[board-discuss] Re: [tdf-members] Questions for the candidates to the board of directors of the Document Foundation
Here are my responses to the 7 questions: *1. Do you commit yourself to have enough time and the necessary technological tools in order to participate to the regularly scheduled board calls?* Yes, I'm used to have international meetings on a regular basis. In particular I have managed the International Conference on Computational Science and Its Applications (http://www.iccsa.org) since 2004, and participated to International/European Initiatives (EGEE/EGI European Grid, COST Actions). I reserved the necessary time for attending the calls and participating to the mailing lists activities. 2.* Do you commit yourself to follow up and work on (at least) the main items and actions you have volunteered to oversee or that have been attributed to you by the board?* Yes. I am strongly committed on honouring the duties the board will assign, if elected. In my life, in several occasions I have carried out hard tasks as a volunteer and I have sacrificed for a project simply because I believed in its core values and its usefulness to the community. LibreOffice is the most important project in my life. 3. *What are your views on the foundation's budget? How should the money be spent, besides our fixed costs? * I think the money have to be spent: 1. To pay the professional developers who are working full time or part time for the project. 2. To launch and finance projects which will strengthen LibreOffice and make it even more competitive and attractive. 3. To reward the active members on their activities related to TDF (LibO Conf, International meetings and events, etc) 4. To support people and local communities running events that will increase the LibreOffice visibility among users. 5. To coordinate the users' activities and the local communities, which are contributing significantly to the LibreOffice growth, thanks to the coordination and the facilitation of the migration process they are carrying on. 4. *Should we work towards broadening our pool of contributors, both technical and non-technical?* Yes, definitely. A broader community, made by people active in the various roles: development, Q and User support, localization, migration, is fundamental in order to facilitate the LibreOffice success among the users. In particular, being employee of a University, I want to contribute making LibreOffice more and more popular among students, teachers, employees. I want to increase the project popularity also for the employees of all Public Administrations. As President of the Open Source Competence Center of the Umbria Region from 2007 to 2013, I coordinated several actions in favour of the Open Source in general and of LibreOffice in particular, inspiring the LibreUmbria Project. This project is still a headlight for the Italian Community and for Italian Public Administrations. I co-founded LibreItalia and launched several training courses on LibreOffice in primary and secondary schools, signing several agreements with schools and with the Italian Ministry of Education. I'm also involved in the supporting activities for the Italian Army migration (150.000 PCs to migrate) and the supporting documentation developed by LibreUmbria and LibreItalia is still the base on which to build the new documentation necessary for a so important migration (second in Europe, largest in Italy). 5. *Should the Foundation -as an entity distinct from the LibreOffice project or the Document Liberation project- engage into growing its influence and promoting and defending Free Software and Digital Freedom? It is, after all, an integral part of its mission per its very Statutes. If yes, do you have ideas on what should be done about this? * Yes, I think TDF has a strong vocation to be the headlight at the worldwide level in favour of Free Software and Digital Freedom, being the most important and fascinating success story of the last six years and for its intrinsic strength, in cooperation with Free Software Foundation and other organizations sharing the same aim. I think the success story of the British Government and its commitment in favour of Open Formats and Open Data has to be considered as reference for similar actions to be carry on worldwide. 6. *How do you view your (potential) role as a member of the board of directors, given that this position does not give you any specific functional role inside the LibreOffice or Document Liberation projects?* As member of the Board of Directors, if elected, I will be in charged, representing the community, to take the right decisions, contributing with new ideas. I think that the community may growth and LibreOffice may evolve and become always a better software suite, if the Board is able to harmonize the various souls and tendencies and take the right and prompt decisions. 7.* What is the biggest problem of the foundation in your opinion? What is its biggest opportunity?* I think the biggest problem of the foundation is the financing scheme, since even if till now the users have
Re: [board-discuss] Candidacies to the BoD elections so far
