Ubuntu Wiki

Ubuntu Canada LoCo Meeting Log - June 6, 2010

19:00 < MattDelaney> Hello everyone
19:00 < dscassel> Hi, MattDelaney 
19:01 < dscassel> Sound off if you're here.
19:01 < dscassel> We'll give people a few minutes to find the place.
19:02 < tonyyarusso> mass ping time :P
19:03 < MattDelaney> Sounds good :)
19:05 < tonyyarusso> aveleh, bbrent, billybigrigger_, DarwinSurvivor, egerlach, FiReSTaRT, genii, highvoltage, hypatia, issyl0, jaguar, kenjy, krazor, Kulag, rexbron, ryanakca, SmartSsa, starcraftman, tanjir, willwh, zul, ZykoticK9: Meeting time if you're around.
19:05 < dscassel> Yeah, we should get started.
19:05 < dscassel> Feel free to introduce yourself.
19:06 < tonyyarusso> Agenda:  https://wiki.ubuntu.com/CanadianTeam/Meetings/2010-06-06
19:06 < dscassel> Thanks, tonyyarusso 
19:06 < starcraftman> tonyyarusso: ow, hey, well hello there.
19:07 < dscassel> Let's skip to #2: Taking the Initiative
19:07 < dscassel> This is something I wanted to bring up. 
19:07 < ZykoticK9> hey everyone
19:08 < dscassel> Hi ZykoticK9!
19:08 < starcraftman> I guess I ought to formally say hi, though I've been around never been at a meeting. In case folks don't know me, I'm starcraft.man and you can read up on me >https://wiki.ubuntu.com/starcraft.man
19:09 < dscassel> I just wanted to point out that all the things LoCos can do on this page: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LoCoTeamHowto#Things%20your%20LoCo%20can%20do
19:09 < dscassel> ...is stuff you can do in your town.  Don't wait around for approval from some central authority, just get on it!
19:10 < dscassel> Start an Hour, find like-minded Ubuntu folks and do stuff.
19:10 < tonyyarusso> Yeah, it seems like a lot of people think LoCos are something where someone's "in charge", and they're really not.  They're just for coordination, so once you start doing cool stuff, you can help others do your cool stuff too.
19:10 < dscassel> Also, we'll get to the web page thing in a minute, but you can set up a host for your town's chapter.
19:11 < ZykoticK9> Ottawa Ubuntu Hour had 4 people turn out last time - a new record ;)
19:11 < dscassel> And if you come up with an awesome theme, let us know and the Canada team might use it too.
19:11 < dscassel> ZykoticK9: awesome.  
19:11 < ZykoticK9> lol
19:11 < dscassel> We haven't quite made it up that high in KW yet.  But then it's not a regular thing either. :)
19:12 < starcraftman> dscassel: I wish uni took less of my time. Kinda stretched thin with my team memberships as is, maybe when I do my coop workterm I'll have time in evenings again.
19:12 < dscassel> starcraftman: whereabouts are you?
19:13 < dscassel> (That's all I wanted to say about 2, unless anyone has questions, comments...)
19:13 < ZykoticK9> starcraftman, that's a pretty ubuntu-impressive wiki page!  nice to see some canadian ubuntu members.
19:13 < starcraftman> dscassel: montreal, well in the area. I hang in qc too, went to last release party.
19:14 < starcraftman> ZykoticK9: thanks, I try. I don't like to brag but I guess I have done quite a bit in a short time. :)
19:14 < dscassel> starcraftman: Sounds like a lot of interesting things happening in Montreal.
19:14 < dscassel> Anyway, moving on.  
19:14 < dscassel> 3: Re-approval
19:15 < dscassel> This is txwikinger's thing.  I don't really have anything to say here.
19:15 < tonyyarusso> Basically, right now we probably don't have enough going on to get re-approved.  That needs to change, and fast.
19:16 < dscassel> Yeah.  
19:16 < dscassel> If anybody knows of people doing things, please get them to pipe in on the ML or IRC.  
19:18 < starcraftman> dscassel: what exactly needs re-approval? I'm a lil lost.
19:19 < dscassel> AFAIK, we need to demonstrate that we're active.
