Re: Starting Chicago Gnome User Group

[Dave Neary <bolsh gnome org>]

Hi,

Sriram Ramkrishna wrote:
> I don't think so.  Nobody has really ever started a user group.

Us Europeans, South Americans and Asians have a bunch of them:
http://live.gnome.org/UserGroups

> Then I start formulating some goals:

I think while all of these are great, they're aiming too high for an
initial group - the French GNOME user group has three essential mandates:
1. Represent GNOME at French language free software conferences
2. Have a French speaking point of contact for journalists & magazines
(more generally: promote GNOME in French speaking countries)
3. Provide support to locals who are interested in getting involved in
promoting or developing GNOME.

Our mail tool is a mailing list, and our activities consist mainly of
helping people on the mailing list, and meeting 4 or 5 times a year at
various conferences in France and Belgium where we represent GNOME.

> Those are some sample objectives off the top of my head.  Later on, you
> could try to create a conference in the tri-state area (Illinois,
> Michigan, Indiana) to promote Linux desktops with our KDE brethren and
> start taking some serious mindshare away from Microsoft.

Aren't there conferences in the mid-west already? There's OLS, of
course, but I'm sure there are conferences in Michigan and Illinois as
well.

Cheers,
Dave.

-- 
Dave Neary
GNOME Foundation member
bolsh gnome org