Looking For a Few Passionate Volunteers – Ubuntu Community Participation Project

Ever since I attended the Ubuntu Developer Summit last October I’ve had an idea on my mind for a new Team within the Ubuntu Community.  I think there is a real need for this project and I’ve been cooking up some basic specs for it for the past few months.  The reason I’ve been sitting on it is that I want to make sure I do it right, and I want to make sure that it is properly organized.  I’ve had a good amount of team involvement over the past two or three years running the Ubuntu Utah LoCo Team and helping put together the US Teams Project, and I think I’ve learned a thing or two about the processes behind community involvement.  The focus of this team is #1 community involvement and #2 retention, something that I have some passion about.

At this point in the team development process I’m looking for a few determined, hard working volunteers that can help with the project.  I don’t (initially) expect that this will be an open-enrolled team as I want to have very defined roles, but there are a number of positions available.  Each of these positions could potentially be held by one or two individuals.  If you are interested in helping with a project that focuses solely on helping existing and future users get involved in improving ubuntu please see below:

Scheduling:  I am looking for someone that has experience with event scheduling (online events), perhaps with some experience with the Fridge and similar.  This project aims to have regular education events, teaching users how to get involved.  This position would be primarily focused on scheduling those events, securing presenters, selecting topics, etc.  Also making sure these events are properly communicated with the marketing position below.

Marketing:  This position is primarily focused on making sure the events and the purpose of the team are properly advertised prior to events.  This includes being added to prominent calendars, contacting prominent blogs, news, etc.  Be the public-face and get publicity to the events and the team.

Logging: I am also looking for someone that is good with the books.  We will want to track the team progress as well as that of those wanting to participate.  Experience with keeping logs, minutes, tracking contacts, etc would be great.  Helping document goals within the team and on a contributor-basis is critical in measuring success and monitoring improvements.

Sys Admin: We will need someone that can help maintain the facilities end of things.  From mailing lists to irc channels, wiki maintenance, etc.  This position won’t always be involved in the day-to-day education, but someone that can make sure the wheels of the organization are well oiled is critical.  We can’t work without the proper tools.

I will mention that I would like to try and organize this team in a very task-oriented manner.  It is important that we mesh as a group, and I want to make sure that things get done.  I want to make sure there are regular goals and things get achieved.  If you’re interested in working and making a difference please let me know.

I also want to make sure that this team involves the international community that we are.  If you have worked much with translations I’m sure we could use your help as well!

I don’t claim to have all of the workings of this project worked out so far, as most development projects it is a work in progress.  I would like to get started soon however.  I would like this project to be in full gear by the time Ubuntu 8.04 “Hardy” is released so that we are ready for the influx of Ubuntu adopters (yes, it will happen!)

Please contact me via my Contact Page if you are interested in this project.