Unfinished Projects

Bismillaahir Rahmaanir Raheem

I have the bad habit of starting things and not completing them.  This is bad for numerous reasons, just a few of which I’ll list shortly.  I will warn you now that as this post is meant to help me organize my thoughts, it will list-heavy, as I do find lists and other types of grouping structures to be beneficial and help in making relationships (e.g., database schemes).

I already know that as I type this I will revisit this post in the future as I will be unable, in one sitting, to be think of all of unfinished projects.  Therefore, I will come back and add to the list as I recall more things (and find the time and desire, a rare combination these days, to update the blog).

For

  • Unfinished projects tend to clutter your mind
    • I tend to turn to unfinished projects whenever I work (i.e., get paid to do something) and hit a stumbling block.  This severely hinders my progress on work, which ultimately leads to less getting done.
    • Time when I could be brainstorming solutions is usually spent wondering about these myriad unfinished projects, which, lacking much focus, tend to yield few to no tangible solutions.  This includes walking/riding to the masjid, showering, and other activities that tend to leave the brain free and, ideally, well-suited for addressing beneficial thoughts.
    • If I try to focus on something, I can have a hard time preventing my mind from wandering to these unfinished projects.  This is related to the point about work above.
    • It’s just not healthy to have so many things on the mind at once.  There is a point at which the benefit of multitasking is overshadowed by the overhead of just trying to keep track of everything.  It’s not efficient.
  • Having so many unfinished projects means that it can be hard to pick just one to work on.
  • Playing catch-up may give a false sense of achievement, because the value of these unfinished projects are not equal, and therefore, I may complete one that is really not that important while one that is more valuable was never completed.  Therefore, just trying to clear out the backlog of projects may yield a net result of close to zero.
  • There are many more, and I may amend this list in the future as I recall them.

So, here is the list of my unfinished projects (at least those that I can recall at one point or another).  I am including some thoughts on the different ideas as well.

