Hello there, Had a pretty long day at the office and didn't get a chance to work on this all day... so here it goes.
[1] How much impact would being a member of the GNOME Foundation Board have on your current contributions to GNOME ? Up until now all of my contributions have been in the form of translations to Brazilian Portuguese and bringing more contributors to the Brazilian translation team. Because of my involvement with Foresight Linux and the fact that it is very GNOME-y-centric, I have also been involved with bug reports and in a way advocating for its simplicity of use and (yet) powerful features. However, I have always wanted to reach a broader audience and not only be confined within the Brazilian or translation arena. I believe that my ideas and plans, should I be elected as a member of the Board of Directors, will allow us to get our (GNOME) foot on the door of many new and exciting opportunities and promote GNOME as a great desktop environment, development platform, and a symbol of technological innovation. [2] Online Desktop and Services are being talked about as the next large step in GNOME - what is your vision for Online Desktop and Services and how would you measure them ? As many of the other candidates mentioned here, the Online Desktop could be the one thing that will tip the scale when users choose their desktop environment. I've had the opportunity to see a few demos and was fairly impressed with its potential. I believe that it is not up to the Board to decide on the implementation or even which tools/languages to use, but serve as a facilitator and guiding light to make sure that the project stays on track and focused... GNOME users have become used to expect innovation and great software in every release, so the Online Desktop could definitely provide that extra buzz! [3] What are the SMART goals that you desire to set for yourself should you be elected to the Board ? a) Promote, Promote, Promote! Everybody now! :) I feel that there isn't enough marketing going on for quite some time now. I feel that every single achievement and milestone deserves to be shout out in every single venue! Major releases? Minor releases? New developers joined in? A new school started using GNOME as their preffered desktop environment? Everything should be promoted, no matter how small some people may deem it. It is all about making people recognize the GNOME name and product!; b) Pay extra attention to making sure current and previous collaborators are properly credited and acknowledged for their contributions. Every little bit counts! And because GNOME is about people, I'd like to see us grow as a strong community. c) Bring the GNOME Fun Wagon to newer places! Fund smaller, localized events so that people get to experience the GNOME goodness! Big events like GUADEC are cool (I assume since I haven't been to one yet) and we should definitely market it a bit more, but smaller events are probably the best bang for your buck as far as attracting new users and collaborators. d) Expand our collaborative relationships to encompass other projects and distros, to help promote better communication channels and ensure that our partners and distributors have a place to get what they need, as well as provide us with usefull information and feedback on ways to improve. Often patches and improvements seem to travel on a one-way street, and we could improve our chances of making it a two-way road by opening newer communication channels. e) Revisit our build methodology and work new ways to automate and validate the tedious building process for our releases. f) Have I said that GNOME is people yet? :) Let us tickle that GNOME foot and make the whole user experience fun and rewarding! [4] If you are a candidate for the first time, what are the areas that you think you can do better ? I feel that I can help improve marketing and exposure. I also feel that I can bring in my community building experience to solidify what we currently have and make sure we can bring in more people and bridge gaps with other projects. Finally, make sure everyone has fun too! [5] Do you think it is important to mentor and coach potential leaders in the GNOME community ? If yes, what do you think the role of the Board be in this task ? If no, what are your thoughts on this ? Absolutely! It is my opinion that any type of governance body has as its utmost responsibility the education of those you serve. I have always believed that a manager is not only the person that gets a team to deliver a product, but also someone who will guide you and help you grow as a professional. Sadly, you don't see that happening everyday and most people forget their own issues and turmoils once they've reached some type of managerial position. As the leader for the Ubuntu Brazilian Translation team, I took upon myself to coach and guide several individuals (who were genuinely committed to our project) on how to make sure the project worked smoothly and that new comers were always helped and received proper attention and support. This philosophy was also promoted in the documentation team, and once the "road was paved", it was very easy for me to pass the baton to the next leader. The role of the board is to make sure that people get involved and tasks are wisely delegated, always keeping a guiding light so that no ship gets ever lost (or if lost, can find their way safely back home), and the roadmap is kept on track. [6] Some of the tasks of a Board Member are mundane administrative tasks, are you comfortable taking on such tasks as opposed to being always involved in strategic and visionary thinking ? Having lead the Brazilian translations teams for Ubuntu and XFCE, and having spent the last 18 months working directly with the GNOME team, I was exposed to my share of administrative tasks... so I'm ready. :) [7] What or which according to you, is the one "tipping point" move for GNOME in the coming year ? Consolidation of all of our technologies into a final product that just works! By keeping our distributors close by and up to date on our plans (and also learning about their own), we can strive to make sure that our product works well with their layer and that the GNOME "brand" becomes synonym of quality, and technological advances! [8] What do you think is the most important item on the Board's agenda right now ? What will you do more or better than the previous boards in that aspect ? Marketing, People, Innovation! [9] What is your positioning with respect to the issue of OOXML? If it ends up becoming something our users need, we should support it. Period. [10] Why do you think we need a GNOME Foundation ? To make sure there is a group of people who are working hard to keep the project on track and honest! To serve as a guiding light to all members and collaborators; To serve as a buffer to absorb anything we don't want our users exposed to, and deal with financial and legal matters in a honest and transparent manner. I want to thank all of you who made it to the end of these questions and answers. I am very serious about the topics I mentioned above and would be honored to have a chance to represent the GNOME Foundation. -- Og B. Maciel [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] GPG Keys: D5CFC202 http://www.ogmaciel.com (en_US) http://blog.ogmaciel.com (pt_BR) _______________________________________________ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
