Ubuntu Wiki

Contact Information

About Me

Short Summary

Hi, my name is Jared Norris, I live in Brisbane (Australia) and have been using Ubuntu for many years now. My main team allegiance is to my Loco - the Ubuntu-AU team and this is the team for which I do most of my work. I have recently been elected the Loco Team Contact and I have helped organise Ubuntu-AU stands and meetings at a recent conference, Ubuntu-AU participation in Ubuntu Global Jam events among other administrative roles.

I've recently had to cut down on some involvement to accommodate returning to university to study a Master's degree in Business Administration. Unfortunately this means I've had to wind back commitments to the UBT and Lubuntu where I have previously assisted with wiki documentation and assisting users on IRC.

History

I started on Linux sometime early in 2003 with various friends trying to get me to run this distribution or that distribution. I ended up having a play around on Fedora with FC1 & FC2 for a while but felt like all I was doing was fixing things rather than enjoying the computer. Then one of my friends heard about this new distribution called "Ubuntu" (which I now realise was the Warty release) and actually installed my own copy of Hoary mid 2005. I haven't looked back since, I have had brief forays into other distributions but always end back with Ubuntu. Now I have an assortment of Ubuntu installs at home.

I do not work in the IT industry and have had no formal training and as such I am the very definition of a weekend hacker of all things Ubuntu. Essentially I have taught myself purely by learning to love Google and the Ubuntu Forums.

Contributions

As I am not into programming or coding to any extent I sometimes find it hard to contribute directly to the Ubuntu development community as a whole. I am slowly starting to work my way into being constructive within a couple of Ubuntu teams. As such my current and recent contributions are:

Administrative Functions

• Ubuntu-AU team mailing list - assisting with mailing list moderation.

• Ubuntu-AU team co-chairperson - Co-chairing the Ubuntu-AU meetings with nisshh.

• Ubuntu-AU LoCo Contact - trying hard to motivate the team to promote Ubuntu in the Australian community.

• Ubuntu-Users mailing list moderator - working towards ensuring the largest Ubuntu mailing list stays relatively on topic and following the mailing list guidelines. I also assisted in the creation of the mailing list FAQ

• Ubuntu Membership Board - I sit on the illustrious Ubuntu Membership Board in the 1200 UTC timeslot. Here I'm able to help contribute back to the community by helping assess membership applications and provide guidance to those needing it in this process.

Ubuntu Advocacy

• Ship It - organised a Ship It type service to local Australian members to try and get Lucid Lynx LTS out into the population quicker (Australia still has a large proportion of people without access to broadband connections (https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-au/2010-April/006033.html) - we got over 50 CDs posted without any commercial support!

• Ubuntu-AU Gaming - promoting Ubuntu within the gaming community. When playing games I'm often asked what my [UAU] (Ubuntu-AU0 tags mean and this gives me an "in" to talk about Ubuntu to other gamers.

• Ubuntu-AU at LCA2011 - successfully organised the Ubuntu-AU team (and some Canonical staff!) to represent Ubuntu-AU at the 2011 Linux Conference Australia in my home town. Photos are available here as photos always show more than I can write.

• Ubuntu-AU Global Translation Jam - I organised and ran the Ubuntu-AU contribution to the Ubuntu Global Jam - details available at the loco.u.c event and the Australian Team Wiki Page. We translated 5700 strings in 3 hours!

• Release parties - I have successfully organised multiple release parties in Brisbane

• InstallFest - help lead a team of locals in setting up an InstallFest at the main library in the Brisbane CBD

Documentation

• Ubuntu-AU team Wiki - maintenance, expansion and improvement. The new team header has improved usability of the wiki.

• EN-AU Translation - working on the translation projects on launchpad for English (Australia) projects to help remove some Americanisms (no offence, it's just not us).

• Lubuntu documentation - helping out with wiki documentation and IRC assistance.

