Design Challenge Prizes - What Do You Want?

Hi Nicole,

Thanks for the chance to provide feedback. A lot of the previous comments echo my own.

In the main, I feel Element14 do a great job running their design challenges - certainly I don't know of any other community/website that does anything similar on a regular basis. (Circuit Cellar used to run regular contests a number of years ago).

Here are some of the things I thing E14 have done right:

• The design challenges are themed, and usually very current. The prizes themselves are generally secondary to the challenge itself.
• The prizes for previous challenges have been varied - sometimes they are more technical (an oscilloscope), sometimes not (a laptop), sometimes there is just one, sometimes more.
• Global entrants - I love that E14 allow entries from all over the world. I live in a small corner of the southern hemisphere, and often events from other websites are "US residents only"
• Engagement - There has been nice promotion of the challenges and related webinars.

Here are some other comments:

• For those that aren't initially chosen for the challenges, how about offering the chance to buy a discounted "entry pack" with all the relevant dev kits?
• Some of the previous challenges have suffered greatly from shipping delays.
• Some of the challenges are really big in scope. Some smaller ones might be good. For example, who can make the most efficient power regulator? Who can make the best Raspberry Pi weather station?

Hi tekmeister,

I almost agree with you, but what does not convinced me is what you wrote at the end of the post:

Here are some other comments:

• For those that aren't initially chosen for the challenges, how about offering the chance to buy a discounted "entry pack" with all the relevant dev kits?
• Some of the previous challenges have suffered greatly from shipping delays.
• Some of the challenges are really big in scope. Some smaller ones might be good. For example, who can make the most efficient power regulator? Who can make the best Raspberry Pi weather station?

Just to use your own words, for someone "the most efficient power regulator" maybe easier to think about respect "the best PI weather station". But for someone else maybe totally different , or the opposite. What I mean is that IMHO the very valuable aspect of the themed (great idea, yes) challenges is that are not very close. So the complexity level can be chosen by the users that participate. And I have also saw and appreciated that - just as occurred in SciFi your PI - the challengers choice of E14 are not strictly based on the complexity of the submitted project. That is a very important aspect, just because what I wrote before: here we have many different skills and a very varied knowledge, that is also one of the most important values of this collaborative community. So, E14 decide for a project following - I think - mostly "human" parameters despite the technical complexity of the proposal, that is really subjective. I am following some projects that I consider interesting, because involves technical aspects of something I don't know at all, that for someone seems very simple: definitely I think that a technology is simple if we know very well and is complex if it is the first time we are approaching with it.

Enrico

Hi tekmeister,

I almost agree with you, but what does not convinced me is what you wrote at the end of the post:

Here are some other comments:

• For those that aren't initially chosen for the challenges, how about offering the chance to buy a discounted "entry pack" with all the relevant dev kits?
• Some of the previous challenges have suffered greatly from shipping delays.
• Some of the challenges are really big in scope. Some smaller ones might be good. For example, who can make the most efficient power regulator? Who can make the best Raspberry Pi weather station?

Just to use your own words, for someone "the most efficient power regulator" maybe easier to think about respect "the best PI weather station". But for someone else maybe totally different , or the opposite. What I mean is that IMHO the very valuable aspect of the themed (great idea, yes) challenges is that are not very close. So the complexity level can be chosen by the users that participate. And I have also saw and appreciated that - just as occurred in SciFi your PI - the challengers choice of E14 are not strictly based on the complexity of the submitted project. That is a very important aspect, just because what I wrote before: here we have many different skills and a very varied knowledge, that is also one of the most important values of this collaborative community. So, E14 decide for a project following - I think - mostly "human" parameters despite the technical complexity of the proposal, that is really subjective. I am following some projects that I consider interesting, because involves technical aspects of something I don't know at all, that for someone seems very simple: definitely I think that a technology is simple if we know very well and is complex if it is the first time we are approaching with it.

Enrico