[Ubuntu-be] Ubuntu-be

[tim Van Bruyssel]

Hallo ,

Ik heb me nu ongeveer 2 of 3 weken ingeschreven in deze mailinglist en ik
heb eigenlijk ind. Nog totaal geen idee wat jullie allemaal doen ik heb mij
ingeschreven omdat ik ondertussen toch een goei 3 jaar Linux en ubuntu
gebruik doordat ik in mijn avondschool eigelijk als eerst echt met
geconfronteerd werd en vooral omdat ik een degelijke uitleg gekregen heb.
verder omdat ik me ook wel wil inzetten voor het verspreiden van ubuntu,en
ook als reden om contacten te leggen met andere mensen die dezelfde intresse
hebben namelijk Linux , er was overlaatst hier in antwerpen iets te doen
waar ik spijtig genoeg niet ben naar toe kunnen gaan maar langs de andere
kant heb ik daar ook nergens anders dan VIA deze mailinglist iets over
gehoord en als men publiek wil bereiken zou ik daar wel iets aan proberen te
doen , alleen al omdat het naar mijn mening nu echt het moment is zie maar
naar de grote verkoop van Apple en Google die afkomt met Chrome iedereen
heeft stilletjes aan wat genoeg van de opdringerigheid van Microsoft.laat
deze kans nu niet aan ubuntu voorbij gaan. De enigste Linux distro die echt
newby frendly is. Ik wil me graag inzetten in wat ik kan voor een eventueele
volgende beurs in antwerpen. Als vertaler of grote teksten schrijver zul je
aan mij minder hebben. Toch wil ook ik mij kunnen inzetten vandaar dat het
idee van die teams is niet slecht zo zou ik ook weten waar ik moet zijn voor
hulp aan te kunnen bieden.
Voor de rest denk ik ook dat het totaal geen kwaad kan als men hier engels
spreekt engels is dan ook universeel de computertaal frans nederlands en
duits maakt ook niet uit laat die talenkwesties aub. Weg uit een groep die
volgens mij bedoeld is om een zo breed mogelijk publiek te bereiken kijk
maar naar al de mogelijke taalkeuzes als je ubuntu installeerd

Met vriendelijke groeten,
Tim

Ps. Als er meer inlichtingen zijn over een volgende bijeenkomst hoor ik het
graag.

Op 12 7 2009 9:10 AM schreef "Jurgen Gaeremyn" <jurgen.gaeremyn op pandora.be>:

Hi all,

it's a long mail here...

Jan Claeys wrote:
> Op zaterdag 11-07-2009 om 21:07 uur [tijdzone +0200], schreef Matthew
> Deboysere:
>
>
> The only "mandatory management" in a "vzw" is about the legal
> obligations, it won't change much in the day-to-day management
> necessarily.
>
Well... if some person(s) would be held responsible (legally) for the
malfunctioning of the VZW, I assume they would be more prone to see that
operational stuff would happen correctly too - as they would be
addressed if there would come complaints... (not talking about "getting
sued" or "having to pay for stuff" ... just in being the official name
under it)
Furthermore, having your name under a VZW not working at all... isn't
something that lifts you up in the meritocracy...
>
>>  En daar loopt het fout. Een beetje structuur kan geen kwaad. Die
>> lijst ken ik, maar 3/4 van de mensen daarop ken ik niet, hoor ik niet
>> en doen anderen hun taken. Een vzw hoeft daarom niet, maar een
>> verandering in structuur doet zeker niets fout. Integendeel.
>>
>
> Like I said, the wiki might be outdated...  ;)
>
> If needed we can change that page; we just need other people to stand up
> and say they want to take over a responsibility.
>
Mmmm... this sound as if the big problem is "updating the wiki" and the
small side-issue is "to find new people".
We are really having trouble finding people that commit.
And I believe one major reason for that, is the organic structure of
Ubuntu-be (to say it nicely).

Let's start off with an example: when I joined this mailinglist (few
weeks before the Intrepid release), I got here because I was looking for
a LUG to join. Some people suggested me to join this group and ask for
this. So I did. At the same time, the release parties were being
organized. In the line of this discussion, I discovered HCC Mechelen,
and said that I would be glad to come over and check out HCC. I also
landed on the list of Ubuntu-be volunteers (my own words: but I'm new,
I'll just look). I got on the list - I got no response on others. Jan,
you were there too - and up to present, in the perception of the other
members: I'm still "the spokesman" of Ubuntu-be and "an Ubuntu expert"
in HCC Mechelen. Actually, I'm neither one of them. If they ask me: "who
should I address if we want to organize something?" the only answer I
can give is: "the mailinglist". Now, that's not a very friendly "person"
- it might be, but it can be very ignorant too if accidentally nobody
has time. As new persons joining this list are not aware of our headless
state, I really believe they can go out very frustrated. This resulting
in a very bad publicity for the "Ubuntu community", which is promoted as
one of the pilars of Open Source Movements.

