08November16
Revision 6 as of 2008-11-18 03:52:18
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Sunday, November 16th, 2008, 7:00pm (1900) PST
Agenda
- Release Party Recaps
- SCaLE -- Begin Planning?
- Two Point Oh Silliness (Or, How I learned to stop worrying and love micro blogging)
- Ubuntu US Meeting moved (to 6pm, Dec 9)
- Upcoming Meetings around Holidays (Nov 30th and Thanksgiving? Dec 28 and Christmas?)
Logs
19:10 < Flannel> Thanks everyone for coming. We've got a pretty healthy meeting tonight. Our agenda is available here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/CaliforniaTeam/Meetings/08November16 and as usual, feel free to bring up new topics throughout the meeting. 19:10 < Flannel> Our agenda currently consists of the following: 19:11 < Flannel> 1. Release Party Recaps 19:11 < Flannel> 2. SCaLE Planning 19:11 < Flannel> 3. LoCo Twitter/identi.ca presence 19:11 < Flannel> 4. Ubuntu US Meeting 19:11 < Flannel> 5. Upcoming California Meeting Schedules 19:11 < Flannel> anyone else have anything to add at the moment? 19:12 < Flannel> Alright, we'll go ahead and jump into our first topic. Release Party Recaps. 19:12 < jbermudes> it was fun 19:12 < Flannel> Last Saturday we had an Intrepid party at Chapman. We had... nine people show up. 19:12 < Flannel> It was fun. We had dinner, and then went and played some games, 19:13 < Flannel> then we had an ECE lecture! 19:13 < Flannel> (Electrical / Computer Engineering) 19:14 < Flannel> grant1, grant2, did you get a chance to attend any of the ones up in the Bay area? 19:14 < nhaines> Thanks to everyone there for being excellent to the kiddos. They had a really good time. 19:15 < grant2> I didn't, sorry. I'm sitting in an empty house right now just to attend this meeting. 19:15 < jbermudes> nhaines, they were awesome 19:16 < Flannel> Next order of business is SCaLE planning. 19:16 < grant2> Kyle's talk on the 11th was focused on Ubuntu but it wasn't a party per se. http://nblug.org/node/130 19:17 < Flannel> grant2: did you get to attend? 19:17 < Flannel> (if so, how was it?) 19:17 < grant2> I did - it was good. 19:17 < grant2> Kyle is writing the Ubuntu Server book for oreilly 19:18 < grant2> he was also elected the past and future president of the North Bay LUG. 19:19 < nhaines> Is that anything like once and future king? 19:19 < grant2> I guess so. 19:20 < Flannel> Arthurian references aside.... SCaLE is coming up quick! 19:20 * grant2 cheers 19:20 < Flannel> Its on Feb 20-22 19:20 < Flannel> At... Um, somewhere in LA, I guess. 19:20 < nhaines> LAX Weston hotel. 19:20 < Flannel> Ah, same place 19:21 < Flannel> I asked Yasumoto to talk to Gareth to see if we could get a corner booth again, 19:21 < Flannel> since that turned out great last time, and it should be even better this time, since we'll be more prepared. 19:21 < Flannel> Once again we're looking for a few people willnig to lend computers for people to play with on the floor. 19:21 < nhaines> Any status on that? 19:22 < Flannel> nhaines: We'll have to jump on Yasumoto when he gets back. 19:22 < grant2> what kind of computers? 19:22 < nhaines> grant2: demo machines to play with. 19:22 < nhaines> And maybe ones for burning CDs. 19:22 < grant2> kk 19:22 < Flannel> grant2: Towers are nice, because you can put the stuff on the floor under the tables. I can provide two monitors (one thanks to Scunizi) 19:23 < Flannel> so, if you just have some towers, we can do monitors and stuff. 19:23 < Flannel> Although, my monitors are CRTs 19:23 < Flannel> so, not so good for smaller spaces (like what we'll have), but they'll do. 19:23 < grant2> Hardware vendors should be able to help out if they get a little credit for it. 19:24 < Flannel> As nhaines said, we may also be looking for some computers (towers again), which may not be "up-to-par" for showing off, to use as CD burners. 