Intro

Ubuntu Open Week - Introduction - Jono Bacon - Mon, Nov 3rd, 2008

(10:14:03 AM) jono: hi all!
(10:14:13 AM) jono: ok, welcome to Ubuntu Open Week -  a week of tuition sessions about how to get involved in the Ubuntu community
(10:14:45 AM) jono: the reason why we put this week together is to make it as easy as possible to join the Ubuntu commmunity
(10:15:10 AM) jono: we want to ensure that getting involved in any part of the Ubuntu community is simple, easy and as fun as possible
(10:15:40 AM) jono: as such, every release cycle we put together a week a long of IRC sessions that cover a huge range of sessions
(10:16:02 AM) jono: so, the first thing you should do is go and look at the range of sessions available at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuOpenWeek
(10:16:12 AM) jono: it will show you all the different sessions and when they are running
(10:16:27 AM) jono: but now, let me explain how it works:
(10:16:51 AM) jono: every Ubuntu Open Week session takes place in #ubuntu-classroom (here)
(10:17:02 AM) jono: this is where the person running the session will lead it
(10:17:21 AM) jono: but also join #ubuntu-classroom-chat too - that is where you can discuss the session as it runs
(10:19:21 AM) jono: throughout the session you will no doubt want to ask questions, and questions are encouraged
(10:19:21 AM) jono: to do this, ask your question in #ubuntu-classroom-chat and begin it with 'QUESTION'
(10:19:21 AM) jono: example:
(10:19:22 AM) jono: QUESTION: Why is metal so great?
(10:20:35 AM) jono: and then, when questions appear, the leader of the session will paste it in here and answer
(10:20:35 AM) jono: e.g.:
(10:20:35 AM) jono: <bhk_f> QUESTION: Why is metal so great?
(10:20:38 AM) jono: bhk_f, energy my friend, energy :)
(10:20:39 AM) jono: don't ask questions in h ere
(10:21:05 AM) jono: they should be asked in #ubuntu-classroom-chat
(10:22:12 AM) jono: so that is how Open Week works, its pretty simple - just hang here and enjoy the session, and then ask questions in #ubuntu-classroom-chat
(10:22:40 AM) jono: as the week progresses, each session will be archived and logged too and logs will be placed on https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuOpenWeek
(10:23:08 AM) jono: <billybigrigger> QUESTION: why isnt #ubuntu-classroom moderated and only giving voice to the speaker? maybe then the speaker wont get off topic with people asking questions in there and not in here
(10:23:21 AM) jono: billybigrigger, we do that if it gets a little loud in here, but only if needed
(10:23:42 AM) jono: you can see how quiet it has been here so far :)
(10:23:45 AM) jono: so, I just want to talk a few mins about our community
(10:24:00 AM) jono: and I want to talk about why we run events such as Ubuntu Open Week
(10:24:49 AM) jono: as many of you will have heard me babble on about before, I see community as a collection of dots - different sets of people with different interests and skills
(10:25:00 AM) jono: each of us has something we can bring to Ubuntu
(10:26:01 AM) jono: some of us can write code, or produce packages, or do tests, or organise events, or write documentation, or translate things...each of us has a brick we can place into the wall
(10:27:56 AM) jono: at Canonical I lead the community team (which are known in the community and Canonical as the Horsemen), and my goals with the team are to ensure the community is as diverse as possible, encouraging participation at every level, that it is as intuitive and simple to get involved as possible, and that people have a great time while here
(10:28:46 AM) jono: we want everyone who gets involved in Ubuntu to also feel an unbridled sense of family - a sense that we are all on the same road, heading in the same direction, moving to the same rhythm
(10:28:50 AM) jono: this is in essence the greatest attribute of community - when we are all moving to the same rhythm, anything is possible
(10:28:51 AM) jono: the trick...is coordination
(10:29:36 AM) jono: coordination is the key to successful community - a well coordinated, engaged community can achieve things like...resolving bug #1
(10:42:05 AM) jono: so, I am not going to babble on for too long this morning and will answer any questions you may have about Ubuntu, this week or anything else - send your questions to #ubuntu-classroom-chat
(10:42:05 AM) jono: <kippy> QUESTION: Can we comment on the happening in #ubuntu-classroom in #ubuntu-classroom or are those supposed to be here aswell?
(10:42:06 AM) jono: kippy, nope, just in #ubuntu-classroom-chat
(10:42:07 AM) jono: <BUGabundo> QUESTION: what's the topic today ?
(10:42:08 AM) jono: BUGabundo, check https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuOpenWeek
(10:42:08 AM) jono: <BB-wolf> QUESTION: why is open week held largely during business hours in the USA? Can't we diversify the times for global participation?
(10:42:10 AM) jono: BB-wolf, heh, its not business hours on the West Coast!
(10:42:17 AM) jono: BB-wolf, we hold Ubuntu Open Week in largely European afternoon hours as it hits most timezones with reasonable convenience, but it will mean some people in the world having to get up a bit early or stay a bit late
(10:42:24 AM) jono: <yusuf_> QUESTION: WHat is bug #1
(10:42:33 AM) jono: yusuf_, https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/1
