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Ubuntu Open Week - Introduction - Jono Bacon - Mon, Apr 27th, 2009

UTC -4

(11:03:37 AM) jono: alright
(11:03:39 AM) jono: lets get going :)
(11:03:51 AM) jono: everyone, welcome to Ubuntu Open Week! :-)
(11:03:51 AM) jdardon: :D
(11:04:21 AM) jono: just before I get started, I would like to point out that this channel is not for discussion, this is where the session is delivered
(11:04:33 AM) jono: instead, feel free to chat over in the mecca that is #ubuntu-classroom-chat :)
(11:04:57 AM) jono: so, here we are again, and this is our sixth Ubuntu Open Week
(11:05:32 AM) jono: for the last six cycles Open Week has provided an incredible opportunity for us to reach out to new contributors
(11:05:48 AM) jono: and to provide an opportunity to welcome these contributors into our rather awesome community
(11:06:10 AM) jono: the idea behind the very first Ubuntu Open Week was pretty simple
(11:06:25 AM) jono: Ubuntu has a community depends on a wide variety of contributors
(11:06:54 AM) goshawk: hi
(11:07:06 AM) jono: we have literally hundreds of teams, a world covered in LoCo teams, many translated languages and a variety of methods of getting involved in a diverse range of skills
(11:07:30 AM) jono: the problem with diversity is that it can be devilishly difficult to know how to get started
(11:08:01 AM) jono: Ubuntu Open Week is intended to provide a simple on-ramp for new and curious contributors to dip their feet into the Ubuntu community
(11:08:42 AM) gotunandan:  /ignore -channels #ubuntu-classroom JOINS QUITS
(11:08:42 AM) jono: to do this Ubuntu Open Week provides a wealth of IRC tuition sessions designed to cover this diverse range of contributions that new contributors can indulge in
(11:09:06 AM) jono: as with every Ubuntu Open Week, you can see this list of sessions over at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuOpenWeek
(11:09:52 AM) jono: with the Jaunty release and the kick off the Karmic cycle, we have the biggest Ubuntu Open Week ever with more sessions and a special Documentation Day on the Tuesday
(11:10:35 AM) jono: delivering these sessions are some legends in the Ubuntu community - this is not just a great opportunity to learn the ropes, but to learn the ropes from some of the rock stars in that part of the community
(11:10:55 AM) jono: so all in all, this is a pretty rocking week
(11:11:17 AM) jono: and I am hugely excited to meet many of the new contributors in these different parts of the community
(11:11:28 AM) jono: let me now explain how this shebang works
(11:11:42 AM) jono: Ubuntu Open Week sessions, as I said, are listed over at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuOpenWeek
(11:11:56 AM) alanbell1 left the room (quit: "leaving").
(11:12:07 AM) jono: to get involved is simple: simply log onto IRC and join this channel #ubuntu-classroom - this is where all of the sessions will be taking place
(11:12:34 AM) jono: sessions will be delivered by the person shown on the schedule and then will present workshops inside the channel
(11:13:03 AM) jono: every session also welcomes questions - to do this, join #ubuntu-classroom-chat
(11:13:26 AM) jono: asking a question is simple - in #ubuntu-classroom-chat ask your question with 'QUESTION' at the beginning of the line
(11:13:28 AM) jono: for example:
(11:13:45 AM) kevin_: join #ubuntu-classroom-chat
(11:13:46 AM) jono: QUESTION: Was it really International Iron Maiden Day last week?
(11:14:01 AM) jono: and naturally, the leader would respond with:
(11:14:25 AM) jono: yes, the most important day of the year
(11:14:34 AM) jono: simple as that
(11:14:55 AM) jono: when asking questions, please don't repeat them
(11:15:18 AM) jono: if you ask a question the leader will see it and hopefully respond at some point, but it may take a little while - these sessions get a little frantic
(11:16:04 AM) jono: the most important rule about Ubuntu Open Week is that you should not speak in this channel - this is purely designed to deliver the session in, if you speak repeatedly, you may feel the strong arm the law hoist you out
(11:16:11 AM) jono: and no one would like that, eh?
(11:16:38 AM) jono: so that is the essence of what Ubuntu Open Week is
(11:17:01 AM) jono: I now want to speak for a little while about a few things and then I will hand over to a few questions before we wrap up
(11:17:13 AM) jono: as such, if you have any questions, pump them into #ubuntu-classroom-chat now
(11:17:57 AM) jono: Ubuntu is an awesome community.
(11:18:02 AM) jono: utterly, utterly awesome.
