THIS SHOULD BE UPDATED TO REFLECT THE CURRENT YEAR, IT HAS BEEN ARCHIVED It might just need to go away, as this job appears to have been divided out amongst several other roles in the past two or three years.
The current Minister of Communication is MattArnold, who is seeking additional members for the publicity team.
The position of MinisterOfCommunications is in charge of a team with main functions in this order:
- Mass-communication to PenguiCon's attendees with methods such as the ProgramBook, InfoKiosks, and the MasterWallSchedule.
- Supervision of PenguiconPublicity such as the website, mailers and banner ads.
- Connecting people with each other when they approach him, keeping contact info, and passing along messages when asked.
Do not broadly interpret the job title. About 75% of everything that is done for a convention in advance of the event consists of somebody communicating with somebody else. That is not, *and can not humanly be,* this job. The MinisterOfCommunications comes up with new ways for people to communicate, eagerly connects people who approach him, and promptly passes along messages when asked, but cannot force anyone to communicate.
It is not the job of Minister of Communications to maintain all of PenguiCon's accumulated wisdom and know everything about what's going on in running the convention, and if it were we would hardly need anyone else on the ConCom. But he tries to direct you to who would know. Toward this aim, another task of Communications is to pursue the acquisition of some kind of archival system. That is this Wiki.
*The following is from the PenguiCon ProgramBook in TwoThousandFive.*
Where’d the Newsletter Go?
One theme after last year was more clear than any other — communication must be improved. Quantity, timeliness, visibility, accuracy, and not necessarily in that order. “All of it must increase,” I heard you cry. I felt an ambitious and inventive experiment was called for. Do we want to solve information-flow problems the same old way that our ancestors handed down to us, which was developed for another kind of convention? A convention about technology is an opportunity to enhance a convention with technology!
For those who aren’t carrying wireless notebooks around, or don’t find the computer lounge, we brought a little taste of Linux out into the hallways. We built three information kiosks running on Knoppix underpinnings. (If you’re one of those newbies like me who, on my first visit to Penguicon TwoThousandThree asked to see “what Linux looks like,” next year we hope the kiosks will be able to show you KDE and GNOME.) One is between the DealersRoom and Registration, one outside the non-smoking ConSuite and one in the lobby next to the ComputerRoom. The restaurant guide, Hotel maps, GuestOfHonor bios, and schedule are browsable through these kiosks, updated throughout the weekend as needed. We’ll improve the software and input/output hardware each year.
Also, the wall of the hallway outside DaVinci’s will be papered almost from floor to ceiling with the complete MasterSchedule of the whole weekend. As Douglas Adams would put it, “this schedule is definitive; reality is frequently inaccurate.” Rooms are rows, times are columns. If changes occur they will be put up on brightly colored paper.
Please write your feedback and leave it for me at Ops!
- MattArnold, MinisterOfCommunications