[ubuntu-arizona] Ubuntu-Arizona Weekly Newsletter, Issue #47

[Craig A. Eddy]

Welcome to the Ubuntu-Arizona Weekly Newsletter, Issue #47 for the week
May 12, May 18, 2008.

 * Arizona Loco Newsletter
 * Forty Seventh Edition
 * Powered by Ubuntu
 * Wednesday-May 21, 2008
 * Arizona Loco Team Wiki: ["ArizonaTeam"]

 * Next meeting: Sunday May 25, 2008  9:00PM
 * Server: Freenode: IRC Channel #ubuntu-arizona

== Newsletter ==

=== Announcements ===

The team is really starting to hum now and I couldn't be happier. As you
will see further down we had our Hardy Installfest last weekend and it
was a big success. The next Ubuntu release will be in October, and we
are already discussing ways to make its release party and installfest
better. The biggest item coming up this year could definitely be
"BarCamp". There is a link below that will explain what that is, and I
believe it could be a very exciting event not only for our team, but for
the State of Arizona and it's LUGs. We have a chance to really make an
impact! But we can't do this kind of event without everyone's help, so
come join us in our bid to promote Open Source, Ubuntu, the State LUGs,
and of course, our team.

=== Summary of the May 18, 2008 meeting ===

johnc4510 called the meeting to order at 9:00 PM

johnc4510 began by introducing new people.  banditti was introduced as
being the one who started the Arizona Team.  He responded by saying that
he then passed it off to johnc4510 who is not the sloth that he was. 
banditti also happens to be vorian's brother-in-law.  calimer was then
asked to introduce himself.  He's from NY, he subs for a school
district, teach game design at the college level and HS, and work on
game projects on the side. It was subsequently discovered that banditti
knew a great deal about the area where calimer lives and teaches.

The next order of business was the install fest.  "First , a great job
to all on the installfest."  Pictures can be found at
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ArizonaTeam/Installfest.  johnc4510 felt that it
was a great success, and that the next one should be better. 
enigmastrat was given a rousing cheer for his help in finding us a
location and getting things set up.  His help and support were a major
factor in the success of the installfest.  johnc4510 felt that we need
to find a better way to get the news out to the public.  gunxfight
mentioned that he'd heard, at the installfest, part of a discussion
concerning making firefox's homepage a help page by us.  This was part
of a discussion that Hans, from the Phoenix LUG, had with tyche about
creating branding for discs the team puts out.  John felt that this was
a great idea.  gunxfight then mentioned that the next install fest
should be more centrally located.  The possibility of ASU was brought
up.  gunxfight's brother goes there, and gunxfight will be trying to get
his brother to find out more information.

We have some down time after just doing the release party and the
installfest, but there are things we need to work on:

 1. Team approval.  This is mainly johnc4510 getting the wiki pages up
to date. But when he submits, we'll need team members to attend the
approval process.  This is something to be kept in mind.  The meeting
would probably take place in a channel, but more information will be
available later on.
 2. The next item we need to think about is the barcamp later this
year.  johnc4510 has proposed hosting a barcamp in phoenix for around
September or October of this year.  Barcamp is a foss type conference
(see http://barcamp.org/BarCamp and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BarCamp).  We have a start with xhans from
the plugaz group.  He is hot on this idea and wants to help.  He helped
with promoting the install fest too.  But we need any other state lugs
too. This is a big thing, and needs a _lot_ of planning, organization,
volunteers, and etc.  We also need to secure sponsors.  Like in phoenix,
Google has an office.  Google is a active sponsor of open source events,
but we could use others too.  GoDaddy was also suggested as a possible
sponsor.  Note: this event is not just about ubuntu.  It about open
source, but it provides a chance to promote open source in AZ, which is
a very good thing, and as a by product, Ubuntu.  johnc4510's idea is to
have booths: an Ubuntu booth and booths for LUGS.  And if the LUGS want
to support another distribution,  great.

Johnc4510 didn't want to even start this unless you folks are going to
get behind this.  It's a huge project.  It will take from now until it
happens to make it happen.  gunxfight suggest that a vote be taken to
see if people were willing to help.  This was immediately responded to
by tyche, kennymc0, gunxfight, johnc4510, DesertPenquin and banditti. 
There will also be a message sent out on the mailing list asking for
help on this.

Again, johnc4510 thanked everyone for helping make a success of the
install fest and the release party.  Next week johnc4510 should have
more information about the Team approval.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:45 PM.

== Credits ==
 * CraigAEddy
 * Johnc4510