Log for US Teams Meeting on September 9th 2009

21:57 < johnc4510> who's here for the meeting??
21:57 < tyche> IT'S A JOHN!!!!!
21:57 < johnc4510> +1
21:57 < r2d2rogers> are they knee deep?
21:57 < johnc4510> tyche: hey
21:57 < johnc4510> r2d2rogers: lol
21:57 < johnc4510> pleia2 may be a little late
21:57 < johnc4510> dantalizing: you here?
21:57 < r2d2rogers> will be reading but also doing bedtime stories in a bit
21:58 < johnc4510> cool
22:00  * johnc4510 asks who else is here for the loco meeting?
22:01 < johnc4510> agenda is here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/USTeams/Meetings
22:01 < tyche> johnc4510: Is -us-az going to have to take over THIS meeting, too?
22:01 < dindatx> I'm here for the meeting
22:02 < johnc4510> dindatx: cool
22:02 < johnc4510> tyche: hope not
22:02 < johnc4510> :)
22:02 < tyche> So do I.  :-D
22:02 < johnc4510> pleia2 should be here shortly   she had a plug meeting i think
22:02 < johnc4510> bug jam wiki page here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuGlobalJam
22:02 < r2d2rogers> I think I just saw my local LUG go back on hiatus
22:05 < johnc4510> ok, we had discussed having a US loco team participation at the jam
22:05 < johnc4510> so far we've set up a wiki page here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/USTeams/Events/WikiDocDay2009
22:05 < doctormo_> johnc4510: Was jono there?
22:06 < johnc4510> the idea as i remember was to have the loco teams ban together to work on the LoCo wiki pages
22:06 < johnc4510> doctormo_: not sure
22:06 < doctormo_> johnc4510: I was going to respond to his email asking him to come to the meeting, but it turned out that I was not available for the meeting anyway
22:06 < johnc4510> but we need more teams participating and we need to promote our idea
22:06 < johnc4510> ah
22:07 < johnc4510> doctormo_: k
22:07 < pleia2> hello!
22:07 < johnc4510> hey pleia2
22:07 < johnc4510> i sort of got the ball rolling for you
22:07 < doctormo_> johnc4510: I can understand the fustration with the USA's event organisation, but then again, we're not France.
22:07 < johnc4510> doctormo_: true
22:08 < johnc4510> but we should be getting more teams working on these projects too
22:08 < doctormo_> Plus my own personal time organisation demons are killing my teams ability to organise anything. Lack of coordinated tools is a royal pain.
22:08 < johnc4510> it's a great way to build their approval wiki
22:08 < doctormo> True
22:08 < doctormo> I think I'm going to organise several weekly events, things that I personally over see each week.
22:09 < johnc4510> with summer just about over...i'm hoping more teams will start participating again
22:09 < johnc4510> doctormo: nice
22:09 < pleia2> so any thoughts on getting more us teams motivated to do jams?
22:09 < pleia2> I think we can probably each nudge the teams we're mentoring
22:09 < doctormo> Tuesday==Desktop Edu+Support, Wednesday==SysAdmin, Friday==Tools Devel and Some other day will be Advocacy day, where people come and fill in spreadsheets of contact details and send boring emails to everyone.
22:10 < johnc4510> i'm wondering if we need to use the team contact list to email each contact and sort of put a bug in each teams ear??
22:10 < johnc4510> pleia2: true
22:10 < doctormo> I could argue that the devel day was a jam day :-P
22:10 < pleia2> doctormo: it has to be during the jam weekend to count ;)
22:10  * pleia2 converted a planned mythbuntu event to a jam event
22:11 < doctormo> But to be honest, my team is having too much trouble looking after it's internal administrative functions, so no one in my team is willing to do a Jam day. Which is sad.
22:11 < pleia2> doctormo: aw :
22:11 < doctormo> pleia2: But it would be every week of the year,
22:11 < pleia2> :\
22:11 < johnc4510> look this isn't like a full week of event
22:11 < johnc4510> it's one day...each team can do what they can, hour wise to help out i think
22:11 < doctormo> johnc4510: I should have added "except for me", damn jono.
22:12 < johnc4510> lol
22:12 < pleia2> hehe
22:12 < johnc4510> and we always need some pre-planning on what pages to attack
22:12 < johnc4510> i think
22:12 < johnc4510> ?
22:13 < pleia2> possibly
22:13  * Irishmanluke lurks
22:13 < pleia2> I think something a lot of the less active teams can do is just remember that they exist, and clean up their docs and get some ideas flowing again
22:13 < pleia2> Irishmanluke :)
22:13 < johnc4510> pleia2: true
22:13 < pleia2> even if they can't get around to planning a physical event
22:14 < doctormo> pleia2: I blame wiki, unstructured, unprompting black hole of time usage.
22:14 < doctormo> If the wiki would just email me about when events are planned.
22:14 < pleia2> doctormo: akgraner had an idea to have a wiki how-to session during UbuntuOpenWeek - and wanted to encourage teams to teach wiki editing
22:14 < johnc4510> and our working on the wiki can be done in irc...you  don't necessarily have to have a meetup for teams to participate
22:15 < pleia2> johnc4510: yeah :)
22:15 < doctormo> pleia2: That's treating the symptoms, the problem is that you need to codify the workflow of event organisation and team mannagement.
