Idea : User Group Central AIR App
One of the things many developers have told me that they like about working with Flex, is the amount of involvement the community has and how great it is that everyone is helping each other. I’m currently in the process of getting things all squared away with the Orange County Flex User Group I’m involved with and was thinking:
Wouldn’t it be great if there was an AIR application that allowed any user group manage their blog, members, calendar of events, speakers, get direct messages from Adobe, watch remote sessions, etc. surrounding a user group? It could also be an application a member could download to check out any user group in the world. It could make creating and managing a user group really quick and easy.
Doing a little research I found that their seemed to be common patterns in what people did to get their user group put together. There’s usually a blog, sharing of information, like dates, contact info, member info, etc. Recognizing patterns like this is a great way to figure out whether or not something warrants creating an application to cater to certain needs.
We’re using Mango Blog for the OCFlex User Group, which is powered by ColdFusion and could probably be ported over to be used for an AIR app. Not only that, but I know there’s a lot of the other pieces out there we can use to put this together. Now all we need is time.
Anyone interested? Any thoughts?
September 20th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
Why not just make it a Flex app and instead of downloading a new app to check out a diff group you just change a dropdown?
September 20th, 2007 at 2:59 pm
@Ben - That’s the idea. Better yet, a rotating globe with pins showing different user groups.
September 20th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
this is absolutely brilliant. Good on yer guys.
I’m a UGM for one group in my city and help with two others (CS3, CF, Flex/AIR). I can use this.
I like the AIR idea better than a Flex app because I can do up mail-outs while traveling to work on the train and then send them when I hit my desk.
How to make it happen? What help do you need?
September 20th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
sounds cool. so you could jump from user group to user group and view events/blog entries/etc. So would user group managers need to register to be listed? I wouldn’t mind doing some layout/component design/etc. for something like this
September 20th, 2007 at 4:00 pm
@eric - I think Adobe has a listing of all user groups, so we might be able to tap into that. I think Mike Potter has a list going too. I’ll see who else responds to this post then try to organize the effort.
Another feature could be the ability to send out HTML email notices to members on your list. Cool!
September 20th, 2007 at 4:07 pm
“We’re using Mango Blog for the OCFlex User Group, which is powered by ColdFusion and could probably be ported over to be used for an AIR app.”
if you can keep the blog management API generic enough others (perhaps us?) could write an adapter layer to work with other blogs.
We use Matt Woodwards CHUG blog (also CF powered)
September 20th, 2007 at 5:28 pm
Why not get people involved in each widget/component/area if the app. User groups get any product of thier chioce to the value of $2100US as a giveaway once every 6 mnths. Can we pool these together to make a decent global effort? I think New Zealand arm woulf be interested. Very cool idea Juan!
September 20th, 2007 at 5:31 pm
Sorry forgot to mention using the giveaways as prizes…. lol silly me
September 20th, 2007 at 8:44 pm
I’m taking notes and going to try to talk to some people at MAX to see about the best way to go about putting this together. Maybe come back with even more support.
@campbell - i like the idea of splitting things up if it can be managed. Maybe each region works on a different part of the app and those user groups that participate get the whole app free. I think if something like that could be pulled it would be amazing and the benefits would great.
September 21st, 2007 at 1:32 am
I suggested this to Adobe over a year ago and put in a proposal for it, but nothing ever came of it.
September 21st, 2007 at 1:57 am
Here was the proposal. Might help in some way
Concept
A cental site for all Adobe user groups worldwide would be a great resource of information on Adobe products
to sit inline with IFBIN. All source will be avialable to IFBIN.
User groups are a great way of learning that should we shared worldwide with Adobe users. Providing a
central place for all user group information will enable people to find, sign up, watch, attend and learn in a
more efficient manner. At the moment with all groups having their own domains and sites it is difficult to find
and locate groups and keep up with what is happening at different groups worldwide. This will bring all groups
together as one solid community, sharing experts knowledge.
Software
The application will be built in Flex 2.0 suing Cold Fusion for the backend. Flash Media Server will be used to
stream all video content. PDF’s would be used to create print outs of meeting details and to enable users to
add proposals for future meetings on and offline.