Hi Daniel, Le 26/11/2015 00:27, Daniel A. Rodriguez a écrit : >> Hi Daniel, >> >> Am 25.11.2015 um 22:00 schrieb Daniel A. Rodriguez: >>> >>> I just thought that is nice to see some faces >>> >>> http://s9.postimg.org/ur0iv0zxb/TDF_Board_Candidates.png >>> >>> >>> sorry for the missing picture by the way >> >> >> You've forgotten Joel and Andreas. > > Joel was there already > Now I've added Andreas and Simon > > Bitmap > https://owncloud.documentfoundation.org/public.php?service=files=38ba3c67a1100b50ba395f7c79a0a082 > > Source > https://owncloud.documentfoundation.org/public.php?service=files=3f866658a78efcd0a1ac92dd10f9e1d1 It's a great idea, thanks a lot for that! Cheers Sophie -- Sophie Gautier sophie.gaut...@documentfoundation.org GSM: +33683901545 IRC: sophi Co-founder - Release coordinator The Document Foundation -- To unsubscribe e-mail to: board-discuss+unsubscr...@documentfoundation.org Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: http://listarchives.documentfoundation.org/www/board-discuss/ All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted
[board-discuss] Candidacy for BoD election: Eike Rathke
Hello dear members, I'm currently a Deputy of the Board of Directors of The Document Foundation and I candidate again for another term on the board. My name is Eike Rathke, I live in Hamburg, Germany, and I work full time on LibreOffice, employed by Red Hat, Inc. Being a code developer (or hacker by heart..) I'm mainly engaged in the areas of the Calc spreadsheet core engine, internationalization and locale data; some may know my nick erAck on IRC. I have been active in the LibreOffice project since 2011 and was in the TDF Membership Committee from 2012 to 2013, and from 2013 to 2015 a Deputy of the Board of Directors. My traces with the code and project go back to the very beginning of OOo when I was with Sun Microsystems and even earlier when I worked for Star Division on StarOffice. I'm also an ardent supporter of Free Software in general. In the TDF board I see my responsibility to continue the excellent work the board has achieved so far and further grow the foundation and support its purposes and provide LibreOffice the home it deserves as a project, code base and community of different cultures. Speaking of cultures, I hope the board will represent a balanced mix of aspects of the LibreOffice project, not only across regions but also across different activity fields such as engineering, design, quality assurance, marketing and administration. This to ensure that the foundation and its projects are seen as a place of professionalism worth to invest in and work with. Full name: Eike Rathke Email address: er...@redhat.com Corporate affiliation: Red Hat, Inc. ~75 words candidacy text: I, Eike Rathke, candidate for a seat on the Board of Directors of The Document Foundation. I am a LibreOffice core code contributor, working full time on the code base employed by Red Hat, Inc. I have been around with the project and TDF since 2011. I want TDF to grow and continue to be a prosperous community that creates and maintains the framework and conditions for a successful LibreOffice development in all its aspects. Regards Eike -- GPG key "ID" 0x65632D3A - 2265 D7F3 A7B0 95CC 3918 630B 6A6C D5B7 6563 2D3A Better use 64-bit 0x6A6CD5B765632D3A here is why: https://evil32.com/ Eike Rathke, Deputy of the Board of Directors The Document Foundation, Kurfürstendamm 188, 10707 Berlin, Germany Gemeinnützige rechtsfähige Stiftung des bürgerlichen Rechts Legal details: http://www.documentfoundation.org/imprint signature.asc Description: PGP signature
[board-discuss] Re: Candidacy
I suppose I forgot the 75 word candidate statement: "I view the job of the Board of Directors as one of creating an ecosystem where those who want to get work done are given the chance to do so. I believe the Board should remove barriers and invest in tools that will help the ecosystem thrive. I believe that each one of our contributors should be respected. Finally, I believe in transparency in the decisions we make, and always encouraging member feedback." Best, Joel P.S. I am currently swamped but will be addressing the questions posted by Charles as soon as possibly - likely some time next week. On 11/24/2015 11:33 AM, Joel Madero wrote: > Dear Members, > > I have been honored to serve nearly two years as a Director of TDF and > will be seeking another two year term. > > I've been a volunteer for the project since late 2011, early 2012. I > began my journey into the project as a relatively early member of the > Quality Assurance team. There I found a home and colleagues who embraced > me, showed me the ropes, and encouraged me to take on more > responsibility within the project as time passed. Due to this > encouragement and camaraderie, I see it as my responsibility to pass on > the skills that I've learned, to encourage others to take on more > responsibility, and to encourage an overall community feeling. In the > early days of Quality Assurance I remember a number of very talented > individuals largely working individually - today we have a thriving > community, a busy chat, and a friendly environment for new comers with > any background. > > Today, as a member of the BoD, much of my time goes to oversight of > multiple projects (QA, Marketing, Documentation, Certification) but I > still try to find time to work within QA and make sure that I'm giving > my time where it is needed most. As a member of the Board I was quite > involved in the Android tender which led to the release