19:19 < dscassel> Update this wiki page: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/CanadianTeam/ReApprovalApplication2010
19:20 < dscassel> There'll be an IRC meeting we'll need to get a bunch of people out to to answer questions from the  LoCo council.
19:20 < dscassel> Not sure when that is.
19:21 < starcraftman> dscassel: ah, this is so, channel has been quiet since I been around. Isn't Canada team though like a shell? I agree with more activity, but don't most get planned at a more local level?
19:21 < dscassel> Here's a wiki page about team approval: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LoCoGettingApproved
19:21 < dscassel> Not sure if the reapproval process is different.
19:22 < dscassel> starcraftman: Yeah, we're trying to reorganize things a little to reflect that reality.  
19:22 < dscassel> The local level teams aren't likely to get official approval status, though.  
19:23 < dscassel> That's a bit of a pain in the butt anyway.  I just want to have parties.
19:23 < starcraftman> dscassel: does being official matter so much?
19:23 < dscassel> So make Ubuntu Canada an umbrella under which the local city teams can operate.
19:23 < tonyyarusso> starcraftman: Official teams get free packs of CDs and occasionally other goodies from Canonical that can be useful.
19:23 < dscassel> starcraftman: Maybe not.  There are some benefits.  
19:24 < dscassel> Mostly I just want to have a vibrant Ubuntu community around.  I think a dead Ubuntu Canada kinda looks bad.
19:24 < tonyyarusso> It's not the end of the world if we're not, but given that the work was already done to get to that point in the first place we should really try not to backtrack.
19:24 < tonyyarusso> Basically, approval is a reflection of doing things right, rather than doing things right to get approval.
19:25 < dscassel> When people ask how do you get involved in Ubuntu, the standard answer is "talk to your LoCo."  
19:25 < dscassel> The LoCo is how you find the Ubuntu community.
19:27 < dscassel> txwikinger thinks it shouldn't be too hard to get re-approval.  And he's been more involved in these processes than I have.
19:27 < starcraftman> tonyyarusso: I agree. Well know why it got so quiet in first place? People just get busy? I'm all for a renewed CA team.
19:28 < tonyyarusso> starcraftman: The people who were doing stuff moved on to other things and the new people didn't pick up the slack.
19:28 < dscassel> starcraftman: Corey and Brian got busy and stepped down.  Nobody was around to take it up.  
19:28 < dscassel> No leadership and nobody felt they had the right or the ability to do anything about it.
19:29 < dscassel> Until now. :)
19:29 < starcraftman> dscassel: rgr, strong leadership always required. Well good luck you two then whipping us slackers back up.
19:30 < starcraftman> not literally please.
19:30 < dscassel> I think the local city level stuff is more important and useful than the national level stuff.  But if the city level people can work together, we can do the work required to keep the website, ML and forums running.
19:31 < starcraftman> dscassel: talked to fabian yes? He runs qc loco pretty well :)
19:31 < dscassel> Yeah, I have a little.  txwikinger has more.
19:33 < dscassel> Anyway, moving on: Events. 
19:33 < dscassel> Anybody doing anything?
19:34 < dscassel> KW folks are talking about getting a booth for Ontario GNU/Linux Fest in October. http://onlinux.ca/
19:34 < dscassel> We did it last year.  It was kinda fun.
19:34 < dscassel> Noting planned in the next month, though.
19:34 < dscassel> ZykoticK9: you doing anything in Ottawa?
19:36 < dscassel> 5: Website.
19:37 < dscassel> I know txwikinger has the VPS host up.  Email/msg him if you want access to help out. 
19:38 < tonyyarusso> dscassel, txwikinger, and I are the three who currently have access.  I've been migrating old content over - you can see it at http://ubuntu-ca.jankeconsulting.ca/drupal6/
19:38 < dscassel> Thanks, tonyyarusso :)
19:38 < dscassel> I haven't touched it in a while.
19:38 < tonyyarusso> Given how lame the old site was, it shouldn't take much to get this one up to parity.
19:39 < dscassel> I'm hoping we can spread the load a little to keep it updated.
19:39 < tonyyarusso> Yeah.
19:40 < dscassel> Also, I gottta thank ZykoticK9 for helping turn the old site around and getting people moving.