22:15 < doctormo> I'm not convinced that any of that can be done on the wiki
22:15 < pleia2> doctormo: unfortunately we don't have the power to do much more than treat the symptoms
22:16 < johnc4510> looking at this page: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/USTeams/Events/WikiDocDay2009 I'm wondering why teams like Georgia, California, and Ohio aren't listed
22:16 < pleia2> we have https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PennsylvaniaTeam/Administriva to remind us (even me!) about all the stuff we need to keep updated
22:16 < johnc4510> nods
22:16 < doctormo> pleia2: Sure we do, FSF is investing time into a project called OpenSocial, some of that is set to codify exactly this kind of event and team management into software.
22:16 < pleia2> johnc4510: I need to nag them more :)
22:16 < pleia2> doctormo: I meant within Ubuntu - a certain toolbox is given to us
22:16 < johnc4510> keeping the wiki's updated is a chore that probably most of us set aside at times
22:17 < doctormo> Point is, we shouldn't have to keep a lot of this stuff up to date, it's a waste of time.
22:17 < johnc4510> pleia2: lol
22:17 < doctormo> johnc4510: I've not edited the wiki in a long time, I refuse.
22:17 < pleia2> doctormo: yeah, I have to admit it sucks
22:17 < johnc4510> lol
22:17 < doctormo> apart from meetings
22:17 < doctormo> Those still go on the wiki
22:17 < dindatx> johnc4510: TX isn't even active online, even though the team has been going strong for 3 years, there's a mismatch btwn online and real world loco activity
22:18 < johnc4510> dindatx: does texas still have city regionsS?
22:18 < johnc4510> Houston, Dallas etc
22:18 < pleia2> dindatx: yeah, I bump into texas people sometimes and it's a real struggle to know where to point them :(
22:18 < dindatx> johnc4510: yes, but Houston is the only active city
22:18 < doctormo> pleia2: But as for the toolbox, the reason I'm going to do the Friday thing is to get some local python devs together to devel our own toolbox.
22:19 < doctormo> I'm perl lazy
22:19 < johnc4510> ok, then we need to start with Houston and get them involved
22:19 < johnc4510> dindatx: do you know the contact for houston?
22:19 < dindatx> johnc4510: dunno, gues what I"m saying is they/we kind of feel they don't need to be part of the larger US/Texas team if they are getting their needs met locally
22:20 < dindatx> johnc4510: that would be me for the larger Ubuntu US loco things but locally, two guys handle all the meetings and stuff on the mailing list
22:20 < doctormo> dindatx: Disconnection is not good, if their activity isn't known and there isn't communication, how can we share skills
22:20 < johnc4510> dindatx: hmmm...not sure i agree with that
22:20 < johnc4510> :(
22:21 < dindatx> johnc4510: dunnor for some reason they all seem to hate IRC
22:21 < dindatx> a better toolset might help
22:22 < johnc4510> ah...ok, they use a mailing list?
22:22 < dindatx> pleia2: what kind of toolbox are you thinking about?
22:23 < pleia2> dindatx: I was talking about all the resources listed here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PennsylvaniaTeam/Administriva
22:23 < pleia2> whenever we have an event, we have to update all that stuff so the most possible people know about it
22:24 < pleia2> plus cross-posting to lugs and local tech groups
22:24 < pleia2> it's a chore
22:24 < johnc4510> ok, well i think we need to make an effort to get the other teams involved in this
22:24 < johnc4510> pleia2: yep
22:24 < pleia2> but if we forget to update one, people complain that they never saw it and are sad they missed an event
22:24 < johnc4510> nods
22:26 < dindatx> so a centalized notification system the automatically updates others and even sends emails?
22:27 < pleia2> something like that would be nice, but I don't think it's possible with the current things we have
22:27 < johnc4510> pleia2: how about i try to get in contact with georgia and california...as well as my mentor states about signing on for this??
22:28 < boredandblogging> signing up for what?
22:28 < pleia2> johnc4510: actually, I'm lurking in the california channel and meeting up with Grantbow later this month, I can handle them :)
22:28 < pleia2> boredandblogging: you! I have a question
22:28 < boredandblogging> pleia2: shoot
22:28 < johnc4510> k, i'll take the others then
22:29 < pleia2> boredandblogging: at the last meeting you had an agenda item about making this team more visible, we discussed it some and one of the things was getting this added to the LoCoTeamList
22:29 < pleia2> however, we aren't a real loco
22:29 < pleia2> so no go for the list, right?
22:29 < johnc4510> boredandblogging: hey...we're trying to get the jam going for the loco teams...wiki editing: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/USTeams/Events/WikiDocDay2009
22:29 < johnc4510> for our wiki pages
22:29 < johnc4510> sort of like what we did before
22:30 < boredandblogging> pleia2: yes, you are right
22:30 < pleia2> boredandblogging: did you have any thoughts regarding that agenda item?