(11:18:40 AM) jono: one of the reason why I love the community so much is that it inspires itselfd
(11:18:43 AM) jono: itself
(11:19:00 AM) jono: every day when I wake up and get online, I meet and experience incredible work done across the community
(11:19:25 AM) jono: but community is not only about incredible work, it is about incredible people delivering that work
(11:19:45 AM) jono: I started n Ubuntu just under three years ago, and my role is as the Ubuntu Community Manager
(11:20:01 AM) jono: my role and the function of my team is to help enable the community
(11:20:48 AM) jono: our goal is to ensure that the wider Ubuntu community feel engaged in not only achieving their own personal ambitions but the ambitions of the community as a whole
(11:21:05 AM) jono: the thing that drives great community is a sense that everyone benefits from your community
(11:21:31 AM) jono: if you add a comment in a bug report that helps a bug get fixed, that bug fix benefits everyone
(11:21:39 AM) jono: if you translate a string, that benefits everyone
(11:21:51 AM) jono: when you organize LoCo meetings, that benefits the whole area
(11:21:57 AM) kevin_: join #ubuntu-classroom-chat
(11:22:16 AM) jono: it is this sense that we can all put a brick in the Ubuntu wall that has helped us to build a strong and compelling wall
(11:22:39 AM) jono: but with this ethos comes challenges, and particularly around scale
(11:22:50 AM) jono: Ubuntu is a huge project no, with thousands of participants
(11:23:15 AM) jono: our family spans every country in the world, every language, and every discipline
(11:24:19 AM) jono: managing and maintaining a community is pretty straightforward when your community is small and focused, but when it gets as big as ours, we often need to think carefully about how we welcome this growth but still maintain that sense of community spirit
(11:24:26 AM) jono: and this is where you all come in
(11:25:00 AM) naux: tuantub: vao day lam gi vay ?
(11:25:22 AM) jono: while on one hand we manage this level of growth and scale with better governance and simple and effective processes, the way we maintain that community spirit is by each of us bringing it to our IRC channels, mailing lists and user group meetings
(11:25:50 AM) jono: I have always wanted Ubuntu to maintain a strong sense of family
(11:26:06 AM) jono: and every Ubuntu Developer Summit and LoCo meeting exhibits this sense of family
(11:26:30 AM) jono: but this sense of family is evident in our existing contributor base
(11:27:08 AM) jono: what we need to strive for this week is building that sense of family in our new contributors
(11:27:42 AM) jono: when a new person joins an Ubuntu Open Week session, we want to not only help them get involved but also welcome them into our family, help and encourage them and give them a strong sense of "I got your back"
(11:28:13 AM) jono: it is these connections between our different contributors that will empower every to achieve their own personal goals and do great work for the community
(11:28:51 AM) jono: I am incredibly excited by this Ubuntu Open Week, and I think we have a better opportunity than ever to broaden and expand our worldwide family, and can't wait to here the stories from new people joining us
(11:29:26 AM) jono: so, speaking of family, I want to welcome one specific person who recently joined my team at Canonical as the fourth horsemen
(11:30:01 AM) jono: David Planella who is also known as dpm joined us recently to work as the Ubuntu Translations Coordinator
(11:30:38 AM) jono: David has joined to help us make our translations community rock and to continue to drive forward our belief that Ubuntu should be available to everyone in their language
(11:31:02 AM) antares: HELP ignore
(11:31:05 AM) antares left the room (quit: "Ex-Chat").
(11:31:28 AM) jono: David joins Daniel Holbach (dholbach) and Jorge Castro (jcastro) on the team and I would love it if you could welcome him in #ubuntu-classroom-chat
(11:31:45 AM) jono: I am excited about what he can bring to the wider translations community
(11:32:07 AM) jono: right
(11:32:20 AM) jono: so, without further ado, lets get onto a few questions folks
(11:32:28 AM) jono: paste them in #ubuntu-classroom-chat
(11:32:43 AM) sirdiego: HELP ignore
(11:32:50 AM) jono: <zaidka> QUESTION: what is Loco team?
(11:33:17 AM) jono: zaidka, a LoCo team is a local Ubuntu advocacy group that gets together to help spread the word about Ubuntu in their areas
(11:33:39 AM) jono: LoCo teams not only do advocacy, but many do translatons, write documentation, provide support and host training sessions and events
(11:33:58 AM) jono: we have over 200 of these teams that cover the planet - see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LoCoTeams for more
(11:34:15 AM) jono: <goshawk> QUESTION: who are the leaders? who decides them?
(11:34:24 AM) jono: I assume you mean LoCo teams, goshawk
(11:34:29 AM) jcastro: he meant the sessions
(11:34:34 AM) jono: oh the sessions
(11:34:34 AM) jcastro: we answered it, you can move on
(11:34:35 AM) jono: thanks jcastro
(11:34:39 AM) jono: ok cool
(11:34:52 AM) jono: <Odd_Bloke> QUESTION: Why aren't we all silenced in #ubuntu-classroom?
