<html> <head> <style></style> </head> <body class='hmmessage'> > Date: Mon, 7 Jun 2010 02:08:53 +0100 > From: martin@martindengler.com > To: soas@lists.sugarlabs.org > CC: mel@redhat.com; marketing@lists.sugarlabs.org; sdz@sugarlabs.org > Subject: Re: [Marketing] [SoaS] Activities and Features for SoaS V4 > > On Fri, Jun 04, 2010 at 01:11:32PM -0400, John Tierney wrote: > > I am trying to figure out upcoming schedule for SoaS V4. From my reading > > of Fedora 14 release schedule which from my new understanding applies > > directly to the next Sugar on a Stick release the two upcoming dates that > > are super important are: > > > > 2010-07-13 Feature Submission Deadline > > > > and > > > > 2010-07-27 Feature > > Freeze--Planning & Development Ends > [...] > > In a few recent threads I have been pushing the developer/coding > > side to begin to offer visuals of the processes they use and adhere > > to because many of less tech-oriented simply don't understand the > > process and get more confused bouncing around multiple wiki's trying > > to put puzzle together. > [...] > > These visuals will create very strong recruiting tools for those of > > us involved in Facilitation and Outreach. I would happily do it > > myself but I simply don't understand the technical processes or > > inter-relationships involved, precisely why these visuals are > > needed. > > You're going to try to recruit SoaS .iso developers without > understanding development processes or meta-processes (e.g., > schedules)? > > May I respectfully suggest that the overworked and underpaid volunteer > developers have more productive things to do than create visuals of a > schedule. Much better would be for you to take YOUR understanding > (including the dates about) and create the materials you think > developers would want to know about (?!) and share them. > > When you hear a deafening silence (or even get encouragement), you > will have a) gained the understanding you say you lack (though you did > a good job summarising things, IMHO); and b) gained the recruiting > tools you think you need. > > > If we can stop for a moment and capture much of what we are doing in > > this visual sense we will make it enormously easier for people to > > join and actively participate in the community. > > It will be easier for people to comment on the developers' schedules, > but it won't make it significantly easier to participate the SoaS .iso > development schedule (I don't know what else you might mean by "the > community" here, though it could be almost anything). kickstart files > and filesystems and shell scripting and boot processes still need to > be understood, and a visual of the SoaS .iso creation schedule isn't > going to help with that. > What I was hoping for was a collaborative approach to put these visuals together. If I understood the situation fully I wouldn't be asking for help. But since I confess I truly do not understand these inter-relationships between upstream-downstream and how their different schedules affect Sugar and Sugar on a Stick I thought asking those so closely involved with these processes to draw a picture/sketch would be an easy way to start moving this process forward. If someone was willing after receiving I will turn into Mind Maps which then can be polished.   My original comments on this were: <div class="ExternalClass" id="MsgContainer"><title></title><style> @page {size:8.5in 11in;} .ExternalClass P {margin-bottom:0.08i</style>......I believe we are all working towards the same goal. From the marketing, educational outreach, not so techy side of things, I believe we need some help actually understanding the process of getting the activities qualified, the time frame(timeline), the upstream-downstream relationships. I along with the Teachers, Educators, University Professors outside of Computer Science have a hard time understanding and visualizing the process.    Possibly a Workflow/Mindmap/Timeline Project Map that explains the SoaS Process, the Sugar build, the Fedora build, the connections/constraints as they relate to Upstream-Downstream, who is Upstream-Downstream, the dates when activity testing should take place, and any other tasks/constraints that relate to putting together this successful build. If you could come up with a one page visual that would be enormously helpful to our messaging and help new members of the Sugar Community understand the mechanisms and processes related to FOSS projects. Having a Big Picture view helps understand where your individual work fits in and also helps with the expectation aspect. Clear, Simple, Visual.....</div> > > We must always remember the Key contributor we are trying to get on > > board is the Elementary Teacher and Students. > > ..."Key contributor" to SoaS? Or to Activity authorship? Please > don't mix the two up - they're quite different. And please don't mix > up creation of the SoaS product (.iso) - the process I think you want > to map out - with contribution to the SoaS project. One is a part of > the other, and - as evidenced by the liveliness of the SoaS mailing > list - one needn't understand how the .iso is created to contribute. > But to understand how the .iso is created one needs a heck of a lot > more information than the SoaS release schedule. Please be precise > about to what you want to attract contributions via these visuals. This seems to be a perfect example. A sketch of how these are different and separated would be helpful. What may seem very evident to you and the expertise you have may be very different from me or an Elementary Teacher. Understanding that we need additional volunteers in all areas, Visuals that help explain our Processes and Needs would be helpful when I go talk to Dean Of Computer Science, Dean of School of Education, and Dean of Business School looking for their Professors, Graduate and Undergraduate Students to join the Sugar Labs Community. From what you have written you seem to have a complete handle on these relationships and I ask if you might be willing to share that through a sketch. If you believe that this type of collaboration is not worth your time then all I can say is I respect your opinion and your stance. Thanks for Your Comments! John Tierney > > Best! > > > > John Tierney > > Martin > > </body> </html>