> Date: Sat, 2 Aug 2008 18:18:41 -0400 > From: "Arc Riley" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
<snip> > I don't think it'd be helpful to merge the SIG as a cross-distro group, any > more than it'd be helpful to merge RubySIG and PySIG into a generic > Programmers SIG. Yes, some of the topics between the groups are generic, > but most are not. Actually, the Ruby SIG has taken up topics on languages other than Ruby (i.e. Python) and has, very generally speaking, opened itself up to being more a "general scripting lanugages" SIG. (Almost a direct quote of one of it's members, spoken at a recent Ruby SIG meeting.) > As the members of such a SIG are regular users, not "activists", an outreach > component included in it's purpose is misplaced. I think I see where we're misunderstanding eachother here.... It sounds like you're intepreting me to mean that all the "new users" would be members of COSIG. That's not what I intended to mean. The idea I meant to suggest was: (1) COSIG would be composed of activists/support personel (2) these activists/supporters would hold promotion/support events (3) "new users" would attend the support events This is not to suggest that "new users" would be attending COSIG organizational meetings (where they would likely be really bored) or be expected to participate in outreach events as new users. I don't see the "new users" actually *joining* COSIG until either they want to spread the word about FOSS, or are both willing and able to help other new users adapt to it. I hope that's clearer. Of course, my ideas are far from (time to choose an adjective... making sure it's PC... OK.) infallible. If anyone thinks they have a better way of structuring this, I'm all ears. > I'm not saying that GNHLUG shouldn't be involved in > activism/outreach, just that it doesn't need a SIG (much less > included in this one). I disagree, quite strongly, with that idea. There are people in GNHLUG who want to promote Linux. Unfortunately, they're geographically quite spread out. Locally, there aren't likely to be enough Linux advocates in a given geographical area to become a serious force. Because interest in advocacy in NH is so sparse, those interested have to be gathered from all corners of GNHLUG. In the past, the GNHLUG mailing lists have been used to organize events such as Hosstraders/Nearfest. Unfortunately, that tends to lead to a very event-oriented approach in which the idea of outreach can very easily get lost. (When the event is over, the outreach is over.) What I envision COSIG to be (again, others chime in with YOUR ideas) would be a state-wide effort with a dedicated purpose to promote and support Linux. _______________________________________________ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