• Ubuntu Beginner's Team Documentation Focus Group - assisting the Ubuntu Beginner's Team in assisting newer volunteers to the Ubuntu community to find their feet where they want to contribute.

User Support

• Ubuntu-AU IRC Channels - trying to welcome new users and working towards making sure questions don't go unanswered.

• Lubuntu IRC Channels - lurking around trying to help out more than I hinder and keeping the peace if required as a channel operator.

Testimonials

If you know me and have something nice to say, please leave a comment here.

Ubuntu Beginners Team

Thank you one and all for your kind words. At the December UBT meeting I have been accepted as a Ubuntu Beginner's Team Member - Next stop, full Ubuntu Membership

Every time I've interacted with Jared, he's been in great humor and more then helpful. I'm more then happy to see Jared join the UBT, and I wish him the best of luck. -- paultag 2010-11-18 04:20:51

Jared has already been helping out with wiki stuff for Lubuntu along with on the IRC channel and mailing list. He has the patience, knowledge and willingness to help others and is a welcome addition to any team he may wish to join. His advocacy and rebuilding of the Australian LoCo says so much more about him than I can put into a testimonial. He's a great guy who I now am proud to also consider as a friend. phillw

Jared in action, for those not familiar with him Unusual case I will be using that case for my padawans to ask if they could keep any frustrations that they would be feeling aside from helping the OP. I rest my case for inclusion to UBT. phillw

I've dealt with Jared in the BT channels, the Lubuntu Channels for many different projects and discussions...I fully second what phillw says and endorse his application to the BT 200%. He's awesome, patient, great at wiki (A awesome plus in my book :D) and many other things. I hope to continue working with him in the near future. Way to go Jared! Now, to battle! zkriesse 2010-12-03 04:46:24

Ubuntu Membership

Thanks again everyone for your support. At the April EMEA Membership Board I was approved to the Ubuntu Membership.

Well what can I say that others have not already said...Jared is AWESOME! He's a great help on IRC, (I'm also been having great help from him in the BT Docs Focus Group which I run...) he knows wiki almost better than I do, and he's willing to do just about anything we (Me and phillw) throw at him! He's extremely helpful to all those who need help, willing to work on whatever whenever, and he's been an awesome addition to the BT and Lubuntu team. I'm glad to call him my friend...he's got my full 100% support for his application to Ubuntu Membership. Please look upon his application favorably. zkriesse (Zach Kriesse) 2011-02-03 01:58:00

I attended the Linux.conf.au 2011 in Brisbane where Jared Norris spearheaded a table at the Open Day. Due to the Brisbane floods only a fornight before the open day and a venue change. Jared ensured that everything ended up the right location and ran smoothly. I'd back him with any endeavour that he suggests that Ubuntu-AU team undertakes. george-patterson (George Patterson) george-patterson 2011-02-28 10:17:26

As with Zach, what can I add? It is clear to see that Jared is one those people who oozes ubuntu out of his pores. His committment knows no bounds, he will help anyone and any team. He is the embodiment of the ubuntu ethos and fully deserves his full membership. phillw

Currently flying the Ubuntu Au flag higher than anyone else, and doing a damn good job of it, hard to explain just how much (I and) the team appreciates him, I support his application for membership 110%. ikt (ikt)

Jared is a great friend, who helped me on more than one occasion. His work for Ubuntu-AU is outstanding and so is his involvement with Lubuntu and UBT documentation. -- UndiFineD 2011-04-04

Jared is a very knowledgeable, concientious individual who strives to assist whenever he can in #ubuntu-beginners on IRC. His answers are to the point and very helpful. He can explain his answers when needed, and is very much ready for Ubuntu Memebership. I can whole heartedly ask he be approved as a Member. -- charlie-tca 2011-04-05 02:04:28

Jared is always willing to help and helps everybody in the Ubuntu-AU loco. We usually chat on IRC and no matter what he is doing he always tries to help us. As team contact for Team Australia he helps with us and always trying to help us as mush as he can. -- benny 2011-06-28 09:40:45