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Re: An agenda going forward for Debian-IN



On Wednesday 12 November 2014 01:50 PM, Jaldhar H. Vyas wrote:
> I am pleased to see the number of events organized by our community is
> increasing.  However there are some concerns.
> 
> 1.  Debian-In is not a legally recognized entity.  This means receiving
> any kind of monetary donations, goods, services etc (which will be
> essential for growth). is playing with fire.  Our first of business
> should be to get it organized as a duly constituated NGO, charitable
> society or whatever status makes sense under Indian law.  This
> organization could also formally invite foreigners to events (a need
> which I unexpectedly experienced recently.)
> 
> I can tell you we can forget about hosting Debconf in India any time
> soon with out this step.

I don't really think we need this. Like Anivar already proposed and like
how Debian works with SPI, we can work with SMC or other organizations
to accept donations.

As for invites, we can have the host institution (like Amrita or IITB)
do the invite. Even if we had an organization, we did not know we had to
get clearance from ministry of external affairs, because earlier times,
the foreign guest took care of their own visa. Now since we are aware of
the situation, we hope to be able to get the approvals through the host
institution.

But if someone really wants to register a legal entity, I won't stop them.

> 2.  Debian content.  The principal aim should be to increase awareness
> of and participation in the Debian project.  While we do intersect with
> other Free Software/Open Source projects to lesser or greater degrees,
> Debian has a unique viewpoint.  It is not clear to me that this always
> gets articulated.  Take the recent minidebconf/debutsav flap for
> instance. Frankly I don't see why there has to be any non-Debian content
> in a Deb* but if there is it should only a minor amount and still have a
> Debian "angle" in some way.

It is good that you shared your vision, but as a project, my vision or
any other members' vision has the same relevance/value as yours unless
it is violating debian policies. We changed the name to debutsav only to
respect your ideas about how a mini debconf should be, but now that we
are creating a new brand, and we are within our rights to continue it as
we defined it.

I have already articulated why I want to have an event where we give
space for other Free Software contributors. It is not even my unique
idea, Fedora does that already with their conferences.

For me, Debian is another Free Software project, though an important one
as I chose to contribute to it. But choosing to associate Debian with
such an event gives prominence to debian and gives a chance to other
Free Software contributors to learn about debian.

It would be better for everyone not to try to stop others from doing
what they like, as long as it does not go against the project.

Why are you so persistent at discouraging people contributing? I thought
we already concluded this discussion. If you want debian specific or
debian angled events, it cannot be done by stopping us from doing events
like debutsav, but encouraging more people to organize debian only
events. As for stopping us from events like debutsav where we invite
other Free Software contributors, that would be done only if it is
officially asked by the Debian project. Can we stop these debates now?
I'd respect an official statement from the project.


> 3.  Speaking of 2.  Do we have some metrics on how many people are
> brought into the Debian world in these events?  (Not just DD/DM path but
> installing Debian etc.)  This should be required as part of the
> post-mortem of any event.

I don't understand it. Who are we accountable to? We are putting our
efforts and time to organize these events, why would we have to answer
to anyone? Probably those who fund us might want it to justify spending
that amount. In that case it would be better not to ask Debian to fund
any events.

> 4.  The current focus seems to be on college campuses.  This makes sense
> because the infrastructure is there and IT students are the most natural
> audience but I would like to see more effort to branch out to the public
> at large.  Who is to say the next Indian DD might not be a housewife or
> some government clerk?  And the chronically short-staffed i18n efforts
> could surely benefit from the literary communities of our various
> languages.  Politicians and bureaucrats need to hear the Debian
> viewpoint before they make laws that could impact the shape of computing
> in the future.  You get the idea.  This relates to speakers too.  You
> don't need to be "famous" or even formally associated with the Debian
> project in order to give a talk at a Debian event just passionate about
> the project in some way.

Indeed, no one is stopped from focusing on other audiences. It is good
you are suggesting other areas we should focus. Ultimately we are all
volunteers and we choose to focus on areas we feel are important. If you
feel we should focus on somewhere else you can start such an effort.

> 5.  I have already said, as some of you know, how geographically we are
> missing coverage of the entire Northern and Eastern parts of the
> country. Either we should try and find organizers to set up events there
> or ensure there is a generous travel budget (back to point 1) so that
> interested people from those locales can attend existing events.

Good idea. We'll try to organize events where we don't have much
presence. In fact we already try that.

> 6.  Publicity.  I am worried that the Debian community at large is not
> aware of all the good things going on in Debian-IN.  I saw some reports
> on Debutsav in Debian News which is good but bloggers should also make
> sure their posts show up on Debian Planet.  As soon as event dates are
> somewhat firmly set, there should be frequent updates on debian-project
> and maybe even debian-devel-announce mailing lists.  One can go even
> further and inform non-Debian outlets such as Linux Weekly News or Linux
> For You.  A fortunate side-effect of this is that Debian people who
> might be visiting India for other reason might also be able to attend.

Good suggestions. We'll try to follow these suggestions.

> Given all this, I'm wondering if it might be a better idea tactically to
> aim for a big event annually or semi-annually rather than the smaller
> ones we have now.  It would be a good practice for hosting debconf if
> nothing else.

There is pros and cons for both these aspects. I prefer more small and
distributed ones because I'm looking for new contributors. For big
events the target is coming together of existing community. I don't
think, one has to be sacrificed for the other.

> Anyway these are just my thoughts.  Take them as you wish.

Thanks for sharing. I shared my thoughts as well. I was frank as well.



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