Meeting 2008 Jun 12th

• Meeting Topic - Where are we stuck?

Team Page: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Classroom
Meeting Minutes by: Elizabeth Bevilacqua & Brian Lusk

Present

The following were present during this meeting:

• apachelogger
• BLusk
• nalioth

• NthDegree

• pleia2
• visualdeception

Agenda

• General define where we are with the project

Proceedings

• Meeting called to order at 7:00PM EST (GMT -0500), by Elizabeth Bevilacqua (pleia2)

• Teams defined:
  • Instruction
  • Course Organization
  • Marketing
• Tasks
  • Instruction: Develop courses from own resources
  • Instruction: Focus on LTS releases for course longevity
  • Instruction: Make use of Ubuntu-Training materials
  • Course Organization: Balance the goals of "How to Use Ubuntu" and "How to Help Ubuntu" in courses
  • Course Organization: Recruit Instructors
  • Course Organization: Recruit Teams for regular sessions
  • Course Organization: Schedule classes
  • Course Organization: Send reminders to Instructors
  • Course Organization/Marketing: Maintain wiki page
  • Marketing: Logo

  • Marketing: Keep blogs, UWN & Fridge informed

  • Marketing: Change perception that programmers are all there is to Open Source
• Misc thoughts
  • Start slow, but steady. Don't be too ambitious!

• Meeting called to end at 7:42PM EST (GMT -0500), by Elizabeth Bevilacqua (pleia2)

Assignments

• Logo development: visualdeception
• Blog to Planet: pleia2
• Misc Organizational: pleia2
• Talk to -Training about thoughts WRT teaching in -Classroom: pleia2

