Ubuntu Wiki

Please check the status of this specification in Launchpad before editing it. If it is Approved, contact the Assignee or another knowledgeable person before making changes.

• Launchpad entry: https://features.launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+spec/forum-ambassadors

• Packages affected:

Summary

This is a placeholder for a discussion about how to improve communication (bugs,ideas,forum users feedback) between the forums and the developers. The idea is to elect Forum Ambassadors and/or have a special forum for this to help to improve communication. There is a brainstorming discussion on ubuntuforums about this.

the forum thread : http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=1708930

Forum Ambassadors might become a team like : http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=289810

Rationale

Use cases

Scope

Design

Implementation

• document HOWTO be an ambassador
• create ambassador team leaders
• set criteria that we want to see from members
• howto file a good bug report
• asking good questions
• submit submittor to bug report

Evaluation

• ambassadors + dev teams should know each other
• ambassadors should know what's going on (#ubuntu-devel, ubuntu-devel, mailinglist, developer forum section)

Code

Data preservation and migration

Unresolved issues

BoF agenda and discussion

Brain Dump

• Introductions
• Summary - Thread on the forums where people have opinions and ideas. Make a team of like, 10 people or something, and then have team leaders that connect to the developers to facilitate communication.
• Use ambassadors to collect ideas and feedback from users.
• Centralized team leader or should each team member have a point of contact.
• Use Cases
  • Bug Reporting:
    • "Someone on the forums find a bug, want a way to quickly get that information to developers."
      • Mako: It would be nice if people who represent others know how to file good detailed bug reports.
    • Someone needs to collect information from the forums, it's unreasonable to expect all users to register with launchpad, etc. etc.
    • Very often forum users post their opinions (requests, problems, desires, etc.) in the "Ubuntu Development" section of the forum thinking that the developers would see their posts there.
• Purposes of ambassadors:
  • Communicating ideas to developers (gists and zeitgeists)
  • Some people are comfortable collecting information. (Collector)
  • Some people are comfortable diseminating information. (Disseminators)

  • Two way communication. (Bidirectional)

  • Triaging people and volunteers (being in touch with the interests of users)
  • File bugs (Good bugs, not just follow either, is it a feature or a bug? They need to be able to contact people who are willing to contribute.)
    • Integration of projects that start on the forums into the distribution. (Inviting people into the greater community.)
    • Involve other active members of the forums that don't yet contribute to the organization. (Get the active members to join the project)

    • "I've stopped using Ubuntu because XXX is, or works better, in Some Other Distro" <-- high priority

    • Recognition of forums contributions

    • Integration of other forums (all the LoCo forums and other languages). How do we get their feedback integrated? (Tough, this will be another spec).

    • Ambassadors from other forums?
    • Launchpad team for Ambassadors

* Implementation

• Two way street. Developers and forum users.
• Central point of contact? Or distributed by team? How do you get decent coverage?
• Existing staff too busy to do be ambassadors?
• Don't need to be staff, but if they're contributors, then do it.
• "How to be an ambassador"
• Nominations (one or two), then elections. (Coleadership)
  • Set of criteria of contributions.
  • List of volunteers.

more drafting :

• expand to other forums
• offtopic : all ubuntu forums linking to eachother (for example forums for different languages)
• bi-directional
• communicate / relay ideas : gisting + zeitgeist??)
• prioritization of specs,etc
• What do other distros do regarding ambassadors ?
• Communicate what users like in other distros
• file + follow up good bugs / inital triage / judgement calls
• integration of code into community + core distro/repos
• invite forum members into Ubuntu project + recognition of forums contributions
• use launchpad

Comments

CategorySpec