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Happy 10th Anniversary! - A Decade of element14 Community

A long, long time ago, in an office cubicle far, far away (from me anyway, there's a lot of water between us), a group of people came up with an idea (probably more than just the one, they're bright people) that it would be perfect if makers, engineers and hobbyists had a place to come together to help one another with their electronics, designs and concepts based upon hardware, software and equipment that they use in their day to day lives at work and as part of their hobby outside of their careers.

 

And lo', the element14 Community was born:

 

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The website was styled very differently 10 years ago and based upon the feedback from its members, and the staff that have worked on it over that time it has evolved to what we have today. Here is a brief look as to how it has changed over the years (you can press on the images for a full size rendition):

 

{gallery} element14 Community over the years

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10 years of Community: 2009

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10 years of Community: 2010

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10 years of Community: 2011

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10 years of Community: 2012

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10 years of Community: 2013

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10 years of Community: 2015

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10 years of Community: 2019

 

And we've provided lots of different programmes and campaigns over that time as well:

 

  • element14's The Ben Heck Show which has evolved into element14 presents which still creates great, complex and fun projects that are made to inspire your creativity based on your suggestions.
  • RoadTests & Reviews where you have the opportunity to put hardware through its paces for free and have your feedback given directly back to the suppliers
  • Webinars, Training and Events to educate you on features and functionality on the latest products and technologies so that you can interact directly with suppliers and members of staff
  • Concept development such as the DreamBoard and Dream SensorBoard allowing you to explain and put together ideas you have for real world hardware.
  • Talking of giveaways, there's also Project14 which follows a theme every month and gives you the opportunity to win $100 of shopping cart purely by showing and demonstrating your projects.
  • Tech Connection gives you the definition on new and upcoming standards and technical information with Tech Spotlights and
  • Essentials rounds everything out by putting you to the test on your knowledge of standards and products after teaching you what you need to know
  • Though who could forget about Design Challenges - the large competitions where you blog it out against others to build a project to solve a real-world problem, or show a proof of concept to win big prizes with free equipment.

 

The element14 Community Team are always hard at work to provide the best experience to our users and add new features, including the behind-the-scenes development team that have maintained and upgraded the Jive platform which the Community runs on.

 

 

 

There have also been a number of key milestones over the past ten years as the Community has developed and grown.

 

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As new features and groups have been added to the website, so have the number of fantastic and contributing members, and the Community would be nothing without you!

 

Talking of you, our members:

 

  • What have been your key defining moments over the past 10 years as part of the Community or in Tech?
  • How long have you been a member?
  • What are your fondest memories of the element14 Community or
  • Perhaps most useful or surprising technology from 2009?

 

Now it wouldn't be fair if I didn't answer these myself, so I'll start:

 

  • What have been your key defining moments over the past 10 years as part of the Community or in Tech?

 

I'd have to say getting to work for the element14 Community ! I've met so many creative and capable people while here, and had some fantastic opportunities to give back to the Community as well.

 

  • How long have you been a member?

 

Actually 6 years, I joined as part of a BeagleBone Black challenge pitting one Hackspace against another!

 

  • What are your fondest memories of the element14 Community or

 

I'd have to say one is definitely being 'Bitten by the Bug' which saw a campaign of gifting technology from member to member at Christmas, Giving the Love Bug to You! Teasing the Perfect Pair!

 

  • Perhaps most useful or surprising technology from 2009?

 

Social Media combined with GPS coming to mobile phones - this was a pretty great combination to be able to socialise with various groups from around the world and I've since used my phone to navigate around the place more times than I can count.

 

Add your comment below and you'll pick up the 10th Anniversary Community badge! Work out how you can go the extra mile, and you may unlock the golden version image

 

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Don't forget to get involved with other activities around the site, doing so might earn you something a bit more:

 

10 Year Challenge | Tell Us What You Can't Live Without for an ESP8266, Arduino Uno, or Arduino Nano!

In Honor of element14's 10th Birthday: What is Your Favorite RoadTest Bundle?

 

Or perhaps browse some old content posted by one of our news bloggers, for a trip down tech' memory lane!

