= Meeting 2008 Feb 24th =
* Meeting Topic - Reformation of the Ubuntu Classroom Project
'''Team Page:''' https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Classroom <
>
'''Meeting Minutes by:''' Trevor Sharpe<
>
= Present =
The following were present during this meeting:
* herlo
* Zelut
* Ross Peoples
* Heartsbane
* Laney
* pleia2
* seth (aka visualdeception)
* popey
* TheZealot
= Proceedings =
* ''Meeting called to order at '''12:02PM EST (GMT -0500)''', by Christer Edwards(Zelut)''
* Proposed Meeting Agenda presented in gobby
* Contributors were encouraged to give their own suggestions
* Suggested course of action was presented
* Assignments were taken, by those that wished to participate
* Meeting assignments were recorded on: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Classroom/MeetingAgenda2008Feb24
* Follow up meeting date/time was established
* ''Meeting called to end at '''1:15PM EST (GMT -0500)''', by Christer Edwards(Zelut)''
== Agenda ==
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Classroom/MeetingAgenda2008Feb24
= Additional =
* no other note worthy items
= Discussion =
The following is the discussion that took place in gobby. Times are MDT (GMT -0700):
{{{
[10:02:10 AM] welcome
[10:02:20 AM] herlo has joined
[10:04:16 AM] feel free to add/append anything to the existing items. We should all be color coded so it'll be clear who has made edits.
[10:05:06 AM] Line 3: do you have a name you would like to call it or are you just feilding suggestions, BTW still reading
[10:06:23 AM] Call it GI Ubuntu (play on army and getting involved)
[10:06:31 AM] seth has joined
[10:06:32 AM] or Ubuntu GIs too
[10:06:44 AM] hello
[10:06:44 AM] heartsbane: after doing a bit more research I found that a team matching my goals already existed but had basically puttered out
[10:07:11 AM] heartsbane: I think sticking with their name may be fine, but I'd want to make sure we do some 'brand marketing' so people understand what the name means.
[10:07:20 AM] heartsbane: I don't have any better naming suggestions at this point.
[10:07:30 AM] Eurisko: greek for "I learn/discover things"
[10:08:02 AM] Ubuntu GI sounds okay too...
[10:08:06 AM] TheZealot has joined
[10:09:02 AM] Well then I guess lets start at the top, any contact with Ryanakca?
[10:09:06 AM] herlo: looks like you opened all the docs.
[10:09:12 AM] TheZealot has left
[10:09:25 AM] zelut, is there a way to turn that off?
[10:09:43 AM] zealot has joined
[10:09:47 AM] herlo: well the rest of us just opened one. They should be listed on your document list.
[10:10:15 AM] I know, its apparently a preference I had set, fixing it now
[10:10:19 AM] herlo has left
[10:10:23 AM] herlo has joined
[10:10:38 AM] there we go
[10:10:45 AM] Ok. For the agenda.
[10:11:07 AM] When I initially came up with this idea I didn't know a team already existed, the ubuntu-classroom team.
[10:11:20 AM] they have been working off and on, but most of the members have moved on or are too busy.
[10:11:50 AM] I have spoken with pleia2 and ryanakca yesterday, both are very busy but are happy about the idea of a team resurrection.
[10:12:17 AM] pleia2 may not be able to be involved much, but she mentioned she could hand over her admin/ops to me for the team resources.
[10:12:36 AM] The reasons I like the idea of a team resurrection is that the resources and tools are already in place. mailing list, launchpad, irc, etc.
[10:12:50 AM] if we went with something new we'd need to start from scratch, which I don't see a lot of reason to do.
[10:13:14 AM] as you can see from the document above, there are a number of wiki pages already in place.
[10:13:28 AM] I would like to update these and breath some life into them.
[10:13:56 AM] We will be doing a lot of collaboration via the mailing list, so if you can afford one more please subscribe to the list:
[10:13:58 AM] so why did the former project stop?
[10:14:03 AM] https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-classroom
[10:14:18 AM] the former project stopped because of school, divorces.. life in general.
[10:14:32 AM] the initial team founders just got too caught up in other projects and haven't been able to maintain it.
[10:15:01 AM] so it isn't a marketing or conceptual issue, but rather just a staffing one
[10:15:29 AM] right. at this point there isn't anyone that has time to run the team.
[10:15:56 AM] so, I figure filling some positions at this meeting would be the first best step.