of the Android > based editor, encouraged and was involved with hiring a Quality > Assurance Contractor, involved in several other tenders, the new grant > request available to members to request funds from the Foundation, and a > list of other things. > > My main mission is to create an environment where contributors thrive. > It's that simple. I believe in funding tools that are requested, in > encouraging and actively participating in our community to ensure that > new comers feel welcome, and in thinking about "how can we do better." > > I am unaffiliated, that is, I do not work for a company doing business > on or around LibreOffice. In fact, I think I bring a unique perspective > as I have no formal background in software at all, nor do I work in the > industry. Instead, my background is in US Law, I will be taking the > California BAR exam next July and will be a practicing attorney > (crossing fingers) by August of next year. Given my background (both my > location and my professional expertise) and my proven dedication over > the years to building a strong community, I believe I am in a good > position to continue representing the interest of you (our wonderful > members). > > My goals moving forward: > + Continue to help QA as much as feasible; > > + I would like to get more involved with Documentation, to help the > process of building long term goals and listen for feedback about what > tools would help move us forward; > > + Education - I'd like to see some movement in education, in particular > in the United States, for getting fresh blood in the project. I've said > this publicly before but I do believe that there is a big opportunity to > build a community within higher ed in the US; > > + UX - I've been thrilled to see the UX/Design team make huge strides, > I'll be reaching out to their team asking them how the BoD can continue > what those "doers" have been doing over the past few months; > > + Blog/Transparency: This has been an ongoing issue with myself and > unfortunately, I did not get there this year. I hope to write more blogs > and help members approach the BoD with questions/concerns/etc... with > regards to transparency and decision making generally. > > I'm happy to field questions if any of you have some. I can be contacted > at this email or on IRC at #libreoffice-qa (jmadero). > > > Warmest Regards, > Joel Madero > -- Joel Madero, Member of the Board of Directors GPG Key ID: 0x8FFB1B14 - EE32 6D0F 81FF 6FAC 5AD8 10E4 0141 27C6 8FFB 1B14 The Document Foundation, Kurfürstendamm 188, 10707 Berlin, DE Gemeinnützige rechtsfähige Stiftung des bürgerlichen Rechts Legal details: http://www.documentfoundation.org/imprint -- To unsubscribe e-mail to: board-discuss+unsubscr...@documentfoundation.org Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: http://listarchives.documentfoundation.org/www/board-discuss/ All messages sent to this list will be publicly
[board-discuss] Candidacy for the Board of Directors
Dear members of the Board of Trustees I am Eliane Domingos de Sousa, 42, Brazilian member of The Document Foundation and currently member of the Board of Directors. I run for re-election. I have my small company that does services around LibreOffice technology and ecosystem. My company also deals with other open source technologies. I teach classes on LibreOffice and my associates do consulting in LibreOffice for my customers. What have I done for LibreOffice In the last couple of years I acted as member of the BoD of TDF, but I am involved with LibreOffice and TDF since the beginning. I employed all the means I had to develop the use and the brand of LibreOffice in Brazil. Since 2011 I managed to run social networks around LibreOffice. In Brazil, and with the help of the community we have Google Plus, FaceBook, Youtube and Twitter dedicated to LibreOffice and in Portuguese. Links for social networks: https://www.facebook.com/libreofficebr [3] | https://twitter.com/libreofficebr [4] | https://www.youtube.com/libreofficebrasil [5] | https://plus.google.com/50711502630826613 [6] LibreOffice Magazine is one of the achievements I am proud to be the main editor and diagrammer. This bi-monthy e-magazine is completely done in LibreOffice and is covers all aspects of the LibreOffice community, including how-to's, case studies, interviews and also on FOSS. In december, its 18th edition will be released. Link for magazines: http://pt-br.libreoffice.org/projetos/revista [7] I also participated in almost every open source business event in Brazil, either sponsored by the private industry as well as from the government, representing LibreOffice and The Document Foundation. In the last 5 years, I gave lectures on LO in events, schools, I participated in round tables and workshops, and managed LibreOffice booths in almost 45 business events in Brazil. I also manage and publish news in the Brazilian LibreOffice blog, as well as our pt-BR portal. Many of you have already seen all the graphic designs I did for the blog posts as well as the social networks I manage with the community. Link for blog: http://blog.pt-br.libreoffice.org/ [8] What I intend to achieve in the Board Of Directors. The BoD position is an important position for the community. I intend to be an active voice of the community inside the Board. A careful mix between non-developers and developers in the board is important to bring TDF close to its users and supporters. So, this is what I do for the project in Brazil. I have an enormous passion for the project, an enormous pride to be part of TDF and I'll try to do my best. I'm available to answer any questions. 