[epo-core] Cut out the middleman - Donate TIME to EPO

[Jay Kuri]

Hey all,

I sent this to the #epo-core channel but I figure I might as well post 
it here.

I think there is a lot of good will towards Perl and the EPO that 
doesn't translate quite to willingness to part with money right now. 
Also - Going from work to money to work, IE Donation - Grant - Paid 
work, is highly inefficient and if we can cut out the money portion we 
may be able to get more things done....

I'm proposing that we add some new things to the EPO.

1) Become an EPO partner / donate time thing

	A plan by which people can sign up to donate time toward EPO sponsored 
projects and grants.  This could be on a company level or an individual 
level.  I think that having a way to officially indicate what types of 
work a person or organization is interested in (general documentation, 
particular modules/dists, etc.) and a way to pair up and get people to 
spend an hour here and there to add to those projects could be very 
powerful.  Especially if we add a recognition page for donations of this 
sort.

	It could also be very useful with regard to companies who have full 
time employees and could spare hours here and there 'on the clock' to 
work on EPO sponsored projects.

2) Apprenticeship

	A way for newbies who are generally full of enthusiasm but somewhat 
lacking in direction to both assist with EPO sponsored projects and get 
trained up / learn by example.  I envision this as having more seasoned 
developers mentor the apprentice and provide specific tasks for the 
apprentice to work on.  This could be a good way to get some of the 
tasks done that more seasoned developers would rather not do.  Some set 
of tasks or skill level could be set to indicate 'completion of 
apprenticeship' which the EPO could recognize somehow - a certificate or 
listing, perhaps a written recommendation by the EPO / Mentor?

3) Time for membership program

	A way for people who would like to be members of the EPO to become 
members without a monetary donation.  This could take the form as a new 
member level, based on a contribution of x number of hours per month or 
something along those lines.  We wouldn't want to put the # of hours too 
low, as the membership fee is also a deterrent for riff-raff, to put it 
bluntly.  I also don't know the legal issues surrounding this.


Even if we don't do #3, I think the first two would be a very powerful 
way to add resources to EPO initiatives / projects, and would generate 
even more good will (and some good publicity) in the process.  I think 
it's key to give something tangible back in both cases, but I think 
'official' recognition is going to be plenty in most cases.

Obviously I'm willing to put time in to help get these things rolling.

Thoughts?

Jay






-- 
Jay Kuri
President
Ionzero LLC
P: 720-438-4660 x101