Hi.
I've described in my "hello"-mail that I want to start a discussion about the status of local forums inside/outside the project and also the contact with them. There are many international community websites out there [1]. But ATM their only relationship to the project is that they use fedora. That's a point you have also noticed in a FAD last year [2]. So I would like to talk about how to integrate them more into the project, talk to them and so on. In my opinion forums and esp. local forums are the users first touch with fedora (besides the installation itself). Of course only for those that like forums - if they like IRC or mailinglists more they can use the _official_ irc channels and mailinglists (and also in their language). But the forums are normally called "community websites" - for different reasons. But if we (as fedora project not as a lonely ambassador) can get in contact with them and they get more involved in the project (as a forum, not as a normal person) this could be a benefit for all of us.
The first question here is if you have already discussed this in the past? If not it would be a good start to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this. I have some ideas for this but first I'd like to hear your opinion. :)
Sebastian
P.S.: If you hink that this question is absolutely wrong on this list, please say "stop". :)
[1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/CommunityWebsites and http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/International [2] http://tux.u-strasbg.fr/~chit/FAD/FAD.odp
Sebastian Vahl wrote:
Hi.
I've described in my "hello"-mail that I want to start a discussion about the status of local forums inside/outside the project and also the contact with them. There are many international community websites out there [1]. But ATM their only relationship to the project is that they use fedora. That's a point you have also noticed in a FAD last year [2]. So I would like to talk about how to integrate them more into the project, talk to them and so on. In my opinion forums and esp. local forums are the users first touch with fedora (besides the installation itself). Of course only for those that like forums - if they like IRC or mailinglists more they can use the _official_ irc channels and mailinglists (and also in their language). But the forums are normally called "community websites" - for different reasons. But if we (as fedora project not as a lonely ambassador) can get in contact with them and they get more involved in the project (as a forum, not as a normal person) this could be a benefit for all of us.
Sure.
The first question here is if you have already discussed this in the past? If not it would be a good start to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this. I have some ideas for this but first I'd like to hear your opinion. :)
This has been discussed multiple times before here and on fedora-websites list from a conversation initiated by me. Some website administrations have joined the project as ambassadors, translators etc but there is definitely more coordination required.
* If these websites carry content that is useful they should try and merge the documentation into the fedoraproject.org website and documentation project as long as it fits in (nothing about proprietary software etc)
* People actively involved in any of these community websites can be interested in doing translation work. Website, documentation and packages.
* These regional websites sometimes host their own packages which could be avoided. There is usually no reason why they cant be merged into a bigger repository. Either the official one or with a standard third party repo.
* Any promotional or marketing ideas should be shared and worked within a global team.
* Feedback from users can be shared. Bug reports and enhancement requests should be made to Red Hat bugzilla instead of these forums so that developers can deal with them directly. Ambassadors who are already active in these regional websites need to bridge efforts.
* Website team might have periodical meetings with other local forum and website administrators to enable this kind of coordination.
Rahul
Sorry for the late answer, I was quite busy.
Am Mon, 30 Apr 2007 16:01:14 +0530 schrieb Rahul Sundaram sundaram@fedoraproject.org:
The first question here is if you have already discussed this in the past? If not it would be a good start to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this. I have some ideas for this but first I'd like to hear your opinion. :)
This has been discussed multiple times before here and on fedora-websites list from a conversation initiated by me. Some website administrations have joined the project as ambassadors, translators etc but there is definitely more coordination required.
Ok. I will search the list then.
- If these websites carry content that is useful they should try
and merge the documentation into the fedoraproject.org website and documentation project as long as it fits in (nothing about proprietary software etc)
If they don't want to do this as a single contributor is there a person they could talk to? And there may also be the problem with different licenses.
- People actively involved in any of these community websites can
be interested in doing translation work. Website, documentation and packages.
Yes, as single contributors.
