Newbie Project...
Debian,
One of the most significant voids I have noticed in the Debian project
since I climbed on about 4 monthes ago is that we have a surplus of
developers. A lot of the newer developers have a high level of
entusiasm but a low level of experience. My suggestion is simply a plan
to see how we can improve in this error. I would be willing to take
initial responsibility for and to coordinate such an effort.
The first step would be to make a good list of jobs and projects we need
done for the Debian prject that could be done by "newbies". For
example, maybe we could train some newbies to help with the processing
of newly uploaded packages. Or not, if that takes a little too
much knowledge. Anyways, other, more literary newbies could help with
the Debian documentation project by collecting information and
writing/building some better Debian documentation. In this area might
fit projects such as a "Newbie's Introduction to Linux(/Debian???)".
Not a guide, just an introduction...somewhere to start, where/how to
find help and information. And these documents could be then be
submitted for *review* by our gurus. And so on.
And other projects as such. (Not all quite so big) The basic
qualification for these jobs are things which are techically easier (and
thus sometimes not as fun/attractive for experienced maintainers), but
still are very necessary and needed for the Debian project. Maybe a
couple newbies could help by recomiling some bo packages to hamm which
simply need to be recompiled with no actual effort or editig, just the
keys punched in. This would enable newbies to participate, learn more,
have fun, and actually want to stick around with the Debian project.
The second step would be to start implementing the project. I would
follow through with this by once again opening up the category on the
lists with a message asking if any of the new maintainers feel swamped
by the learning curve and if they would like to help out in some simpler
ways. Then, as new maintainers applied, those who are less experienced
can be directed to the Newbie Committee (me?) for assignment to
something else. It is important that we allow these maintainers to
still be full developers and have their name on the web page and be
subscribed to debian-private and such so they don't feel like second
class developers and get iritated and leave.
And the third step (or maybe step two and three should switch) would be
to get information about the "Newbie Project" on the web site near the
"How Can I Help" page and in the Debian FAQ (which needs to be updated,
I could do that?) in the same type place. Then people who think
"Debian...neat. I want to help but I don't even know how to program in
C" can email us and say "How can I help??? Please, use my time...".
The success of this project would depend on a couple of things. First
off, I would need a good response on the mailing lists from the
developers in order to build a good list which truely represents those
"extra" jobs. I *know* that they are fairly common, I just need help
in pinpointing them. The second part ties to the first: I would need
developers agree to be my "contact" for some of the various jobs on the
list. This could even be tied to the Debian mentor project. Or not.
And the third part would depend on someone(s) actually maintaining my
part of the job. And that could be me, until it got too big. And then
I could put this project on my list and draft one of the newbies.
And now, I open the project up to consideration by the developers. A
developer I was chatting with told me to email debian-devel about this
and start getting suggestions, so here it is. Please, don't turn the
*details* of this into a long pointless email thread. Just email me if
you know of projects and jobs which could fall on this list. If I get
response, then I will know it is a good plan.
And remember, even newbies have a little brain so please find some
things for them to do! :)
- Paul J Thompson
-------------------------------------------------------------------
A squirrel tangled with a 23,000 volt line in
Stillwater, Oklahoma on Saturday, Nov. 22, 1997. The
results blacked out the entire campus of Oklahoma State
University, and, of course, one squirrel.
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