Hi again, Jordi. :) Sorry, this will be another long email. :( En/na Jordi Mas ha escrit: > I just learnt about this Vilanova thing today. I have not been very good > at following my mail lately, but that was the first news I got. I'll try to explain why the Vilanova thing could happen without your knowledge and the knowledge of the local community. It will take me some extra lines but I think there are good lessons for future GUADEC organisers here. - 'The local community' widely supported the candidature back in last winter/spring - http://guadec.rinho.net/suports.php - From all these people and organisations few dozens subscribed to the local coordination mailing list (that one we had at interactors.coop). - From all the subscribers just a few participated actively in the list after the presentation of the candidature an its approval. I almost can remember who was it: Carlos González, Andreu Ibáñez, Jordi Mas, Quim Gil... who else? - From all the subscribers... how many moved to guadec-list when at a GNOME level it was decided to integrate the local community in this official list? No idea. I always have thought that the fact of moving to an English-based list would not help increase the local participation because the percentage of possible local volunteers with a good level of English (good enough to dicuss writing in an international mailing list) is low. And whle being fluent in English is important to become a perfect GUADEC volunteer, it is not a requirement to become a very useful volunteer. Specially if you are focusing in the Local Workshops or the GUADEC-ES, or if you are part of a team concentrated in local tasks that has a coordinator dealing in English with the GUADEC comittee. Anyway. - From the active participants actually only Carlos, Jordi and me followed actively and noticeably the day to day process during summer and autumn. - But Carlos was busy and basically trusted me dealing with the day to day issues and the dialog with the GNOME Foundation. You were also busy and at some point you told to Carlos and me that your involvement in GUADEDC would be affected by <your reasons>. - Myself was busy. I also had other projects and deadlines, and a need to earn my salary. But I was the last visible local survivor in this quest. On that time we were rying to hire that local coordinator, but Carlos would not hire her until the situation with the IGC and the GNOME Foundation was clear. - This conjunction of factors made me think of converting the GUADEC coordination in my part-time job for the following months. It was a hard decision, a very interesting project but at the same tame the leave from interactors. I took the job and I started again doing my best to bring GUADEC at the best possible scenario. - Could I had managed this crisis in conjunction with the local community? Yes and no. Yes because, as you say, the local community has the right to decide in such issues. No because, as I've explained, there were not other representatives of the community in the private channels where this issue was discussed. Now we can remember how many times I asked the local people to be active in guadec-list. How many times I asked for feedback and participation in the planning process held mainly in this public list last summer. How many times I specifically asked Jordi and Carlos whether they were already subscribed to guadec-planning (back in july-august already). I would have asked the same to any regular local contributor that would have appeared, but silent trust or simply consenting silence was the answer most of the times. I hope you understand there was a requirement of confidentiality in this issue. GUADEC7 affects to the local community, yes, but the GUADEC is owned primarly by the GNOME Foundation and rumours of crisis, need to find new locations without having yet the alternatives, etc, would not have helped the GUADEC's reputation, nor GNOME's. Only guadec-planning and the board knew about the crisis while was happening. Other GNOME teams and membershio could complain as well... IMHO these were the appropriate channels to deal with a delicate situation like this. IMHO the local team failed not being still a local team at that stage, three months after the nomination of GUADEC7 BCN And therefore failed not being enough represented in the confidential channels that are part intrinsecal of the GUADEC organisation. I kept CCed Carlos because he was representing the main GUADEC institutional supporter (the STSI). I only CCed you in some of the mails because I thought a) you were subscribed to guadec-planning and even when you were silent in this list the mails would fall somewhere in your mailbox and b) I thought your silence was related to <your reasons>, as you had warned. I didn't want to bother you, I was busy enough dealing with GUADEC's crisis and changing my own job, I could have CCed you when Carlos and me first talked about the Vilanova alternative around Nov 10th-15th... but you see the whole bunch of factors, coincidences and misinterpretations. Sorry about that. I have tried to do my best. I still think Vilanova is the best alternative we could and currently can achieve. But I may be wrong, so let's continue. > What's the > problem using the very large facilities that UPC also has in Barcelona > city? I'll call Carlos and I will come up with more information ASAP. I won't close the door to yet another move back to Barcelona BUT we need to consider that a) Vilanova and the STSI have already got conversations and they have a planned meeting for Monday 12th (in working days is is literally tomorrow, because you know that next week is something like pre-Christmas holidays in Catalonia/Spain) and b) that the GUADEC vet organisers and the GNOME Foundation board may think this local team is anything but serious (I think we are serious, this is why I'm posting this message openly in this list). > IMHO, changing the location of the event and also changing the city also > are really major decisions for any GUADEC that should be checked with > the community. As said, I fully agree on this. But "the community" also has a responsibility on this. If the community wants to decide in key organisational aspects like these in a crisis quick response time, it needs to be prepared and organised for that and for following the principles and procedures of the GNOME Foundaton, which at the very end owns and is the main responsible of the GUADEC. If only this meeting on Dec 12th would have happen on Sep 12th or Oct 12th or even Nov 12th... things would have been really different now. I have my part the responsibility in this dely. I assume it and will learn from it. The rest of people involved may take notes too. :) > Where ever is finally done, I'll going to help as much as I can. Then please answer my email from the last week where I was asking for the level of participation you want to assume. :) If it's going to be regular and qualitative please subscribe d'una vegada :) :) to guadec-planning. Other locals wanting to collaborate, please do start by being regular contributors in this list. This is a free software related project and has a typical free software development dynamic: you get to the team if you participate in the team, you get to the core if you request it and the core accepts you. You know the drill. Abd now let me write some words in my well managed local language to make sure the locals get my message as a want to explain it, with a smile, a respect and a will to find the best solutions, and not as a rant or something based on strong feelings: Jordi and companyia, espero haver-me explicat. No em tanco en banda ni pretenc abusar de la situació de poder decisori en la que poc a poc m'he vist ficat. Sóc el primer que té ganes de treballar en equip, de forma oberta, descentralitzada i transparent. Penso que he donat mostres de voler treballar d'aquesta manera, molt més gratificant i segura que la de maniobrar en la quasi-solitud dels darrers mesos. Tot i que anem tard no és massa tard com per a no poder redreçar la situació. Però ja veieu que això de la GUADEC no és cap joc ni cap xou, i si per les bones no hem estat capaços d'organitzar-nos bé, el mínim que hauríem de saber treure d'aquesta crisi és un primer esquema consolidat d'organització, ni que hagi estat per les dolentes. Una abraçada a tots, un agraïment pel marcatge i una disculpa als que s'an afegit a aquesta història més recentment i ni tant sols va tenir opció de participar mesos enrera. Seguim. -- Quim Gil - http://desdeamericaconamor.org
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