(11:34:55 AM) jono: we do that if needed
(11:35:06 AM) jono: but we prefer to be less hardcore about silencing people
(11:35:18 AM) jono: usually most people are quiet - all looks good so far :)
(11:35:29 AM) jono: <JManGt_> QUESTION: in my county we have a 'big' loco team, but its kind of like in a coma. Any tips on how to jump start a loco?
(11:35:35 AM) jono: great questions JManGt_
(11:35:50 AM) jono: there are two things that make LoCos thrive:
(11:35:55 AM) jono: 1. regular communication
(11:36:00 AM) jono: 2. focus points
(11:36:16 AM) francesco_ is now known as fncmrl
(11:36:23 AM) jono: for (1) it means having plenty of chatter on mailing lists, IRC and other resources
(11:36:42 AM) jono: to achieve this, start conversations, ask questions and encourage your community to do so
(11:36:57 AM) jono: for (2) this means getting the team together to do something
(11:37:18 AM) jono: this could be either an event such as a bug jam, packaging jam or release party, or having the team work together on the same project
(11:37:36 AM) jono: a LoCo team will struggle if they have nothing to focus their energy on
(11:37:43 AM) jono: I would begin with organizing a series of events
(11:38:20 AM) jono: a great start here could be a bug jam - see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RunningBugJam for details
(11:38:40 AM) jono: <sea-gul1> QUESTION: what's specific about developing for Ubuntu?
(11:38:56 AM) jono: sea-gul1, not entirely sure what you mean here, but developing for Ubuntu in the traditional sense mean packaging
(11:39:33 AM) jono: to do this you need to learn the Debian packaging system and we have a Packaging Guide available at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PackagingGuide that explains how to get started
(11:39:56 AM) jono: while we use the Debian packaging system, some of our use of it is a little different, that is where it is more specific
(11:40:16 AM) jono: <iamskillz> QUESTION: I have been using Windows for years, i would like to use linux/Ubuntu, however software companies are not very good with supporting this, i know theere is a HUGE community, but sometimes it feels it takes a lot longer to get something working on linux than it does in windows, any tips?
(11:40:23 AM) dholbach: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MOTU/GettingStarted too (which links to packaging videos and so on)
(11:40:31 AM) jono: thanks dholbach
(11:41:13 AM) jono: iamskillz, if you are asking for tips on how to get started, I would recommend spending a lot of time learning and practising
(11:41:23 AM) jono: have a computer set up with Ubuntu and just try things
(11:41:38 AM) jono: this is how I got started - I just installed things, and tried to make them work
(11:41:59 AM) jono: when I started in Linux I performed experiments setting up networks, mail services, firewalls, compiling software and more
(11:42:10 AM) jono: the world is your oyster
(11:42:22 AM) jono: in terms of how we can get companies to support it, that is a much wider questions
(11:42:25 AM) jono: question
(11:43:07 AM) jono: we do have many companies who provide support for Ubuntu, and Canonical is one of them - see http://www.canonical.com/services/support for more
(11:43:27 AM) jono: <tpfennig> QUESTION: How you define "local". Country or city?
(11:43:43 AM) jono: tpfennig, it varies - most typically it is either a country or a state
(11:43:49 AM) jono: there are some city teams though
(11:44:04 AM) jono: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LoCoTeamList provides a list of them so you can see how the naming varies
(11:44:34 AM) jono: a LoCo team typically services a catchment area that is manageable for physical events, when that is too large, multiple LoCo teams emerge
(11:44:47 AM) jono: <mrasty> QUESTION: how about creating a ubuntu application store and try to get the big video game players to develop games for it
(11:45:08 AM) jono: mrasty, great idea, but the problem is that it relies on the video game makers producing games for Ubuntu which many currently are not doing
(11:45:37 AM) jono: while many new games are coming out for Ubuntu, there is still a long road ahead, and many games studies cannot justify the cost of supporting the Linux platform
(11:45:49 AM) jono: I am confident this will change as our platform continues to mature
(11:46:06 AM) jono: greg-g> QUESTION: Where is the "How to record a hardcore metal album using Ubuntu" Open Week session?
(11:46:13 AM) greg-g: \m/
(11:46:21 AM) jono: greg-g, hah! I am not sure many people would want to get along to that :-)
(11:46:27 AM) jono: but they should \m/
(11:46:46 AM) jono: <ball> QUESTION: Does it help spread acceptance of Ubuntu, and the community as a whole, when hardware vendors work with Canonical to ship Ubuntu as an OS option?
