Re: [GNOME-India] Building a community

[Sriram Ramkrishna <sri ramkrishna me>]

On Sat, Aug 30, 2014 at 10:48 AM, Arun Raghavan <arun accosted net> wrote:
> Hi Sriram,
>
> On 30 Aug 2014 22:51, "Sriram Ramkrishna" <sri ramkrishna me> wrote:
> > Hey folks!  I thought I would send a welcome email, and start a thread
> > on how to build an active community in India.
> >
> > As a start, let's try to agree upon the goals.  Part of this
> > incorporates our mission, spreading Free Software.
> >
> > * Foster greater acceptance of Free Software in all sectors
> > * Creating a dynamic and enthusiastic GNOME community across India
> > that is open to everyone regardless of background, gender, culture,
> > and sexual identity
> >
> > I didn't put anything in marketing GNOME.  If we achieve the second
> > objective, we get that for free, I think.  I'm more interested in
> > people and community and generating enthusiasm.  I want to build
> > momentum.
>
> Thanks for kicking this off. I've been thinking a bit about how we can get
> get the GNOME community in India active again these last few days, so great
> timing. :-)

After GUADEC, we had some discussions about this and I had mentioned
there was no activity on this list since last year.  So, I'm really
eager to get something going.  I've been experimenting myself with
participating using meetup.com and I've had a suprisingly good
response to people who are interested in free software and in GNOME.
It isn't GNOME itself, it is attaching oneself to a cause that is
bigger than them, and being part of a community.  That's why it is so
important to have an open, welcoming community.

So I want to focus not only on hackfests, but also social events as
well.  Where we talk about Free Software, GNOME, and various other
things that I think makes people want to join our community.  I don't
want to make it completely based on technology because not everyone is
interested in that.  I don't want just programmers, I want people who
have a range of interests and skillsets that we can take advantage of.

> I think what would be nice, and relatively easy to do, is a small GNOME
> hackfest. Nothing too formal or elaborate, but a place where the local
> developer and user community can get together and plot world dom^W^W^W just
> hang out. Maybe pick up some ideas or bugs to hack on / discuss while we're
> there. Could probably pick a weekend or so in November/December.

That is a great idea!  Let me ask you this, who will that attract?
Just curious.  Secondly, what about infilitrating existing
communities?  Do we have social events for other movements that share
same cultural values?

> Any takers? I think it makes sense to decide where based on where the
> majority of interested participants are. I'm based in Bangalore, fwiw.

Good stuff.  I obviously cannot participate, but let's create some leaders! :)

sri

> Cheers,
> Arun
>
>
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