[10:16:15 AM] * herlo backs away from the table, slowly :)
[10:16:27 AM] herlo: I know, I know.
[10:16:31 AM] but I bet there a few that wanna help
[10:16:38 AM] well, i'm decent with admin stuff
[10:17:01 AM] I think the first main thing we need is someone that wants to help tackle the wiki. I think Heartsbane mentioned some interest there.
[10:17:17 AM] Yep, I can do that
[10:17:31 AM] Laney has joined
[10:17:37 AM] what actually needs to be done with the wiki?
[10:17:39 AM] We'll want to liven it up (the new USTeams wiki page is really colorful and wiki 2.0-ish. might take a look)
[10:18:02 AM] Wiki is not hard at all... so no big deal there
[10:18:09 AM] Well check out the wiki (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Classroom)
[10:18:28 AM] it just seems a bit out dated. Again, some of the people listed as founders have long since moved on
[10:18:28 AM] already there
[10:18:44 AM] zelut, pleia2 isnt' able to participate in here, lappy can't handle it
[10:19:43 AM] What I want the wiki to have is a very clear, easy to find upcoming schedule of events. Contacts, and a firm listing of responsibilities within the team.
[10:20:06 AM] I hate it when I don't know who to contact for a project, or the wiki hasn't been updated in 9 months and who knows what the team is up to you know..
[10:20:26 AM] pleia2 has joined
[10:20:44 AM] well, if needed, I can help heartsbane update the wiki, I'd just need to know what to update
[10:21:45 AM] Ross: We also need someone to moderate the mailing list, launchpad and make sure proper access is available in -classroom on IRC if you'd prefer that.
[10:21:56 AM] of course we'd need to discuss getting access to those with pleia2
[10:22:01 AM] ryan and I are mailing list mods
[10:22:27 AM] I don't know where IRC stands, I believe it's pretty much owned by the irc council
[10:22:39 AM] and launchpad is owned by ryan
[10:22:48 AM] pleia2: do the two of you want to maintain the list and launchpad? I just hope you'll be available when needed.
[10:23:27 AM] I'm on IRC all the time, my availability is only limited in the realm of big project things
[10:23:49 AM] I've been handling moderator requests and such for the mailing list since it was launched :)
[10:24:32 AM] pleia2: well if you can continue to maintain it then we're set there.
[10:24:36 AM] * pleia2 nods
[10:24:59 AM] as far as the launchpad team goes, we weren't really set on what it's for
[10:25:15 AM] Ross: so it sounds like, for now, best help may be in the wiki with Heartsbane.
[10:25:16 AM] we were calling it the "management team" but might open it to all project members, just unsure of the usefulness
[10:25:47 AM] pleia2: all I've ever used LP for, with teams, is to list membership and use PPAs.. but I doubt we need a PPA.
[10:25:56 AM] yeah, same
[10:26:12 AM] We also need someone that can help with marketing. The original team fizzled out and I hadn't even heard of them originally.
[10:26:30 AM] I *thought* I had a good feel to what was going on within Ubuntu, but I had no idea the team existed until after it nearly died ;)
[10:27:01 AM] I'd like someone that wants to maintain contact with the fridge, UWN, full-circle, bloggers, etc. Get the word out about the team and more regularly about events.
[10:27:35 AM] This last week the Ubuntu developer week was a huge success because there was a marketing blitz on it. Digg, etc. I'd like similar marketing for this project so it feels like a big deal when these happen.
[10:27:41 AM] yep
[10:27:48 AM] was this team responsible for e-week?
[10:28:02 AM] Ubuntu Women is also loosely involved (we dropped our own Courses program in favor of working with Classroom)
[10:28:04 AM] zelut, one of the things the fedora community manager does/did would be to encourage others to blog regularly, get the word out about major and minor events
[10:28:06 AM] heartsbane: when we did usteams education week it was just me.
[10:28:33 AM] heartsbane: but that was my first attempt to see how something like this might work.
[10:28:57 AM] any input from seth, zealot, or laney?
[10:28:59 AM] so just emailing blogs, getting people to blog about events, getting articles on the fridge
[10:29:25 AM] seth: yeah, being the ambassador so to speak between this project and the interweb :)
[10:29:33 AM] we'll probably want a couple people doing the marketing thing, I expect it's going to be a bit overwhelming
[10:29:44 AM] i'd be willing to help with that
[10:29:46 AM] seth: I have a contact at the fridge I can pass on and the UWN. Those will be a decent start.