Parents

  • I have been a member since 2011, there was a presentation of the site by a Farnell person at our university. However, regular visits and engagement begun in 2017, when I got more free time at work and home. My first memories - I had only two friends that liked electronics and I haven't seen them very often (the worked in a different field and one moved far away). Element14 was a place where I found many electronics enthusiasts, got helped and inspired. Things happen here 24/7 and it is up to every single person how much they engage.

    I started watching the Ben Heck Show and I can't even imagine how hard it must have been to create a presentable product or prototype every week. Amazing work.

     

    One of the biggest advantages is to have so much various materials: blog posts with news and projects, webinars, learning modules and especially road tests. Nothing teaches you more than holding a piece of hardware/software in your hands and evaluating it yourself.

     

    Here are some remarkable Tech moments for me:

    • When I started with microcontrollers (PICs), (non original) programmer/debugger cost > $100, original many times more. Currently, it is common to get a development kit with everything integrated for $20. There has never been a better time to start development of anything!
    • Raspberry Pi and Arduino are perfect examples. Pieces of technology that are easy to use, with huge community around. I was always more into bare metal programming, but for quick evaluation, they are much faster.
    • 10 years back, we used a digital camera at home for taking all the pictures. We had no video recorder, nor player. I wouldn't believe a decent cell phone would replace both of these devices for most of the use cases at home and work. Documentation, inspection, diagnostics... everything is so much easier now.
    • I participated in three Project14 themes and was always positively surprised how the initial project idea evolves. The key is to start doing, make something useful, fun, or just explore the possibilities. The broad variety of ideas of all participants is also incredible.
    • AMD managed to get back into the CPU market, so there is no longer a monopoly and slow development cycle of CPUs caused by no real competition.
    • I hope that the crypto mining fever is slowly falling down - one of the biggest waste of power and semiconductors used mainly for speculation.
    • Phone manufacturers realised their devices need updates. Both security and performance. My first Android phone (Samsung Galaxy S3 mini) was so slow I couldn't even answer a phone call fast enough, so the person usually hung up.

     

    Glad to be here.

    David

Comment

  • I have been a member since 2011, there was a presentation of the site by a Farnell person at our university. However, regular visits and engagement begun in 2017, when I got more free time at work and home. My first memories - I had only two friends that liked electronics and I haven't seen them very often (the worked in a different field and one moved far away). Element14 was a place where I found many electronics enthusiasts, got helped and inspired. Things happen here 24/7 and it is up to every single person how much they engage.

    I started watching the Ben Heck Show and I can't even imagine how hard it must have been to create a presentable product or prototype every week. Amazing work.

     

    One of the biggest advantages is to have so much various materials: blog posts with news and projects, webinars, learning modules and especially road tests. Nothing teaches you more than holding a piece of hardware/software in your hands and evaluating it yourself.

     

    Here are some remarkable Tech moments for me:

    • When I started with microcontrollers (PICs), (non original) programmer/debugger cost > $100, original many times more. Currently, it is common to get a development kit with everything integrated for $20. There has never been a better time to start development of anything!
    • Raspberry Pi and Arduino are perfect examples. Pieces of technology that are easy to use, with huge community around. I was always more into bare metal programming, but for quick evaluation, they are much faster.
    • 10 years back, we used a digital camera at home for taking all the pictures. We had no video recorder, nor player. I wouldn't believe a decent cell phone would replace both of these devices for most of the use cases at home and work. Documentation, inspection, diagnostics... everything is so much easier now.
    • I participated in three Project14 themes and was always positively surprised how the initial project idea evolves. The key is to start doing, make something useful, fun, or just explore the possibilities. The broad variety of ideas of all participants is also incredible.
    • AMD managed to get back into the CPU market, so there is no longer a monopoly and slow development cycle of CPUs caused by no real competition.
    • I hope that the crypto mining fever is slowly falling down - one of the biggest waste of power and semiconductors used mainly for speculation.
    • Phone manufacturers realised their devices need updates. Both security and performance. My first Android phone (Samsung Galaxy S3 mini) was so slow I couldn't even answer a phone call fast enough, so the person usually hung up.

     

    Glad to be here.

    David

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