realize that the 3 referenced previous release announcements were NOT written for Inkscape users or artists. When Elisa Godoy de Castro Guerra says
"all these documents are really code oriented" and "Actually the first sentences are all oriented to the code, who is not attractiv for designer people."
I don't know what she means. And to be perfectly clear, I really have not the slightest idea what she means! As an Inkscape user and not a developer (or hacker or coder), I don't have any problem understanding the previous release announcements. So for those reasons, I don't think I have the necessary skills to write the release announcement for 0.91. I'm happy to contribute to the Inkscape community in whatever way I can. But for this, it seems I don't have the right skills.
Perhaps these things have already been decided, but it seems like a reasonable point to make. Artists or designers make up only a portion of Inkscape users. As I participate in Inkscape forums, day in and day out, there are plenty of people who are asking for support, who do not come from and an artistic or designer background (maybe as much as half). So if the announcement is to target artists/designers, won't that leave out people from a lot of other professions or backgrounds or communities? Just a thought from a non-marketing person :-)
All best, brynn
-------------------------------------------------- From: "Brynn" <brynn@...3089...> Sent: Monday, December 08, 2014 8:15 AM To: "Tavmjong Bah" <tavmjong@...206...>; "Elisa Godoy de Castro Guerra" <elisa.dcg@...155...>; "Inkscape-Devel" Inkscape-devel@lists.sourceforge.net Subject: Re: [Inkscape-devel] Fw: [Inkscape-user] Release Marketing
To answer all of you at once. I based it on the 3 previous announcements which were offered as examples. And then I added some details which I thought Inkscape users would find interesting. I didn't try to make a major diversion from previous announcements.
I'm an Inkscape user. I know little to nothing about development or coding. If what I wrote sounds like it is from a developer's or coding perspective, it's because I based it on the 3 previous announcements which were referenced. And for details, I consulted the release notes -- also written by developers, I guess.
If the goal is to write something that most Inkscape users can understand, that's a whole different story than what the original message requested.
Also note that I don't know much about marketing either. If you want something that looks like marketing, I'm not your person.
I would leave off filters. While new filters are always great, they probably are not of the same importance as the above.
I wonder if that's more of a developer's perspective? As an Inkscape user, the new filters is one of the new things that I anticipate the most. And I know other users do too, because of comments I've seen in forums.
- Performance improvements: Give numbers: rendering speed, memory use.
Likewise as an Inkscape user, the new renderer seems to me like the highlight of the whole release! Inkscape users may know more than you think they do. I know this is a highly anticipated feature! Much more than the new Measurement tool and improvements to the other tools. I didn't include rendering speed and memory use, because as an Inkscape user, the numbers don't matter to me. What I see happening on the canvas is what matters.
The paragraph mentioning our 4 year gap can probably be excluded entirely. Let's not point out our failure to get the release done earlier.
Now THAT sounds like a developer being critical of his own work! I rather thought the 5 interim bug fix releases in only 4 years was impressive, plus a new major release to top it off!
Anyway, I'll try to write something that announces the new version to Inkscape users. But again, I don't know anything about marketing. So it will be just me, an Inkscape user and not much else, explaining the new version to other Inkscape users.
If anyone else wants to do this, they should go ahead. I was just trying to save you guys some extra work, and it looked like an easy thing to do. But it sounds like you want something quite different than what was presented, and I may not have the skills to do it, as far as marketing.
Anyway, thanks for your comments :-)
From: "Tavmjong Bah" <tavmjong@...206...> Sent: Monday, December 08, 2014 2:58 AM To: "Elisa Godoy de Castro Guerra" <elisa.dcg@...155...> Cc: "Brynn" <brynn@...3089...>; "Inkscape-Devel" Inkscape-devel@lists.sourceforge.net Subject: Re: [Inkscape-devel] Fw: [Inkscape-user] Release Marketing
On Mon, 2014-12-08 at 09:51 +0100, Elisa Godoy de Castro Guerra wrote:
Hi,
i was waiting for the meeting to discuss a point. I can translate into french. But reading the document i notice a problem.
Second me, all these documents are really code oriented. Who are the target of Inkscape : the artist ? Then i think we should creat some text, document marketing or example showing new feature, or pointing very good feature in Inkscape. Actually the first sentences are all oriented to the code, who is not attractiv for designer people.
Brynn, Thanks for taking the initiative on this.
I agree with Elisa that the press release must be targeted towards end-users. We developers already know the details.
I would re-order the paragraphs:
- An introduction to Inkscape without the history.
"The Inkscape community is happy to announce the release of Inkscape 0.91. Inkscape is ...
See http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/Hackfest2015#The_Pitch
- New/Improved tools. Why are these important? What can the user do
with the Measurement tool? What is the purpose of the Symbols dialog? It could be interesting to point out that it can read Visio symbol libraries. What is the purpose of the the Trace Pixel Art feature?