(10:42:42 AM) jono: this is the very first bug that Mark registered in Ubuntu
(10:42:43 AM) jono: Microsoft has a majority market share
(10:42:44 AM) jono: this is one of the bugs we really want to solve :)
(10:42:46 AM) jono: <esters> QUESTION: Why #1 is so important ?
(10:42:56 AM) jono: esters, well, bug #1 is not the  sole reason many of us work on Ubuntu, but the  huge Microsoft majority market share is a significant reason why as their majority actually makes computing less accessible to people
(10:42:57 AM) jono: there is a lot of research and documentation available which outlines why, and  recommend you check it out
(10:43:13 AM) jono: <telebovich1> QUESTION: why the ubuntu website is updated slowly? somebody is translating ubuntu to my language, but he is not in the list.
(10:43:50 AM) jono: telebovich, I assume you mean Launchpad's Rosetta tool - those translations are updated periodically - I  recommend you come to Make Rooney's session on Friday - he will be talking translations there
(10:43:56 AM) jono: <djiezes> QUESTION: What is the best way to start helping as a non-programmer? What projects are most open to newbies?
(10:44:20 AM) jono: djiezes, lots and lots of ways!
(10:44:34 AM) jono: if you want to talk to people, you can join our LoCo teams
(10:44:38 AM) jono: or if you want to contribute to software, you can translate, or write documentation, or do testing, or do bug triage
(10:45:03 AM) jono: each of these teams needs help, I think the best thing to do is to figure out what your main interest is, join the team and have a go :)
(10:45:18 AM) jono: <telebovich1> QUESTION: What is 5-A-DAY
(10:45:54 AM) jono: 5-A-Day (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/5-A-Day) is a programme we kicked off to help spread the load with bug triage
(10:46:20 AM) jono: the idea is fairly simple - everyone who participates in 5-A-Day helps weith five bugs every day
(10:46:40 AM) jono: this can be triaging a bug, helping to explain how to reproduce the bug or something else
(10:46:56 AM) jono: see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/5-A-Day for more details
(10:47:45 AM) jono: 5-A-Day has been a rocking success and has seen consistent growth :)
(10:48:04 AM) jono: <techno_freak> QUESTION: Many people are quite wary to jump into an already busy, highly active community. In such a situation, how do you think a very new entrant into Ubuntu communtiy can start his contributions? I have heard lot of people say "I want to contribute, but don't know where to start?"
(10:49:15 AM) jono: techno_freak, the best way to get involved is to just get involved - I know it sounds obvious, but I feel the Ubuntu community is such a warm and welcoming place, that anyone can get involved and  if you make some mistakes, we expect that
(10:49:30 AM) jono: the hardest part is figuring out what you want to do and where you can contribute
(10:49:49 AM) jono: if anyone is uncertain, email me at jono AT ubuntu DOT com and I will help :)
(10:50:51 AM) jono: <CuriousMe> QUESTION: how do a programmer start contributing?
(10:51:24 AM) jono: CuriousMe, a great way is to fix bugs - many programmers like to write patches that fix bugs so that our packages can apply them and upload them to the archive
(10:51:45 AM) jono: we also have people working on websites such as Brainstorm, contributing unit tests in the QA team and much more
(10:51:58 AM) jono: we have plenty of areas in which coders can get involved :)
(10:52:09 AM) jono: <BB-wolf> QUESTION: why is there no explanation of what these talks are each about? (Ex: Ubuntu behind the scenes)
(10:52:16 AM) jono: it explains it on https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuOpenWeek
(10:52:55 AM) jono: any last q's ?
(10:53:21 AM) jono: cybernoutles> QUESTION : is there any thought about how to speedup ubuntu, there was some news about it getting slower and slower, is there a way to see how the disk layout of the systems install is affecting the performance, might we need to have dynamic loading of kernel modules, whats needed to speed things up?
(10:54:12 AM) jono: cybernoutles, boot time is a key goal for Jaunty and we want to work on some real improvements there
(10:54:20 AM) jono: so it is planned for part of the next cycle
(10:54:35 AM) jono: <kippy> QUESTION: for the uninitiated, can we have a clear outline of say first n steps to take to start contributing? like do we need to register for some accounts or find a mentor or other questions on similar lines, as someone who has been trying to get started i feel its all too fragmented to start and not so intuitive
(10:55:46 AM) jono: kippy, so the first thing to do is to get an idea of which team you want to join, when you have picked a team, I recommend you join their mailing list (http://lists.ubuntu.com) and join their IRC channel if they have one - then write a message asking how to get involved
(10:56:06 AM) jono: this is a great way of making contact with the team and a quick introduction to getting involved :)
(10:57:04 AM) jono: ok, I think we ar done
(10:57:06 AM) jono: are done
(10:57:16 AM) jono: thanks everyone, and  have a great Ubuntu Open Week!
(10:57:18 AM) jono: woo! :)
(10:57:22 AM) jcastro: Alright thanks jono

MeetingLogs/openweekintrepid/Intro (last edited 2008-11-05 20:56:57 by pool-70-16-60-167)