Re: GNOME ASIA 2009 Update

[Sankarshan (সঙ্কর্ষণ) <sankarshan randomink org>]

Hi,

I now think that I should have taken some time out to write this mail
before we started talking about GNOME.Asia09 in India. However, this
is as good a time as any to talk a bit about why we (ie. all the folks
locally in India who having 'doing stuff' towards GNOME.Asia09) found
it important and worthwhile to get involve.

As an event GNOME.Asia is a year old. And, we saw that it started off
good things - there has been a recognition and acceptance of the
event, an anticipation of good things. But most importantly, the event
led to things 'being done'.

And, that is what is what appeals to having GNOME.Asia09 in India. We
do believe that the event lends its form and shape to the local needs
and strategic plans and, allows the organizers to work towards
utilizing GNOME.Asia09 to jumpstart an actual framework to get a
momentum going. When I state that, I am not limiting it to the current
number of contributors to GNOME. For example, a very significant and
active set of 12 contributors, those who contribute and collaborate
Indic localization in the GNOME Translation Project, sit just 10 feet
away from where I am writing this mail from. Add to that the small
groups of folks who do OpenSolaris work at Sun (India), evolution work
at Novell (India) and, a couple of volunteers, we would end up
numbering around 34 folks. But, that isn't where we feel the sweet
spot is.

For a conference like GNOME.Asia09 to be co-located with something
like an Asia Desktop Summit provides a way forward towards a couple of
things. It allows a series of hackfests, workshops, mentoring sessions
to happen till the next GNOME.Asia comes around. It also allows to
form up a structured framework which, when put in place allows an
interaction between users, contributors, developers and business folks
especially startups - all of whom are participants in the process.
And, it allows within reasonable bounds to pull in OEMs, IHVs, ISVs,
Web Technologists, Mobile Space folks who find it important to both
showcase and participate actively in an event that appeals to a wider
audience but wraps it around GNOME as a demonstrated thought leader.

The two important questions that we asked ourselves were:

- are there enough consumers of the GNOME and thematically related
bits in India who, with appropriate involvement could be contributors
and participants

- are there enough innovative business models who would like to get
interested in GNOME and related FOSS technologies to become active
participants rather than passive observers

And, it is a yes to both of them. We believe that the thoughts that we
have had fits in with what the Foundation as a whole has a focus on
and, what is relevant to India. That it helps us build up on the
momentum created a year ago and carry it forward while creating a
working legacy on the local level aimed at being constructive. Thus,
it wouldn't just be a conference but a start-off point for integrated
and collaborated work across various domains which can carry forward
to the next event.

So, we'd like to figure out if the thoughts that were motivating us to
work towards a GNOME.Asia09 in India are something that the
asia-summit-list participants can relate to, or, feel it makes the
event relevant.

Because, post that, if we go ahead all the fun bits come into picture.
So, things like:

- if something requires monies to be paid upfront, how do we access
the $10K that has been earmarked for GNOME.Asia09, what are the
processes to be followed for that

- where do the sponsors transfer their monies to

- how do we come up with the themes and selection criteria for the CfP
to be put out

and, all such administrivia.

~sankarshan

On Tue, Apr 14, 2009 at 10:27 PM, Stormy Peters <stormy gnome org> wrote:
> Hi Alolita,
>
> I think this should go to the GNOME Asia mailing list - I've cc'ed them
> here.
>
> That said, I think we should stick with the branding we've already created
> (GNOME Asia) but I'll let others weigh in. The idea is to grow the GNOME
> community and we can work the theme to try to accomplish that.
>
> Stormy
>
> On Tue, Apr 14, 2009 at 10:54 AM, Alolita Sharma <alolita sharma gmail com>
> wrote:
>>
>> Dear Stormy,
>>
>> Hope things are going well with you!
>>
>> As you know, for the past month Sankarshan, Bob and I have been
>> evaluating options and brainstorming about how GNOME Asia can be
>> executed in India successfully. Here are our observations so far.
>>
>> The GNOME project has a very small community in Asia compared to
>> Europe and the US. Therefore, we have concluded that the GNOME desktop
>> as the primary theme is unlikely to provide as much buzz as we would
>> like in order to maximize value to an Asian audience. In order to pull
>> together a larger and more diverse participation which will perceived
>> as valuable to potential sponsors, we plan to host GNOME ASIA under
>> the auspices of a more broadly themed ASIA DESKTOP SUMMIT. This is
>> like the GranCanaria Desktop Summit where similar messaging is being
>> promoted to pull in larger and more diverse participation.
>>
>> In the Asia Desktop Summit, we plan to have three themes - Desktop,
>> Web and Mobile. The desktop theme will highlight the GNOME desktop.
>> GNOME ASIA will represent the desktop component of the Asia Desktop
>> Summit. The other themes of web and mobile will help reinforce the
>> GNOME desktop but may have non GNOME content also.
>>
>> On the logistics front, we have finalized the venue for October 29-30,
>> 2009. Symbiosis University in Pune has agreed to be the host for the
>> conference. We are also in the process of setting up a local
>> organization that can handle taxation and paperwork for the conference
>> since it is subject to India taxes as it is being held in India. Next
>> steps include soliciting sponsorship, establishing the advisory
>> committee and getting the community involved.
>>
>> We believe that your participation is essential as ED of the GNOME
>> Foundation and also as an open source leader who can help enable
>> change in Asia.
>>
>> Please let us know what your thoughts are. I look forward to your
>> comments and talking with you soon.
>> With best wishes,
>> Alolita
>>
>> --
>> Alolita Sharma
>> Secretary and Board Member
>> Open Source Initiative (OSI)
>
>
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> asia-summit-list gnome org
> http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/asia-summit-list
>
>



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