[10:29:53 AM] I'll help seath
[10:29:56 AM] seth
[10:29:57 AM] rofl
[10:29:58 AM] seth: super!
[10:29:59 AM] excellent
[10:30:11 AM] Hey sorry. Yes I definitely agree on the marketing side, and would be willing to help. I think it would be good to get some high profile bloggers like Jono or Daniel to post about it too.
[10:30:25 AM] Would it make sense to maintain a list on a subpage of the wiki someplace to list the groups/contacts for marketing?
[10:30:41 AM] ie; what blogs & groups we contact and who we contact within those groups?
[10:30:59 AM] i would think so
[10:31:06 AM] For sure
[10:31:10 AM] I can of course blog about it on ubuntu-tutorials too. That reaches one or two people ;)
[10:31:18 AM] lol
[10:31:41 AM] ok. so seth, zealot and laney can you start building a list of blogs and such to contact?
[10:31:46 AM] is ubuntu-tutorials still around? I heard that guy died or something
[10:31:48 AM] sure
[10:31:51 AM] I'd like to get solid information on the wiki of addresses, etc.
[10:32:11 AM] I think if we document that much if the team ever does suffer in the future that information is there to be picked up on.
[10:32:24 AM] so like planet ubuntu, jono, daniel, jorge?
[10:32:39 AM] reddit, digg, ...
[10:32:58 AM] seth: I think jono would be a good fit. daniel is motu-specific, but he could blog about it when motu presents in -classroom I'm sure.
[10:33:08 AM] do we wanna get something out about the team being ressurected
[10:33:30 AM] seth: an article along those lines would be good for the UWN, fridge, etc I think.
[10:33:33 AM] getting -motu to "announce" their sessions has been tricky, apparently they have some sort of set schedule that I haven't quite figured out yet
[10:33:43 AM] popey has joined
[10:33:47 AM] seth: but yeah, good buzz per presentation and a lot of buzz up front that we're back in the game.
[10:33:59 AM] popey: welcome
[10:34:03 AM] lo
[10:34:11 AM] hi
[10:34:18 AM] hi popey
[10:34:23 AM] * Laney nods
[10:34:25 AM] popey: when I 'cryptically' contacted you the other day it was related to this (big surprise)
[10:34:32 AM] Ross still around?
[10:34:34 AM] zelut, it almost sounds like marketing could use ambassadors across the board in ubuntu
[10:34:38 AM] stil here
[10:34:42 AM] get more of the word out
[10:34:50 AM] are you on IRC?
[10:34:54 AM] yep
[10:34:58 AM] PhreeStyle-home
[10:34:59 AM] popey: any thoughts on the screencast team doing video presentations based on some of the -classroom meets?
[10:35:05 AM] k thx
[10:35:28 AM] one of the concerns I have about this is not everyone is familiar with or comfortable with IRC.
[10:35:39 AM] the screencast team has slowed recently - my fault
[10:35:48 AM] expanding the media to web, screencasts, etc might help reach more of the n00bs :)
[10:35:52 AM] however even if you did send stuff our way, there are very few people actually contributing
[10:36:04 AM] there are only 3 people in the team actually making screencasts
[10:36:28 AM] popey: maybe we'll have you present at an upcoming -classroom meet to get people involved. That's the whole idea!
[10:36:34 AM] zelut: Which is why I think that the after-session logs should be more than just dumps of IRC logs.
[10:36:38 AM] we did try that
[10:36:47 AM] zelut, what about audiocasts, like icecast or secondlife?
[10:36:49 AM] in an ubuntu open week I gave two sessions about screencasting
[10:37:16 AM] laney: there is a guy on the ubuntu-us-az team that does some very impressive log parsing to make readable meeting minutes. Might contact him.
[10:37:17 AM] Zelut: I think Icecast servers would be excellent for presentations, even n00bs can figure out how to log into a audio stream
[10:37:17 AM] Laney: I agree, early on in the Classroom project there were people doing writeups of the sessions, which were much more valuable than logs
[10:37:18 AM] fact is that people create screencasts for other sites - blip.tv, showmedo, their own blogs etc, but don't specifically make them for the screencast team
[10:37:40 AM] video casts tend to be a bit heavier and a lot of people won't be able to get on, bandwidth or machine limitations mostly
[10:37:40 AM] ..later in the project I don't even think logs were posted, unfortunately
[10:37:51 AM] aw
[10:37:55 AM] herlo: if we can make it simple enough for the presenter to create the icecast its a good idea.
