Spec for Edgy: Community Communication

[john levin]

Here's my wish for Edgy. It's not technical, cody or full of bling, but 
it's my personal itch.

After 4 releases, Ubuntu has not just taken off, but stayed in orbit. 
Constantly improving, branching out (Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Edubuntu, etc), 
ever more useable (on a whole range of criteria - hey even the brown is 
a nicer shade!) it has a large and growing community.

And there's the problem. It hasn't scaled in terms of community.

Example 1: The demise of Ubuntu Traffic; proliferation of random 
newsletters.
Ubuntu Traffic just couldn't keep up with the growing number of posts, 
or even the number of mailing lists. It was, for a while, the best 
overview of the ubuntu-world, and did a very good job of it. In its 
place, there have been a number of newsletters, each covering one small 
area of Ubuntu. There's been 2 Ubuntu Doc Team newsletters (last issue 
at the beginning of March); Ubuntu Desktop news (last issue Feb), and 
just recently, a Kubuntu and Edubuntu newsletter have popped up on 
ubuntu-news. By combining these resources, something regular could be 
produced.

!!Late breaking news!!
 From a post to ubuntu-docs:

Jerome Gotangco, Jonathan Riddell and myself [Matt Galvin] have started 
up a weekly Ubuntu newsletter to consolidate our efforts and create a 
one-stop article about each weeks events including developments and any 
other news in and around the Ubuntu community. This is just a heads up 
to the Doc Team and an invitation to anyone who would like to help out.
Check it out at:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter

Great minds etc.

Example 2: Mailing list problems.
The mailing lists are facing a number of problems. The main ubuntu-users 
is just such heavy traffic, that it's impossible to keep up. The same 
questions get asked over and over (especially: upgrading from Breezy to 
Dapper); sometimes questions don't get answered. The developers list is 
suffering a bad noise/signal ratio, with bug reports being filed there, 
and telling people to report bugs elsewhere is adding to the noise. 
There's been a rapid expansion of mailing lists, so that important 
ideas/info/debate can easily be missed.

On the plus side here, the number of local community lists has grown and 
is very much to be welcomed. Aside from letting people speak their own 
language/s, it takes some of the pressure off the main ubuntu-users list.

Example 3: The Fridge.
The Fridge just doesn't have much news, and entries made irregularly. 
Only three during May, 7 in April, and a poll that hasn't changed for 
months. I feel it lacks focus, and also maintainers (the ubuntu-traffic 
list is closed, so I don't know how many people are involved. The 
entries made are from just two people: jdub and jorge.)

What the Fridge gets right: The meetings guide is really useful, and
keeping these scheduled events in our conciousness is really important.

Example 4: The Ubuntu Hardware Database.
The application menu for this seems to have disappeared with Dapper, and 
the webpage itself is (still) interim, not giving out any stats and 
digested information. Great idea, that gets people involved, without 
drudgery, but really needs some love.
(Launchpad is buggy and user-unfriendly as well. I get the shakes every 
time I try to report a bug; I would have filed many more if it wasn't so 
daunting an experience.)

Solutions:
Just as free software projects leverages users to improve the code, so 
can Ubuntu get its many users to improve its social life and 
communications. At the moment, users can, unfortunately, impede the 
process - by something as simple as posting to the wrong mailing list 
(i.e. ubuntu-dev). But people don't deliberately do this, to impede; in 
fact, it should be taken as a sign of wanting to be involved.

So I propose:
1: Sort the fridge. Open up the fridge mailing list. Get people 
involved. It doesn't have to be a free-for-all; just a team taking and 
sifting submissions.

2: Enhance the automatic feedback from installations. Pop-con, hardware 
database, automated bug  reports. Display this data: when people can see 
what they're doing actually gets registered, they take it more seriously.

3: Revive Ubuntu Traffic / have one ubuntu newsletter. A regular
weekly bulletin is really important for keeping people up to speed with
what's going on. Debian can do it, so can we.
*Note: see above, this is already under way.

4: Introduce people to bug reporting, and make it easier and more 
useful. Whilst the documentation for Ubuntu-the-linux-distro has come on 
in leaps and bounds, the docs for Ubuntu-the-infrastructure need to be 
written. Give instruction in how to use launchpad, rosetta etc, and 
improve those apps.

5: Make it easier for people to drop in for a casual cup of tea.
Not everyone wants or is able to devote hours to Ubuntu. But they are 
very much involved, simply by using Ubuntu, and do want to help out and 
see bug #1 squashed.

Finally, just to say that I will be running an ubuntu-users-uk BOF at 
Lug Radio Live, where I hope to try out some of these ideas and get 
face-to-face feedback.

The floor is now open .....

John