Edinburgh Tech Learners Impact Proposal

communities/edinburgh-tech-learners/impact-proposal.md

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+# Impact Proposal
+
+## Summary of the Community’s Needs
+
+### Community demographics
+
+The community consists of people who are ready to move on from Edinburgh's numerous tech communities aimed at beginners, but at the same time are not ready for the myriad meetups and tech talks run for people with advanced technical skills. Because of my knowledge of it, I will be focusing on students of the University of Edinburgh. This community has access to a lot of these beginner and advanced resources, but very little in between.
+
+### Communication
+
+Since there is no pre-existing group here, it’s not immediately apparent what forms of communication will be convenient for the group. However, by observing similar groups, we can make a reasonable guess. The vast majority of university-adjacent events in Edinburgh are organised through Facebook, so that will probably be the most convenient form of communication for our members — it’s also likely to be the platform they engage with most, since they will already use it regularly.
+
+### Culture
+
+#### Code of conduct
+
+To ensure an environment that is welcoming and inclusive to as many people as possible, we will have a strong code of conduct that will apply to all interactions within the community, both in person and online. It will handle how to resolve disagreements and explicitly state forms of conduct which are unacceptable.
+
+#### Existing communities
+
+While there is no singular group that everybody in the community I am targeting takes part in currently, there are several groups that are likely to have some overlap. However, what's universally lacking in all of these spaces is an environment for specifically supporting people who want to move on from the beginner phase, but are not yet ready for the numerous spaces aimed at those with advanced technical knowledge.
+
+#### Cultural consistency
+
+Continuous, regular sessions will be key to achieving my long-term goal of allowing people to move through the intermediate phase of technical skills development to the point where they are ready to take part in the more advanced communities. To provide this, I will need to ensure that the community is not dependent on a single person (me). Since the events should be fairly easy to organise, it should not be too difficult to find other people who can take on the organising work occasionally if I'm not available, or regularly after I have moved on. To facilitate this, however, I will need to fully document the administration of the community — tangible tasks like booking rooms, and softer, cultural things like how to handle disagreements and provide a welcoming atmosphere will be equally important to provide a seamless transition between community administrators.
+
+## Your Proposal
+
+I want to hold a physical gathering of people in my community, with the aim to make such a gathering a regular event.
+
+### Timing
+
+I think the best timing would be some time after the beginning of the next semester — I think we’d have the most success if people could get comfortable and settled before the events started. At the same time, we wouldn’t want to start too late because attendance and interest would likely decline as exam time approached. Therefore, I think the optimal timing would be between weeks 1 and 3 — after Welcome Week, but before things start to get too busy.
+
+### Community demographics
+
+#### Building the community
+
+I will build a sizeable, diverse community by reaching out to people involved with Edinburgh's similar communities that don't quite address the needs of the community I am aiming at — this includes CompSoc (the Computing and Artificial Intelligence Society), and Hoppers (the women in computer science group run by the university). I will also reach out to potential members who are coming to the end of their time in the beginner communities through the leaders of those communities.
+
+#### Diversity
+
+A lot of the existing communities I plan on targeting are aimed at underrepresent groups in technology — especially women. I'm not aware of many communities targeting other underrepresented groups, but my hope is that by building a reputation as a welcoming and inclusive community, we will reach and retain a diverse community membership.
+
+### Goals
+
+Edinburgh has a lot of tech events aimed at beginners, and a lot that assume a more advanced audience. There’s little in between — once somebody has reached the end of the beginner content, it’s not clear what they should do next. My goal is to bring this community together, and provide a space where they can learn, socialise, and develop their skills together. My proposal will address this goal by providing an inaugural event for this community, as well as an online space for ongoing community participation.
+
+### Communication
+
+As identified above, Facebook is likely to be the most effective way for the members of the community to engage with events and communicate with each other. However, I think it’s important to ensure that people aren’t forced to use Facebook just to take part in that community, so to that end essential information will be available through a website or mailing list, ideally with a subscribable calendar feed.
+
+## Your Proposal’s Impact
+
+### Target audience
+
+#### Who are you expecting to impact based on your proposal?
+
+As above, I plan to impact people (mostly students of the University of Edinburgh) who are underserved by the communities that aim at either the beginner or advanced level.
+
+### Community needs
+
+#### What specific issue are you addressing with your proposal?
+
+I am addressing the lack of a tech community in Edinburgh aimed at helping those of intermediate skill level to develop and move on to the advanced-level communities.
+
+### Resources
+
+#### What resources do you need to accomplish your proposal?
+
+Very little! All I really need is a room where I can hold events. There are other small things I could provide — snacks, stickers, etc.
+
+#### How will you obtain these resources?
+
+By collaborating with CompSoc, the university's computing and artificial intelligence society, I will be able to book access to university venues for little or no cost. In future, I could also ask tech companies in Edinburgh to allow us to meet in their offices. The other little niceties could likely be sourced from Edinburgh tech companies by providing the opportunity to provide a sponsorship at a very low cost.
+
+### Media
+
+#### How are you preparing to deliver your community impact proposal?
+
+I will get in touch with the various groups I'd like to use to find members of the community, and ask if I can reach out to their members somehow — this would preferably be me talking about my event at a gathering of that community in person, but could also take the form of me making a post in an online space.
+
+#### What are you going to prepare to deliver the content?
+
+I'll come up with a couple of paragraphs I can use to introduce people to the how and why of what I'm trying to do — I can probably just adapt excerpts of my community assessment and/or impact proposal.
+
+### Content knowledge
+
+#### How knowledgable are you on the topic your community impact proposal focuses on?
+
+I have extensive experience in tech communities of all levels, from the organising and participating side. My experience at hackathons in particular has given me experience in working with those of intermediate ability.
+
+#### What resources do you have at your disposal to enhance that knowledge?
+
+##### Knowledge of participants' needs
+
+I know a lot of people who fall into the demographic I'm targeting, and through regular conversations with them (and other members of the community I meet as time goes on) I hope to develop my understanding of the needs of the community over time.
+
+##### Organisational skills
+
+Additionally, I know people who are much more experienced in community organisation that I am, and through conversation I hope to similarly learn from them and enhance my knowledge in that area.
+
+### Timeline
+
+#### Develop a rough timeline for your community impact project.
+
+My goal is to run the first event in the first few weeks of the semester, so mid- to late- September. I'll have to organise the venue and promote the event before that, but that mostly won't be possible over the summer, so ideally I'll meet with CompSoc as soon as the semester starts to get the room organised, allowing me to start promoting the event during Welcome Week, when people will be especially receptive to hearing about new events.
+
+## Planning for the Future
+
+### When will you review the impact of your proposal?
+
+I will review the impact of the proposal after the initial event is over and a little time has passed to allow me to gauge whether people stay engaged in the community.
+
+### How will you measure success?
+
+I will measure success using the turnout of the event, the feedback I receive from it, and how engaged people are with the community in the time following the event.
+
+### How frequently will you iterate on your community plans?
+
+All the time! I'll ask for feedback after every event to make sure I'm doing the best I can to address the needs of the community.