Ubuntu Wiki

About Me

Hi, my name is Jared Norris, I live in Brisbane (Australia) and have been using Ubuntu for some time now.

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. The 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 ranging from 8.04 through to some VMs running various flavours of 11.04. You can see for yourself where I get up to all my mischief.

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, the Ubuntu Forums and of course the wonderful Ubuntu-AU team IRC channels.

Contact Information

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 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 team reporting - working to get the Ubuntu-AU team reports up and running.

• Ubuntu-AU LoCo Contact - as of late February I have now become the Ubuntu-AU LoCo team contact - mailing list announcement - I hope to do my best for the Ubuntu-AU team and look forward to working towards re-approval! Many thanks to MelissaDraper for her work on the team for so long and we wish you the best with your future endeavours.

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.

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.

• 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!

User Support

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

• Ubuntu-Beginners IRC Channels - doing what I can to get involved when I can.

• Lubuntu IRC Channels - lurking around trying to help out more than I hinder.

Future Goals

I hope to maintain an active presence in the Ubuntu-AU team as I see this as a primary goal as I subscribe to the "think global, act local" theory. I am however slowly looking around to see what other projects I can invest some time into within my capabilities. My list of goals include:

• Ubuntu-AU - continuing to work towards re-approval.

• English (Australia) Translations - make sure this is an ongoing steady effort.

• Lubuntu - Help in word of mouth marketing for Lubuntu, assist the great phillw with documentation and do what I can in the IRC channel.

• Ubuntu Membership - one day I would like to achieve Ubuntu Membership.

• Bug #1 - Do my best in my every day life to combat Bug #1

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

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