19:24 < Flannel> We hope to have an automated method to allow us to burn more CDs faster, and to allow poor cactaur time to enjoy the show. 19:25 < jbermudes> umm, i have a new dell desktop that i'd be willing to let be used, it even has a 24" lcd, but you better not break it! haha 19:25 < nhaines> With Ubuntu's new guest account feature, things become even easier. 19:25 < Flannel> There'll be people there all of the time, and I don't mind dragging towers/monitors home with me overnight. 19:25 < grant2> https://launchpad.net/buntustand is new software for trade show use for burning - I just heard about it on twitter from timoreilly :-) 19:25 < nhaines> Although frankly I just reccomend a nice reinstall. 19:26 < nhaines> grant2: oh dear. :) 19:26 < jbermudes> is SCaLE free? 19:26 < Flannel> So, if you are worried about stuff being stolen, we'll always have a set of eyes on it. 19:27 < nhaines> jbermudes: No, but it's inexpensive and of course booth volunteers are free. 19:27 < grant2> nhaines: lol 19:28 < Flannel> If you're looking to help out with stuff, but can't give a computer, we've got a nice laundry list of other, smaller, things too. 19:28 < Flannel> We'll get the wiki all set up again. 19:28 < Flannel> Since, listing everything now would be silly. 19:28 < jbermudes> Flannel: I can lend a computer and help out, can I come too? heh 19:28 < Flannel> Oh,of course 19:28 < Flannel> Anyone who wants to volunteer to man the booth is welcome. 19:28 < Flannel> and, encouraged. 19:29 < Flannel> If we have 8 people there all of the time for both days, we'll be a little crowded, but we'll certainly accomplish a lot. 19:29 < Flannel> Moredetails to come, I actually didn't intend to spend so much time on this now. But, mark your calendars and watch this space! (and the mailing list) 19:30 < Flannel> Next topic has to do with twitter and identi.ca, which Ive been told that all you youngins are using these days. 19:32 < nhaines> So I think what this could really be useful for is real-time alerts of LoCo activity. 19:32 < Flannel> Someone mentioned we ought to have a twitter and identica... account? page? group? 19:32 < grant2> I setup http://twitter.com/ubuntu_us_ca to try out 19:32 < grant2> is identi.ca similar to twitter? 19:32 < nhaines> Mostly just meeting or event reminders, but during SCaLE for example, we could have posted alerts when Ted Gould and Jono Bacon were about to speak. 19:32 < Flannel> Is it a page? an account? Can more than one person contribute? How does that all work? 19:33 < nhaines> identi.ca is similar to Twitter except open source as well as open content. 19:33 < grant2> nice 19:33 < nhaines> And by maintaining both accounts, then we can have followers on both services and just post to the identi.ca account, which will update the Twitter feed seamlessly. 19:33 < grant2> cool 19:34 < Flannel> Can anyone (or a select group, etc) contribute? 19:34 < nhaines> Flannel: it's an account, and you post 140-character updates. Multiple people can contribute by sharing the account password. 19:34 < Flannel> right. 19:34 < Flannel> Are we purposing it for announcement type things? 19:34 < grant2> right 19:34 < nhaines> I would say so. Low use normally, higher use during events. 19:35 < grant2> I would think announcements of meetings, both our own and LUGs we attend. 19:35 < Flannel> I'm mostly concerned about use-cases 19:35 < nhaines> You can opt to receive SMS or email notifications when you follow an account, so that interested people can sign up and then get a ping when something's happening. 19:35 < nhaines> That's why I think it's a useful service for us. 19:35 < grant2> twitter doesn't do email, does it? 19:35 < Flannel> So, at SCaLE lets say, we post stuff about upcoming talks, would we also do stuff that's more logistical? 19:35 < Flannel> [we need someone to come take over so nhaines can go to lunch?] 19:36 < grant2> that works 19:36 < nhaines> Flannel: yes, if need be we could. 