  • Redesign the Audio Islam website
  • Write a script to automatically tag all the audio files, especially the ones containing Qurʾān recitation, with reciter & sūrah information
  • The Fedora Documentation manpage coverage project
    • This is basically an idea I had related to the Fedora Documentation project to ensure that all executables had an associated man page (manual page, a low-level documentation system for Unix-like operating systems such as GNU/Linux).
    • The first step in this is to canvass the existing packages & executables and see what already has a man page.  I have already started on this, but there is much work left to be done.
    • There are plenty of sources for documentation that can be used as baseline manpages, including the Debian project.  So, this project doesn’t require as much work as it does just coordinating and facilitating.
  • A Paltalk replacement
    • Paltalk is a voice conference & chat application (video is also supported, but I don’t care about that right now) that is widely used, but terribly proprietary.
    • My goal is to create or synthesize a replacement for Paltalk using only free software and open technologies
      • The best candidates for this are SIP (for multimedia) and Jabber/XMPP (for text chat).
      • The landscape for software that can do this in a simple fashion is rather bleak, but there are some solutions.
      • I’m currently focused on FreeSWITCH as the SIP server and ejabberd as the chat backend.
      • Linking them such that it will be one service will be quite challenging, and still requires a free software client that has solid support for both SIP & XMPP
        • I’ve been looking mostly at Qutecom, SIP Communicator, and Psi
        • On GNU/Linux, the Empathy client for the Telepathy framework is outstanding, but, is limited to free-software operating systems.  I think Windows support is a long way out still.
  • AlMaghrib in Malaysia
    • I am trying to catalyze the establishment of AlMaghrib Institute seminars in Malaysia (almost surely in Kuala Lumpur, at least at the beginning).
    • I’ve already purchased the domains almaghribinmalaysia.com/net/org, and I just need to get the site setup.
      • To start off, I think just a blog with some information about AlMaghrib is fine.  It can be fleshed-out later.
    • Alḥamdulillāh, there is already a lot of interest both within and without Malaysia.  I have several contacts here that are also excited and may be able to facilitate the first few steps.
      • I see the first step being getting a group of excited & enthusiastic locals to get behind the effort.
      • After that group is identified (and it is really an ongoing process), see about getting the support of existing organizations.
        • From an initial perspective, it seems like this is going to be easy, in shāʾ Allāh.
      • With this support, we will want to schedule some kind of event to gain a wider audience interest.  Something like a conference or teaser seminar, perhaps a week-long program with some of the AlMaghrib instructors.
        • Many of the AlMaghrib instructors are already known or well-known here
        • Having Suhaib Webb might be particularly nice, as his wife is Malaysian.
        • Waleed Basyouni has expressed an interest in coming to Malaysia, and some work is already in progress regarding that, but it may have stalled (temporarily only, in shāʾ Allāh)
        • Yasir Qadhi is another instructor that has some reknown here, apparently (from what I’ve been told).
  • HidayahTech
    • My own technology consulting business
    • Although HidayahTech is currently the name of my blog, I have also resolved to use this as the name for my own consulting business.
    • Services will include
      • Audio recording, editing, mastering, and production (I did this, for example, for the Texas Dawah Convention in 2007)
        • I am consider splitting this and other audio-related services into it’s own business, namely, Hidayah Audio
      • Web technologies
        • Hosting (this is generally quite easy)
        • Moodle (an open-source learning mangement system, for putting schools online, for example)
        • Audio services, including hosting my “replacement for Paltalk” solution above
      • Consulting
        • This will include a wide variety of services ranging from system administration, general IT, infrastructure, to web development
        • I may take some partners or hire some friends for this aspect of this business, as I will need help for some points of it
  • Global Homeschooling
    • This is my premiere project, if I had to pick one.  I consider this to be something great if I can achieve it, by the Permission of Allāh.
    • To sum it up, I want to develop a system whereby Muslims (and truly, anyone) can homeschool their own children easily.  Homeschooling may be too specific of a term, though, because I want the scale to include a plan that can be implemented by governments.  I would like children, and really anyone, to be able to be educated within their own homes, utilizing the bevy of technology that exists.
    • Technology creates options & opportunities, and this is a belief I take strongly.  Therefore, I think we should utilize it.  I see education as one of the most important investments that can be made, whether it is Islamic or related to the worldly sciences, both of which are important.  I actually believe the distinction to be artificial, but it will take time to get there.
    • So, to put it in a few words, I would like to develop a system of education leveraging technology that is globally accessible allowing education to be released from the confines of school buildings.
  • Learn the Python programming language
    • I think learning Python has a high return value on the types of applications I would like to write, including graphical ones.  Also, it is quite the preferred language for many platforms, not the least of which is Red Hat & Fedora.
  • Memorize the Qurʾān
    • Please keep in mind that this list isn’t in order of importance…;)
    • I think this is a goal every Muslim should have.  I started this goal, seriously, while I was staying in Egypt with my parents, even semi-regularly visiting the imān of the nearby masjid to review my memorization.  Sadly, since arriving in Malaysia I’ve not really resumed, and I am afraid I may start regressing.  This is the kind of project that can be achieved through a little, regular & constant work every day.  I really should commit to something, even if it is as simple as one āyāh per day.  That would be better than none.

2 Comments to “Unfinished Projects”

  1. AlBaraa says:

    RE: AlMaghrib Malaysia

    Along with the grass roots efforts of getting people interested in AlMaghrib and bringing them there, I would also highly recommend that you make yourself familiar with the process of incorporating a business entity within Malaysia.

    Find out what the different types of entities there are (ie LLC, C-corp, S-corp, 501c3, etc) and how they’re governed within the country of malaysia. What are some of the basic tax laws, so on and so forth.

    The country’s economic and business policy will play an effect on whether AlMaghrib will come to Malaysia or not.

    just my two cents 🙂

    1. Basil says:

      AlBaraa,

      You’ve brought-up some really interesting points that I hadn’t yet considered. They will undoubtedly prove to be very important as the project grows in intensity, in shāʾ Allāh.

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