Ubuntu Danmark want’s You for LoCo Contact

Vores nuværende LoCo Contact vil gerne bruge sin tid på andre gøremål (bl.a. oversættelse, support og redaktørarbejde på vores forum), så han har valgt at træde tilbage som LoCo Contact.

Vi har således brug for en ny kontaktperson, til at binde vores lokale arbejde sammen med det størrere internationale Ubuntu miljø.

Af konkrete arbejdsopgaver kan nævnes:

  • At følge loco-contacts mail listen, og videreformidle relevante informationer videre til det danske LoCo team.
  • At indsamle info om vores Ubuntu relaterede arbejde her i Danmark og skrive det i vores TeamReports.
  • To gange om året modtage vores CD’er (som vist fra 12.10 er DVD’er) fra Canonical, og stå for videre distribution til interesserede privatpersoner, LUGS og lignende.
  • Alt det andet – sammen med resten af LoCo teamet at holde det store overblik over hvad der sker af Ubuntu aktiviteter i Danmark, og kunne videreformidle kontakter til interesserede.

Arbejdet foregår selvfølgelig i samarbejde med foreningens bestyrelse, og resten af det danske LoCo team.
Et rimeligt engelsk er en forudsætning, da en stor del af kontaktpersonens arbejde består i kommunikation med resten af det internationale Ubuntu miljø, og denne kommunikation foregår (næsten udelukkende) på engelsk.

Hvis du har spørgsmål om hvad arbejdet indebær, så kontakt os endelig. Skriv enten her på vores forum, skriv til vores åbne mail-liste eller eventuelt til foreningens bestyrelse på bestyrelse(snabela)ubuntudanmark.dk

Hvis du har lyst til at prøve kræfter med posten som LoCo contact, så husk at give lyd, og duk om muligt op på IRC mødet på mandag d. 22. oktober, hvor vi officielt vælger ny LoCo contact.

Til sidst vil jeg gerne sige tak til Flemming for hans gode indsats og den konstruktive møde han træder tilbage på. Dette er netop måden at gøre det på, som formuleret i http://www.ubuntu.com/project/about-ubuntu/leadership-conduct

Billede af kaochen2

LoCo teams around the world

If you have been following the loco-contacts mail list you may have seen the recent hint that the coming LoCo Directory will be using the ownership of loco groups on Launchpad as a source of information about who is the LoCo contact for that group. This got me thinking.

How do different teams around the world organise themselves?

The assumption that the loco contact is always the same as the owner of the Launchpad group seems a bit simple. As teams evolve beyond a certain size, tasks get split, and the administration of the Launchpad group and the task of being Loco contact don’t necessarily go hand in hand.
So I’m curious – how do other teams get around delegating tasks and assignments?

In the rest of this blog post I shall try to give a short introduction to how we are currently doing things in the Danish team. I hope people from other LoCo teams will share their experience and ways of doing things as well. And of course pointers as to how we may organize the Danish team even better are very welcome!

Danish Team

Twice a month (except during holiday season) we have an IRC meeting. Everyone is welcome at the meeting, and this is where we discuss our future plans and events. If need be and we can’t come to a consensus on a topic, we have votes. One person, one vote. In essence, this is how the Danish team works currently.
ubuntu-dk-big

To take care of financial issues we have a board of trustees, including a treasurer. This makes handling money issues and making agreements with third parties a lot easier. Most people here (sponsors to make an example), will feel much safer donating money to an association, as opposed to some private person.

One a year (during spring) we have a general assembly, where we elect the board and the LoCo contact.

Of course this adds a bit of bureaucracy. We had to write some by-laws and we have to go through the entire hassle of having elections once a year. But it also secures that the board and the LoCo contact have a mandate from the community, and it makes it easy for the community to replace a LoCo contact or a board member, if they themselves can’t seem to realise that it’s time to step down.

That is how it works for us. Needs in other teams may be different, but I like the idea that once a year the position as LoCo contact is brought to debate and a vote, to make sure that (hopefully) the best person for the job is actually doing it.

So, how does everyone else do this?

Kan man være politisk uden at være partipolitisk?

Foreningen af danske Ubuntubrugere havde på vores IRC møde i søndags et forslag om at vi som forening skulle underskrive underskriftsindsamlingen mod softwarepatenter i Europa på http://stopsoftwarepatents.eu/.

Mødet endte med at beslutte ikke at skrive under som forening, men at opfordre vores medlemmer til at skrive under (referat af mødet). Så hvis du er medlem af foreningen – eller sympatiserer – så er opfordringen hermed givet videre!

Men forslaget viser også at vi har en udfordring foran os. På den ene side skal vi gerne være poltisk neutrale og undgå at blive rodet ind i noget parti-politisk fnidder. Vi skal ikke skræmme nye brugere væk ved at fare voldsomt frem med politisk stillingtagen. På den anden side er der nogle vigtige emner til debat for tiden, som på den ene eller anden måde markant kan påvirke det vi arbejder med, nemlig software og brug af computere og internettet. Softwarepatenter er et emne. Overvågning, logning og blokering af hjemmesider er andre. Der er snart valg til Europaparlamentet og hvordan anbefaler man de rigtige kandidater uden at falde i den gamle fælde at få skudt i skoene at Linux (og Open Source) er ren kommunisme?

718933691_2b0100d6d4_o-1
(Billede fundet her.)

Hvor langt kan man som politisk neutral forening tillade sig at gå? Hvordan klarer andre foreninger derude balancegangen mellem parti-politisk neutralitet på den ene side og ønske om at påvirke vigtige beslutninger på den anden?

One CD, two CD, three CD…

The CDs for the Danish Ubuntu LoCo team arrived today. Less than one week after release. That’s quite fast if you ask me!

3-small

The CD box contains 250 regular Ubuntu 9.04 CDs, 75 Kubuntu CDs and 75 server CDs. All i386, there are no 64-bit CDs this time. If you have 64 bit hardware and want a 64 bit OS, hopefully you know how to download that your self.

EDIT: Søren points out that the server CDs are in fact 64 bit.

Ubuntu Live! in Aalborg

The Danish LoCo team and NJLUG threw quite a Ubuntu 9.04 release party yesterday, with talks, pizza, socializing and beer.

Our group photo, including a big cardboard Tux, is here:
ubuntu-dk_9_04-rp
(Photo by Martin Jensen.)

For a who is who see the Flickr or Facebook versions with tags.

Photo already sent along to Jono – remember to send your group photo from your release party too, as requested.

It was great fun seeing both familiar and new faces, with six months passed since last Ubuntu Live!. However I must admit I’m glad there isn’t a 6 hour train ride for me to get home after each release party. Next time will properly be in Odense or Århus, which is a bit closer than Aalborg.

Arrival

The Danish Team got our free Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex CDs today!

The CD box contains

  • Ubuntu: PC: 230
  • Kubuntu: PC: 50
  • Server PC: PC: 50
  • Server 64bit: PC: 20

I actually thought the box would also include some 64bit (k)ubuntu desktop CDs. But there you go. If you are part of the Danish LoCo Team do get in touch if you want to help distribute these CDs. Everyone is of course free to use the Ship It service.

The delivery company (TNT) also deserves some praise. I wasn’t at home when they tried to deliver yesterday – but on my way home I received a phone call (why getting on the Metro) informing me that they had a package for me, if I would be home the next day or if other arrangements should be made. As it happens today is my day off, so I was at home, and they promised to be here between 9 and 16. I think they were here around 10.

Compared to other shipments I have received this was a nice service.