Great! Now What?
The APRS Foundation intends to build a solid foundation for APRS to build upon - no pun intended. You have to admit…that was a little “punny.” I couldn’t resist! :-)
We can head in countless directions, but much cleanup must be done to establish a baseline.
A mix of technical and non-technical work needs to be done. Some won’t be fun, but it’s a necessity and will be rewarding! It’s long and daunting, but please read through the opportunities to find a place where your skills can help.
Define Use Cases
In line with last week’s comment about asking ten ham radio operators what APRS is… We live and breathe APRS. We’re amongst the best suited to put together a list of use cases. Ensuring the entire ham community is on the same page is essential. The last thing we should get is hesitation when someone hears, “What is APRS?”
Hopefully, this will be the most straightforward task of all!
If someone wants to start a thread here on Groups.io titled “APRS Use Cases,” we can start to gather this information immediately! That way, we collect everyone’s ideas in one thread.
Actually...it's going to make a lot more sense to start doing this work on the new How APRS Works site!
Rebranding
How many would like to see a new logo for APRS? The current logo is dated at best. We are confident that some hams out there also have an artistic side. If anyone has ideas on rebranding APRS to give it a fresh look, we would love to see it!
If you or someone you know is skilled at brand management, brand awareness, graphic design, and/or typeface design, please reach out via the Contact Us form and include “Rebranding” in your message.
Website
The APRS.org website needs a COMPLETE overhaul! It’s a mess, and the site looks like it was created in the early/mid-90s.
Hams need an authoritative location to get information on APRS. We can think of no better place than aprs.org.
According to Steve Dimse, the web server hosting aprs.org has over 5 GB of files stored on it. Part of me can’t help but think the server became a place for Bob to store stuff, most of which likely never made it onto the website.
When I first spoke with Steve, he expressed interest in turning the website to the Foundation. We hope that is still the case.
Web Design & Content Review (Multiple opportunities)
We need folks who can review the existing aprs.org website and define the structure for the new website. It’s kind of all over the place right now, and there’s a ton of content.
Users have expectations of what an authoritative resource should look like, and suffice it to say that what it is today doesn’t fit their expectations.
If you have good organizational skills and are up for a challenge, please reach out via the Contact Us form and include “Web Design & Content Review” in your message.
Webmaster (Content Management - Not Website Management)
We would love to have at least one webmaster who is well-versed in web design and several others to help review and organize the content. With that much data sitting on the server, there’s bound to be much to go through. It doesn’t all need to be done in one fail swoop.
We need to pick a place to start. The most logical place to start is building a new site parallel to the existing one. We can start by deciding what to keep/eliminate, then cleaning, organizing, and migrating the most relevant content to the new site.
Once the new site is established, we can continue to build upon it.
We assure you there will be an SSL certificate on the new website. Practically, the entire Internet has embraced the “HTTPS Everywhere” movement. The Electronic Frontier Foundation is right—HTTPS is Actually Everywhere—just not on http://www.aprs.org. That will change!
The new URL will be https://www.aprs.org whenever we switch the domain to point to the new website (assuming TAPR allows us to take it over). Don’t click this link yet - it won’t work due to the lack of a certificate right now). Continue to use http://www.aprs.org for the time being.
No openings at this time - this section is being maintained for historical purposes.
This is THE prime opportunity to build THE authoritative source of information on APRS!
If you have basic web development skills and are familiar with the fundamentals of web development, Markdown, MkDocs, and GitHub, please email info@.... Please ensure “Webmaster” is in the subject line.
Oh, and if you know Markdown, you’re 90% of the way to understanding MkDocs! It’s awesome!
Documentation
John L. and Lynn began a project to convert the APRS 101 spec from PDF/Word to Markdown format. The ultimate goal is to utilize GitHub as the documentation repository.
GitHub is an excellent application that provides version control and distributed development, allowing multiple contributors to work on the same projects.
This effort will also include consolidating enhancements/extensions to APRS 101 that were never merged into the official specification.
This will allow the Foundation to update the documentation and provide a facility for others to submit and contribute through Git and GitHub.
We already have an application that automatically detects changes to the repository and publishes the content to the web in a gorgeous format! We will share the publicly accessible link soon!
Documentation Editor
This project is almost complete. However, there are some elements that we could still use help with. If you know Markdown, don't mind doing tedious work like taking lots of screenshots, or enjoy creating diagrams, please use the Contact Us form and include “Documentation Editor” in your message.
Project Management
To anyone who wants to help but doesn’t feel they have enough experience with APRS, we still need you! You don’t need to be that savvy with APRS to support our efforts, but Project Management is a skill we’ll need.
Case in point - I’m passionate about APRS but am not even remotely as well-versed as I would like. My talents include business, leadership, information technology, and security. I’ve held my ticket since 2015 and still consider myself new to ham radio.
We want some assistance from folks with managing deliverables and milestones. We need to make sure we deliver on what we decide to do. It’s one thing to say you will do something, and it’s something else entirely to deliver. That cannot be accomplished without even the most basic project management skills.
We also need people who are good with tracking those interested in helping the Foundation and their interests.
And you don’t even need to be great with Project Management! If you can maintain a list of deliverables and a timeline and feel you can help keep folks on task, you’re hired!
Please reach out via the Contact Us form if you are interested in helping manage the aforementioned projects and/or any future projects.
Volunteer Work - Not Employment
While APRS Foundation Inc. is a non-profit organization, please do not perceive these opportunities as an offer of employment. John, Lynn, John, Jason, and I are board members, but we do so on a voluntary basis and are not compensated in any way.
The work we are requesting assistance with is on a volunteer basis only.
Remember that we are all working towards Ensuring the Future of APRS! There is no better way to give back to the global amateur radio community than through work of this nature! It’s extremely important, and the rewards are that you get to say you worked on it!
A Lot To Do
As you can see, there’s a lot to do. We're looking for a few good hams!!! We are just getting started! But we cannot do this without YOU!
To make this point abundantly clear, our door is open to any licensed amateur radio operator worldwide interested in contributing to the effort! If one of the areas above strikes a chord with you, please join the conversation and come along for the ride!
Please be patient - we may take a week or two to reply - but I assure you we will respond!
Thank you for taking the time to read this message. We look forward to working with you!
Best Regards and 73,
Jeff Hochberg - W4JEW
President
APRS Foundation, Inc.
Ensuring the Future of APRS