On Wednesday 08 August 2007, William Stein wrote: > Hi Sage-Devel, > > The SAGE downloads during the last week are as follows: > > Linux Binary > 42 > OS X Binary > 42 > Source > 91 > VMware (= Windows) > 57 > > > Total .................................. 232 > > The number of new downloads of SAGE per week have been roughly > constant during the last 2-3 months. The growth of SAGE is definitely > not what I hoped for during my talk at SAGE Days 4. Does anybody > have any good ideas about how to increase the number of people > downloading SAGE? My hope is that this question will spark a relaxed > but enthusiastic and positive open-ended brainstorming thread > > I'm laying a lot of groundwork (e.g., writing books, articles, etc.) > and I think other people are (esp David Joyner), but there is probably > much more that could be done. > > Please share your thoughts!
To me SAGE has at least two quite distinct target audiences. 1.) research mathematicians (or similar fields). I don't know how many people work in these areas (and know how to use a computer for research) around the world but having almost 1000 downloads a month seems like a lot to me. My guess is that most SAGE developers somehow fall into this category (correct me if I'm wrong) and that is why we focused and should focus on this area. Here, all that counts is high quality, maybe speed, good documentation and lots and lots of publications. Maybe presenting SAGE at some conferences wouldn't hurt either. So basically, it's all about a good product. 2.) undergrads taking calculus classes or people who use a CAS from time to time only. If SAGE is to reach the 10.000 user mark it is probably this group which makes up the big numbers. Many people on this list seem to assume so too, because they suggested non-mathemtical means to increase the number of users. > in which a lot of crazy ideas appear. Okay, you asked for it: - is the SAGE notebook optimized for search engines? Does it get picked up? Same for the SAGE website, the documentation? "Search Engine Optimization" is a shady business but some tricks certainly help the visibility of a project. - right now, there is a huge hype surrounding AJAX, Web 2.0, user created content and such. SAGE fits in there because of the SAGE notebook which is a good example of AJAX actually being useful. Use the hype, let the AJAX crazy dotcom world know about it: techcrunch.com, mashable.com, uncov.com, slashdot.org, digg.com, reddit.com, lifehacker.com ... the list goes on and on and on. To them its a free webservice which doesn't even have Google Ads or VC. - buy some Google Ads, apply for venture capital ... kidding - when I did my GRE Math test I noticed that many shady websites try to lure you into installing some dialer to get some GRE Math prep material, like solutions with explanation. So, if they think it is a profitable business to rip-off potential grad students, there must be some significant number of people trying to find solutions to the GRE prep material on the web. A well placed SAGE notebook explaining the concepts and allowing a user to interact with the sample GRE test questions in the way SAGE allows this interaction could bring in some attention. - there are some math blogs & news sites out there. Drop them a mail. Maybe search for "Mathematica 6 review" (as it just came out) and drop those reviewing Mathematica a mail about SAGE. So far, Martin -- name: Martin Albrecht _pgp: http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0x8EF0DC99 _www: http://www.informatik.uni-bremen.de/~malb _jab: [EMAIL PROTECTED] --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To post to this group, send email to sage-devel@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-devel URLs: http://sage.scipy.org/sage/ and http://modular.math.washington.edu/sage/ -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
