On Mon, Jun 8, 2009 at 5:34 PM, Sean DALY<sdaly...@gmail.com> wrote: > I appreciate the Fedora Ambassadors concept as I understand it but I > am not sure it's the best approach for Sugar Labs... it seems to me > more oriented towards contributor recruitment... the fedora press page > for example invites journalists to "get involved", which is on-topic > for contributor recruitment but is misses by a mile the fact that > journalists, analysts and bloggers cannot get involved in *anything* > they cover due to conflict of interest; the best one should hope for > is a fair shake.
Fedora ambassadors focus on contributor recruitment because that is Fedora's primary goal. A community of strong contributors working towards a shared mission, "make fedora awesome" is their goal. > Events such as FOSDEM, FOSS VT, LinuxTag, FOSS ED, NECC DC are an > amazingly efficient way to change influential minds, but they are > expensive to go to and difficult to attend when there are so few of > us. We seem to have an Events Calendar > (http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_Labs/Events#Sugar_Labs_Events), > but I'm not sure it's in use... it would be the logical departure > point for in-person recruitment efforts. Yep, not enough people to properly tend the calendar much less attend the events. > Now, I certainly agree that contributor recruitment is key for us and > I think every team could use more hands, but I would venture that we > need to choose another priority: getting feedback from schools where > we are and getting into schools where we aren't. In particular, we > need teacher-contributors to bridge the wide gap between our > development efforts and classrooms with Learners. > > I have been monitoring the varied OLPC project field studies for some > time and I am struck by a nearly universal aspect: the study authors > don't invest the time necessary to learn how to use Sugar and so miss > its benefits (most studies don't even cite "Sugar"). Time after time > we hear about kids at school chatting on their mesh network, taking > and swapping photos, writing together... and the difficulties of > teachers to cover learning subjects. The evidence seems to indicate > that teachers are slower at learning than grownups (there's truth in > that; my 4-year old son completed 8 mazes in a row yesterday with no > assistance, more than I ever have), but I would suggest there is > another factor: there is no defined "teacher computer" in the OLPC > architecture aside from an XO. I don't mean an XS school server as I > understand it, but a bigger screen/keyboard machine running Sugar on > the teacher's desk. With increased authority status, an "admin" for > Learners? It's open to debate given Sugar's theoretical underpinnings, > but my personal feeling is that providing teachers with tools (say, > deactivating video filming in the class when work needs to get done, > reactivating after) will have a positive impact on teacher buy-in and > recommendations. > > This by the way is right in line with the nascent Education Team > (http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Education_Team)... its mission is to > reach out to teachers and to assist those doing so; I say our best > ambassadors will be on that team... ideally, technically adept > teachers talking to other teachers... because the Sugar-GNU/Linux > stack, not being preinstalled, does require some technical > hurdle-jumping. SoaS is designed to reduce these technical barriers > and will succeed its ambitious goals as its relatedsupport materials > become available, but non-XO preinstalled Sugar is not on the horizon > yet and until then, teachers need helpers. > > So... although marketing does cover all aspects of communication (from > booth swag, to sales points flyers, from publicist work with > journalists to the Learner-GUI interaction experience), and as > marketers we will always be thinking of branding and strategy, I think > the way forward is to build on the Education team... start by > recruiting a teacher to coordinate it... and take it from there. I'd > be interested in participating in those meetings, but I feel a teacher > will have far more credibility explaining Sugar to other teachers than > marketers (or developers or... :-) will. And how do we recruit that teacher? It looks like we have come full circle to 'contributor who contributes by identifying and engaging other smart and passionate contributors.' I guess we could put ambassadors inside the human resources team:) david > By the way this could be a handle to contact K-8 bloggers... tell them > that Sugar Labs seeks a teacher coordinator and ask them the best way > to go about finding one? > > Finally, I want to mention the snowball effect... it will become far > easier to recruit contributors as Sugar becomes more widespread. We > are on track to do that, with great code and a coherent marketing > message. > > Sean. > > > > On Mon, Jun 8, 2009 at 10:58 PM, David Farning<dfarn...@sugarlabs.org> wrote: >> Hey all, >> >> Below is a thread on Sugar ambassadors from last week. I meant to >> send it to iaep with a few follow on cc's. Looks like I left off >> iaep. >> >> david >> >> >> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- >> From: David Farning <dfarn...@sugarlabs.org> >> Date: Sat, Jun 6, 2009 at 7:59 PM >> Subject: Sugar Ambassadors >> To: Caryl Bigenho <cbige...@hotmail.com>, Caroline Meeks >> <carol...@solutiongrove.com>, Walter Bender <wal...@sugarlabs.org> >> >> >> We have hinted around the edges several times about the importance of >> an ambassadors program for Sugar Labs. >> >> The basic idea behind the ambassadors programs is to help people such >> as Caryl feel like they have what they need to effectively communicate >> to various groups about Sugar and Sugar Labs. >> >> At some levels this is a marketing issue but at other levels, this is >> a community building issue. >> >> I am willing to get the program started. I would like to hand it off >> to someone with actual social skills as soon as possible. At the >> OLPCFrance day of SugarCamp, I was much more comfortable sitting >> upstairs with Scott Meeks and Gary Martin than talking and mingling. >> >> We can start by collecting a list of interesting events and a set of >> inspiring resources. >> >> From there we can organically let the natural 'ambassadors' learn what >> works for their local events and share those best practices with each >> other. >> >> Should we roll this into the marketing team for now and split off when >> we get to big for the marketers to handle us? Yep, that is a >> challenge:) >> >> david >> _______________________________________________ >> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) >> IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org >> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > _______________________________________________ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep