Re: Climate Impact and KDE

2019-09-24 Thread Alexander Neundorf
On Freitag, 20. September 2019 11:02:44 CEST Jens wrote:
> So recent discussions about Climate Strike raised some very good points
> about what KDE as a community can do to decrease its footprint. I want
> to thank Friedrich for raising them.
> 
> Personally I think this is a rather fun focus for design, community
> work and development (and I should probably have thought about it
> faster so it could have been squished into the goals voting/suggesting
> - but such is life) and just want to toss some ideas around if others
> are interested
> 
> Community ideas:
> Making a clear statement that carbon footprint in travel will be a
> factor in travel support from the eV. Basically we know that there is
> zero possibility for some to choose, say trains (train from India or
> across the Atlantic is not feasible), but adding that as a part of the
> application process; "choose best transport with ecology and
> environment in mind" can go a long way and for larger events asking
> organizers to look up alternatives and present them as part of the "how
> to get to X" page (much of this is already done of course but
> formalizing it would be awesome).
> 
> Decentralized and Online community events. Now I think we all know the
> value of meeting IRL, how important that is and how it can't be
> replaced, but I would love to explore how we can make online or smaller
> co-run events more interesting. Basically trying to time several
> smaller local events with each other and do some broadcast of talks and
> a way for each event to be able to ask questions of the others talks
> (as if they where there). Evaluate and check how we can make social
> events but online sort of.
> 
> Improve our internal social communication. This sounds a bit guache but
> I think looking at how we can make the forum/social media angle more
> attractive, perhaps more formal, might help the wider community feel a
> part without having to travel to large events (which beyond ecological
> impact is often impossible for many, for various reasons)
> 
> Technical Ideas:
> Look at Plasma and applications energy consumption - and I know it is a
> piss in the ocean 

No, IMO this is significant.
This affects millions (?) of computers running every day for hours.
I don't know how much energy it is, but I would expect that it is all together 
non-negligible.

OTOH meetings in real life are sooo valuable, and even video meetings are so 
much less personal.

Alex





Re: Climate Impact and KDE

2019-09-20 Thread Valorie Zimmerman
On Fri, Sep 20, 2019 at 4:04 AM Paul Brown  wrote:

> On viernes, 20 de septiembre de 2019 11:02:44 (CEST) Jens wrote:
> > So recent discussions about Climate Strike raised some very good points
> > about what KDE as a community can do to decrease its footprint. I want
> > to thank Friedrich for raising them.
> >
> > Personally I think this is a rather fun focus for design, community
> > work and development (and I should probably have thought about it
> > faster so it could have been squished into the goals voting/suggesting
> > - but such is life) and just want to toss some ideas around if others
> > are interested
> >
> > Community ideas:
> > Making a clear statement that carbon footprint in travel will be a
> > factor in travel support from the eV. Basically we know that there is
> > zero possibility for some to choose, say trains (train from India or
> > across the Atlantic is not feasible), but adding that as a part of the
> > application process; "choose best transport with ecology and
> > environment in mind" can go a long way and for larger events asking
> > organizers to look up alternatives and present them as part of the "how
> > to get to X" page (much of this is already done of course but
> > formalizing it would be awesome).
>
>
> > Decentralized and Online community events. Now I think we all know the
> > value of meeting IRL, how important that is and how it can't be
> > replaced, but I would love to explore how we can make online or smaller
> > co-run events more interesting. Basically trying to time several
> > smaller local events with each other and do some broadcast of talks and
> > a way for each event to be able to ask questions of the others talks
> > (as if they where there). Evaluate and check how we can make social
> > events but online sort of.
>

Randa was so great for that. Sadly we can't get that particular house, but
perhaps someplace like the Linuxhotel? And yes, with some streaming of
talks so that those who can't attend can still participate.

> Improve our internal social communication. This sounds a bit guache but
> > I think looking at how we can make the forum/social media angle more
> > attractive, perhaps more formal, might help the wider community feel a
> > part without having to travel to large events (which beyond ecological
> > impact is often impossible for many, for various reasons)
>

Jonathan Riddell has volunteered to set up Discourse for us, to test as a
replacement for the KDE Forums, and perhaps for our mail lists as well.
Those who are interested in this should check out
https://phabricator.kde.org/T11675. It may take awhile because of the
Identity issue, but there is hope!


> > Technical Ideas:
> > Look at Plasma and applications energy consumption - and I know it is a
> > piss in the ocean but its several pisses in the ocean - and how to
> > either improve that further or create systems to minimize energy
> > consumption or creating something to more clearly and accessibly show
> > energy consumption and suggestions to improve it.
>

My 6-year-old Dell is running the latest, no problem! The only boost to it
I did was replace the failed old HD/SSD with a new SSD.

