Renewal Application for Ubuntu South Africa (ubuntu-za)

Ubuntu South Africa has been an approved LoCoTeam since July 2005 and has worked with local LUGs to distribute and promote Ubuntu.

We have had Release Parties for all the releases since Feisty, and actively distribute CD and DVDs because the bandwidth in South Africa is too expensive for most broadband users to download these.

We have several members actively participating in packaging and working towards MOTU.

Key Details

• Date - 10 November 2008

• Team Contact - Morgan Collett <morgan@ubuntu.com>, Jonathan Carter <jonathan@ubuntu.com>

• Membership - 87 as of 10 November 2008 - see ~ubuntu-za

• Mailing List - ubuntu-za on lists.ubuntu.com - 288 subscribed as of 8 November 2008

• IRC - #ubuntu-za on Freenode - 23 active participants as of 5 November 2008

Roadmap

Here you should provide a list of things you plan on doing. Include links to where these are discussed online and on mailing lists.

• CD Distribution - We distribute the official CDs, and also burn ISOs and mail them on request - see our Get Ubuntu page.

• Release Parties - We are planning to hold release parties in three major cities for Jaunty, hosted at tuXlabs (Ubuntu labs at local schools).

• Packaging Jam - We have several members working towards MOTU, who are planning a Packaging Jam for people interested in packaging.

• Better Localisation - we are now working with Translate.org.za on better localisation for South African languages.

• Zabuntu - a project where we aim to package South African specific software and content, producing a supplemental CD or DVD for those who are bandwidth-challenged.

• Ubuntu Membership - providing opportunities and encouragement for more South Africans to become Ubuntu members.

Experience

List here activities that the group has already done. Again provide links to online discussions, reviews, blog entries etc:

2008

• Indelible Ubuntu - http://www.denhamcoote.com/inked

• Intrepid Release Parties - Cape Town and Johannesburg

• Software Freedom Day @ INSITE Conference - Supplied and distributed CDs in conjunction with the Department of Science and Technology and SITA, and had a meetup. http://www.insitex.co.za

• Leadership Change - Craig A. Adams, one of the original founders, stepped down and Jonathan Carter, an Ubuntu member, assumed co-leadership of Ubuntu-ZA.

• Migration of our wiki from moin on Canonical hosting to mediawiki at http://wiki.ubuntu-za.org

• Planet - set up http://planet.ubuntu-za.org/ for ubuntu-za members.

• Hardy Release Parties - Cape Town and Johannesburg

• CD distribution - ongoing distribution via our Get Ubuntu page.

• Month of Education - special focus on discussions about Ubuntu/FOSS in education during March. (Example)

2007

• Gutsy Release Parties - Cape Town (photos, more photos) and Johannesburg

• Digital Freedom Exposition - BOF session and CD distribution

• T-Shirts - limited edition Ubuntu-ZA t-shirts made, and distributed for those who wrote stories of how they switched (someone) to Ubuntu

• GeekDinner Talk - on the Ubuntu-ZA community

• Book Competition - Ubuntu-ZA competition to promote participation

• Feisty Release Party - Cape Town (more photos)