Discussion

19:00 < pleia2> alrighty, who is here for the -classroom meeting?
19:01 < pleia2> 'lo NthDegree, ChinnoDog
19:01  * apachelogger_ is
19:01 < pleia2> yay :)
19:01 < apachelogger_> in a forced kind of way
19:01 < apachelogger_> :P
19:01 < pleia2> hehe
19:02 < pleia2> alright, so others can catch up when/if they wander in
19:02 < pleia2> this team had a nice run in 2006, died out in 2007, has had a couple resurrection attempts since then
19:02 < pleia2> our page: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Classroom
19:03 < pleia2> so, lets try this again
19:04 < pleia2> last time around we tried to use a hiveminder tool to organize tasks, which I didn't have time to use, and I suspect it made the entry bar a bit high
19:04 < pleia2> so I think what we need is to define a bunch of tasks on the mailing list & wiki, and get people assigned
19:05 < apachelogger_> emonkey: welcome to the meeting
19:05 < pleia2> and we probably want to start slow, the attempts in the past have been a bit ambitious
19:06 < pleia2> yeah that's all I've got :)
19:06 < pleia2> so we have tasks on the site:
19:06 < pleia2>     *
19:06 < pleia2> Being an instructor
19:07 < pleia2> Promotion: submit to fridge, UWN and teams that might be interested in specific topics. The marketing group has its own page for coordination.
19:07  * nalioth waves
19:07 < pleia2> Keeping this wiki up to date
19:07 < pleia2> hey nalioth :)
19:07 < pleia2> Posting logs
19:07 < NthDegree> hello nalioth, long time no speak =]
19:07 < pleia2> Preparing notes/blog entries of sessions (or encourage instructors to do this), see ClassroomTranscripts for examples
19:07 < pleia2> these are all still valid
19:07 < pleia2> finding instructors and projects to use -classroom is a task we need covered too
19:07 < NthDegree> pleia2, we need to verify the Transcripts are still valid
19:07 < pleia2> I really like that MOTU has sessions here, we need more of that
19:08 < pleia2> visualdeception: welcome!
19:08 < visualdeception> sorry I'm late
19:08 < NthDegree> that is a critical thing for newer Ubuntu versions have different ways of doing things
19:08 < pleia2> NthDegree: right, they have dates on them though and we should make a point to note that
19:09 < visualdeception> have I missed anything?
19:09 < pleia2> lemme catch you up in PM
19:10 < pleia2> there
19:10 < pleia2> so, thoughts?
19:11 < visualdeception> I like using the wiki/mailing list for tasks etc
19:11 < BLusk> You may want to focus on LTS versions at first because the materials you develop will be useful longer.
19:12 < pleia2> BLusk: and luckily we're on an LTS release right now! :)
19:12 < BLusk> Exactly. :D
19:12 < pleia2> I wonder if once we assign roles (or some of us do tons at first until we can delegate) then our first step should be getting teams to do regular sessions like MOTU
19:13 < NthDegree> also don't be tied to a single version/flavour of Ubuntu
19:13 < pleia2> once we have regular activity we can start scheduling classes, slowly as we can handle it
19:13 < pleia2> NthDegree: yeah, I'm hoping we won't have that problem - admins of the project are Xubuntu and Kubuntu people, and there are plenty of vanilla Ubuntu folks out there :)
19:13 < NthDegree> also keep in mind Kubuntu is not LTS
19:14 < NthDegree> KDE 3.5.x version is 18 months
19:14 < NthDegree> KDE 4 version is 6 months or so
19:14 < NthDegree> (KDE 4 is a preview)
19:14 < pleia2> "remix"
19:14 < pleia2> yeah
19:14 < visualdeception> I think we need to keep getting the word out that there is more to open source than being a programmer
19:14 < visualdeception> seems I have to fight that all the time
19:15 < pleia2> visualdeception: *nod*
19:15 < pleia2> we need a marketing person 
19:15 < visualdeception> I was trying to do that in the last try to bring this group back 
19:16 < pleia2> yeah
19:16 < NthDegree> I have an idea
19:16 < pleia2> are you familiar enough with fridge and UWN to take on submitting stuff? 
19:16 < pleia2> @ visualdeception 
19:16 < NthDegree> it's a bit of a weird one though
19:16 < pleia2> NthDegree: go for it
19:16 < NthDegree> why not have days of the week where there is a specific theme for the whole day
19:16 < NthDegree> we have dedicated teams answer questions on those themes
19:16 < pleia2> the trouble with this is ambitiousness
19:17 < visualdeception> I've had one thing sent to them, and it was published
19:17 < pleia2> it was suggested the last time around to have something similar - but it was more like each week had a theme
19:17 < NthDegree> then we only have specific classes when we are sure they are going to be successful
19:17 < BLusk> pleia2, mind if I summarize what I've seen thus far?
19:17 < pleia2> visualdeception: good enough for me :) a task you'd be interested in? 
19:17 < visualdeception> sure
19:17 < pleia2> BLusk: go ahead
19:17 < pleia2> yay!
19:17 < BLusk> ***
19:17 < BLusk> TEAMS:
19:17 < BLusk> Instructors
19:17 < BLusk> Course Development
19:17 < BLusk> Marketing 
19:17 < BLusk> TASKS:
19:17 < BLusk> Change perception that programmers are all there is to Open Source
19:17 < BLusk> Develop course material based on LTS releases
19:17 < BLusk> Obtain instructors
19:17 < BLusk> Schedule classes 
19:18 < BLusk> ***
19:18  * pleia2 nods
19:18 < BLusk> Anything missing?
19:18 < pleia2> now, ubuntu-training has actual course material 
19:18 < NthDegree> I have one to add 
19:18 < NthDegree> get LUG involvement
19:18 < pleia2> which is a canonical sponsored initative (and crazy awesome)
19:19 < pleia2> defining where classroom ends and where training picks up is important
19:19 < pleia2> ubuntu-classroom focuses on IRC and posting of IRC session results to the web
19:19 < BLusk> So, training material is provided by ubuntu-training?
19:19 < BLusk> Ah.