19:36 < Flannel> grant2: I'm asking questions, not proposing ;) 19:36 < Flannel> So, is it an external or internal use sort of thing? 19:36 < Flannel> (obviously, anyone can read it) 19:36 < nhaines> Oh, external use, I'd say. 19:37 < grant2> since the people that follow it the closest would choose to get the SMS that's a logical use of it. 19:37 < nhaines> On the other hand, [We need awesome people to help us break down the booth] is great use too. :) 19:37 < Flannel> So, we're designing mostly as a real-time sub-announce sort of thing? 19:37 < Flannel> My biggest concern is it ends up being a hindrance. People posting to thatinstead of the mailing list, etc. 19:38 < Flannel> Or, it becomes something people find, and then stop looking further 19:38 < Flannel> (the forums are somewhat of the latter) 19:38 < grant2> only people with the password can post to it and I don't see any way it could be a hinderance. 19:39 < Flannel> grant2: Viewers. 19:39 < Flannel> grant2: People start following that feed, instead of the ML, etc. 19:39 < Flannel> (because they never find the ML) 19:39 < grant2> then they lose out, they choose to participate in both 19:39 < nhaines> Flannel: we could highlight ML threads. 19:40 < Flannel> grant2: The issue with the forums is that people see the forums, and then stop looking (since they don't know any better) 19:40 < grant2> true 19:40 < nhaines> The only way it becomes a communication thingy is if we engage in communication. 19:40 < grant2> that's why I've tried to highlight the IRC blogs every few weeks 19:40 < nhaines> So we could simply not do that. 19:40 < grant2> on the forums 19:40 < Flannel> The closed-circle of posters does do a lot to ease my concerns 19:40 < Flannel> since, itcan't really be a two-way sort of thing. 19:41 < Flannel> And the people who have passwords can self-police to make sure proper announcements get to the ML as well. 19:41 * grant2 checks for announcements to the mail list now 19:41 < a1len> Flannel: I totally, completely agree. 19:42 < Flannel> So, you've convinced me. I can see it filling a niche that wasn't previously filled. 19:42 < grant2> It would be better to announce biweekly IRC meetings on the mail list too 19:42 < grant2> it just takes someone willing to do it 19:43 < Flannel> grant2: The past few months have had less-than-huge agendas (sometimes none) 19:43 < Flannel> Which is why I've stopped. 19:43 < Flannel> Todays... well, I added most of todays agenda items late, unfortunately. 19:43 < grant2> meetings evolve, agendas don't tell the full story 19:43 < Flannel> But, grant2, we normally do announce meetings. 19:43 < Flannel> grant2: Meetings are summarized on the wiki 19:44 < Flannel> (not just logs, but summaries too) 19:44 < nhaines> True, plus logs are posted. 19:44 < grant2> yes 19:45 < Flannel> but, normally there are pre-meeting announcements, usually on Friday afternoon. 19:45 < Flannel> s/ afternoon// 19:45 < grant2> sounds like violent agreement - what's next? 19:45 < a1len> Oh.... I missed the meeting... 19:46 < a1len> Dang. 19:46 < Flannel> a1len: Nope, not missed. Came in partway through. 19:46 < grant2> nhaines, how can we link identi.ca with twitter? should we talk afterwards? 19:47 < nhaines> grant2: we give identi.ca the twitter username and password and then ignore Twitter. We'll talk afterwards. :) 19:47 < grant2> cool 19:47 < a1len> Oh, sorry for interrupting it. I was fixing a nic issue XD 19:48 < nhaines> grant2: anything else we can do to better advertise the meetings? 19:48 < nhaines> I'd hate to miss the chance to get attendance up. :) 19:49 < grant2> I've got the forums covered and we'll get microblogging. starting up mail list announcements couldn't hurt I think. 19:50 < grant2> restarting 19:50 < nhaines> Our agendas *are* getting fuller. It might make sense to start up again. 19:50 < a1len> Can I make an advertising suggestion? 