Re: [gugmasters] How to open Gnome Malaysia Usergroup



On 01/26/2011 11:02 AM, Mohd Fazli Azran wrote:
[...]
Yep. We know in not good for us if the community keep having war but now
community are on sleep mode. I need to poke them all and create hype to
wake of all them.

[...]
Yes, we need GNOME, GNU, FSF or other related organisation to help us to
build good communication and keep the relationship. Although your word
some of it sound like indonesian :). Thank to you all

Dear Mohd (hope that's the right way to address you),

I'm just reacting to those 2 statements of yours within the context of that long exchange we've had.

I have been running and involved in user groups for quite some time and here is what I can offer as an advice:

1. you need to inspire your community, not create hype

2. getting businesses seems to be a major focus of yours, however businesses compete, they do not collaborate well in general. Inspired people on the contrary share ideology and do things beyond money and companies interests, because they believe it's the right thing to do and they have fun doing it. This is why it's called a user group, and not a business group.

3. you do not need GNOME, GNU, FSF: you can chose to be part of those communities and do what you believe should be done. A community is a flat organization where everyone is at the same level. We all do what we can at our level, and I would recommend you to do the same. This is the best way to strengthen the GNOME community. At this stage I wonder what else you need?

4. Getting involved in building a user group is easy (almost), you already have all the needed pointers: now you should lay out a plan and act upon it. From my experience a user group tends to cost time and money to its organizers, which seems to be what you lack of.

5. Having so many FOSS projects under one umbrella might not be the best way to attract volunteers and contributors: I would personally doubt about the focus of such an organization and be afraid to come to learn about GNOME and be told about ...Drupal.

6. What I've learned in my years as a contributor in the Free Software communities: when you want something to happen you need to start yourself and show the way, rather than expect people to do the work for you. People will usually have a different perspective and other opinions on how to execute. As a community leader your role is often to start and help combine all those energies towards a good direction for the project (not necessarily what you initially envisioned).

Those comments are really based on what I have learned and I hope they will benefit you and help you to get started. I have participated, lead and contributed to my local GNU/Linux User Group for years and I'd say it has been a wonderful experience. I've met great people, had fun and did stuff that I felt mattered. I hope you can experience the same as I did, or even more!

Good luck and let us know when you're planning on your first meeting!

Kind regards,

Fred
ps: also do subscribe to the gugmasters-list@ which is where GNOME User Group issues are being discussed.

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