19:19 < pleia2> ubuntu-training develops free course material that canonical uses for paid training sessions, and others are free to use it if they don't make money from it
19:20 < BLusk> So, the entire course development could be easily placed on unbuntu-training
19:20 < pleia2> I've worked some with the -training folks, we could use some of their material to develop -classroom sessions
19:20 < BLusk> Leaving only acquiring instructors.
19:20 < visualdeception> we should probably work with them to work on clear cut transition
19:20 < BLusk> And marketing.
19:20 < pleia2> BLusk: some, I'd like to see much more community-related stuff beyond what -training provides
19:20 < NthDegree> marketing is something that can come naturally
19:21 < NthDegree> "hey -classroom has a session going on all about this in 5 minutes, why not have a look?"
19:21 < pleia2> visualdeception: agreed, I have a dialog open with dinda on this issue, I'll snag her again soon
19:21 < visualdeception> cool
19:21 < pleia2> NthDegree: without being spammy ;)
19:21 < NthDegree> pleia2, well I mean if a user in #ubuntu happens to want help with something that is in our theme
19:22 < pleia2> NthDegree: I'd clear it with the -ops before such an announcement
19:22 < NthDegree> it's like extended spoonfeeding + training and they'll love the care and attention and hang around
19:22 < BLusk> Basically, suggesting it to an individual = OK, bulk marketing = check with ops first.
19:22 < pleia2> anyway, fridge, UWN, blogs and the like are OK
19:22 < pleia2> mailing lists that have expressed interest, cool (like ubuntu-women
19:22 < NthDegree> BLusk, i'd never "bulk market", it backfires
19:23 < NthDegree> word of mouth will be the most powerful tool
19:23 < BLusk> I'm referring specifically to making an announcement to an entire channel/group of channels.
19:23 < NthDegree> ah
19:23 < BLusk> (Which is still bulk marketing, even if the lesser end of the spectrum)
19:24 < visualdeception> another thing I think that would help is if some in the classroom group were willing to teach sessions
19:24 < BLusk> Instruct the instructors.
19:24 < pleia2> visualdeception: yeah, I expect I'll be doing some, and I can nag nixternal into it too
19:24 < visualdeception> yea
19:25 < NthDegree> I may be able to do some generic bits on the odd occasion
19:25 < pleia2> nixternal was really involved with the first successful classrom iniative, before he went and got all busy and famous ;)
19:25 < NthDegree> like AppArmor
19:25 < visualdeception> lol
19:25 < NthDegree> that works the same everywhere and is easy to use
19:26 < NthDegree> not that useful on the desktop but it's a neat thing users should be aware of and know how to use all the same
19:27 < visualdeception> we are more worried about getting people to try and give back to the community right?
19:28 < pleia2> I think we can have a balance
19:28 < visualdeception> ok
19:28 < pleia2> some "how to use ubuntu" some "how to help ubuntu"
19:28 < pleia2> + sessions by teams
19:28 < visualdeception> cool
19:28 < NthDegree> some could be a form of attractive advertising
19:29 < NthDegree> like charities do 
19:29 < pleia2> hm?
19:29 < NthDegree> like "Why *you* should join the Artwork team?"
19:29 < NthDegree> err minus the ?
19:29 < pleia2> heh, yeah
19:30 < NthDegree> but you get the idea, having the artwork team say what they do and what makes them cool
19:30 < pleia2> we can suggest such things to the teas
19:30 < pleia2> yeah
19:30 < pleia2> visualdeception: do you have links to those old logos that were made? 
19:30 < visualdeception> let me check
19:32 < visualdeception> http://linux.dudenhofer.net/ubuntuclassroom.png
19:32 < visualdeception> that was the basic one
19:32 < visualdeception> and actually the only one I made
19:33 < pleia2> I forget who had the little chalkboard
19:33 < pleia2> I'm gonna have to go back in the mailing list archives and dig up slogans too
19:33 < visualdeception> I think I was looking for it and never found it 
19:33 < pleia2> #
19:33 < pleia2> Review'd slogan submissions from the mailing list
19:33 < pleia2>     * 
19:33 < pleia2>       Decided to go with learn something new every day
19:34 < pleia2> (from a past meeting)
19:34 < BLusk> Heh heh...
19:34 < visualdeception> sounds good...
19:35 < BLusk> Why'd I just get this picture of a video of some guy in old safety glasses in front of a small chalkboard with the words "Ubuntu Safety" on the board? 
19:35 < visualdeception> I can do some tinkering with that and the logo
19:36 < pleia2> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/IconsPage?action=AttachFile&do=get&target=example.png
19:36 < pleia2> there it is :)
19:36 < visualdeception> cool 
19:37 < pleia2> visualdeception: cool, so maybe go with what you have now, but with the new slogan and the little chalkboard at the bottom :)
19:37 < pleia2> and make it buttony - I don't know how to do images 
19:37 < pleia2> but sorta raised feeling with some boarder
19:37 < pleia2> border
19:37 < visualdeception> I'll see what I can do
19:38 < visualdeception> doesnt sound to difficult
19:38 < visualdeception> I might do some variations on that as well
19:39 < pleia2> great :)
19:39 < pleia2> just go ahead and post them to the list when you're done
19:39 < visualdeception> ok
19:39 < visualdeception>  https://wiki.ubuntu.com/IconsPage?ac �[34m~T~B n0p
19:39 < visualdeception>                           tion=AttachFile&do=get&target=exampl �[34m~T~B nal
19:39 < visualdeception> woops
19:39 < visualdeception> thats nice
19:40  * nalioth waves
19:40 < pleia2> hehe
19:40 < visualdeception> lol
19:40 < visualdeception> stinking middle mouse button 
19:40  * visualdeception grins
19:41 < pleia2> I think we're good now 
19:41 < pleia2> have a plan to move forward :)
19:41 < BLusk> All right, so basically the meeting is done?
19:42 < pleia2> I'd say so, unless anyone has anything else to add