[IAEP] Hablemos claro y en voz alta - Let´s speak loud and clear

[Sascha Silbe]

Excerpts from Carlos Rabassa's message of Fri Sep 24 14:20:52 +0200 2010:

> If you write in Plain English,  the language form required in some countries for legal documents involving the public,  this is English without technical words,  using vocabulary at the level of the general public,  and i f you stay within a reasonable length,  I will be pleased to translate into simple international Spanish. 

No idea if what I'm using is Plain English, but I'm not a native speaker
myself and if you don't understand something, please don't hesitate to
ask for clarification.

BTW (1), many (maybe even most) of the Sugar Labs members are not native
speakers. We use english because it's the lingua franca in computer
science, allowing us to communicate even though we come from many
different countries with different mother tongues.

I am aware this is a barrier to participation for people who didn't
have the privilege of learning english during their childhood. There's
no perfect solution to this dilemma. Switching to a different language
would just be a barrier to a different set of people. No single language
is spoken by a majority of the world population.

Every effort to bridge the language gap is very welcome!
If there's anything I can do to help, please mention it. I'll try to do
my best within my limited resources (esp. time :( ).

> 1 - Brief explanation of the origins and organization of the entity that is about to have some election,  hereinafter called Sugar for simplicity.
>
> 2 - Conditions required to be a member of Sugar:

I suppose you're talking about Sugar Labs [1]. Sugar is a piece of
software [2]. Sorry to be picky, but we need to make sure we're talking
about the same things and don't get anything lost in translation.

>     2.1 - Knowledge of reading, speaking or writing in English;  is it a requirement?

I can't really answer these questions authoritatively and haven't found
any formal document (I think bylaws is the term in the US). But I can
state my own opinion and impression on this.

While being able to communicate in english makes it much easier to work
within Sugar Labs, I would consider Sugar Labs membership restrictions
based on language to be discriminatory. Similarly language shouldn't
matter for team membership. I'm indecisive re. positions on the Oversight
Board [4]; while any single language should not be a requirement, it's
important that all board members can communicate effectively with each
other and that might include agreeing on one language (not necessarily
english).

>     2.2 - Knowledge of computer systems, computer science,  programming or similar,  at any specific level;  is it a requirement?

All members need to be able to write an email. [5]
Other than that, I don't see why it should be a requirement for
membership.

>     2.3 - Is Sugar interested in having as members individuals without that knowledge but with knowledge in other areas?
> 
>         I am referring very specifically to teachers active in elementary or secondary schools where computers have been distributed to students.

Sure we are!

>     2.4 - Are there any requirements relating to nationality or place of residency?

Again, I would consider that to be discriminatory.

>     2.5 - Is easy physical access to any specific place in the world a requirement,  or may members stay in touch with Sugar exclusively via internet?

Definitely the last part. While physically meeting at some place to
work and have fun together is superior to purely virtual collaboration,
there are lots of reasons why one can't participate in such events.
I have only been to a single SugarCamp so far and AFAIK many others
haven't participated in any physical meeting.

> 3 - Which are the positions to be filled with those elected in the forthcoming elections?

The Sugar Labs Oversight Board (SLOB) [6] is up for election. I expect
one of the current SLOBs to chime in and explain this in detail.

>     3.2 - Requirements in terms of education, diplomas or other qualifications.  

I'd expect a certain level of social competence and communication
skills (to allow the board to operate effectively), but no formal
qualifications whatsoever should be required.

>     3.3 - Obligations in terms of time, physical presence at meetings,  virtual presence via internet.

That's a good one. I expect every board member to take part in the
majority of board meetings and dedicate enough time to fulfill their
roles. This includes, but isn't limited to proper preparation prior to
the meeting.

Because meetings are (by definition) synchronous, this is a rather
hard requirement. Any chosen time will be bad for at least one of the
members, for various reasons (time zone / sleeping pattern, other
obligations etc.). AFAIK (2) the Oversight Board already operates via
email as much as possible, using synchronous communication only if
consensus cannot be reached otherwise.

>     3.4 - Is there any condition,  not required but desirable,  to improve Sugar´s future.
> 
>         I am thinking of conditions,  such as being active as a teacher in those places where OLPC has more penetration?
> 
>         I am thinking specifically of Uruguay,  Afghanistan,  maybe Argentina in the near future,  where there are already many computers in the hands of students.
> 
>         I imagine there is an urgency in taking full advantage of these machines.

Sorry, but I don't understand this question. Can you rephrase and/or
elaborate, please?

>     3.5 - Is there any monetary compensation associated with those positions, salary, expense account or with any other name?

Leaving this for one of the SLOBs to answer. My guess is that there
might be some compensation for actual expenses (say phone calls), but
nothing similar to a salary.

> 4 - Requirements to participate in those elections.
> 
> 5 - Procedure to participate as a candidate.
> 
> 6 - Procedure to participate as a voter.

You need to be a member prior to the election. The deadline will be
posted once it has been decided when exactly the elections will happen
(see also [7]).

> 7 - Any other question that those who know the subject,  consider important,  which I have not listed here.

Not a question, but I'd like to mention that there are also Local Sugar
Labs [8]. Depending on what exactly someone would like to achieve,
membership in (or founding) a Local Lab might be an alternative (or
good addition) to joining (global) Sugar Labs.

Sascha

(1) BTW = by the way
(2) AFAIK = as far as I know
[1] https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_Labs
[2] https://www.sugarlabs.org/index.php?template=page&page=about_overview
[3] https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_Labs/Governance
[4] https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_Labs/Governance#Oversight_Board
[5] https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_Labs/Governance#Applying_for_membership
[6] https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_Labs/Governance#Oversight_Board
[7] http://lists.sugarlabs.org/archive/iaep/2010-August/011566.html
[8] https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Local_Labs
--
http://sascha.silbe.org/
http://www.infra-silbe.de/
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