19:51 < grant2> a1len: yes 19:54 < Flannel> a1len? 19:54 < nhaines> Maybe he was just curious. 19:54 < a1len> Sweet.... Well, as far as the IRC meetings go, I think a mailing list and forums and the twitter and everything is good for people who will know what an IRC is in the first place. There's a lot of people that don't though, and they don't know about things like twitter, or even Ubuntu at all. I was thinking that perhaps we could try to hit a more broad social network, specifically targeting people in ca of course. Like a facebook or something. T 19:54 < grant2> there he is 19:54 < Flannel> a1len: You can't type that much at once. Got cut off at "Like a facebook or something. T" 19:55 < a1len> Like a facebook or something. That way, we can try to reach people that aren't too technologically savvy, but like computers all the same.... I was hoping at all made it XD 19:55 < nhaines> Facebook could be possible, too. Gwibber is a beautiful client for Ubuntu that will update a ton of different social sites all at once. 19:55 < grant2> facebook should be easy to setup, good suggestion 19:55 < nhaines> And ping.fm is a similar Web service that does the same. 19:57 < grant2> the key with these is having volunteers to help keep them current 19:58 < a1len> I mean, make it, make it look pretty and not like some kind of adbot, send out semi-professional messages to people, maybe include a youtube link of someone doing something cool and pretty with ubuntu.. like playing with compiz or something... and mention that it's free and constantly updating. 19:58 < grant2> and we are almost out of time with two more agenda items 19:58 < Flannel> We run out of time? 19:58 < grant2> I have to run at least, lol 19:58 < Flannel> However, I will propose we table this topic. 19:58 < Flannel> Lets move this discussion to the ML, 19:58 < grant2> to the ML! 19:58 < grant2> sounds good 19:58 < Flannel> I think we've already decided, and implemented the twitter/identica thing. 19:59 < Flannel> I want to quickly mention that the US teams meeting has been postponed to Dec 6. 19:59 < nhaines> December 9th? 19:59 < Flannel> er, 9 19:59 < Flannel> at 6pm! 20:00 < Flannel> We're kickstarting it back up again,d oing some restructuring. 20:00 < Flannel> I'll post to the ML once that has an agenda 20:00 < Flannel> And then last order of business, 20:01 < Flannel> Do we want to meet in two weeks? 20:01 < grant2> why wouldn't we? 20:01 < Flannel> That'd be Nov 30, which is Thanksgiving weekend 20:01 < Flannel> grant2: People spend time with families, etc. 20:01 < grant2> even if it's a short meeting we can have a meeting 20:02 < Flannel> grant2: Having a short meeting still means people have to excuse themselves from festivities 20:02 < a1len> I might be busy at 7... if we shorten it up, can we move it an hour earlier? 20:02 < Flannel> I don't know if there's any pressing business that'shappening before the meeting after. 20:02 < grant2> anyone in particular you are talking about? ;-) 20:02 < nhaines> I should be able to make the meeting, if there's anything to discuss. 20:02 < Flannel> grant2: Not I, no. But I know we have quite a few people who tend to do familiar things. 20:03 < grant2> Even if I'm in TX I'll try to be online for a bit :-) 20:03 < Flannel> Well, Lets do this instead then. 20:03 < grant2> we have three people, let's have a meeting 20:04 < Flannel> The Monday beforehand (the... 24th), we'll take a look at the agenda, and make a judgement call. 20:04 < grant2> sure 20:05 < Flannel> It'll be announced to the ML, and you're welcome to come discuss whether or not you think we should that day on IRC, etc. 20:05 < nhaines> That sounds sensible to me. 20:05 < Flannel> And we'll handle the Christmas one in a month. 20:06 < jbermudes> sounds good 20:06 < Flannel> That rounds out our agenda for tonight. Please continue the discussion about branching out to new media on the old-fashioned mailing list.