[10:38:07 AM] zelut, its dead simple
[10:38:16 AM] the presenter just needs to have a decent sound card
[10:38:20 AM] one of the downsides with audio / video / screen casting is translation
[10:38:21 AM] herlo: sounds like you got a little closer to the table after all ;)
[10:38:25 AM] and a microphone
[10:38:38 AM] popey: *nod*
[10:38:42 AM] it's relatively easy to translate a piece of text when compared with audio / video / screen casts
[10:38:44 AM] popey: I do have contact with someone from the spanish translation team that wants to help in that regard.
[10:38:44 AM] zelut, I'll help there where i can, because I run icecast server
[10:38:55 AM] Zelut: I can secure a Icecast server from Mike Place at XMission, I know the have several, plus they operate a ubuntu mirror
[10:39:00 AM] i run icecast too if that helps
[10:39:00 AM] audio tutorials tend to be a bit dry
[10:39:05 AM] IMO
[10:39:11 AM] popey, different languages may require different presenters
[10:39:17 AM] popey: don't know what it'd take to translate the audio without just redoing it, but he's excited about helping with the text aspect.
[10:39:18 AM] h
[10:39:28 AM] popey: I think it depends on how it's done and how you learn better - audio is completely useless to my brain so I'm not too into them
[10:39:52 AM] speaking of which, these are all fantastic ideas but personally I'm gonna hang back with the IRC tutorials WRT my contributions
[10:39:54 AM] popey, I disagree that audio tutorials are dry, especially if the presenter is responding to questions in irc too
[10:40:00 AM] If we want the interactive aspect to work (like developer week), audio won't work too well
[10:40:04 AM] there's about a 20-30 second delay on average tho
[10:40:10 AM] I've always found that lag is too prohibitive
[10:40:17 AM] herlo, I'd like to see an example to prove me wrong :(
[10:40:30 AM] laney, do you have dial-up?
[10:40:38 AM] because I can see that being a big issue
[10:40:40 AM] 20mb cable ;)
[10:40:45 AM] plus there is the logging that you get with a text based medium which you dont get with audio
[10:40:51 AM] \o/ 20Mb cable
[10:40:52 AM] you shouldn't see much lag at all
[10:40:53 AM] we've been doing audio of our LUG meetings (thanks to herlo) and they seem pretty realtime
[10:41:04 AM] popey, that's what podcasts are for
[10:41:08 AM] acacs has left
[10:41:18 AM] I know, but it never seems to work in practice. The technical overheads are comparatibely very high compared to IRC.
[10:41:19 AM] * herlo points pope to http://podcast.utos.org
[10:41:23 AM] popey
[10:41:28 AM] lets put audio on the back burner for just a bit. I'm open to expanding the medium, but we don't need to work out the details just now.
[10:41:34 AM] thanks
[10:41:46 AM] popey: Virgin media \o>
[10:41:49 AM] we're working on an audio podcast in the uk
[10:41:52 AM] popey, np. I hope it helps. I've done a couple presentations there, and so has zelut
[10:41:58 AM] can someone update the gobby agenda to list the positions assigned?
[10:42:22 AM] Zelut: sure I will fill out mine
[10:42:32 AM] we've got pleia2 doing the list (and I'm assuming you can add an admin if you get overwhelmed again?)
[10:42:55 AM] we'e got heartsbane and ross doing the wiki, logs, etc?
[10:43:00 AM] yep
[10:43:10 AM] he's updaing gooby now
[10:43:14 AM] zelut: yep
[10:43:19 AM] then seth, zealot and laney doing some marketing?
[10:43:30 AM] yep
[10:43:41 AM] herlo for moral support ;)
[10:44:16 AM] I want to start building a list of existing teams and their contacts and start to build relationships there.
[10:44:17 AM] I don't think developers is the target audience
[10:44:34 AM] this way there is a personal relationship with teams so we can contact them about presenting.
[10:44:44 AM] Depends if we integrate the MOTU talks
[10:44:47 AM] I also want to add a personal touch to introducing people into teams.
