I've been working out an outline.
Tell me
what you think: I'm not quite sure how to break the topics up into
entries
though, especially 6-8, which are very 'sidebar'.

1. SETI Introduction

Basically, the index piece. A few quoteable introductory statements.
(eg: "The
funny thing is, although a huge proportion of the population believe
there must
be other intelligent beings in the universe, they think you are mad for
trying
to find them." - sam) and links to the other entries.

2. SETI History - overview of previous searches

This might be hard to find out, but puts the current generation in
context.
They've been using Aricebo for at least 20 years, Drake did the
earliest search
in 1960.

3. SETI Assumptions - Radio and the drake equation

SETI is based on two major assumptions, even after the assumption that
intelligent life exists; that intelligent species use radio, and that
the
signals they generate will be narrowband. Both are worth looking at,
given that
*we're* not even doing that anymore.

4. SETI@HOME

Major piece, describing the need, the distributed technology, and the
social
setting of the project, the people involved, the work done so far, and
what all
the bar graphs and messages in the client mean. There is a lot to
explore here,
with frequent breakouts to seperate entries. The trick is to keep this
piece
focused. The client software is the one thing that users are most
familiar with,
so that's probably the place to start.

5. SETI - The Future

What if we find them? (first contact protocol) What if we don't?
Broadening the
search - Spread Spectrum and Optical.

6. A brief overview of signal processing and the FFT

The Fast Fourier Transform: Frequency domain analysis. What the SETI
client
does, why it takes so long.

7. A brief overview on threads and multitasking.

How a computer does two things at once. And how 'background' tasks get
their
timeslices. Intended to explain how the SETI client runs at low
priority,
paradoxically using most of the power of your machine while almost
never slowing
it down.

8. A brief overview of First Contact Protocol

What to do if you get a message from Aliens. This is a fairly
humorous/serious
piece, given that it involves an international treaty. The basics are;
"Don't
reply. They could be bad. We'd need to think about it" which is rather
good
advice.

I'll probably start writing some stuff over the next few days... I'd
like to get
an outline hammered out so we know the final shape we want. We need a
lot more
facts: names and dates. I wonder if we can interview one of the project
co-ordinators over email? I've got a list of questions that might
improve the
entry.

My basic thinking is that we're going to have to write everything from
scratch.
There are some good bits in the existing entries, but they're a little
sparse.

~Orinoco