Newsletter #1: We need your help!

Dear Subscriber,

you will be pleased to learn that work on the Python brochure has begun. We discovered some amazing projects during the PyCon US 2011 conference in Atlanta, which we are going to showcase in the brochure.

Still, there is a lot of space left to describe your stunning Python project too. So please let us know what you are doing with Python. If you work on or know about a project worth mentioning in the brochure, please ping us at brochure@getpython.info.

What exactly are we looking for?

For the brochure we want to present case studies that demonstrate how well Python can be used to implement and run real-life use cases in business, science, industry, education, media, government, public sector and charity.

We're not interested in the latest in decorator designs, meta-class overloading and context manager tweaks. We want to show people that Python is mature enough to be used in mission-critical systems to e.g. move billions of dollars through financial trading systems, run tests for NASA's Space Shuttle, collect VAT taxes from traders at the national level, or semi-autonomously control giant robots.

Topics that are interesting to people without having to know a lot about computers or programming.

Things we need

In general, we need information about the projects you are working on or know about and contact details, so we can follow up and reference the project:

• name, company name

• project name

• postal address

• phone number

• email address

• company website

• project website

Images and high-level summaries

Since we'll be focusing on making the brochure visually appealing, we'll need images and pictures as well as statements, quotes and high-level summaries of what the projects are about.

In order for us to better understand the projects, it would be useful if you could include:

• PDFs of slides or posters showcasing the project

• additional notes and texts (not only for publication, but also for us to get a better understanding of the project)

• (URLs or file of) videos or audios of presentations

• URLs to reference the project

• URLs to use for getting more information

• contact information of people in charge of the project's or company's PR and marketing (in order to get the use permissions for images and texts)

Quotes and statements

To make the presentation of the project more interesting for the reader, we'd also like to get a statement or quote from you, the project leaders – or, if possible, from the CEO or CIO or the company behind the project.

So many words, so little space

We cannot guarantee that your project will be showcased in the brochure, because space is limited, but we plan to create a supporting website for the brochure, where we'll try to list most, if not all content contributions we receive.

Looking for inspiration?

These are some initial questions that may help you describe the project and notes that explain what we're after.

• In one sentence, what is the project all about?

  We need to get readers of the brochure interested in the project. A terse and to-the-point description of the project will help a lot.

• In which mission-critical parts of the project is Python being used?

  We are interested in learning how Python makes the world go round, so we emphasize on mission-critical use of Python. Having Python being used e.g. just for testing is not necessarily all that interesting – unless those tests are mission-critical in their own right, e.g. to save lives, prevent the rocket from blowing up, etc.

• How did you arrive at the decision to use Python in the project?

  We're interested in learning how the decision process worked, which criteria were used and why Python won in the process. This information is very interesting to people in charge of other projects, since it provides them with arguments for pushing Python in their own space.

• How would you describe the overall impact of the project in your field of business?

  Your project should be visible to a larger audience, affect a good number of people or have a sustained effect on the application area. Smaller projects are also welcome if they have an interesting twist or potential to arouse attention in a brochure context.

• Was it fun working with Python in the project?

One of the most important success factors in today's innovative IT projects is the joy of programming. Python usually makes the process very enjoyable and often creates motivational surprises, when finding how easy and elegant solutions can look in Python. We'd like to underpin this with real-life examples.

We're looking forward to hear from you!

Thanks,
Your Python Brochure Team