22:30 < boredandblogging> pleia2: how about it getting added to the planet
22:30 < boredandblogging> the ubuntu solar system
22:30 < pleia2> boredandblogging: yeah, we should do that - rt@ubuntu ?
22:30 < boredandblogging> pleia2: gah, unfortunately, yes
22:31 < pleia2> ok, thanks
22:31 < boredandblogging> pleia2: it would be nice if states could add like a US flag on their wiki header
22:31 < johnc4510> boredandblogging: i was thinking we could be listed on the master team list under a separated category maybe...with our contacts ????
22:31 < boredandblogging> which maybe linked to ubuntu-us.org
22:31 < boredandblogging> or the US wiki page
22:31 < pleia2> boredandblogging: ah! good idea
22:31 < dindatx> pleia2: California might be having the same kind of problems as TX - several large cities/areas but since 'official' recognition is only at the state level, hard to get a state team organized
22:31 < boredandblogging> johnc4510: if you can persuade someone on that, it would rock
22:31 < Flannel> What?
22:32 < pleia2> dindatx: they seem to actually do ok event-wise, they have events in different cities but they are one central team
22:32 < pleia2> hey Flannel :)
22:32 < johnc4510> boredandblogging: who should i discuss that with??   Jono??
22:32 < johnc4510> Flannel: hey bud
22:32 < akgraner> hey Flannel
22:32 < dindatx> pleia2: they've got SCALE so a good general Linux infrastructure to build on
22:32 < boredandblogging> johnc4510: i think it would be tough to get all the states listed
22:32 < Flannel> California is participating in the Global Jam, we haven't yet decided what we'll be working on.
22:32 < boredandblogging> johnc4510: you might need a landing page
22:32 < pleia2> Flannel: yay!
22:32 < boredandblogging> johnc4510: so link to somewhere on ubuntu-us.org, which lists the other possibilities
22:33 < pleia2> Flannel: will you guys be part of our doc day too during the jam? https://wiki.ubuntu.com/USTeams/Events/WikiDocDay2009
22:33 < Flannel> pleia2: We don't know yet
22:33 < akgraner> pleia2, NC will be..
22:33 < pleia2> ok
22:33 < johnc4510> boredandblogging: not all the states, they are already listed on the master list...just the US Teams project contact info
22:33 < pleia2> akgraner: yeah, I already voluntelled your team
22:33 < akgraner> ;-)  well they agreed..
22:33 < pleia2> yay
22:33 < johnc4510> akgraner: great
22:33 < johnc4510> :)
22:34 < Flannel> dindatx: If you'd like to discuss how we're doing stuff in CA, I wouldn't mind sitting down and talking with you.
22:34 < Flannel> sorry, totally offtopic now that I read some backscroll.
22:35 < dindatx> Flannel:  that would be great
22:35  * Grantbow tries to get off the phone to particpate
22:36 < pleia2> yay, teams sharing ideas :) everyone gets a gold star
22:37 < pleia2> hehe
22:39 < johnc4510> :)
22:39 < pleia2> ok, so I'll email rt@ for the solar system thing, johnc4510 following up on his thing, we all encourage links back to USTeams on our team resources
22:39 < johnc4510> kk
22:39 < boredandblogging> pleia2: link backs on any websites and wiki, right?
22:39 < pleia2> and more people blogging about the WikiDocDay2009 would be good :)
22:40 < pleia2> boredandblogging: right
22:40 < boredandblogging> cool
22:40 < pleia2> maybe we can nag doctormo into making a pretty badge
22:40 < boredandblogging> pleia2: actually...
22:40 < boredandblogging> for a while, get people to put it on their posts
22:40 < doctormo> There is a group of artists now doing those kinds of things, I actually think their better than I
22:40 < boredandblogging> kinda like how I disgustingly put the Atlanta Linux Fest badge on all my posts :-P
22:41 < pleia2> boredandblogging: yeah, and now look what you've done, ALF is going to be overcrowded! ;)
22:41 < johnc4510> lol
22:41 < boredandblogging> pleia2: overcrowded? good problem to have
22:41 < johnc4510> nods
22:41 < akgraner> boredandblogging, yeah you are shameless...got that self promotion down pat...:-)
22:42 < johnc4510> boredandblogging: you have been active blogging lately hee hee
22:42 < johnc4510> he should write a book
22:42 < johnc4510> :)
22:43 < pleia2> hehe
22:43 < johnc4510> ok, i need to run if we're done here ??
22:43 < pleia2> yeah, I think we got the important things
22:43 < pleia2> thanks johnc4510 :)
22:43 < johnc4510> ok, i'll follow up on my part then
22:43 < johnc4510> np
22:43 < johnc4510> :)
22:45 < akgraner> pleia2,  et al, sorry I was so late...I'm still gathering links and working on an article
22:46 < pleia2> no problem
22:47 < boredandblogging> johnc4510: writing a book about self promotion, I like that!
22:47 < pleia2> hehe
22:47 < akgraner> boredandblogging, shameless self promotion..hehe
22:47 < boredandblogging> johnc4510: you don't think people see my mug around enough?
22:47 < johnc4510> boredandblogging: never  LOL
22:47 < boredandblogging> :-P
22:49 < johnc4510> later all