Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter Re-Launch // my Introduction

Thu Jun 2 21:35:59 UTC 2011

Hi every1,

I don't know how many do know me already so I will take the chance of 
introducing myself. My name is Jens (aka. NRWlion on #ubuntu-news) [1]

Some of you may have heard of me in ubuntu-forums because of accusations 
that were made by a person of the ubuntu-community against me saying 
that i would be a spy of nokia. To cut this story short: My "innocence" 
has been proofen to the UBT-Council and Jono Bacon himself recommended 
me to Amber because I have gained some knowledge about journalism and 
how to organize a news team.

So I will voluteer Amber (aka. akgraner) with re-organizing the 
newsletter and stuff. But for those who want to get to know a little bit 
more about the journalistic background I can also act as trainer or s.o. 
to ask questions on how to write articles and summaries (if wanted of 
course ;) )

But this should be enough from my side (Akgraner surely will state my 
responsibilities shortly) For now I was asked to have a look at the new 
template which Amber announced in her mail earlier and state my opinion. 
Well, here we go:

1.) The Stats Section:
I agree this section is needed, BUT (!) First: assuming the template 
shows the actual sequence of topics, I would suggest that this category 
is the very end of the news!
Reason: (Well I can only speak from my point of view here!) If I want to 
get informed about what happened in a community, then i DON'T want to 
read stats first ;) I would prefer to have an overview about general things.
Secondly: (and here I don't know if I am wrong so pls correct me if so!) 
Based on my knowledge keeping stats up to date is a job nobody wants in 
a news-paper. Simply because it takes a lot of time to collect and 
compare informations and numbers (which would be the exact contrary when 
it comes to simplify processes) In my opinion we should have a talk with 
the Heads of the translation and bugs team telling them, that we are 
simply not able to keep the records of stats. We should ask them to 
provide those stats for us so we simply need to c/p them into the Issue. 
If every Sup-Team of translation keeps their own stats on +/ -  
translations per week and sends them in via mail this is - in my opinion 
- half an hr work for them and safes us some time to focus on other things.

2) _Ranking of topics within the Issue_
Again i am basing my opinion on [2] and would suggest the following ranking:

(1) Personal Introduction by the chief editor for each issue

(2) General Community News
     (1) LoCo News
     (2) The Planet
     (3) In the Press
     (4) In the Blogosphere
     (5) In other News
     (6) Featured Podcasts

(3) Monthly Team Reports
     (**INCLUDING THE STATS OF BUGS/TRANSLATIONS etc. etc provided by 
the teams themselves)

(4) Upcoming events

As you can see I have grouped the sections given in this template into 
four categories that enable us to build four sub-teams being responsible 
for one section, which - so I hope - will significantly reduce the work 
load for each of us.

So far from my end for now ;) If there are questions about my thoughts 
please do not hesitate to drop me a line or ping me on irc!

Good Night from Germany!
Jens

[1] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/nrwlion
[2] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/SuggestedTemplate