75-words version: My name is Eliane Domingos de Sousa, 42. I am currently member of the Board and of the Brazilian community since 2010. I am a free software entrepreneur and activist in Brazil, and also editor of the LibreOffice Magazine. In the TDF Board I want to be the voice of the community and bring TDF closer to LibreOffice users and advocates. I also think TDF is in the crossway to address its growth and its institutional challenges, which is a healthy business ecosystem to enhance LibreOffice adoption worldwide. Best -- Eliane Domingos de Sousa, Deputy Chairman of the Board Tel: +55 2509-1609 | Mobile: +55 9 9837-6149 The Document Foundation, Kurfürstendamm 188, 10707 Berlin, DE Gemeinnützige rechtsfähige Stiftung des bürgerlichen Rechts Legal details: http://www.documentfoundation.org/imprint LibreOffice é a súite office livre que mais cresce no mundo. Baixe já: http://pt-br.libreoffice.org -- To unsubscribe e-mail to: board-discuss+unsubscr...@documentfoundation.org Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: http://listarchives.documentfoundation.org/www/board-discuss/ All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted
Re: [board-discuss] Questions for the candidates to the board of directors of the Document Foundation
Hi, To answer Charles' questions: On Monday, 2015-11-02 17:38:59 +0100, Charles-H. Schulz wrote: > 1. Do you commit yourself to have enough time and the necessary > technological tools in order to participate to the regularly scheduled board > calls? Yes. > 2. Do you commit yourself to follow up and work on (at least) the main items > and actions you have volunteered to oversee or that have been attributed to > you by the board? Yes. > 3. What are your views on the foundation's budget? How should the money be > spent, besides our fixed costs? * infrastructure TDF provides to run website, wiki, repository, gerrit and other services (including people to improve and keep it running); well, these are fixed costs.. * marketing to spread the word and encourage use of and migrations to LibreOffice and attract contributors * employ people for core duty tasks, i.e. administration, mentoring leads * regional events (hackfests, small conferences) for community building and attracting new contributors * decide on grant requests (TDF introduced a process this year) * assign budget to specific areas to be developed (tenders, ...) * sponsor LibreOffice conference attendees' travel costs > 4. Should we work towards broadening our pool of contributors, both > technical and non-technical? Yes, of course. > 5. Should the Foundation -as an entity distinct from the LibreOffice project > or the Document Liberation project- engage into growing its influence and > promoting and defending Free Software and Digital Freedom? It is, after all, > an integral part of its mission per its very Statutes. If yes, do you have > ideas on what should be done about this? Yes and No. TDF should grow presence and influence and have agreements or friendship with organizations who are active in these fields, and of course by providing a home for collaboration for those who contribute to the software TDF projects develop. This includes promotion of Free Software and Digital Freedom in general, but I don't see TDF in a position to defend these freedoms by getting actively involved into politics or legal affairs. There are other organizations that are much more effective on these grounds. > 6. How do you view your (potential) role as a member of the board of > directors, given that this position does not give you any specific > functional role inside the LibreOffice or Document Liberation projects? I do have a functional role in LibreOffice anyway ;-) The role of the members of the board of directors is to oversee the foundation and its projects and drive things into a direction that makes projects attractive and help them grow. > 7. What is the biggest problem of the foundation in your opinion? What is > its biggest opportunity? I actually couldn't name "the biggest problem". One challenge is to wisely spend the money donated to TDF with a perspective on the future of two years to have a stable ground on which TDF can operate. One opportunity in my opinion is to develop and strengthen the position of TDF and Free Software and LibreOffice in countries where we are not much present yet. Eike -- GPG key "ID" 0x65632D3A - 2265 D7F3 A7B0 95CC 3918 630B 6A6C D5B7 6563 2D3A Better use 64-bit 0x6A6CD5B765632D3A here is why: https://evil32.com/ Eike Rathke, Deputy of the Board of Directors The Document Foundation, Kurfürstendamm 188, 10707 Berlin, Germany Gemeinnützige rechtsfähige Stiftung des bürgerlichen Rechts Legal details: http://www.documentfoundation.org/imprint signature.asc Description: PGP signature
Re: [board-discuss] Candidacies to the BoD elections so far
