Communicating various information types in digital form often requires different data management processes, depending on the type of information they contain.
Definitions:
- An Event has specific Date, Time, and Location information attached to it.
- A Bulletin announces a notable temporary or ongoing change.
- A Bulletin often lacks specific Date/Time/Location information.
- A Bulletin may or may not have an expiration date.
- A Flyer is the physical, paper-based representation of either an Event OR a Bulletin.
We interact differently with an electronic calendar item (Event) than we do with a blog post (Bulletin), for example. In technical terms, they involve different metadata.
Collectively, “Bulletins” and “Events” serve the purpose that “Flyers” served in the analog, paper-based world.
Event/Bulletin Examples:
| Example | Type | Post to Website? | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| Join us for Chili at SomeGroup’s 33rd Anniversary at 8pm on MM/DD/YYYY in SomeChurchBasement. Jim J. from SomeOtherGroup will be doing an Open Talk starting at 9pm. | Event | Y | Start Date & Time, End Date & Time, Location. Open Talk is notable because it is part of an anniversary celebration. |
| New Meeting Formed: Bill’s Buds Tues @ 7pm starting MM/DD/YYYY | Bulletin | Y | Start date, but no end date. Still relevant for a month or so beyond start date. Notable to raise local awareness of a brand new meeting. |
| Dr. Bob’s Buds has MOVED to SomeChurch effective MM/DD/YYYY | Bulletin | Y | Start date, but no end date. Permanent change. Still relevant for a month or so beyond start date. Notable as a significant Change to a long-standing meeting. |
| 12 Steppers’ monthly Open Talk speaker this month (MM/DD/YYYY) will be Jim J. from SomeOtherGroup. | Event | N | Start Date & Time, End Date & Time, Location. Regularly-scheduled monthly Open Talk, so not “notable”. The flyer page would be cluttered mess if we posted a flyer for every group’s regular weekly/monthly Open Talks. |
| Serenity Group meets Every Wednesday at 7pm at SomeChurch | Bulletin | N | Ongoing event. Not notable, as there is no significant change. This meeting has existed at this time/location for 3 years, and is listed on the Find a Meeting page. |
What is an A.A. Event?
An Event is a data type that contains Date, Time, and Location metadata that makes it easy to interact with. For Example, we use the “Add to My Calendar” button for Meeting X’s 3rd Anniversary Potluck & Open Talk. This works because of the metadata!
Many AAs prefer this workflow over manually typing in the date, time, location from a printed flyer into their phone’s Calendar app.
Unlike a Bulletin, an Event also has a natural expiration date after the event concludes.
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Example Events:
- Meeting X’s 3rd Anniversary Open Talk & PotLuck Dinner
- May 5, 2024
- 7pm-9pm
- Some Church Basement, Detroit, MI 48XXX
- March Roundup 2024
- Mar 1-3, 2024
- Motor City Hotel Conference Center
Event Qualifications
In addition to following our General Guidelines<LINK>, posting-eligible Events:
- MUST have a single, distinct start date and (ideally) time
- MUST have a single, distinct end date and (ideally) time
- MUST have a physical (or virtual) location
- MUST be “special” in some way that differentiates it from a regular recurring meeting.
- Announcing a particular Open Talk speaker at a regularly weekly or monthly Open Talk meeting is not sufficiently “special” to be considered for posting.
- Announcing a particular Lead Discussion speaker at a regularly-scheduled Lead Discussion-format meeting is not sufficiently “special” to be considered for posting.
- MAY span multiple contiguous days
- MAY be a short-term sequence of recurring events. (how?)
- EXPIRE after the end date/time has passed
Recurring Events
(sort out how we want to handle these. I don’t think we care if they appear on multiple days in calendar view, but we don’t want to “spam” a flyer gallery type view with multiple appearances of the same flyer)
What is an AA Bulletin?
In contrast to an Event with a specific start/end time, a Bulletin is more like a general announcement. Compared to the Event’s “Add to My Calendar” button, you wouldn’t interact the same way with a “Bulletin” informing you that The Grapevine is launching a new mobile app.
Geocoded Location metadata of an “Event” would be irrelevant in most Bulletins. Assigning Event date/time metadata to a Bulletin might actually confuse readers into thinking there is a Grapevine event if it appears in a calendar view.
Unlike an Event, Bulletins may not have a natural expiration date, but they do become “dated” and stale very quickly. In the physical world, we run out of paper Flyers, or someone pins/pastes a new Flyer on top of older ones at the bulletin board. In the digital world, Bulletins can live on long after their information has become inaccurate.
Example Bulletins:
- The Grapevine / La Viña has a new Mobile App! Download NOW!
- Meeting Y has MOVED to Some Other Church Basement, effective MM/DD/YYYY.
- Volunteers needed for Bridging the Gap
Bulletin Qualifications
In addition to following our General Guidelines<LINK>, posting-eligible Bulletins:
- DO NOT meet the start/end date/time and location criteria to qualify as an “Event”
- MUST be “special” in some way that differentiates it from a regular recurring meeting.
- Announcing a particular Open Talk speaker at a regular weekly or monthly Open Talk meeting is not sufficiently “special” to be considered for posting.
- Announcing a particular Lead Discussion speaker at a regularly-scheduled Lead Discussion-format meeting is not sufficiently “special” to be considered for posting.
- MUST convey some sort of news or significant change that would be of interest to our site’s audience.
- EXPIRE 1 month after originally posted (by default), and are not eligible to be renewed or reposted.
- MAY have expiration extended up to 3 months from original post date when requested and warranted, at the sole discretion of Area 33 Web Committee.