> Publish our own energy consumption and carbon footprint in regards to
> > servers etc (Ben Cooksley posted a link and perhaps a clear write up on
> > the subject would be cool?), and mention/formalize our own commitment
> > to it.
>

Yes please.

> A closer relationship with Fairphone and Postmarket OS. So, from what I
> > can gather have a pretty good relationship with Postmarket OS (via
> > Plasma Mobile), perhaps explore that with regards to Fairphone together
> > with them? Explore hardware vendors who try to minize their ecological
> > impact and see if we can either do things with them - OR do things
> > aimed at their hardware?
> >
> > (Please note: I am not as technically adept as most here so y'all
> > probably have way better ideas than me on this subject)
> >
> > What do you think?
> >
> > /Jens
>
> This sounds like it should be put in a task, worked on a bit and
> formalised
> later in our documentation (Wiki?). It is brilliant first step and I, for
> one,
> appreciate and support it.
>
> Thanks for that, Jens.
>
> Paul
>

Yay! The e.V. has been discussing a policy for the e.V. itself, but a
community-led effort would support that amazingly well. This is our future
we're discussing. I have a grandson, age 11. We are creating the world
he'll live in. I think we can help.

Valorie

-- 
http://about.me/valoriez - pronouns: she/her


Re: Climate Impact and KDE

2019-09-20 Thread Martin Steigerwald
Jens - 20.09.19, 11:02:44 CEST:
> So recent discussions about Climate Strike raised some very good
> points about what KDE as a community can do to decrease its
> footprint. I want to thank Friedrich for raising them.
> 
> Personally I think this is a rather fun focus for design, community
> work and development (and I should probably have thought about it
> faster so it could have been squished into the goals voting/suggesting
> - but such is life) and just want to toss some ideas around if others
> are interested
> 
> Community ideas:
> Making a clear statement that carbon footprint in travel will be a
> factor in travel support from the eV. Basically we know that there is
> zero possibility for some to choose, say trains (train from India or
> across the Atlantic is not feasible), but adding that as a part of the
> application process; "choose best transport with ecology and
> environment in mind" can go a long way and for larger events asking
> organizers to look up alternatives and present them as part of the
> "how to get to X" page (much of this is already done of course but
> formalizing it would be awesome).

Given enough fund raising for KDE events for necessary flights KDE could 
at least do some compensation via Atmosfair. I recently backwardly 
compensated for some flights I did years ago. As I support KDE with money 
I'd be totally okay with some money allocated to that. Of course 
reduction is better than compensation, so compensation should not be an 
excuse to fly more.

> Technical Ideas:
> Look at Plasma and applications energy consumption - and I know it is
> a piss in the ocean but its several pisses in the ocean - and how to
> either improve that further or create systems to minimize energy
> consumption or creating something to more clearly and accessibly show
> energy consumption and suggestions to improve it.

I'd love to see that, I just wonder how much can still be optimized 
there.

> Publish our own energy consumption and carbon footprint in regards to
> servers etc (Ben Cooksley posted a link and perhaps a clear write up
> on the subject would be cool?), and mention/formalize our own
> commitment to it.

That would definitely be cool to have. There are some web hosting 
providers who care about that.

> A closer relationship with Fairphone and Postmarket OS. So, from what
> I can gather have a pretty good relationship with Postmarket OS (via
> Plasma Mobile), perhaps explore that with regards to Fairphone
> together with them? Explore hardware vendors who try to minize their
> ecological impact and see if we can either do things with them - OR
> do things aimed at their hardware?

Wasn't there some contacts with Fairphone?

Plasma / KDE could also work together with people who refurbish old 
computers. For many use cases it is not necessary to buy a new machine 
these days as even computers from 5 years ago are fast enough to do a 
lot of tasks. I know this as I still use a ThinkPad T520. It fast enough 
for all desktop related tasks. Especially as in the last years Plasma 
was optimized heavily for good performance.

