Mentoring Program

[Connor Imes]

 > That's a great idea. Each "focus area" (e.g. server guide, wiki, system
> docs) could have its own wiki page with instructions on how to get
> started, who to contact with questions and a list of available tasks. We
> could add information which is not specific to mentoring too, such as a
> roadmap for that particular area.
> 
> Most of the instructions on how to get started would involve learning
> wiki markup or DocBook and bzr, so we could just link through to our
> existing docs on these topics (which could be improved).
> 
+1

> Having multiple contacts for each topic area would help because the
> student would be able to get in touch with people who are actively
> working on that part of the documentation. For example, people often
> express an interest in working on Kubuntu or server docs, but I'm not
> aware of what's going on in those parts of the documentation so can't
> provide much help. Having several people to get in touch with reduces
> the risk of emails going unreplied to for long periods of time as well.
> 
I would prefer one contact person for each focus team, and that person
can delegate from there (like to a "mentor" within their ow group).

> Having a good, regularly-updated task list for each focus area would be
> particularly beneficial as students would be able to work towards a
> specific and useful goal, learning what they need to on the way. They'd
> have much more choice of tasks too.
> 
This is definitely helpful, but rather difficult to pull off in the long
run.  It's definitely a good place to start though.

> To be honest, I think that forming groups to concentrate on specific
> areas of the documentation would be really helpful not just for students
> but for everyone. All of the members of a group could pitch in to help
> students, suggest tasks, review patches and so on and it would be easy
> for people to move between different groups.
> 
> Does anyone have any thoughts on this, whether it sounds practical for
> example?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Phil
> 
This definitely sounds practical.  A bit of organizing will be needed to
begin with, like finding people to lead one or more of the focus teams.
 The UF Beginners Team uses Focus Groups rather successfully, so it is
definitely feasible to pull this off.  We use Focus Groups on the BT to
help members get more involved in other areas of Ubuntu as well as to
help organize our team structure and goals.  [1] Here is our central
Focus Group page, it's not very descriptive, but it's a place to start.

[1] https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Beginners/Team/FocusGroups

-Connor