On 01/02/2019 6:09 pm, Paul Sutton wrote: > Hi All > > Sorry if this is off topic, I was not sure where I could ask about this. > > I am not sure if anyone can help with this directly but perhaps as a > community it is an opportunity to engage and perhaps recruit people who > can help with the testing / development process and spread the word on > Ubuntu, Free Software and GNU / Linux in general. > > For the past few years I have been involved in running the Torbay Tech > jam in Paignton, Devon. This simply was a tech event designed to > inspire people to learn about coding, and a place for like minded people > to meet up, chat, share and work on projects etc. This event closed in > 2018, but fast forward to 2019 and it has been re-launched as the South > Devon Tech Jam, with a more formal structure and hopefully we can move > forward in a more positive way. We will be running this once a month. > > I am not sure how the community in the Uk get involved directly with > events. I know there is a need for people to download and test releases > of Ubuntu, report bugs and problems and help fix them. This is a lot of > work,and sometimes complex work but is a very important job. > > One thing I do know is platforms such as Launchpad are both very > comprehensive but quite complex for beginners so having a good grounding > in this would probably save developers and others a lot of time trying > to get the right information out of anyone sending in test results or > bug reports. > > I just wondered if: - > > Anyone would or does do outreach to small events either from the Ubuntu > Community or from Canonical ? Engage with people so that people can > become effective at this job and, perhaps as this will build up > different skill sets, what sort of career path people are able to get in > to, after all having something like Ubuntu Tester / Developer on a CV > should count for something, to a potential employer and this will > actually encourage people to get involved, (even if their initial > motivation is to help) > > As Ubuntu is now more than a desktop / Server OS, but has moved in to > hosting Snaps, Containers etc, would someone be able to give talks on > that too. > > Granted people can look this information up, but there is actually > something effective about face to face engagement, that allows > conversation and networking between people. Also if you talk to 10 > people about Launchpad, there is a chance 1 person won't remember > everything but between those 10 people they should remember different > aspects to then help each other later on. > > There are plenty of opportunities to help but also many barriers to > doing so. If we can find a way to break down those barriers then we > should be able to get more people confident enough to get involved. > > I would perhaps hope to also reach out to local organizations who work > with Young people for example Princes Trust or Young Devon as being > involved with Free software opens up many opportunities. > > As we are only just starting up as an event. I am not looking at > anything such as the above in the immediate future, but thought I would > set the ball rolling here, and just ask, and see what is possible for > later on. > > On a similar note if anyone living in the area would be interested in > such talks this could be a good opportunity to not have to travel too far. > > Thank you > > Regards > > Paul Sutton >
Hi Paul, You cover quite a few points in your post but I feel qualified to respond to only a couple of them:- I have run stalls to promoting linux at several events in the north east, with mixed results:- - It was difficult finding enough volunteers to adequately man the stall, one person cannot do the job on his/her own especially if the event lasts two days. - The general public was found to be mostly completely ignorant of linux, but the interest shown was surprisingly good. - Creating the stall required a significant amount of time and money, which am not able to commit to. - I was not able to follow up on the events due to a mixture of personal and family issues. My local LUG has run occasional events, such as promoting security/privacy on line, but these are sporadic rather than structured. Paul, how do you fund and find man power for the Devon event? Secondly, I also find Launchpad quite intimidating to use. I have had a couple of bad (hostile) experiences when trying report bugs. Regards, Barry T -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