Am 02.06.2011 14:00, schrieb ubuntu-news-team-request at lists.ubuntu.com:
> Send Ubuntu-news-team mailing list submissions to
> 	ubuntu-news-team at lists.ubuntu.com
>
> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
> 	https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-news-team
> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
> 	ubuntu-news-team-request at lists.ubuntu.com
>
> You can reach the person managing the list at
> 	ubuntu-news-team-owner at lists.ubuntu.com
>
> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
> than "Re: Contents of Ubuntu-news-team digest..."
>
>
> Today's Topics:
>
>     1. Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter Re-Launch (Amber Graner)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 1 Jun 2011 12:23:23 -0400
> From: Amber Graner<akgraner at ubuntu.com>
> To: Submit and discuss any Ubuntu related news stories
> 	<ubuntu-news-team at lists.ubuntu.com>
> Subject: Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter Re-Launch
> Message-ID:<BANLkTi=wAYuGok1jgachKqyeiP09f57g4Q at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> Hi all!  (I'll add this to a blog post as well but wanted to start
> with an email to the team first)
>
> During this cycle there will be a re-launch (Next week suggested new
> time line to follow) of the newsletter, a re'org of the team and
> newsletter, and the election/appointment of a new editorial leadership
> team.
>
> Below is the blueprint and etherpad [1] from UDS [2] on items that
> were discussed.
>
> Goals
> ******
>
> 1 - Lower barrier to contribution and team participation (In Progress)
>
> 2 - Simply all steps of the production process while continuing to
> produce a consistent, predicable, and reliable "snap-shot" of a week
> in time of Ubuntu in as many consumer forms as necessary to met the
> needs of the readers. (In Progress)
>
> 3 - Re-launch weekly newsletter (See Below)
>
> 4 - Identify the various jobs and what part of the process they fall
> under (contribution, editing, publishing etc) (In Progress)
>
> 5 - Elect/Appoint a leadership team. (See Below)
>
>
> Lower barrier to contribution and team participation
> ************************************************************
>
> WE NEED MORE VOLUNTEERS!  Think about helping this is also a great way
> to show sustained contribution if you are thinking of Ubuntu
> Membership.
>
>
> Re-launch
> ************
>
> Here is the new suggested Template [3] based on the survey results-
> explanations of each section can be seen by viewing the raw text
> version
>
> Suggested Timeline for Production
>
> * All links and Story ideas submitted by Friday
>
> * All summaries (English Version) completed by Saturday (Hard Freeze
> no changes to be made except by publishing editor after 2400 UTC on
> each Saturday (reason must be stated in the change log on wiki page)
>
> * Sunday through Tuesday Translation teams can have time to translate
> and add to their versions
>
> * All versions to be be published on Wednesday by 1200 UTC
>
> What that means for this week - June 3rd all stories in, June 4th all
> summaries and links added and edited (English Version), Email then
> goes out to translations teams that it's frozen and they can
> translate, publish on June 8th.
> I'll write a summary and catch everyone up to date with the re-launch
> issue and from this issue on the issues will cover Saturday through
> Friday of each week.
>
>
> Leadership Team
> ********************
>
> Past Editors ave suffered from burnout on a routine basis and this is
> something we as a team and I personally wish to never have happen to a
> member of the news team again.  We like our members and we want more,
> but we can't suggest people step up and lead if we are setting them up
> for burnout.
>
> So here is my suggestion
>
> 1 - Self nomination
>
> 2 - The news team will vote in a 3 person leadership team
>
> *OR*
>
> 3 - Appointment of a leadership team by asking the CC to step in and help
>
> I am suggesting the following timeline to help everyone who is
> thinking about stepping up to lead learn the processes, be part or the
> re'org, and take ownership of the future of the project.
>
> Between now and the end of August *anyone* who wants to be part of the
> leadership team let me know so I and others can help you learn various
> parts of the newsletter and help mentor and leadership
> questions/concerns you may have about motivating and leading a team of
> volunteers, as well as what makes reliable and trustworthy news
> stories, rss feeds to watch etc.
>
> * September 1-15, 2011 nomination phase
> * September 16-30, 2011 testimonial phase
> * October 1-10, 2011 voting phase
>
> Then the new leadership will be in place prior to the start of the
> next UDS.  We will need to define who is eligible to vote etc, but
> that can all be worked out through the next 10 days or so.
>
> I am really looking forward to seeing the new leadership and the new
> UWN back up and in full swing again.
>
> Thanks everyone so far, and thanks to all those who will be helping
> going forward.  Looking forward to hearing from you all.  Please feel
> free to email me on the list or privately as well as ping me on IRC if
> you have any questions or comments you'd like to discuss further.
> Remember it's you the community who are awesome and will make this
> newsletter rock again!
>
> Amber
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> [1] http://summit.ubuntu.com/uds-o/meeting/community-o-ubuntu-news-team/
>
> [2] https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/community-o-ubuntu-news-team
>
> [3] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/SuggestedTemplate
>