Bottom line here: we need some clarity on who's taking what
responsibilities. It's better to have a "vacant" spot, than having ghost
names on certain responsabilities.
>
>> Het idee van Jean om 'teams' op te richten die verantwoordelijk zijn
>> voor bepaalde onderdelen vind ik een uitstekend idee en ik vind dat we
>> daar zeker iets mee moeten doen.
>>
>
> But, officially such "responsible people" already exist (see that wiki
> page); how will you guarantee the new responsibles will be (-> easy) and
> remain (-> not so easy) better available?
>
>
My previous analysis/rant aligns perfectly with this question. As we
can't guarantee volunteers to remain in place, we could try creating an
environment that stimulates and encourages it. In my short life on this
list, I've seen a few solid values in this list who are very active -
some of them with their own limitations.

*Step 1*: Make a roster with the "jobs required" (and "jobs desired"
next to them in a different color) crossing the available names
(theoretically: this mailinglist or even the volunteers list). I really
don't know if this kind of job can be done over IRC or mailinglist - but
I don't know if a physical meeting is an option either.

*Step 2*: Everyone can fill in the roster for themselves. Possibly
people could also enter how long they could commit and/or their
limitations in this (f.e.: not during exam period).

*Step 3*: Fill out the roster and discover the gaps in actual (and
ideally: their backup) positions. Analyse what spots don't get taken.
What's the cause? How can we address this? For example:

   * too small actual volunteer base: we notice not enough people
     respond to this call - how could we recruit?
   * job desciption not very clear: (people will the reluctant if they
     don't know what's "in the package")
   * job load too heavy: Can we leave out these tasks? Can we reduce
     the package? Could this job be split up into subtasks?

*Step 4*: A second "shout out" could now go to the list, asking for
specific people to commit to the last open spots or at least to the most
essential ones.

But first things first: *Step 0:* get clarity in our mission and our
means and check if they align. According to my findings on the mailing
list and web pages I got to this result (correct me if wrong please):

   * *Mission*: Spreading awareness of Ubuntu by facilitating other
     groups to organize events, and organizing a stand at Dipro fairs.
     We're offering webspace (the wiki), promotional material (flyers,
     posters, ...) and volunteers.
   * *Means* (I'm putting some critical questions too)
         o Volunteer map
               + is there any means to know how often this map actually
                 gets used? Maybe there could be a feedback system?
               + If we want the map to work, we need to promote it - if
                 we want to promote it, we need to know for sure it
                 works (the volunteers still are volunteers)
         o Wiki
               + what's the visitor stats on that one?
         o Mailinglist
               + I don't really remember - was there a welcome message
                 briefly explaining what the list is about, and what
                 it's not about?
         o Flyers and posters
               + how do they travel to their destinations?
         o Volunteers
               + how many do we actually have? How many "experts" and
                 how many "regulars"?
               + Are the volunteers we have happy with their work load,
                 or would they prefer a little less?
         o Some cash (is okay, this is rather facilitating - it's not
           something we have to offer to other groups, it's an internal
           mean)
   * *Limitations*
         o Can we sufficiently cater the three language groups? (German
           part is painfully ignored - cause is lack of German speaking
           volunteers - Maybe just address this limitation on your
           German web page, and accept that we won't be catering that
           group. I have no eye on the French part of Belgium)
         o Do we reach our target audience (= groups) and do they reach us?
         o Are "end users" also our target? (troubleshooting and
           installing - do we have the experts? is the map alive)
         o And how about computer shops? (we're always talking about
           Ubuntu preinstalled as being the future... maybe another
           opportunity to highlight the volunteer map if it should
           work? But again: do we have the volunteers? Is the support
           map an option here?)
         o In my opinion, the volunteer map urgently needs to be
           revisited: filtered out and checked on signs of life.
               + a while ago, there was a discussion about some people
                 not wanting to be spammed by being on the list. The
                 opposite is true too: many people would probably want
                 some feedback - just hearing from us every now and
                 then would possibly spark their commitment. I'm
                 greatly in favor of sending them all an "opt-in"
                 e-mail and dropping all the volunteers on the list not
                 responding. We might end up with only 10% of them...
                 but at least we have real volunteers in that case -
                 and not some impressive list with tons of volunteers
                 that have more of a graveyard than of a support group.

I very much like the step taken to create the work groups and try to
populate them. But the underlying problems aren't addressed. Maybe this
could be an issue on a wednesday meeting?

As much as I like to think about this, I can't step up to take much
responsibility here (try to do what I can) ... but I hope my thoughts
inspire others to dig into it.
So ... getting back on topic: becoming a VZW is not the priority right
now. The priority is getting our structures right. Turning into a VZW
right now could kill us.

Jurgen.

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