The application would also be ported to Apollo at the eariest chance possible to run as a desktop application.
Content
1. Future Presentations
2. User Groups
3. Archive
4. Speakers
5. Login
6. Podcasts
7. Proposals
8. CMS
1. Future Presentations
A complete list of planned future presentations listed in date order. Each item can be clicked on to get the full
information about the Presentation.
Sorting
- date (default)
- alphabetical order of title
- alphabetical order of speaker
Filtering
- none (default)
- product
- user group
- speaker
Searching
- user group (default)
- subject
- speaker
2. User Groups
A complete list of user groups worldwide listed in date of next meeting order. Each item can be clicked on to
get the full information about the User Group.
Sorting
- date of next meeting (default)
- country
Filtering
- none (default)
- products
Searching
- area (default)
- speaker
3. Archive
A complete list of all past presentations listed in date order. Each item diplays the title, date and speaker. Each
can be clicked on to view the full Presentation.
Sorting
- date (default)
- Alphabetical order of title
- Alphabetical order of speaker
Filtering
- none (default)
- product
- user group
- speaker
Searching
- user group (default)
- product
- subject (i’m wondereing whether this should be the default for this search but worried about changing the
- functionality from Future Presentations)
- speaker
4. Speakers
A complete list of all speakers listed in alphabetical order.
Sorting
- date they last presented
- Alphabetical order (default)
Filtering
- none (default)
- user groups they have presented at
Searching
- user group (default)
- product
- subject (i’m wondereing whether this should be the default for this search but worried about changing the
- functionality from Future Presentations)
- speaker
5. Login
Lets user login to sign up for meetings and add proposals.
6. Podcasts
Subscribed to podcasts.
7. Proposals
Logged in users can add proposald to present at a meeting.
- name
- contact details
- experience
- title
- description
8. CMS
All Adobe user group managers would have a login to be able to add all the details about their future meetings
and follow up by adding rich media and the presentation files.
How do they upload large video files and podcasts (ftp?).
The above areas are made up of the following items.
Presentation
A presenation item features the following;
Default
- products
- presentation title
- presentation description
- speakers name
- speakers bio
- date and time
- location (map)
- signed up users
- link to session presentation, including source (after meeting)
Optional
- photos
- video of the session
- podcast
It could also be interesting to add some kind of feedback Q&A commenting facility here.
User Group
A user group item features the following;
Default
- products
- managers name
- location of group
- contact
- list of future presentations
- list of past presentations
Speaker
A speaker item features the following;
Default
- speakers name
- speakers bio
- presentaions
September 21st, 2007 at 3:27 am
It might be neat for an AIR app to be for the management, and a Flex/CF app for the ‘user’ side. The less requirements for people to view the public side the better. UGM’s could harness the power of an AIR app to manage it
September 21st, 2007 at 8:13 am
@Tink - Wow. I knew I wasn’t the only one who thought this was a good idea. I hope Adobe at least has something in the works. Would you be interested in helping out?
@Nick - I could see it working both ways. It would be nice for the management app to be an AIR app to allow for more desktop integration.
September 25th, 2007 at 6:54 am
so….
… how do we start?
September 25th, 2007 at 11:17 am
@barry - I’m currently tied up with a few things getting ready for MAX, but I’m gathering email addresses and will try to start getting things organized as soon as I have a chance. Let me know if you have any suggestions for moving forward.
September 28th, 2007 at 2:31 pm
Count me in, brotha.
October 29th, 2007 at 11:37 am
Hey,
I’m in the process of getting the Flash Users group started up in San Diego, and an application like this would be EXTREMELY helpful. I think this would also make it easier for people in other areas to get their group started up (thus helping to grow the community). Let me know how I can help!
October 29th, 2007 at 4:40 pm
Count me in on a limited basis until December, when my time will be more available.
BTW, it would be great to be able to integrate with mailing list systems (like Google Groups, etc). Even if it was a simple HTML Component to the mailing list page.
Also, to add on to Tink’s blog post…err…comment (lol), automatically grabbing presentations from our Connect accounts would be great.
Oh, I’m pure dev’…no design other than backgroundGradientColors.