[ubuntu-art] Gettin' our @$$3$ in gear. or, a team restructuring.

[John Baer]

On Sun, 2009-04-19 at 19:51 +0100, Cory K. wrote:

> Apart from the title this email aims to take a no-holds-barred look at
> who we are and how we are put together.
> 
> I have been looking at ways to give this team more structure and
> noticed
> something we lack in concrete leadership or anyone with any authority
> to
> enact change. Nobody with definitive word. We generally throw around
> loose ideas, someone edits the wiki and it looks official. 'Till, the
> next guy comes along. God. The wiki must have gon through some major
> shuffle every release.
> 
> So I propose:
> 
> 1. Clearing out the current LP art team and starting from zero.
> Closing
> it and making it a moderated team.
> 
>     The Launchpad team means and does nothing. I really don't see the
>     need for a open team. Karma? No. I want to give it meaning. Being
> on
>     this team will mean your a trusted member and you have
> demonstrated
>     some ability/aptitude worthy of meaningful contribution to the
> team.
>     Which is how a good many of the Ubuntu teams work. Weather it be
>     actual art, packaging, documentation or credited art/design
>     knowledge (you know what you're talking about basically).
> Acceptance
>     on to the team will be voted upon by the Art council.
> 
>     This would also be the bug contact for any packaged efforts in the
>     repos.
> 

> 2. The current mailing list will be a discussion list and the new list
> (already waiting in the wings) be for LP team members only.
> 
>     This would mostly be a name change. Everyone on the "ubuntu-art"
>     list would stay as-is the list would just rename to
>     "ubuntu-art-discuss". The new list would be "ubuntu-art-devel".
>     /Maybe/ the need to have "community" put in there somewhere. Up
> for
>     debate. And the latter list like I said would be for approved
>     members of the LP team.
> 
> 3. Formation of a 5-person (or so) art council to be made up of
> currently trusted members.
> 
>     Pretty much self-explanatory. I would propose: (and this is just
> off
>     the top of my head. don't feel slighted if I don't list you)
> 
>         * Kenneth Wimer - Our Canonical contact and generally smart
> dude.
>         * Thorsten Wilms - Great command of design theory and good
>           documentation skills.
>         * Jonathan Austin - Great artist. (if he's up to it)
> 
>         (just a quick list. I'm sure there's more)
> 

There are two very powerful team principals to remember. The first is
exclusion. No one wants to feel they are left behind or what they have
to offer has no value. The second is inclusion, everyone is welcome and
everyone has something to offer.

1) The question becomes why would I want to be a member of the
ubuntu-art-discuss list if all the real work is occurring on
ubuntu-art-devel list? Does the 5 member art council want to get into
the business of deciding whose in. Just to illustrate my point, I have
no knowledge of Jonathan Austin.

2) Is the two list approach being used elsewhere? It is common to have
folks who desire to contribute affirm they have read and agree with the
approach and the manner in which the group interacts (code of conduct).

I appreciate your desire to improve the status quo but maybe we are not
as "broke" as it may seem.

What I have observed over time is when folks feel their effort might be
included as part of default the level of participation rises and the
quality of the work is good (inclusion). To illustrate this point, how
would the development of Breathe change if you were told it would be the
default icon theme for 9.10?

When folks feel no matter what they do, no matter how good, the changes
to Ubuntu will come from elsewhere participation falls (exclusion). My
guess is many folks feel that way now.

I believe the solution is community-themes. 

* My desire is to encourage folks to join, get evolve, and post
submissions. 

* My desire is we present opportunities to those who decide to
participate which encourages others to join.

* My desire is our submissions are forward thinking and challenge the
status quo. Success in my opinion is when there are so many good choices
available Canonical is challenged on how to include them. Ubuntu depends
on Canonical, Canonical depends on community.

My suggestion is to improve our processes. I would divide our
submissions into categories. Submit to one, or submit to all. Categories
would be bound to a series (e.g. Incoming/Karmic).

* Backgrounds (e.g. Incoming/Karmic/Backgrounds)
* GTK Themes 
* Icons or Icon Themes
* Sounds or Sound Themes
* Usplash Themes
* Other(?)

Let this categorization be the bases on how community themes are
packaged. I would keep the best of show package small, and if desired
because we have to many good choices (Yea!), make an "extras" package.

Add to the above creating count-down banners, posters, and responding to
other art related requests (e.g. wiki artwork), this team will become
very active.

John