Proposal for a PostgreSQL Print Magazine

hi guys,

Here's a long time idea that came back to me while i was at FOSDEM...

When we're on a PostgreSQL booth, apart from the stuff we sell we
don't have much content to giveaway. There's the traditional PostgreSQL
leaflet, which is good for people who don't know what Postgres is. But
on the booth, we also meet long-time PostgreSQL users that already know
the project. These people are not database geeks or whatever, they are
basically developpers or sysadmins who like PG... Most of the times they
have because « PostgreSQL works fine » or « the doc is awesome » . They
stop by the booth to say hi, grab a T-Shirt or a mus and usually they
just want to know "what's new ?" in our community...

I think that would be great to have a print media to keep in touch with
this large user base, because these are the folks that will recommend
PostgreSQL to their clients, co-workers, directors, etc.

From our experience in France, Guillaume Lelarge has been writing
PostgreSQL articles in the Gnu/Linux France Magazine for more than
2 years now. These articles are extremely popular in France because
they're user-oriented and newbie friendly ( although PostgreSQL
die-hards seem to like it too :)

Thus my idea of a PostgreSQL dedicated magazine that could be downloaded
and printed easily... The main version would be in English but local
PUGs could translate it and use it on booth and events... Note that i'm
not inventing anything here, i'm just taking example on the Ubuntu et
Fedora community magazines :

http://fullcirclemagazine.org/
http://mag.fedora-fr.org

Anyway such a project requires a lot of time and energy. I've talked
about this magazine to some people inside and outside the community and
most people said that before launching such a project , it's necessary
to have a "beta version" or a "demo" of what the magazine would look
like. Just to see how many potential readers grab it on booths or
download it... And of course try to get some feedback.

So basically i'm not starting the whole project, i'm just calling for
help to create a draft of the magazine. Let's call it "issue #0" :)

In a nutshell, here's what the content could look like :

Editorial :
News :
Events : info+photos from the latest conferences
Happy Users : one relevant use case
How To : zoom on a specific feature (PITR, FTS, ...)
Interview : Rendez-vous with a PostgreSQL hacker
Road to 9.1 : new features coming soon
Extensions : review of various contrib/modules
Tips & tricks :

All in all, this could give a 16 to 24 pages magazine.

Of course there's still tons of things to decide like : the frequency,
logo, format, licence, title, tools, layout, fonts, etc. If you want to
participate to this "issue #0", you're welcome ! It requires times, but
no particular skills or previous experience in the media.

If you're interested by a print media for the PostgreSQL user base, this
project is for you :) Just send me an e-mail at damien(at)dalibo(dot)info

--
damien clochard
dalibo.com | dalibo.org
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