Austin Improv

Caeriel wrote:I know the tech geeks would love to have something that sort of updated automatically from the theaters' various websites, but I wonder if it would be that hard for someone to just create a google calendar that we'd all have access to and each theater would be responsible for putting their stuff up on it? That's something that could be implemented right away, would take someone at each theater 20 minutes a month to input information into and would be used and appreciated by many, many people... you know with, like, a different color for each theater, one for social events, one for auditions, etc...

This idea was also discussed a few years ago and dismissed when every group wasn't interested (at the time, at least). If people would be willing to make it happen this go round, then great!

I think one of the main things to keep in mind is that theater schedules can often change quickly when a troupe has to drop out or swaps places with another. This is why we wanted to aggregate all the theaters' master calendars into one super calendar. We want something dynamic that can update the second something changes. Once that's accomplished, it would be neat to link each entry to its corresponding online ticket sales page.

http://forum.austinimprov.com/viewtopic ... r+calendar

That's the last thread on the subject if you're interested in the roadblocks that came up last time.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6

COLDTOWNE THEATER:
8:30 - Monday Night Mash feat. The Draft, Lazy Geniuses, and Troubled Gourd (Pay what you want)
10:00 - Monday Night Open-Mic (stand-up) (Pay what you want)

(Other theaters dark)

These days it would be trivial to aggregate all this information if the theaters used the same backend (the de facto standard being Google).

As of this moment, which theaters (if any) use Google as their calendaring backend?

Yeah I read that other thread and I don't see why this died last time. You make the google calendar editable by a bunch of people from each theater who are trusted to make sure the information is accurate and up-to-date, and the burden needn't fall on any one theater's admin person, nor take up much of any one person's time.

I see how creating a dynamically updating calendar that feeds off the various websites' calendars would be technically difficult and probably rife with issues, and is probably a non-starter, but just allowing us humans to pool all the information in one place wouldn't be that hard, especially if there are people like Kevin who are willing to occasionally kind of double-check what's there and make sure it's all up to date (which would be a lot easier than having to manually post everything here).

Brad Hawkins wrote:These days it would be trivial to aggregate all this information if the theaters used the same backend (the de facto standard being Google).

As of this moment, which theaters (if any) use Google as their calendaring backend?

The Hideout does not.

Brad Hawkins wrote:These days it would be trivial to aggregate all this information if the theaters used the same backend (the de facto standard being Google).

As of this moment, which theaters (if any) use Google as their calendaring backend?

Gnap! (which is what I mean when I put the entries for SVT) uses Google, at least: http://gnaptheater.org/calendar/

Y'all have fun figuring this technical stuff out, in the meantime I'll do my daily post.

Might I suggest moving the technical discussion to a new thread, so this thread can be used only for event listings?

Can the administrators arrange this posting in reverse chrono order so your header is the listing of shows that day? Would be super helpful as it is such a great tool.

I see you can change the order of listings on an individual view at the bottom of the thread - but I meant that always listing it in reverse would help with the intent of the action - which was to help the Austin Improvisors have a quick go to list of all of the shows each night.

kd dilling wrote:Can the administrators arrange this posting in reverese chrono order so your header is the listing of shows that day? Would be super helpful as it is such a great tool.

A very good idea, but maybe not possible within the forum software.

I'd suggest first, that this thread be restricted only to event postings; second, that people follow this forum via Google Reader (aka RSS by us nerds); third, that you stay subscribed to this thread via email so you're notified of new posts that way.

(Catch: you have to click the notification email and open the thread to remain subscribed to it.)

Yay happywaffle! I second Paul: you are awesome for doing this.

I am currently working on a solution to this issue.


Promise fulfillment pending.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7

COLDTOWNE THEATER:
8:30 - Stool Pigeon (Pay what you want)

THE HIGHBALL:
8:00 - Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog LIVE (Opening night! Good show guys!)

SOCIAL GATHERINGS:
9:00 - Improv Happy Hour at the Violet Crown

happywaffle wrote:TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7

THE HIGHBALL:
8:00 - Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog LIVE (Opening night! Good show guys!)

Thanks Kevin! I guess I'd like to point out that this is an Institution Theater show that is taking place at The Highball. Just $5!

Thanks so much for including us!

Madeline

Right, I started to put it under an "Institution" header, but I didn't want people thinking that was the venue. And of course the link goes to the Institution website.