> Hi Daniel, > Le 26/11/2015 00:27, Daniel A. Rodriguez a écrit : >>> Hi Daniel, >>> >>> Am 25.11.2015 um 22:00 schrieb Daniel A. Rodriguez: I just thought that is nice to see some faces http://s9.postimg.org/ur0iv0zxb/TDF_Board_Candidates.png sorry for the missing picture by the way >>> >>> >>> You've forgotten Joel and Andreas. >> >> Joel was there already >> Now I've added Andreas and Simon >> >> Bitmap >> https://owncloud.documentfoundation.org/public.php?service=files=38ba3c67a1100b50ba395f7c79a0a082 >> >> Source >> https://owncloud.documentfoundation.org/public.php?service=files=3f866658a78efcd0a1ac92dd10f9e1d1 > > It's a great idea, thanks a lot for that! > Cheers > Sophie I've updated it with the latest candidacies Comunidad LibreOffice Argentina www.libreoffice.org.ar https://telegram.me/daniel_rodriguez -- To unsubscribe e-mail to: board-discuss+unsubscr...@documentfoundation.org Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: http://listarchives.documentfoundation.org/www/board-discuss/ All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted
Re: [board-discuss] Fwd: Questions for the candidates to the board of directors of the Document Foundation
Hi Charles, dear Community, below my answers to the MC questions: > 1. Do you commit yourself to have enough time and the necessary > technological tools in order to participate to the regularly scheduled > board calls? > Yes. > 2. Do you commit yourself to follow up and work on (at least) the main > items and actions you have volunteered to oversee or that have been > attributed to you by the board? > Yes, absolutely. > 3. What are your views on the foundation's budget? How should the money > be spent, besides our fixed costs? > The foundation has an articulated, specific mission [1]: - to eliminate the digital divide in society by giving everyone access to office productivity tools free of charge to enable them to participate as full citizens in the 21st century the ownership of office productivity tools by monopoly suppliers which imposes a de facto tax on global electronic free speech and penalises the economically disadvantaged - to support the preservation of mother tongues by encouraging all peoples to translate, document, support, and promote our office productivity tools in their mother tongue the creeping domination of computer desktops by a single language forcing people to learn a foreign language before they can express themselves electronically - to allow users of office productivity software to retain the intellectual property in the documents they create by use of open document formats and open standards the ownership of file formats by proprietary software companies – documents belong to their creators, not software vendors - to an open and transparent peer-reviewed software development process where technical excellence is valued So personally, my decision making tends to be guided by those broad ideas, with a clear preference (when given the option) to attract contribution, make working for LibreOffice or the Document Liberation Project more effective & fun, and generally have every Euro of donation money spent (into tools, mentoring people, outreach & marketing) return tens of Euro worth of enabled volunteer time. > 4. Should we work towards broadening our pool of contributors, both > technical and non-technical? > A resounding yes! > 5. Should the Foundation -as an entity distinct from the LibreOffice > project or the Document Liberation project- engage into growing its > influence and promoting and defending Free Software and Digital Freedom? > It is, after all, an integral part of its mission per its very Statutes. > If yes, do you have ideas on what should be done about this? > It is in TDF's self-interest to continue promoting and defending Free Software and Digital Freedom. The most natural way for us to do that is to keep LibreOffice successful, growing, and fun. At this stage, I think there are other organisations much better positioned to do generic FLOSS & Digital Freedom advocacy, so I don't believe we should divert focus (and resources) too far away from LibreOffice & DLP. This is not to say we shouldn't raise our voice to support those fighting for that in public, nor missing opportunities to share our vision in the political arena. > 6. How do you view your (potential) role as a member of the board of > directors, given that this position does not give you any specific > functional role inside the LibreOffice or Document Liberation projects? > In the board - I'd like to make things running smoothly in the background, for others to do their work & have fun. I have some idea what that entails. ;) > 7. What is the biggest problem of the foundation in your opinion? What > is its biggest opportunity? > I don't think TDF currently has any particularly nasty problems, which ironically might be its biggest problem - becoming too complacent, leaning back, and to stop improving would be a terrible thing. TDF's biggest opportunity is the fact that we're at the center (jointly with a few other large FLOSS foundations) of a sea change in the software industry - opensource has won & became the norm, and it's moving up the software stack, from compilers, to operating systems, to complex userspace applications. If we play this right, there's no reason why our software in the end shouldn't be as portable, and pervasively used, as e.g. the Linux kernel. [1] https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/TDF/Next_Decade_Manifesto All the best, -- Thorsten signature.asc Description: Digital signature
