Ubuntu Wiki

Ubuntu Beginners Team Council Meeting June 23, 2011

 ChanServ gives voice to s-fox
* s-fox yawns
<coalwater> hi s-fox , welcome back
<s-fox> ping bodhi_zazen DarkwingDuck duanedesign ibuclaw
 Hello coalwater.
<bodhi_zazen> zup ?
<s-fox> Meeting
<coalwater> just wondering, is the meeting now or an hour later? i hate time zones
<s-fox> It is suppose to be now
<coalwater> hm
 where's cproffit
<bodhi_zazen> It was scheduled to be now, I was supposed to be gone my now =)
<s-fox> It is silly o'clock in the morning
<coalwater> its 2 am for me
<s-fox> I should have been asleep hours ago (in theory)
<bodhi_zazen> I am so sorry it is so late for you s-fox
<s-fox> I can sympathise coalwater.
<bodhi_zazen> go ahead and start
 To recap from the previous, my main gripe it that if the BT is going to succeed , IMO, we need 2 things :
<s-fox> Well,   given I can only you as the only other council member here might be better to wait?
<bodhi_zazen> 1. To collaborate with other teams - this seems to be a failure
 2. Motivated people willing to volunteer their time - doing a bit better
 I am just throwing those out as I am likely to be leaving very soon
<duanedesign> hello s-fox bodhi_zazen
<coalwater> can i ask a stupid question or is the meeting still going on
<bodhi_zazen> ask away AFIK coalwater
<s-fox> Okay, those are two good points.  I think with point 1 the team has failed because it is trying to become another team (wiki -> docs for example).  I also think the collaboration process via mentors or whatever they were did not help.
 It was overly complex and a lot of jumping through hoops. zero motivation.
<bodhi_zazen> cprofitt is big on the focus group thing, very structured
<s-fox> point 2 is always going to be an issue with volunteers.  peoples available time will always be in  state of flux. i think the only way it can be covered is by increasing numbers of people willing to help out.  in a way, always have a few people around at any one given time.
<bodhi_zazen> true
<coalwater> from the support point of view? cause that's the only part that i think needs people avialable at certain times
<bodhi_zazen> I think support is going to be demphasized on this team moving forwards coalwater
<s-fox> +1 bodhi_zazen
 The bt should, imo, be focussed on helping people wanting to contribute find the correct teams where they feel they can help most. 
 i do not mean fg
<bodhi_zazen> s/bt/bct - beginning contributors team
<s-fox> i would go with that
 I spoke briefly with cprofitt about the mission statement bodhi_zazen.  It does need to be changed, but not by much i do not believe
 I think it should be something like "Help people willing to contribute find their ideal team within ubuntu community"
<duanedesign> yeah it seems to be close
<bodhi_zazen> Encourage people to mature into the Ubuntu community by moving from an Ubuntu user to a contributor ?
 Something like that
<s-fox> That sounds a lot better :)
<bodhi_zazen> good luck, I have to run , sorry I could not stay
<s-fox> no problems.  have fun with your family.
<-- bodhi_zazen has quit (Quit: ChatZilla 0.9.87 [Firefox 5.0/20110615151330])
<s-fox> duanedesign,  do you see an issue with moving away from support and into this role?
 i know some are not going to like it,  but perhaps it is time for them to get involved with larger teams in the community 
<coalwater> so then move to a FG ? or do u want to like merge them as a sub something in the new bct?
<s-fox> That is a good question.  I am not totally sure we need to keep the fgs if we become the bct
<duanedesign> s-fox: yeah. I think the problem with support is their was no real commmunity team ro migrate to
<duanedesign> s/ro/to
<s-fox> i sort of disagree a little. i will explain...
 places to offer support do exist in the community, it is a case of being aware of them.  support options include : - irc (#ubuntu)  , launchpad answers, ubuntu forums & askubuntu
 but those things are more singular and not team based.
* s-fox shrugs 
<duanedesign> yeah...but that is up to the community members. If they want  a team they can start one
<coalwater> I don't think it's needed, to have people dedicated to answer questions or give support, it's just left for any body who's available and knows the answer
<duanedesign> our goal is just to get people started, show them the ropes, and then provide opportunities for people to mentor others in that area of the community
<coalwater> providing opportunities, i think that's one part that needs attention
<s-fox> i think it would help if all bct members were already a part of other community teams.  we could almost be a place to go if you want to meet someone who is already helping out with a certain team.  we could show the best way to get involved and be aware of current projects / drives 
<coalwater> other teams like which?
<s-fox> teams such as: documentation, development, accessibility to name but 3
<coalwater> actually i thought it would be good to get some ubuntu devs for example to mentor beginner devs, a lot of people are wishing to contribute code but are just lost, the irc logs are good, but not organized in a way to help beginners, some might just give up and leave
 maybe it might slow them a little but on the long run it's useful i think
<s-fox> the dev fg did get a little lost in its purpose in my opinion.  it started getting to a stage of "general development".  it was not uncommon to come across people looking for advice / help with non ubuntu applications
 if we keep the fgs then the team will need some work.  leadership is an area i know that is lacking at the minute, but from what i gather people who can code.  additional members would be good for the group.
<coalwater> i dont know if the academy section in the dev fg is still functional or not, but i read old logs , its so useful
<s-fox> i am not sure on that one coalwater.  i have not done anything with that group for over a year.
 might even be two.
 duanedesign,  do you know anything about it?
<coalwater> s-fox, bct, is it a migration or transition for ubt, or is it a separate team?
<s-fox> i think a migration.  the bt needs to change its role.
<coalwater> yea
<s-fox> I think the bt needs to become bct
 could really do with more than myself and duanedesign to discuss this one ;)
<coalwater> i thought cproffit was going to be around, he's the one who told me about the meeting, and i told him ill try to be on when it starts
 only reason im on is cause i dont have work tomorrow lol
<s-fox> I have work in 4 hours. :(
<coalwater> wow, go sleep
<s-fox> I am sorry the full council did not attend coalwater.
<duanedesign> :\
 bit by bit we are hacking awway at it :P
<coalwater> its ok, since im free i guess i could study some python, havent done that since some time, i need to start getting back on track
<s-fox> I would recommend a book called  a byte of python coalwater
 it is free pdf, quite good for going over the basics
 i have a copy if you would like me to email it to you
* s-fox is more into perl these days :)