Re: sponsoring a GNOME developer training session at Fedora Action Day Ghana

[Ben Konrath <ben bagu org>]

Hi Brian,

>>> - Are there any concerns about getting visas?
>>
>> Yes, whoever goes will need to get a visa before they go. The actual
>> visa isn't cheap - I think it was about $65 CAD when I went but that
>> depends which passport you hold. Whoever goes will need a letter of
>> invitation. That could probably come from Isaac as he's organizing FAD
>> Ghana.
>
> Would be good to highlight this with Isaac in your communications and
> encourage him to make such a letter available, if possible.  It would
> make planning easier.

Yep, good idea.

>>> - Does the event need to be focused on Fedora?  If The GNOME Foundation
>>>  were sending people, could we get "GNOME" or "Free Software" in the
>>>  event title?
>>
>> It's possible but I'd have to chat with Isaac and get his thoughts.
>> More on this below.
>
> I am just wondering if we can make the event something like a joint
> conference for better GNOME promotion.  Not to take away from FAD.

I think we would be leaning on Isaac and the other Fedora guys to
organize a bunch of things because we don't have anybody in Ghana.
Basically I don't want to impose on them if organizing an extra day is
not something they can realistically do. I'll report back once I
actually chat with Isaac.

>>> - What visibility do you expect The GNOME Foundation will get from this?
>>
>> That's a good question and not something that really put much thought
>> into yet. Off the top of my head, this is good opportunity to show
>> that the GNOME Foundation wants to continue promoting GNOME and F/OSS
>> in the region. Whoever ends up going can do the regular blogging and
>> email report. I can also promote the event to my contacts who work at
>> ICT related international development organizations.
>
> Sounds reasonable.  I think it is especially important to plan with the
> OLPC and Sugar people for events like this.  We should be working more
> together on such common causes.

Definitely.

>> Before I get carried away with grand visions of a "Free Software Days
>> Ghana", I want to make sure that I don't derail the work that Isaac is
>> doing with FAD Ghana - which is totally awesome by the way. It would
>> be a shame to turn FAD Ghana, which seems to be a grass roots, self
>> organized mini-conference, to something that seems to be organized by
>> people in the North (developed countries). I'll have a chat with Isaac
>> and get his thoughts on at least adding a day for GNOME training in
>> which case we could go shoot for something like "FAD&  GNOME Ghana
>> 2011". Just a thought.
>
> Sure, if we could have a joint conference, I think it would be a great
> way to help & promote each other.  I think "FAD & GNOME Ghana" would
> probably be fine.

Great, we're on the same page. :-)

> Out of curiosity, why do they focus their group around Fedora rather
> than, say, free software OS users in general?  Are all of their members
> Fedora users?  Do they expect users of other distros to attend the FAD
> event?

As far as I could tell from hanging out with the ICT students and
Idlelo conference attendees, Ubuntu is the most popular distro in
Ghana. The Fedora community just has a very active ambassadors program
with people such as Isaac who are interested in running a Fedora
Action Day. I don't think you have to be a Fedora user or developer to
attend a FAD but as far as I can tell, they're fairly Fedora specific.

> Is "Fedora" jargon in the region for "free software" in general like "Xerox" for a photocopy?

No, people seemed to know that there are many Linux distros. Where
some confusion comes in is GNOME. Not everybody seemed to know what
GNOME was and how it's integrated into distros. I guess that's pretty
natural as most distros add branding on top of GNOME.

> My concern is that by associating GNOME with this event, we do want
> to make sure that people understand that GNOME is not Fedora specific
> and we would like to make sure that GNOME users are encouraged to
> attend regardless of what OS they use.
>
> I don't think this concern should affect what the name of the event
> is called.  But I do think it is important to make sure this
> message is reasonable and clear to people who might consider attending.

This seems reasonable to me.

Thanks and stay tuned for and update.

Cheers, Ben