On Thu, November 15, 2012 2:39 pm, William Jon McCann wrote: > Hi Karen, > > I think these are good suggestions. But I think it would be a mistake to > leave this critical responsibility to a committee of volunteers. One of > the > many challenges we face is that our voice and message have been too > inconsistent - too infrequently heard. Heard too late. Lacking authority. > In want of good taste. And dealing with this is taking a huge toll on our > ability to attract and retain contributors. Something needs to be done. > > I propose that we hire or appoint a full time director of marketing.
This is a great idea! And I agree that this is a major area of need for us. Given the GNOME Foundation finances, it probably is also worth considering someone part-time (especially if there is a team of volunteers that can be trained and directed by such a person) or thinking creatively about fundraising for the position. The other challenge will be to find the right person for the position. In the past, organizations I worked with who hired for these kinds of positions had a really tough time finding someone with the right skillset already and who also understood free software and was affordable. But we can tackle that and set up a hiring process if we decide this is what we want to do and can raise the funds. We'll take it to the board! In the meantime, as I return from maternity leave (I'm not fully back for a few weeks), I can help push forward some of these tasks - some of them have gone in and out of my queue over the last year depending on my other commitments - though many of them require someone more trained than me to do well. We've been talking about various ideas on the marketing list, including a weekly podcast/oggcast about GNOME. If we can get that together, mind being on the first one, Jon? :D karen > > With the following responsibilities: > > * Organize and work with a team of "advocates" > * Grok and channel the voice of the project rather than impose a separate > agenda > * Consult with the design, development, testing, and documentation teams > * Help us clearly and effectively communicate our goals and objectives > * Organize the creation of press releases / release notes > * Blog regularly about ongoing initiatives and progress > * Be a beacon of light to counter the darkness > * Help us communicate proactively instead of reactively > * Educate misinformed journalists > * Be a point of contact for external parties that want information > * Reduce the burden on volunteers > * Delegate the above responsibilities > > If nothing else, it is clear that we are failing to perform these critical > duties. We are paying a dear price for it. I think we need to admit we > need > professional help - a point I'm sure even our harshest critics will agree > with. > > Jon > > > > On Thu, Nov 15, 2012 at 12:47 AM, Karen Sandler <[email protected]> wrote: > >> On Wed, November 14, 2012 8:40 am, Bastien Nocera wrote: >> >> > - And "discontent". Well, I think that I have reasonable doubts to >> think >> > that those community managers wouldn't be able to carry the message of >> > developers truthfully if said developers aren't being talked to. >> >> I think it's a fair point to raise issues of quality control for this >> committee. One of the things I think we should start with for this >> initiative is the creation of GNOME talking points/FAQ type of document. >> The new team could do this by working with the release team, the board >> and >> others in the community who would like to contribute. I think some of >> the >> conversation we're having in other threads on this list are a good start >> for that too. By going through that process, we'd be able to train the >> volunteers and provide material to work from for the individuals to use >> in >> formulating their own responses (so not a cut and paste document, but a >> formulation of key goals, ideas and decisions). We could also create >> infrastructure to help them out, like an IRC channel and private mailing >> list where posts can be vetted. >> >> We'd also need to set up mechanisms for communication so that developers >> can be consulted. In the end, I think this could wind up being a lot >> easier for our core developers, who seem to be often put on the spot to >> defend their work. Having a team that these developers can talk to and >> count on to repeatedly respond on behalf of the project seems to me like >> a >> great way to preserve those people's time. Are there other ways we could >> improve this side of the conversation? >> >> karen >> >> >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> foundation-list mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list >> > _______________________________________________ > foundation-list mailing list > [email protected] > https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list > _______________________________________________ foundation-list mailing list [email protected] https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
