[UbuntuWomen] Another Introduction

[Meg Kurdziolek]

1.) I would be happy to help organize and participate in a monthly Ubuntu
Women's chat. I know that it would be difficult to find a time for
*everyone* to meet (as Lyz mentioned), but maybe we could make the chats
themed and we could work out times just between those really interested in
that monthly topic. Some possible themes could be: New Contributos, Web
Applications, HCI, Education, Job Searching/Professional Issues, etc....

2.)I also think an HCI focused group would be a great idea, especially if we
teamed up with Desktop Team. We could set up a system of sorts so we could
evaluate user comments and concerns and how those issues could be brought
into redesign of applications in the future... Just some ideas :)

~Meg

On 12/12/06, B.A. Lopez <dinda at mac.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Meg,  thanks for stepping up and welcome!  First question you asked -
> you are MORE than skilled enough.  The Community needs all sorts of talents
> and you have many areas of expertise.  Getting involved and finding time are
> two more challenging questions.   Jono Bacon has come onboard at Canonical
> as the new Community Manager and is in the process of trying to ease new
> folks who want to contribute.  It can be a bit daunting with all the
> different groups, mailing lists, IRC and forums to find one's niche.  Your
> focus in HCI and educational technology are two of my key interests as
> well.  (You can find my info at http://www.belindalopez.com/cv.html)
> Also, Richard Weiderman is now over the Ubuntu Education area and he is also
> putting together a more comprehensive plan to focus on all things education
> and not just Edubuntu.  So, be patient, good things are on the way. ;-)
>
> In the interim, perhaps we can start with two items; 1.)  Starting a
> monthly Ubuntu Women's IRC meetup and 2.) Starting an HCI focused group.
> HCI is an area many in the community are starting to realize is vital toward
> moving Ubuntu to the next level.  I was hoping we might work with the Open
> Usability project, http://www.openusability.org/ but an Ubuntu HCI group
> would be great.  What I've found in becoming involved is to start small and
> think big.  Let's focus on a few tasks I know we can accomplish and then
> move forward.  I just reviewed the Desktop Team info
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DesktopTeam and maybe that is the place an HCI
> group to help?
>
> There is a Loco Teams meeting right now #ubuntu-meeting so I will ask when
> a good time for an Ubuntu Women's IRC meeting might be.  We can invite Jono
> and others who might be able to answer any questions we might have.
>
> cheers,
>
> Belinda
> IRC: dinda
>
>
>
>
> On Dec 11, 2006, at 7:14 PM, Meg Kurdziolek wrote:
>
> Hello to All!
>
> I've been lurking on this list for quite awhile, and I felt that I should
> finally make my introduction.
>
> My name is Meg and I am currently a graduate student in Computer Science
> at Virginia Tech. My focus is Human Computer Interaction and I'm a total
> usability nerd. (I have a webpage at http://filebox.vt.edu/~mdickey/<http://filebox.vt.edu/%7Emdickey/>if anyone is interested). My research revolves around applications and
> technology use for educational purposes. (Maybe I should see what I could
> contribute to Edubuntu?) I'm also a VERY active member in our VT chapter of
> the Association for Women in Computing.
>
> I've been using Ubuntu for several months now and I really like it. I'm
> finding it really easy to keep my system up to date and install packages
> that I need.  I have used Mandrake, Fedora Core, and Gentoo before for brief
> periods of time,  but Ubuntu is definitely my favorite thus far.
>
> I am very good with C/C++ and Java, and I've also been teaching myself
> Python when I have some free time. I *wish* I had more experience with
> things like PHP and mysql. I got an 'A' in the Unix class at school, but
> besides learning how to write a few simple scripts I don't think I got much
> out of it.
>
> I am finding three barriers of my own that are preventing me from joining
> in on an open source project or starting any of my own:
> 1.) I don't know if I'm skilled enough to actually contribute something
> useful.
> 2.) I don't really know how to approach anyone about helping them out with
> a project or getting involved.
> 3.) As a grad student I don't have a lot of time, so I'd really only be
> able to put in a couple hours every week.
>
> So I have a question for those experienced contributors, how did you get
> started? What was the first contribution you made to the open source
> community?
>
> Thanks!
> ~Meg
>
> --
> ubuntu-women mailing list
> ubuntu-women at lists.ubuntu.com
> https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-women
>
>
>
> --
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>
>
>
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