[Leaplist] Fwd: Can kids volunteer for install fest

[John Simpson]

On 2008-03-01, at 1518, Robin (Bartow FL) wrote:
>
> One person needs/wants multiple notifications multiple days in  
> advance.
> Another person needs/wants a different number at some different  
> interval.
> Well, good luck making everybody happy.

many of us have PDAs, or "smart phones" of one kind or another, which  
have calendars and alarms built into them... program a reminder into  
that device. that's what i did when i started coming to LEAP meetings  
(before it became second nature.)

and almost all of us have at least a basic cell phone which can  
receive SMS messages.

most of us have a machine (or ten) running linux, BSD, OSX, or some  
other "real" operating system, which runs 24/7, and is capable of  
sending email. why can't people who want their own custom reminders,  
just create "at" jobs on their own systems, to send reminders to their  
phone, whenever they want?

$ cd ~/reminder
$ cat message
The LEAP meeting is 3/20 at 7pm at DeVry near
Millenia Mall. http://www.leap-cf.org/
$ at 10am 2008-03-17
at> cat message | mail 4075551212 at cell.carrier.xyz
at> {CONTROL-D}<EOT>
job 3 at 2008-03-17 10:00
$ at 1230 2008-03-20
at> cat message | mail 4075551212 at cell.carrier.xyz
at> {CONTROL-D}<EOT>
job 4 at 2008-03-20 12:30


all you ned to do is make sure "atd" is running on the system, the  
"mail" command on the system is capable of sending out email (you may  
need to configure a smarthost or something like that) and you know the  
email address which will forward to your phone as a text message (or  
as normal email, if you have a higher-end phone.)


> How about an email auto-responder with details of what, when, and  
> where.
> Query it at your leisure, and to your hearts content.
> I recommend just before you begin transit to the meeting place.
> If there is a change, hey, your up to date as quick as email.

IF the user remembers to ASK if there have been any changes.

the point of a list is that it's a "push" system. if there are any  
changes, the list owner can send out a message to everybody, without  
the subscribers having to somehow "pull" information to "check" for  
changes.

the whole idea of an alarm or reminder system is that the system  
should asynchronously interrupt you, not just put information  
somewhere and expect you to constantly check back for new changes.


> Or an email alert to anything that is not already expected.

like the existing list?

i don't see the mechanism as the problem- the list is a way to send  
plain-text reminders on a fixed schedule, and that's fine. the  
discussion, as i see it, is more about the timing of those reminders  
than anything else.

i agree that four days in a row is probably not best- for regular  
meetings i would suggest 10am monday, then lunchtime on thursday  
itself. and for installfests, i could see 10am monday, then lunchtime  
on friday.


> Or a voice announcement (sound file) at a URL.

see above, where i explained the difference between the user having to  
"pull" changes, and the list owner being able to "push" changes.

as for the sound file idea... why complicate it more than it needs to  
be? plain-text email gets the idea across quite well, without somebody  
having to record a sound file, upload it to a web server, or anybody  
else having to download and listen to it.

of course, if you're doing reminders for yourself, and you find this  
easier to deal with (i.e. if your phone automatically plays sound  
files which are emailed to it, for example, and you want your phone to  
asynchronously speak the reminder) then you can certainly set up your  
own reminder for it. (don't get me wrong, it's a cool idea... i just  
don't see it as a realistic option for everybody on the list, and the  
list needs to be usable by the maximum number of people.)


> Or a .mobi compliant URL.

again, why complicate it more than it needs to be? any telephone with  
a browser will also be able to receive email or SMS, and both of them  
can be reached via plain-text email.

--------------------------------------------------------
| John M. Simpson  --  KG4ZOW  --  Programmer At Large |
| http://www.jms1.net/                 <jms1 at jms1.net> |
--------------------------------------------------------
|   Hope for America  --  http://www.ronpaul2008.com/  |
--------------------------------------------------------





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