Ubuntu Wiki

About Me

My name is Ben Crisford.

I love using and contributing to ubuntu, and I have been using it on and off since 6.10. But for quite a while now I have been using ubuntu full time, and I intend to for as long as possible.

I am currently spending alot of my free time contributing to ubuntu where I can. Whether it is bug triaging, helping on IRC, or whatever else I have a go at.

On this page you can read a summary of my contributions, details about specific contributions, my ubuntu goals, how to contact me, some links related to me and testimonials of my work with Ubuntu.

NOTE; This page might not be completely up to date.

My Contributions

Summary

I have contributed in a variety of areas. I am far more active in some areas of contribution than I am in other areas, but as I am contributing more every day (and not necessarily updating this page) so I have mentioned all my main areas of contribution. These areas include:

• Bug Management (and other QA) - My reported/triaged bugs (see below for more information).

• OpenWeek - 'Gaming With Ubuntu' (the session I ran) (see below for more information).

• Community Support - My forums profile (see below for more information).

• Marketing - The poster I created (Free Your PC) which has now been translated into several languages (see below for more information) (see testimonials).

• Documentation - (see below for more information).

• Ubuntu learning - I'm currently acting as a sort of liason between the edubuntu project and the learning project. (see below for more information).

• Edubuntu - Having recently got involved with edubuntu I am now working hard to contribute wherever I can. I am currently looking into collaboration between edubuntu and the ubuntu learning project, and am hoping to organise a joint marketing project with the students team.(see below for more information).

• Students Team - You can see some of my ideas on the student's whiteboard (see below for more information).

• Translations - My launchpad translations page (see below for more information).

• Artwork - (see below for more information).

You can see my launchpad team participation - mostly ubuntu related - here.

Bug Management

Bug management was the first area of contributing I got involved with, and I love it.

First of all I joined and started contributing with the BugSquad. Nothing too heavy i'll admit, but I helped where I could. After that was a bit of a black hole in my contributions, and I was very busy for a while. But eventually, I became active again, and my contributions were better than ever.

I am now trying very hard to participate in the 5-a-day scheme, by triaging five (or more) bugs a day, and I have been quite successful so far.

I have applied to the 'Ubuntu Bug Control' team, and have received one indifferent, and two postitive reponses, I am now awaiting BrianMurray's approval.

You can see my reported and triaged bugs here.

Other QA

Before jaunty came out I very much enjoyed downloading and testing the alpha versions, and reporting what bugs I found :).

I'm a member of the ubuntu testing team on launchpad :). (You can find my team participation here, which covers all the teams I am a member of on launchpad)

OpenWeek

I ran the session 'Gaming With Ubuntu' in 2009's Ubuntu OpenWeek.

I very much enjoyed the experience, and I had a really good time running it. I think it was quite successful, and I hope I helped alot of people use ubuntu for gaming, as gaming is a passion of mine.

Ubuntu Documentation

I am very new to contributing documentation, but I have started contributing little bits to the online community documentation. And having added a few items to the glossary page recently, I have been adding a few more items here and there, and am hoping to make it even fuller than it already is :).

I have also (at the time of writing) started fixing bugs :).

Support

IRC

Whenever I get the chance I spend a while on #ubuntu to help other users. I'll admit I haven't had much of a chance recently. But I still occasionally pay a visit there, and I am trying to become more active.

Forums

I am pretty active on the ubuntu forums, particularly in the 'Art and Design'. I help on there wherever I can. :).

Real Life

I have my own sort of "policy" that if anyone asks me for:

• An Ubuntu live CD
• Help installing Ubuntu
• Or general support with Ubuntu

(Providing I have the ability) I will give them a CD/installation/support free of charge and to the best of my ability. I make sure I mention (not preech) ubuntu to all my friends and people I know, most people do not listen, but some do and (at the time of writing) I have already managed to convert several people. Once I have converted enough hopefully we can all get together and create a local community of ubuntu users.

Launchpad

I have answered one or two questions on launchpad, and i'm trying to answer more each day. So keep watching answers launchpad page.

Ubuntu Marketing

SpreadUbuntu

A while ago now I created a poster (which I named 'Free Your PC' advertising ubuntu for the spreadubuntu project.

I was extremely honoured - after submitting my poster - to receive an e-mail from the Belgian LoCo team requesting to translate my poster into French and Dutch. Recently I have seen other translations being submitted as well.

The poster is located here, you can click the 'translations' tab at the top to view a list of some of the translations.

Ubuntu Learning

After recently being approved to the launchpad Ubuntu Learning Team, I am now acting as a liason between the Edubuntu project and the Ubuntu learning project whilst we discuss collaboration oppurtunities and possible course material.

Edubuntu

Having recently got involved with edubuntu I am now working hard to contribute wherever I can. I am currently looking into collaboration oppurtunities between edubuntu and the ubuntu learning project, and am hoping to organise a joint marketing project with the students team.

I am also looking to get development mentorship so I can get packaging and fixing bugs :).

Ubuntu MOTU

I hope to eventually become a MOTU which I realise is a very long way off, but it is something to aim towards.

My first patch was for a very simple edubuntu-docs bug which (at the time of writing) has been uploaded into my PPA. I am looking to help for bugs in education packages.

Translations

I have translated very little, but I would love to translate more. So keep watching my launchpad profile as my language skills develop.

Click here for an up to date list of my translation contributions.

Ubuntu Students

I am a member of the students team and I help where I can. It has become a little inactive/disorganised recently and i'm helping to try and change that.

I'm at the moment looking into co-ordinating a joint project with edubuntu and the students to create a marketing campaign as I think that if the students market the software for students then it could have a big impact on the publicity of edubuntu and the students team itself.

I am always busy converting/installing/helping with ubuntu to all my school friends, and teachers. Not to mention the school itself. I haven't yet successfull converted it, but i'll get there eventually :D.

You can see some of my ideas on the ubuntu students whiteboard here.

Artwork

I recently created a wallpaper called "Wisdom" and am hoping to submit it to the wallpaper submissions for karmic.

Although just before I added it, I realised that I wasn't sure of the copyright of the original photo I used in the wallpaper, so I will not add it until I can track down the photo owner.

I have uploaded it however and you can see it here. I am currently using it as my own background :). I personally, like it but I know it can be improved so suggestions and comments are welcome, why not shoot me a mail with them (see my contact details, below).

Other

• I keep a stock of live CDs burnt, and make sure I have one with me (or a USB) so if someone asks for it I can give it to them.

• I mention, not preach ubuntu to my friends, explain the benefits of it, and offer to install it for them.

• Anyone who asks for help with ubuntu - providing I can help - I will, whether it is in real life or via the internet.

Contact

E-mail

• ben [AT] freeyourpc [DOT] tk
• webmaster [AT] bencrisford [DOT] exofire [DOT] net
• bencrisford [AT] yahoo [DOT] co [DOT] uk
• ben [AT] tango9 [DOT] tk

IM

• MSN: tronex4(at)yahoo(dot)co(dot)uk

• AIM: bencrisford

• Yahoo: tronex4

• Skype: tronex2

IRC