UbuntuNations

UbuntuNations

Status

Introduction

The Ubuntu Nations an event that aims to pull together Ubuntu users from every country in the world.

At the UbuntuWorldTour BOF, an idea was raised to bring Ubuntu users from as many countries to one place ... to celebrate Ubuntu, create and energize LoCoTeams from around the world, and to get a little press along the way. An event that celebrates Ubuntu's values and the people that contribute to and use it would be an exciting symbol of Ubuntu's worldwide appeal.

We have already received Ubuntu CD orders for 120-170 countries (depending on who's counting). Pretty impressive coverage, but an UbuntuNations programme would end up being like bubble gum cards - gotta collect them all!

Rationale

  1. To encourage Ubuntu activism and advocacy in local communities as an impetus to being sponsored to attend the conference.
  2. To bring together Ubuntites from the widest and most diverse set of backgrounds:
    • To share and be inspired by each other;
    • To network and reinforce the Ubuntu community internationally;
    • To learn from and improve relationships with Ubuntites globally;
    • To provide a compelling press story about the evolution and improvement of Ubuntu.

How will people be selected for the conference?

The idea behind selecting people will be to maximize the number of different localities that people are brought in from (we'll aim for 50-60 in the short time-frame). We will try to bring in one person from as many countries as possible. As a result, it will be more difficult to attend the conference if you are coming form Germany, Italy, or the United States than it would from Nauru or the Vatican.

Our current ideas to select based on a contest where individuals are nominated or self-nominated for outstanding contributions to the Ubuntu community. These contributions can be absolutely anything although a long list of ideas of the types of contributions we are looking for is on the [http://www.ubuntu.com/community/participate participate page].

The contest should be announced widely so that many people hear about it who may not even be part of the Ubuntu community yet. People will want to take a trip to an as-yet-unannounced exotic location and will enter for that reason. That's fine.

There should not be a requirement to use or have been involved in Ubuntu. We'll have many people who come up with creative and interesting types of Ubuntu advocacy. Those people should be able to win the contest and be brought to Ubuntu Nation -- where they will be indoctrinated, integrated and collaborated with.

The Competition Stage

JeffWaugh's bits (the useful stuff from an independent write-up started on another page):

First we will run a competition during which people from every country in the world can enter their Ubuntu testimonials, artwork, stories, videos, audio snippets, or other creative works that show success with Ubuntu advocacy, an understanding of Ubuntu's values, or other works related to Ubuntu. We will have to come up with a project announcement that clearly communicates the kind of creative work we're looking for. It's definitely *not* one of those "in 25 words or less, describe why you love Ubuntu" competitions!

Although it's a competition, making these works public during the submission period would inspire more work and new ideas - perhaps we should consider this.

The competition should run for roughly three to four months, long enough to generate interest and get people working on awesome submissions, but short enough to maintain interest through the process. The winners should be judged by the community council, sabdfl alone, or a judging panel selected by CC/sabdfl.

The Build-Up Stage

After the competition winners are announced, there will be two to four months of preparation for the event, during which the winners of the competition run a programme of advocacy and publicity in their own country. We should set up a list of things to do, such as getting an article or interview with a local newspaper or magazine, holding installfest events, attending local conferences, etc.

What will people do at the Conference?

The conference should include a wide range of workshops, teach-ins, and skill-shares catered to having people share with each other but also allowing for Ubuntu notables to share with and network with the participants.

The conference will include:

  • Case studies and testimonials and highlights from the competition from people who had particularly interesting, compelling, or successful ideas.
  • Classes on how to do important types of advocacy including:
    • Running an install festival or party;
    • Giving a media interview;
    • Giving a talk;
    • Starting a Local Community Team
    • Lobbying governments;
  • Workshops teaching people skills necessary to get more involved in Ubuntu including membership or package maintenance.

We might also give awards and recognition for highly successful Ubuntu advocacy projects.

We can also organize some local competitions or contests with prizes.

Things We'll Need To Provide

We'll need a venue. The meeting should be somewhere central in terms of air travel and easy to enter in terms of visas from countries around the world. We'll also need to do all of the normal work for conference organization:

  • A Hotel and a conference
  • Plane tickets
  • Visas and organization

  • An agenda of talks, BoFs, and events

  • Food

The biggest challenge will be coming up with an agenda that will make the visit productive both in terms of encouraging networking between the delegates and ensuring that people will be more active.

Media Coverage

We'll also need to make sure that we can work the press angles. This sort of conference has the potential to win a huge amount of mind-share in both the technology and traditional press and in the local press of many of the countries and locales that we will be bringing delegates from. We should encourage delegates to communicate with their local press before and after the conference.

Outstanding Issues

Language will be problematic. While the goal is get someone from every country, the chance of being able to bring English-speaking computer users from many of the smallest countries is going to make things much more difficult.

One suggestion is to look into the idea of having the conference bi-lingual in English and French which should open up the possibility of bringing people from many countries in Africa.

UbuntuDownUnder/BOFs/UbuntuNations (last edited 2008-08-06 16:41:08 by localhost)