[10:45:12 AM] I want everyone to be our target. Different targets for different topics in -classroom, but it shouldn't just be devels
[10:45:25 AM] *anyone* can participate, and *everyone* should be given a chance.
[10:45:32 AM] agreed
[10:45:52 AM] sometimes all that is needed is that they know how, which is what we aim to remedy.
[10:46:08 AM] Seth are you on marketing?
[10:46:12 AM] yes
[10:46:19 AM] some topics I'm sure will be technical, others much simpler like 'how to edit the wiki'
[10:46:22 AM] zelut, ambassadors...
[10:46:26 AM] What about a ubuntu-classroom-announce mailing list?
[10:46:54 AM] Laney: perhaps the ubuntu-news list? that's where the UWN goes.
[10:47:15 AM] herlo: explain
[10:48:37 AM] zelut: Sure, that would work.. as long as people are aware of where to listen out if they're interested.
[10:48:48 AM] I don't want to keep the meeting going too much longer. Let's talk about a schedule and goals for the last 10-15min.
[10:49:00 AM] * Laney nods
[10:49:03 AM] ok
[10:49:26 AM] how about a second meeting in a week.
[10:49:33 AM] sounds good
[10:49:34 AM] sounds good
[10:49:35 AM] yeah
[10:49:40 AM] how is this time? later? earlier?
[10:49:52 AM] works for me....
[10:49:53 AM] should be good
[10:49:54 AM] Works for me.
[10:50:00 AM] good for me too
[10:50:07 AM] I might be in DC next weekend, but I can catch up later
[10:50:10 AM] I suppose this is the wrong crowd to ask. All of us *could* make it :)
[10:50:16 AM] zelut, you mentioned that you wanted to have people to introduce individuals to the team, that's an ambassador
[10:50:32 AM] FWIW sunday evenings EST tend to work better for me
[10:50:38 AM] Can we shoot for 1PM EST?
[10:50:45 AM] 2 hours later would be better for me
[10:50:46 AM] herlo: right. that was kind of the position I wanted to try and work.
[10:50:53 AM] just naming it
[10:50:53 AM] 5pm UTC is family time
[10:51:19 AM] two hours later is noon for me, herlo and heartsbane. thats fine by me.
[10:51:21 AM] do it at 7pm UTC
[10:52:05 AM] is everyone on the ubuntu-classroom mailing list?
[10:52:09 AM] yar
[10:52:11 AM] Would you like these meeting notes, posted in the wiki, as well as the chat log?
[10:52:32 AM] heartsbane: if you can find a way to incorporate the above document into the wiki that'd be great.
[10:52:41 AM] btw, pleia2, if you need another mod/admin for anything I can fill that
[10:52:43 AM] heartsbane: you'll notice I already began formatting it in wiki syntax.
[10:53:07 AM] Zelut: I am not, but I will do it after meeting... yes gobby is nice for that
[10:53:23 AM] ok, next sunday at 1700 UTC?
[10:53:28 AM] Zelut: should we include the chat log?
[10:53:34 AM] that's 2pm EST, right?
[10:53:45 AM] yes
[10:53:46 AM] Ross: if my UTC conversion is correct it should be.
[10:53:53 AM] cool, thats fine then
[10:53:55 AM] heartsbane: sure, why not.
[10:53:56 AM] zelut, did you mean 1900 UTC?
[10:54:09 AM] herlo: probably :)
[10:54:11 AM] 1700 = 5pm
[10:54:25 AM] just trying to make sure everyone is happy
[10:54:31 AM] 7pm for popey, 12 for me, 2pm for the east coasters.
[10:54:39 AM] am I getting it right?
[10:54:40 AM] thanks for making that change
[10:54:44 AM] yup
[10:55:00 AM] popey are you in GB?
[10:55:01 AM] good deal
[10:55:06 AM] Ok, so everyone has an assignment and something to work on?
[10:55:23 AM] I'd also like to follow up with everyone mid-week to see how things are going.
[10:55:32 AM] wed or thur better for follow-ups?
[10:55:42 AM] on the maliing list?
[10:55:48 AM] Yeah, I'd just use the mailing list
[10:55:49 AM] be good to get a bit more traffic on the list
[10:56:11 AM] I'm always on email, so anytime is good for a followup for me
[10:56:27 AM] Ok, a reminder email will go out mid-week. If everyone could reply to the list with their progress that'd be great.
[10:56:37 AM]