Newly supported file formats.
New extensions: highlight a few.
Performance improvements: Give numbers: rendering speed, memory use.
You can briefly mention the Cairo library but most end-users won't know anything about Cairo and they won't care when and who did the work.
I would leave off filters. While new filters are always great, they probably are not of the same importance as the above.
The paragraph mentioning our 4 year gap can probably be excluded entirely. Let's not point out our failure to get the release done earlier.
Tav
Download BIRT iHub F-Type - The Free Enterprise-Grade BIRT Server from Actuate! Instantly Supercharge Your Business Reports and Dashboards with Interactivity, Sharing, Native Excel Exports, App Integration & more Get technology previously reserved for billion-dollar corporations, FREE http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=164703151&iu=/4140/ostg.cl... _______________________________________________ Inkscape-devel mailing list Inkscape-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/inkscape-devel
Hi Brynn,
On 14 December 2014 at 13:33, Brynn <brynn@...3089...> wrote:
I'm happy to contribute to the Inkscape community in whatever way I can. But for this, it seems I don't have the right skills.
Don't take the critism too seriously. The community is built on a revisionism and participatory decision making. Viz if you are the only person writing the marketing announcement, then it will be to how you like it and you can take or leave suggestions from other people. Likewise encouraging your critics to get involved in the process is a good way to spread the work around and get that balanced and fleshed out product without burdening a single volunteer with every critic's whim.
I'd post the draft to google docs and open it up to anyone to edit. Keep backups (obviously) but be open to providing the playground for everyone to participate.
At some point some volunteers who are excellent word-smiths and proof-readers will emerge and they will finalise things by editing the document too.
I'm hoping the strong suggestions from others haven't put you off too much, I thought you'd done a decent first draft.
Best Regards, Martin Owens
Oh no, I wasn't offended or upset about suggestions to change my text. I expected there would be suggestions and discussion (just like I expect there will be for the new user faq).
The problem is that I honestly and sincerely don't understand what is meant by my draft and the 3 referenced previous announcements being "code oriented"; or that they represent "developers being critical of their own work". With no exaggeration, I am truly baffled!
And since apparently this was the subject of the Google Mentor Summit, I guess it has been discussed at length, and must be important. There must be people, *who participated in the summit,* who not only understand what it means, and have the skills to write it, but who also want to write it. Right?
From that perspective, I'm woefully unprepared and unqualified!
Maybe after I see what it means, when someone writes the announcement for 0.91, I'll understand, and be able to try for 0.92.
Thanks for your support, Martin :-)
-------------------------------------------------- From: "Martin Owens" <doctormo@...155...> Sent: Sunday, December 14, 2014 1:16 PM To: "Inkscape User Community" inkscape-user@lists.sourceforge.net Subject: Re: [Inkscape-user] [Inkscape-devel] Fw: Release Marketing
Hi Brynn,
On 14 December 2014 at 13:33, Brynn <brynn@...3089...> wrote:
I'm happy to contribute to the Inkscape community in whatever way I can. But for this, it seems I don't have the right skills.
Don't take the critism too seriously. The community is built on a revisionism and participatory decision making. Viz if you are the only person writing the marketing announcement, then it will be to how you like it and you can take or leave suggestions from other people. Likewise encouraging your critics to get involved in the process is a good way to spread the work around and get that balanced and fleshed out product without burdening a single volunteer with every critic's whim.
I'd post the draft to google docs and open it up to anyone to edit. Keep backups (obviously) but be open to providing the playground for everyone to participate.
At some point some volunteers who are excellent word-smiths and proof-readers will emerge and they will finalise things by editing the document too.
I'm hoping the strong suggestions from others haven't put you off too much, I thought you'd done a decent first draft.
Best Regards, Martin Owens
Download BIRT iHub F-Type - The Free Enterprise-Grade BIRT Server from Actuate! Instantly Supercharge Your Business Reports and Dashboards with Interactivity, Sharing, Native Excel Exports, App Integration & more Get technology previously reserved for billion-dollar corporations, FREE http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=164703151&iu=/4140/ostg.cl... _______________________________________________ Inkscape-user mailing list Inkscape-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/inkscape-user
On Mon, Dec 15, 2014 at 4:44 AM, Brynn <brynn@...3089...> wrote:
I am truly baffled!
Maybe you must read (more) poetry and (some) artists learn (more) about computers? ;D
<excuse me for daring> Computers are complex. Try to use, without losing accuracy, the simplest possible language and perhaps succinctly mention concrete output results. </excuse me for daring>
I think you will do the job well.
A ¢ for a beginner.
-- Eneko Gotzon Ares
participants (3)
-
Brynn -
Eneko Gotzon -
Martin Owens