Whenceforth the Ubuntu fanboyz now?

[Jane Zhang]

As someone who works with non-profits on technology projects, I see way too
often the challenges they face both financially and from a lack of technical
knowledge. My main goal is to make technology more accessible to everyone
and to educate organizations/individuals to utilize technology more
efficiently, thus my interest in FOSS.

>From what I can see, there are at least two gaps in the Linux community
right now. The lack of FOSS advocacy on a community level and the lack of
out reach to youth.

When I first became interested in Open Source advocacy, I found out about
CLUE, but CLUE seems to be involved mainly with the government and policy
makers. There really doesn't seem be a group or organization that's focused
on the promotion of FOSS to the public in the GTA. Ubuntu Toronto is at
least headed in that direction, and I think most of the members would love
to collaborate with the rest of the open source community.
  
This then brings me to the topic of attracting more young people to the
Linux community. Most true techno-phobic people these days are from the
generation when computers are considered a new phenomenon. The younger
generations grew up with technology so it is second nature to them. They are
going to be the Linux geeks of the future, so let's nourish and mentor their
efforts instead of ripping them a new one for trying. Walk a mile in their
shoes and see where they are coming from might help. In the age of MySpace,
YouTube, and viral marketing, going out to the ICE House with a 10' Tux and
a big smile on your face to promote the benefits of Open Source doesn't
sound *that* embarrassing.  

So, let us open up the discussion of collaborating for Software Freedom Day
2007. Teddy, please feel free to respond since you are listed as the rep for
SFD. If not, let's carry on with the planning process anyway. For those of
you who care about FOSS, it's time to make a difference. For those of you
that have wisdom to dispense, show us how it can be done properly. We are
all ears. 

Jane
*perhaps too young and idealistic for her own good, but it's not going to
stop her from trying.*


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-tlug-lxSQFCZeNF4 at public.gmane.org [mailto:owner-tlug-lxSQFCZeNF4 at public.gmane.org] On Behalf Of Jamon
Camisso
Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 8:53 PM
To: tlug-lxSQFCZeNF4 at public.gmane.org
Subject: Re: [TLUG]: Whenceforth the Ubuntu fanboyz now?

George Nicol wrote:
> Jamon Camisso wrote:
>> Fanboyz is certainly the term of endearment needed to get said fans on 
>> board. Perhaps a little less gender bias would be a first step to not 
>> putting up a barrier as there are female Ubuntu users who participate 
>> in the biweekly meetings and contribute to Ubuntu development.
> 
> Sorry. Ubuntu fanboyz'n'grrlz. Does such a term exist? I think everyone 
> here knows the _group_ I was referring to. I simply reused the name that 
> djp put forward in his invitation to join Saturday's action. Did you 
> enlighten him as well? Nevertheless, I apologize.

Put forward in the context of mock self-depreciation. Evan's reply 
brings the derogatory connotations out explicitly, so if my reaction was 
too much of a kneejerk it was because of the weightiness of the term. 
Rather fraught with meaning now after the last few threads/days isn't 
it? Can you tell? :)

> Now Jamon, Jane, and all the fanpplz, instead of pouncing on picayune 
> points, reread the original post and join the conversation. I look 
> forward to your constructive input.

Well, I'd say the biggest barrier to input from the Ubuntu camp within 
the city is that the Ubuntu Canada mailing list and group suffices to 
satisfy most participants' needs in terms of LUG/SIG. There is just no 
need to look beyond our thriving, active list and communities.

Of all the people who've been at Ubuntu events and meetings, I count 3 
including myself that subscribe to this list. There is a reason for this 
no doubt, though I'm not exactly sure what it might be. I'm thinking 
geographical and technical factors are the two most worthy of consideration.

Geographically, you're looking at a largely downtown oriented crowd of 
students and/or their employers. Technically, though I think we all 
recognize the value of some of the more esoteric topics covered at LUG 
meetings to those more involved in Linux professionally, there are more 
interesting things to learn about and play with than writing iptables 
rules or the like. I have google for that.

Some people like to *play* with their computers; and though things like 
beryl may not appeal or have any utility to the more seasoned of users, 
it is just damn fun to play with some of the effects, and doubly so with 
other like minded users. There is an element of "coolness" involved here.

Lack of interest and relevance are working as barriers, compounded by 
geography. Additionally, most of the frothing at the mouth Ubuntu users 
referred to as fanpplz are familiar enough with Linux such that a group 
like NewTLUG seems a little mundane as well as being geographically 
inaccessible or at least inconvenient.

So you have a group of young, idealistic, enthusiastic, and intelligent 
fanz0rz users using, discussing, and advocating their distro of choice. 
No harm in that I'm sure we can all agree. Maybe a discussion about 
means and ends is what is really needed. Though I think you'll find that 
discussing the means will always involve a 10' penguin because TUX is 
just that *cool*, and if there's one thing that Linux lacks in the 
zeitgeist, it is "cool".

Regarding all this chatter about participation in the broader LUG/SIG 
community. Well now, Ubuntu users show up at TLUG meetings, but where 
are TLUG members at Ubuntu meetings? Having 2 meetings a month in a 
downtown TTC accessible venue like the linuxcaffe surely would allow 
someone to come and perhaps do a little outreach of their own? Come 
calling at any reasonable hour in #ubuntu-ca on freenode and you'll find 
a few members idling away there too.

So, to anyone reading this, maybe drop into the channel sometime, and 
make some *constructive* suggestions. Subscribe the the mailing list or 
come to a meeting. Maybe try Ubuntu sometime if you haven't too, don't 
worry, no one has to know but you ;)

As a conclusion to a needlessly long email, I will say this: dialogue 
has to go both ways, and without any relevance or interest to Ubuntu 
users, or understanding on the part of other groups of the composition 
and group dynamics of the Ubuntu group, there isn't going to be much 
accomplished from our perspective. OTO I can see that for some, getting 
involved with a group like Ubuntu Toronto would seem like duplicating 
efforts and be just plain embarrassing to some (it's just daylight, come 
on!)

Finally, I think the Ubuntu Toronto group is inherently approachable and 
hasn't been at all closed to input from others--there just hasn't been 
anything said to the group that was constructive, worthwhile, or 
rational enough to be persuasive and worth considering.

Jamon
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The Toronto Linux Users Group.      Meetings: http://gtalug.org/
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--
The Toronto Linux Users Group.      Meetings: http://gtalug.org/
TLUG requests: Linux topics, No HTML, wrap text below 80 columns
How to UNSUBSCRIBE: http://gtalug.org/wiki/Mailing_lists