Re: Questions to answer

[Anne Østergaard <anne oestergaard nu>]

Anne Østergaards answers to the 11 questions:

> 1) Why are you running for Board of Directors? What will you do more or
> better than previous years Boards have done?

I believe that GNOME is the best choice for people and businesses to run
a modern operating system build on Free Software. I see the use of a
free framework which we use to build our society on as extremely
important.

GNOME is a big part of the equation for people to be aware of how we
communicate in a digital world.

I hope to communicate to people, a more general understanding and
awareness of what GNOME has to offer, and the reason why GNOME is the
right choice on several levels. Both in terms of technical merit, but
also on ethical values. 

I think that we need to have and communicate a professional long term
strategy for GNOME.

As a female user above 30, I think I can help reach a large segment
which GNOME doesn't reach now.

I would add diversity and complementary professional skills and
experiences to the GNOME board.

> 2) How familiar are you with the day-to-day happenings of GNOME?  How much
> do you follow and participate in the main GNOME mailing lists?

I follow GNOME on a daily basis. The GNOME community as a group has lots
of different interests and many within the community myself included are
involved and follow the world outside GNOME which may effect how we
can/or may use technology. GNOME is a great resource for creating a
public debate about computers and how we use them.

I follow the marketing-, foundation- and GUADEC- planning lists and read
some Wiki's and blogs. I try to bring knowledge form my networks into
the GNOME network, but also use what matters for the GNOME community
outside the GNOME domain.

> 3) What sources of funds do you as a candidate try do establish? And what
> will you spend it on? Not counting revenue from the shop and Friends of
> GNOME. Think more like the recent move by Mozilla or a subscription based
> bounty system.

I hope we can get both a bounty system in place for bugs that are of
high relevance for the users of the system. What I as a user can see or
feel.

More generally I hope that the strong brand and the cause of GNOME
together with more public awareness can bring in also passive support
funds.

> 4) Gnome is mostly a European and US based project, but seems to have
> some following in Latin America and India. How will you as a candidate
> grow the contribution base, especially in Asia, Africa and South America?
> (olafura from gnomedesktop.org)
> Or in general what would you do to increase community participation in the
> GNOME community and GNOME elections?

I can't directly grow the user base in Asia, Africa or South America,
but I feel we as humans have common interests as users and developers. I
am involved in the WSIS process, and during the GUADEC' s I have learned
that though there may be national or regional, social and/or cultural
differences, we can exchange solutions. Some are good forming
communities, others are good at sharing both technical and
administrative knowledge. We should share our experiences with each
other. 

Sharing experiences is important. Helping others brings pleasure and new
friends and more knowledge is a very important and positive "side
effect".

> 5) The board meets for one hour every two weeks to discuss a handful of
> issues.  Thus, it is very important that the board can very quickly and
> concisely discuss each topic and come to consensus on each item for
> discussion. Are you good at working with others, who sometimes have very
> differing opinions than you do, to reach consensus and agree on actions?
> How flexible is your time; can you dedicate extra time one week and
> less the next?

As a GUADEC planner I feel confident in this way of working. I can
pretty much plan my time and I am ready to give the board work the
necessary priority.

> 6) Do you consider yourself diplomatic?  Would you make a good
> representative for the GNOME Foundation to the Membership, media, public,
> and organizations and corporations the GNOME Foundation works with?

In my candidacy letter I mentioned by background, and professional
experiences and that I have a profound experience in these areas. I have
been a board member in a wide range of organizations, both payed and NGO
(FLOSS related).

> 7) What do you see as current threats to the future of a complete Free
> Software desktop? And what would you like the GNOME Foundation to be doing
> to address these issues?

I think that in the near future we will see all kinds of applications
living side by side. It is important that we do not let the opportunity
to influence governments pass by. I Europe and the USA there has been
much talk about Open Source friendly regulations. Such as demanding that
open document standards becomes part of the decision making process and
gets included in public procurement.

The reason this is important is not only because it regulates how
government should work, but the enormous publicity any government debate
creates. This is something that the GNOME community can use as a
starting point for a public awareness campaign. An example is how the
Mozilla project has been in the national television news on several
occasions in the Scandinavian countries.

> 8) What one problem could you hope to solve this year?

That GNOME is respected and can become even more of an example to others
to follow and that the GNOME community regains its self-confidence and
pride. That our members feel proud, shows it, and bring there friends
along.

> 9) Please rank your interests:
> 	a. GNOME evangelizing to government, enterprise, small
> 	   business, and individuals
> 	b. GNOME marketing and merchandising of branded items
> 	   nationally and internationally
> 	c. GNOME legal issues like copyright and patents
> 	d. GNOME finances and fund raising
> 	e. Alliance with other organizations.

Personally I find all these points very important along with:
 
 f.free competition, 
 g.free choice of one's favourite software applications 
 h.free and open standards and file formats
 i.free software to become a national issue to consider
   in standard contracts and in public procurement

> 10) One of the ingredient for success in Free Software project such as GNOME
> is committed and dedicated memberships. How would you propose to promote new
> membership, and encourage commitment of existing membership to make the
> GNOME desktop the desktop of choice? [ Hints: the number of Foundation
> members have reduced from 460 in 2001 to approximately 300 in 2002 ]
> (this question is taken from questions of year 2002. I wanted to include
> this because our member count is around 350 today)

I want our community to grow in all parts of the world and that we
become a community open to everyone. We have left some very clear foot
prints in the USA and in Europe and a few other places are coming
strongly, but we have not yet left marks in the developing countries
which I think that we should do. 

I feel that the GNOME desktop and Free and Open Source Software as
development aid is a theme that I would like to see on our agenda very
soon at our next conferences.

Several GNOME members have shown that South America and Asia are ready,
we should keep putting energy into these efforts and give them our
support.

Offering all access to the information society will make us all in the
global society richer in the end. 


> 11) (only to those who are running for reelection) Name one of your
> accomplishments. And we were told that the board in the last years had
> huge problems being pro-active. Any issue which was slightly contentious
> had an opposition in the board. As a consequence there was no resolution.
> How do you intend to behave differently this year to avoid a repetition of
> that problem.


Kind regards

Anne
-- 
Anne Østergaard <anne oestergaard nu>