(11:46:54 AM) jono: ball, totally
(11:47:13 AM) jono: in a perfect world people would never see the install
(11:47:16 AM) jono: installer
(11:47:24 AM) jono: people would buy hardware and Ubuntu is ready to roll
(11:47:40 AM) jono: as we grow in popularity and more and more vendors ship Ubuntu, the impact it has is huge
(11:48:02 AM) jono: I now regularly see people running Ubuntu on trains which is incredible, and I have also seen many running it on laptops at airports
(11:48:36 AM) jono: again, we have much more to do, but the impact of these machines that ship Ubuntu is huge
(11:48:56 AM) jono: DKcross> QUESTION: jono said that they are expanding on a world wide scale, but in our El Salvador we've been asking for over a month for resources like the loco hosting, wiki and the planet site on rt.ubuntu.com. What are your plans on how to bring better support for the community?
(11:49:39 AM) jono: DKcross, earlier I mentioned scale, and one area in which we have struggled a little is in tending to all of the requests from locos for resources
(11:49:48 AM) jono: much of the reason for this is that there soooo many of them
(11:49:59 AM) jono: it is getting better, but be a little patient
(11:50:11 AM) jono: <zaidka> QUESTION: How do I get in touch with the LoCo team in Syria. There's no website, email, irc channel.
(11:50:53 AM) jono: zaidka, not sure of that specific team, but check https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LoCoTeamList and if you don't see that, Google the team
(11:51:08 AM) jono: <ball> QUESTION: if a LoCo seems to be one person, and that person gets hit by a bus, what's the drill?
(11:51:37 AM) jono: ball, this hasn't happened much but typically the team first mourns that persons loss, and then they vote for a new member
(11:51:51 AM) jono: they typically vote for a new member
(11:51:56 AM) jono: this does vary from team to team thoughy
(11:52:10 AM) jono: <Odd_Bloke> QUESTION: Regarding (1), is there not a tension between online communication within a LoCo and within the wider Ubuntu community?
(11:52:20 AM) jono: Odd_Bloke, not that I am familiar with :-)
(11:52:36 AM) jono: <ball> QUESTION: This relates to you work Jono. Do you encounter much friction between national/provincial LoCos and strong city LoCos within them?  If so, how do you deal with that?
(11:53:14 AM) jono: ball, not really, there has been some conflict between teams that share the same area, but usually these teams eventually work more and more together
(11:53:40 AM) jono: I always like to encourage teams to work together as opposed to work against each other - there is no sense in competing for users
(11:53:57 AM) jono: in cases where there is a conflict, I recommend you get in touch with the LoCo Council
(11:54:45 AM) jono: <FiveAcres> QUESTION:  Is there a FAQ about how to report a bug when apport isn't involved?
(11:55:00 AM) jono: FiveAcres, see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs
(11:55:22 AM) jono: <Ireyon> QUESTION: The industry in common does not see any chance in programming hardware drivers for linux, how does this currently develop? And is there a chance to get more factories to to that?
(11:55:30 AM) jcastro: 5 minute warning!
(11:56:21 AM) jono: there is a huge amount of driver development happening in the community and many companies also produce drivers
(11:56:39 AM) jono: we are seeing more hardware makers create drivers and when this doesn't happen larger integration companies tend to do this
(11:56:59 AM) jono: I think that as Linux spreads further and further afield we will see more drivers developed
(11:57:17 AM) jono: fortunately most hardware seems to work great with Linux these days
(11:57:30 AM) jono: goshawk> QUESTION: What can i do to improve an ubuntu LoCo if the ubuntu spirit of that loco is missed? For "missed ubuntu spirit" i mean that most of the answers of the Loco are arrogant without any reason.
(11:59:29 AM) jono: goshawk, I think the first step is in encouraging an atmosphere that maintains respect - we do this through encouraging behaviour that is positive but not accepting people being rude to each other
(11:59:36 AM) jono: ok, one more
(11:59:46 AM) jono: <tpfennig> QUESTION: How did the Jaunty launch went so far? I think intro of new FUSA applet was bad idea. Nobody I met who already knew Ubuntu liked it.
(12:00:33 PM) jono: tpfennig, from what I have seen this has been a great release - the developers who created it seem to feel that this is one of the best releases that we have done and the responses so far seem to be that it is working smoothly and upgrades went really well
(12:00:38 PM) jono: personally, I am really happy with it
(12:00:51 PM) jono: I upgraded a bunch of machines and upgraded my dad's laptop and it was great
(12:01:03 PM) jono: time will tell over the coming weeks, but I think we are off to a great start
(12:01:05 PM) jono: ok, I am done
(12:01:09 PM) jono: thanks so much folks!
(12:01:12 PM) jcastro: woo, thanks jono
(12:01:13 PM) jono: have a great week!