- These regional websites sometimes host their own packages which
could be avoided. There is usually no reason why they cant be merged into a bigger repository. Either the official one or with a standard third party repo.
Agreed.
- Any promotional or marketing ideas should be shared and worked
within a global team.
So one of them must join Fedora Marketing at his own? Or will Fedora Marketing initiate a talk?
- Feedback from users can be shared. Bug reports and enhancement
requests should be made to Red Hat bugzilla instead of these forums so that developers can deal with them directly.
Yes, of course. but not everybody can speak or write in english.
Ambassadors who are already active in these regional websites need to bridge efforts.
- Website team might have periodical meetings with other local forum
and website administrators to enable this kind of coordination.
So the loal website administrators should join the website team at their own?
Sorry If some of the questions may sound a little bit stupid. :) Is there a wiki page with help and proposals for this case? I mean something like a "starting guide" what local forums can do, to whom they should speak and so on. Or just a page that describes how local forums can get more involved "at a whole forum", not as single contributors.
Sebastian
Sebastian Vahl wrote:
If they don't want to do this as a single contributor is there a person they could talk to? And there may also be the problem with different licenses.
For websites, post to the websites list or talk to Thomas Chung or me. Mike for infrastructure. For formal documentation talk to Paul or Karsten or to the docs list.
So one of them must join Fedora Marketing at his own? Or will Fedora Marketing initiate a talk?
Fedora marketing is not a formal body. It is just a lose collection of people in a list. You are part of that. Feel free to initiate a talk on behalf of marketing after deciding on what we need to tell these folks and perhaps translating it if they don't speak English.
Yes, of course. but not everybody can speak or write in english.
Some folks who can should act as a gateway.
So the loal website administrators should join the website team at their own?
Yes. Is there a different way?
Or just a page that describes how local
forums can get more involved "at a whole forum", not as single contributors.
I am not sure how that would fork. We have large number of people in such forums. What would they gain by say joining fedoraforum.org if they don't speak English. Do you have anything more specific in mind?
Rahul
Am Thu, 10 May 2007 14:53:25 +0530 schrieb Rahul Sundaram sundaram@fedoraproject.org:
Sebastian Vahl wrote:
If they don't want to do this as a single contributor is there a person they could talk to? And there may also be the problem with different licenses.
For websites, post to the websites list or talk to Thomas Chung or me. Mike for infrastructure. For formal documentation talk to Paul or Karsten or to the docs list.
Ok.
So one of them must join Fedora Marketing at his own? Or will Fedora Marketing initiate a talk?
Fedora marketing is not a formal body. It is just a lose collection of people in a list. You are part of that. Feel free to initiate a talk on behalf of marketing after deciding on what we need to tell these folks and perhaps translating it if they don't speak English.
Ok. Will think about that (after release of f7, I think atm).
Yes, of course. but not everybody can speak or write in english.
Some folks who can should act as a gateway.
That's what I mean. :) But having some guidelines for this would make their life easier, imho.
So the loal website administrators should join the website team at their own?
Yes. Is there a different way?
Only an invitation to them.
Or just a page that describes how local
forums can get more involved "at a whole forum", not as single contributors.
I am not sure how that would fork. We have large number of people in such forums. What would they gain by say joining fedoraforum.org if they don't speak English. Do you have anything more specific in mind?
Not atm. But one thing could be that local ambassadors could get more involved in the local forums and eg. ask for feedback and point to local events. It's hard to describe what's in my mind, but the thought behind this it to also let the users feel they are involved. :)
Sebastian
Sebastian Vahl wrote:
That's what I mean. :) But having some guidelines for this would make their life easier, imho.
Do you want to propose any guidelines?
So the loal website administrators should join the website team at their own?
Yes. Is there a different way?
Only an invitation to them.
Sure. Invite them. I have send in a few emails before. Got some responses but if they don't know English at all they wouldn't respond to me.
Rahul
ambassadors@lists.fedoraproject.org