08November16

Sunday, November 16th, 2008, 7:00pm (1900) PST

Summary

  1. Release Party Recaps
    • The release party at Chapman was a success. Nine people, dinner, games, and a lecture on Electrical / Computer Engineering. However, we haven't had any information on Northern California parties.
  2. SCaLE -- Begin Planning?
    • SCaLE 7x will be at the LAX Westin Hotel on the Feb 20-22 weekend. We're looking for volunteers to help out on the floor, or to lend demo computers. Monitors are not required, but preferred. If you can't bring a computer, there will be a wiki page of other smaller but still useful things to do in the future.
  3. Two Point Oh Silliness (Or, How I learned to stop worrying and love micro blogging)
    • And also a Facebook

    • An identi.ca channel is in the works.

    • However, these lines of communication should not be substituted for the mailing list. The mailing list should be where all major discussions regarding the LoCo team should take place. These will probably be used for communicating and announcing before and during events.

    • Discussion regarding further social networking and other new communities has been tabled and moved to the mailing list for the time being.
  4. Ubuntu US Meeting moved (to 6pm, Dec 9)
    • Self-explanatory
  5. Upcoming Meetings around Holidays (Nov 30th and Thanksgiving? Dec 28 and Christmas?)
    • The meeting on November 30th may be shortened or removed depending on the size of the Agenda on the week before (November 23). We'll decide what to do on the 28th when that time comes.

Original Agenda

  1. Release Party Recaps
  2. SCaLE -- Begin Planning?
  3. Two Point Oh Silliness (Or, How I learned to stop worrying and love micro blogging)
  4. Ubuntu US Meeting moved (to 6pm, Dec 9)
  5. 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.

CaliforniaTeam/Meetings/08November16 (last edited 2009-04-16 08:45:51 by c-69-181-88-124)