Candidacy: Jeff Waugh

[Jeff Waugh <jdub perkypants org>]

  Name: Jeff Waugh
  Mail: jdub gnome org
  Affl: Flow Communications

Summary:

  I love GNOME. I am passionate, motivated, and dedicated to building our
  success, both outwardly - a foot on every desktop; and inwardly - making
  sure our developer and user communities are rocking all the time. I have a
  strong and involved presence on the Board. I am an active member of the
  community without affiliation with the major GNOME contributing companies,
  and can strike a balance between these sometimes conflicting positions.
  Lastly, I am here to help GNOME rock.


The "Who Am I?" bit:

  - I am an Australian Free Software activist
    
    My passion for Free Software was borne from experience of and disgust
    for the information technology industry a few years ago. A friend put me
    onto some high quality software that I could read and learn from, and I
    subsequently found out about the community of hackers and contributors
    writing software for fun, education and each other's praise. It renewed
    by interest in computing, I got hooked, and it has changed my life. :-)

  - I am the GNOME Release Co-ordinator

    Over the past two years, I have worked on GNOME release management, as
    one small part of the awesome GNOME Release Team. During this time, we
    have earned the trust of the GNOME developer community, madly hand-waved
    the GNOME 2.0 project back on track, and brought strong co-operation and
    "the love" back to the project after a short hiatus. It has required an
    interesting combination of skills, from cheer-leading and Maciej-style
    police brutality to subtle diplomacy and 'networking'.

  - I have already survived a year on the Foundation Board

    This year rocked. Not so much due to what we achieved (which was mildly
    successful, but still satisfying), but because we've really hammered out
    what the Foundation ought to be doing, and how. That seems pretty lame,
    but it's very difficult to achieve when the directors of the Board are
    widely spread out across the planet, and we've only had one face-to-face
    meeting together. The members who continue on will have a responsibilty
    to bring all of it together, with energy and passion. I'm there.

  - I contribute to other GNOME activities

    Wanting to give back to the project that has given me so much enjoyment,
    I started working on documentation, advocacy (in the form of interviews
    and news stories) and usability. I then tumbled quickly into sysadmin,
    release management, webhackery, maintaining GARNOME for GNOME testers,
    helping out with GUADEC planning, and contributing as an elected member
    of the GNOME Foundation Board last year. My appetite for GNOME work is
    ravenous, if not lightly insane. Sleep is for the weak.

  - I am involved in the greater Free Software community

    I'm a former President of the Sydney Linux User's Group after three
    years of solid involvement, and was on the organising team of
    linux.conf.au 2001. I am organising GNOME.conf.au for linux.conf.au 2004
    in Adelaide.

  - I am an independent voice

    Given that I have taken a lead sysadmin position with a local ISP in
    Australia - working with almost 100% Free Software, of course - I'm
    currently wonderfully free of real or perceived bias towards
    contributing GNOME companies. This is a very important point given
    recent events, and the rising interest in the Free Software desktop
    space. I am not, nor have I ever been, a member of the Swedish GNOME
    Conspiracy. Although I quite like Swedes.


The "Why Should You Vote For Me?" bit:

  - I'm pretty passionate about this stuff, if you didn't grok that from
    above. ;-)

  - I would like to see GNOME's approach of personal trust and friendliness
    continue. This is a comfortable, fun and casual community - we should
    not endanger that approach.

  - I strongly support the companies involved in GNOME, and their excellent
    contributions to the project. I believe that we can and should encourage
    the growth of businesses around GNOME, while maintiaining a strong focus
    on the project itself, its Free Software ideal, and our commitment to
    those goals.

  - I want the Foundation to continue to be as transparent as possible, as
    it represents the project and its contributors first and foremost. I
    would like to make sure that suggestions and queries sent to the board
    are answered promptly, and publically if appropriate.

  - We are a small organisation, and yet we spend a lot of money. This needs
    to be addressed. I feel that a large part of this is due to a lingering
    dotcom attitude - we need to readjust our perspective on providing for
    the GNOME community, realise that we are a small organisation, and deal
    with financial issues in that light. If there needs to be a hardarse to
    keep reminding the Board about this, I'll be it.


The "Other Stuff" bit:

  - I feel we need a strong continuity of members from each year's board,
    particularly the most active members. They provide a frame of reference,
    and a knowledge of our history so we won't make mistakes again and
    again.

  - I still do not say "mate".


Thanks,

- Jeff

-- 
Come to gnome.conf.au 2004!   http://www.gnome.org/~jdub/2004/gnome.conf.au/
 
                            Interplanetary Pants