> > ps : we may not be ready for a leaderless group (I notice that you are
> > always harping on this), but knowing that creating a leader will break
> > the group, I would rather venture into uncharted waters.
> I'm willing to give it a try :)
We should uphold our freedom, since this is a primary value of the
technical people we need [1]. Besides, we mustn't forget our roots :)
No, that doesn't mean that we don't take responsibility for anything; to
the contrary, it means that each one of us takes responsibility for just
those things that we are best at, and no one can fault us for failure
Unless someone does it better himself; in which case, we have inspired
another to take up the leadership role.
It also means that everyone has the freedom to lead in the contexts that
he is most capable in, and everyone is at liberty to follow the direction
of whichever leader in whichever context he sees fit.
But most of all, it means that everyone has the freedom to help everyone
else, because no work is the "official responsibility" of any one person.
(i.e. where one falls, another is free to pick him up.)
To elect an "official" leader for anything is a mistake; leaders must
remain "unofficial", spontaneously finding themselves in positions of
leadership simply because they care most about something.
Rules should be set to a minimum; instead, we allow the "core rules" of
society to be upheld by society itself. In any virtual community, this is
the model that has been most historically successful on a large scale [2].
The reason we haven't taken off yet is not so much because we are
disorganised, but because we are small and the local Linux community
is fragmented [2,4]. (Sidenote: I am thinkink that there is somethink
wrong wit Sinkapore -- so few volunteers?)
Because about 19% of the on-line community contributes actively while the
remaining 81% are passive listeners (at any one time, that is), we need a
large group to set up a self-sustaining system [1].
It is for this reason that our first priority should be to get big. This
means using the tools of the open source revolution [4,5,6] to establish
communications links -- mailing lists, project home pages, news, etc.
In tandem with this, we should provide virtual homes so people can
exchange ideas and set up a proper community of Linux hackers [6]. i.e,
a system of concept home pages as well as project home pages, each with
their own discussion forums or mailing lists so people can discuss.
Another reason I can currently think of is, as Elvin correctly pointed
out, we have no server of our own (specific).
This is a specific instance of the more general problem: we need free
access to working, connected hardware, so that we can let the Hands-On
Imperative drive each of us to do the work of several people [3].
It is this point that Raymond (mis)stated when he wrote "throughout
history... achievement... one person alone... ". (Of course I understood
you; I was just pulling your leg ;P).
All the above brings us to one short, simple conclusion:
(1) Secure a server. This is top priority. Beg/borrow/hack :P
(2) Increase accessibility. This is next in priority.
(i.e. set up basic infrastructure like mailing list archives,
etc).
(3) Assume the role of the 19% to bootstrap the development
process. (We have to start it ourselves in order to attract
more people like us.)
Lon Voon, is the CVS server ready? All you gotta do is rpm -i the ssh
server and dump the respective keys into the respective directories; I'll
do the rest.
Just my 3 cents,
Rhan.
References:
[1] "The How-to-be-a-Hacker-HOWTO"
Eric S Raymond
[http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html]
[2] "The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier"
Howard Rheingold, Addison-Wesley 1993
[3] "Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution"
Steven Levy, Anchor Press/Doubleday 1984
[4] "OpenSources: Voices of the Open Source Revolution"
Bruce Perens & Eric S Raymond Ed., O'Reilly 1999
[http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/opensources/book/toc.html]
[5] "The Cathedral and the Bazaar"
Eric S Raymond
[http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/index.html]
[6] "Homesteading the Noosphere"
Eric S Raymond
[http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/writings/homesteading/index.html]