Thanks,
-- 
Martin




Re: Climate Impact and KDE

2019-09-20 Thread Paul Brown
On viernes, 20 de septiembre de 2019 11:02:44 (CEST) Jens wrote:
> So recent discussions about Climate Strike raised some very good points
> about what KDE as a community can do to decrease its footprint. I want
> to thank Friedrich for raising them.
> 
> Personally I think this is a rather fun focus for design, community
> work and development (and I should probably have thought about it
> faster so it could have been squished into the goals voting/suggesting
> - but such is life) and just want to toss some ideas around if others
> are interested
> 
> Community ideas:
> Making a clear statement that carbon footprint in travel will be a
> factor in travel support from the eV. Basically we know that there is
> zero possibility for some to choose, say trains (train from India or
> across the Atlantic is not feasible), but adding that as a part of the
> application process; "choose best transport with ecology and
> environment in mind" can go a long way and for larger events asking
> organizers to look up alternatives and present them as part of the "how
> to get to X" page (much of this is already done of course but
> formalizing it would be awesome).
> 
> Decentralized and Online community events. Now I think we all know the
> value of meeting IRL, how important that is and how it can't be
> replaced, but I would love to explore how we can make online or smaller
> co-run events more interesting. Basically trying to time several
> smaller local events with each other and do some broadcast of talks and
> a way for each event to be able to ask questions of the others talks
> (as if they where there). Evaluate and check how we can make social
> events but online sort of.
> 
> Improve our internal social communication. This sounds a bit guache but
> I think looking at how we can make the forum/social media angle more
> attractive, perhaps more formal, might help the wider community feel a
> part without having to travel to large events (which beyond ecological
> impact is often impossible for many, for various reasons)
> 
> Technical Ideas:
> Look at Plasma and applications energy consumption - and I know it is a
> piss in the ocean but its several pisses in the ocean - and how to
> either improve that further or create systems to minimize energy
> consumption or creating something to more clearly and accessibly show
> energy consumption and suggestions to improve it.
> 
> Publish our own energy consumption and carbon footprint in regards to
> servers etc (Ben Cooksley posted a link and perhaps a clear write up on
> the subject would be cool?), and mention/formalize our own commitment
> to it.
> 
> A closer relationship with Fairphone and Postmarket OS. So, from what I
> can gather have a pretty good relationship with Postmarket OS (via
> Plasma Mobile), perhaps explore that with regards to Fairphone together
> with them? Explore hardware vendors who try to minize their ecological
> impact and see if we can either do things with them - OR do things
> aimed at their hardware?
> 
> (Please note: I am not as technically adept as most here so y'all
> probably have way better ideas than me on this subject)
> 
> What do you think?
> 
> /Jens

This sounds like it should be put in a task, worked on a bit and formalised 
later in our documentation (Wiki?). It is brilliant first step and I, for one, 
appreciate and support it.

Thanks for that, Jens.

Paul
-- 
Promotion & Communication

www: http://kde.org
Mastodon: https://mastodon.technology/@kde
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kde/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kdecommunity
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kde




Climate Impact and KDE

2019-09-20 Thread Jens
So recent discussions about Climate Strike raised some very good points
about what KDE as a community can do to decrease its footprint. I want
to thank Friedrich for raising them.

Personally I think this is a rather fun focus for design, community
work and development (and I should probably have thought about it
faster so it could have been squished into the goals voting/suggesting
- but such is life) and just want to toss some ideas around if others
are interested

Community ideas:
Making a clear statement that carbon footprint in travel will be a
factor in travel support from the eV. Basically we know that there is
zero possibility for some to choose, say trains (train from India or
across the Atlantic is not feasible), but adding that as a part of the
application process; "choose best transport with ecology and
environment in mind" can go a long way and for larger events asking
organizers to look up alternatives and present them as part of the "how
to get to X" page (much of this is already done of course but
formalizing it would be awesome).

Decentralized and Online community events. Now I think we all know the
value of meeting IRL, how important that is and how it can't be
replaced, but I would love to explore how we can make online or smaller
co-run events more interesting. Basically trying to time several
smaller local events with each other and do some broadcast of talks and
a way for each event to be able to ask questions of the others talks
(as if they where there). Evaluate and check how we can make social
events but online sort of. 

Improve our internal social communication. This sounds a bit guache but
I think looking at how we can make the forum/social media angle more
attractive, perhaps more formal, might help the wider community feel a
part without having to travel to large events (which beyond ecological
impact is often impossible for many, for various reasons)

Technical Ideas:
Look at Plasma and applications energy consumption - and I know it is a
piss in the ocean but its several pisses in the ocean - and how to
either improve that further or create systems to minimize energy
consumption or creating something to more clearly and accessibly show
energy consumption and suggestions to improve it.

Publish our own energy consumption and carbon footprint in regards to
servers etc (Ben Cooksley posted a link and perhaps a clear write up on
the subject would be cool?), and mention/formalize our own commitment
to it.

A closer relationship with Fairphone and Postmarket OS. So, from what I
can gather have a pretty good relationship with Postmarket OS (via
Plasma Mobile), perhaps explore that with regards to Fairphone together
with them? Explore hardware vendors who try to minize their ecological
impact and see if we can either do things with them - OR do things
aimed at their hardware?

(Please note: I am not as technically adept as most here so y'all
probably have way better ideas than me on this subject)

What do you think?

/Jens