Linux Advocacy in Toronto -- pt 2

[Evan Leibovitch]

In part one of this message, I gave an overview of what I saw as the
current landscape. In an attempt to offer one possible way to address
issues identified there, I'd like to suggest a model for TLUG that
accommodates both a central core community and a diverse,
cross-pollenating array of sub-communities.

Specifically, I would like to propose that GTALUG re-organize itself
into a core structural group and a series of semi-autonomous
special-interest groups -- each with its own meetings, its own mailing
lists and its own informal leadership. The first ones that come to mind
for which I see immediate need are:

- Technical SIG (for all the alpha geeks)
- New User SIG (generally, the current make-up of NewTLUG)
- Ubuntu SIG (about all things Ubuntu, for both newcomers or old-timers)
- Business SIG (those who make a living from selling FOSS-related
products or services)
- Advocacy SIG (related to the promotion and advancement of Linux to the
press and public)

Of course, any TLUG participant could be member of more than one SIG,
but by breaking it up this way people get to work with the precise
communities of interests that appeal to them.

This model works very well for the PCCT, and the best thing is that SIGs
can be created and taken down simply on the merits of having enough
interest. If enough people were interested in a field of interest --
like office applications or virtualization or embedded Linux -- SIGs can
be made easily. Just as easily, as interest drops any SIG can be
disbanded with no hard feelings.

In the successful models I've seen, the SIGs meet on their own, but at
least quarterly there's a major meeting that brings everyone together in
which each SIG tells the greater group what they're doing (often
featuring a highlight speaker with a talk of general interest).
Interested people go to the GTALUG website, where they find the SIG(s)
of interest. A general low-volume mailing list is used by people looking
for like-minds to start new SIGs. The nature of which SIGs exist is
driven completely by the will and interests of the participants, not
from top-down direction.

Implementing this requires changes at the GTALUG board -- at least a
resolution establishing a SIG mechanism and a method to create easily
created portals and mailing lists (already fairly easy to do, I
suspect). Eventually this could lead to bylaw changes -- if the model
establishes itself as successful -- that embed SIGs as a fundamental
component, and outline how SIGs are represented at the GTALUG board.

At the same time, this action would mean Ubuntu Toronto morphing into
the GTALUG Ubuntu SIG, NewTLUG becoming the New User SIG, etc. I don't
know what the objections would be to this but I think they can be
addressed and negotiated to everyone's satisfaction. At very least, this
action allows for the SIGs to be attached to an existing non-profit
incorporated entity which provides infrastructure, a modicum of legal
protection, a way to collect resources, and a sense of stability and
continuity.

My intent here is not to block or insult, but to suggest a framework
that recognizes the benefits of being part of a large community, while
nurturing and growing diverse specialized interests within.

- Evan

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