19:40 < tonyyarusso> It runs Drupal, which has a VERY fine-grained permissions system, so we can easily give all sorts of people different levels of authoring privileges.
19:41 < tonyyarusso> I may be able to get it so that anyone who is a group member on Launchpad can post stories if we want.
19:41 < dscassel> I should also note that Brett Alton made a comment on the mailing list about how he's waiting to get his theme implemented.  
19:42 < dscassel> (See previous meeting minutes for his mock-up: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/CanadianTeam/Meetings/2010-05-16)
19:42 < dscassel> I'll get on txwikinger to give him access and get him working.
19:42 < dscassel> tonyyarusso: That would be cool.
19:43 < ZykoticK9> dscassel, sorry i was afk there.  and will be again in a few moments, company over.  thanks for the props ;)  i'm sad people didn't want to continue with the canonical web site.
19:43 < dscassel> The ubuntu-ca launchpad team has open membership, though, doesn't it?
19:44 < tonyyarusso> oh, it does now, yeah
19:44 < dscassel> ZykoticK9: Why's that?
19:44 < dscassel> There were lots of comments about how the Canonical site was impossible to update.
19:45 < dscassel> (modify, improve, etc., not post to)
19:45 < ZykoticK9> it thought it was super nice of canonical to give to the community with free web hosting - it's unfortunate we couldn't take more advantage i believe.  many of those issues could be resolved in my opinion.
19:46 < dscassel> Yeah, true.  I think I'd be happier with a Canonical-hosted site.
19:46 < ZykoticK9> i see the only advantage to non-canonical hosting will be the ability to synciate anyone's blog, and not just ubuntu members.
19:47 < tonyyarusso> ZykoticK9: We (I & Brian mostly) tried for about a year and a half to resolve those issues with Canonical, but it wasn't going to happen.
19:47 < dscassel> I don't like to see folks like you spending all their time bashing their head against it to make it work.  
19:48 < ZykoticK9> tonyyarusso, if canada just had write permission to add a theme we would be SO better off.
19:48 < tonyyarusso> Canonical does not allow shell access, add-on Drupal modules, anything involving ability to write PHP code, etc.  So basically it was unusable.
19:50 < ZykoticK9> tonyyarusso, ok - those might be very real technical shortcoming to Canonical serving!  i agree, but if canada could just get a real theme it would be SO much better (working with what CAN be done instead of what can't).
19:50 < tonyyarusso> ZykoticK9: Editing the theme fell under "ability to write PHP code", so was not allowed.
19:51 < ZykoticK9> tonyyarusso, we are currently just highjacking other countries theme with their image replaced!  other countries do it, i'm sure CA could too!
19:51 < tonyyarusso> Other countries theme?  Since when do themes belong to countries?
19:52 < ZykoticK9> they do on the canonical server as the -country extension!  we're using -gr 's theme right now i think.
19:52 < ZykoticK9> if canada could upload a theme the same as other countries we could customize to our hearts content!
19:53 < ZykoticK9> tonyyarusso, also the version of drupal being used by Canonical is REALLY old.
19:53 < tonyyarusso> yup
19:54 < ZykoticK9> away again, sorry.
19:54 < tonyyarusso> txwikinger's server is running 6.16 from the repositories.
19:56 < dscassel> Personally, I just want an active and nice-looking web page.  :)
19:56 < dscassel> Is there an action item here?  I can talk to txwikinger about Brett's suggestion.  
19:57 < dscassel> tonyyarusso, I guess you're going to keep migrating.
19:57 < dscassel> ZykoticK9: Do you want access to the server?
19:57 < tonyyarusso> dscassel: yup.
19:57 < tonyyarusso> All of the pages have been moved over, but not links or other fun things.
19:57 < dscassel> tonyyarusso: A lot of the links were old/dead.  I'm guessing you're pruning as you go along?
19:58 < tonyyarusso> yeah
19:59 < dscassel> Cool.
19:59 < dscassel> That's about all I had on the webpage.
20:00 < dscassel> Unless there's any new business, I'll move to adjourn. :)
20:01 < dscassel> Seeing none, this meeting of Ubuntu Canada is adjourned. Good night folks. :)