Putting ideas together for TennesseeTeam. Add, add, add, add your ideas! Any ideas at all.

• Try keeping the idea summary short and readable, then supplement the ideas with additional facts in a bullet list.
• Be positive when responding to ideas, because we want to encourage any and all ideas here.
• Provide links to wiki and external pages whenever possible.

Feel free to add your ideas below and comment on other people's ideas...

How can we contribute?

I posted this in the Forums found here http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1250450 (This Thread has been stickied by w4ett)

When I first started using Ubuntu I wanted to shout from the nearest rooftop "I Love Ubuntu". I was very motivated and wanted to contribute in any way I could. As a newcomer to Ubuntu and Linux in general, I was a little insecure about my abilities to actually "contribute". What I would like to do is maybe generate a brainstorming session on ways we can contribute. This topic has been raised before with excellent ideas, but things seem to not materialize. Here is a quick overview of the ideas I had in mind. (please reference the thread in the forums for more details)

As a team, most of us are aware of other members expertise and areas of interest. Members of the team can decide how and in what area they want to contribute. What I propose is that we break this "Tennessee Team Contributes to Ubuntu" idea into different sections. We can provide documentation and video tutorials created by us (just to name a few ways we could contribute). The different "sections" would be our target audience. One video tutorial could be created for a complete newcomer to Ubuntu and Linux. While another video tutorial could cover more advanced subject matter.

Idea 1. Create Howto's

I know, there are thousands of How-To's out there.

One How-To I converted to PDF Understanding fstab has received 4,000+ views in Scribd. That's a lot of publicity. I know this might not appeal to everyone in the TN Team, it's just an idea. If we did this, we could decide on a look and format that would be unique to the Tennessee TN. We could kill two birds with one stone; we help our fellow Ubuntu users get their material out to a wider audience while at the same time promoting our team and Ubuntu in general.

Here is a link to the Understanding fstab tutorial I converted to PDF and uploaded to Scribd. http://www.scribd.com/doc/15124069/Understandingfstab

I know there is plenty of documentation out there. But as the Tutorials and Tips thread proves, there are plenty of "specific areas" where folks want to know how to do things. We don't have to regurgitate the help documentation found with every release of Ubuntu. Lets get out some documentation that covers how to do the really neat and cool stuff in Linux.

Where do we start?

• As I mentioned above, I thought a good place to start would be the Ubuntu Forums.
• The Tutorials and Tips section and the Tutorial of the Week thread would be good starting points. These tutorials are written for Ubuntu users by Ubuntu users. Why not help everyone out and start consolidating some of this useful information in the form of PDF's Open-Office docs etc.

• Tutorials and Tips link: http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=100

• Tutorial of the Week Link: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=655207

How do we get our How-To's to the public?

• Create a central point of contact for downloading/viewing material created by the Tennessee Team.
• This includes PDF's or Open-Office documents. We can make several types of formats available for download.
• This is for our audience. Lets make it easy for them to read, download and check for updates of new and or edited documentation.

More Ideas?

Again folks, I understand that there are plenty of places to get and download documentation. What I see for us as a team is a way to consolidate and distribute documentation that covers more than the ususal stuff. It also gives the TN Team a certain amount of regonition. Maybe folks (including those outside of Ubuntu) will learn about us and come to trust and/or even rely on the documentation we provide. It also gives others in the Ubuntu community another place to distribute their work.

Idea 2. Create video tutorials

Again, we aren't exactly traveling into uncharted territory here. Sometimes it helps to have a video to show you exactly how to do something. I have a list of topics I judge might be useful to a newcomer. As with the nature of a brainstorming session, I hope that maybe you all will have some ideas of things we could commit to video and share with other Ubuntu users. We don't have to limit ourselves to just newcomers to Linux and Ubuntu. We could also create video tutorials covering a wide range of topics and degree of difficulty.

Where do we start?

• How long should the videos be?
• Should we strive to limit the videos to a certain time frame?
• Could we use videos that have already been created and are publicly available?

How do we get our videos to the public?

• I propose the same concept as mentioned for the How-To's.
• If possible, lets create a central location that folks can visit and browse for the Video Tutorials.
• Create an easy and simple way for them to browse and find the Tutorial they are looking for.
• We could also add ways for them to "subscribe" to certain "Topics" of interest; so they will know when a new Video Tutorial is created for their respected Topics.

What are some of the topics?

• Is there something you have configured and or tweaked on your system? If so, share it.
• Are you a network guru? Make a video on how to do some of the things folks ask you about most often.
• Do you know your way around Gimp and other graphics applications? Make a video.
• Just about anything you can thing of. Think of the Video Tutorials like the "Post Your Desktop" binarymutant started in the Forums. If there is something you know how to do and judge others would benefit from a video tutorial, go for it.

Idea 3. For those with personal sites, advertise *nix Ubuntu FOSS...

I know some folks like netritious and binarymutant this would not be necessary on your sites. For the rest of us, if we have a personal site, lets see if we can't get some stuff on there that promotes Ubuntu and Open Source in general.

• Is there someone in the team that can make banners or logos that other users in the team can embed in their site? A example would be System76 found here http://system76.com/article_info.php?articles_id=37 We could have banners or logos that represent the Tennessee Team

Idea 4. Tennessee Team Membership Card

You would receive this card upon activation/authorization of your membership. With this card you could receive discounts at participating electronic/computer stores. It would be valid at any of the participating stores located in Tennessee.

• A first step for this idea would be the Tennessee members contacting their local retail stores. Get in contact with any business that supplies/sells/offers support for computers. Find out if they would be willing to offer a discount to members of the Tennessee Team. We could offer to advertise their support for FOSS and Ubuntu by placing something on our own personal websites.

Consolidate (Possibly Regionally) a mass order from Shipit of "Official" copies of the 7.10 Gutsy Release in both the i686 and 64bit versions for distribution and use during install parties. (w4ett)

• Shipit is now accepting pre-orders of Gutsy Gibbon https://shipit.ubuntu.com/ I ordered 10 CDs 10/8/07. For those active on Launchpad and the Forums should be able to order up to 10 CDs on the initial order. For those of you looking for a stand alone CD of Open Office, the download is available here: http://download.openoffice.org/common/instructions.html For those wanting to do an upgrade only, the Update Manager should be enabled for Distribution Upgrade on or about 10/18/07 (Remember to backup your home folder/partition before upgrading). (w4ett)

• If you are intent on downloading the Final of Gutsy Gibbon to do a clean install, it is requested that you use the usual Torrent sites to free up the available bandwith from Canonical. (w4ett)

• The pressed copies are much more impressive to the public than a burned CD (maybe I need a lightscribe? ) I include one Canonical Disk with every PC I sell. (w4ett)

Get Ubuntu install disks into state libraries. (desertc)

• I placed 12 Feisty Disks with my Business Cards in the local Henderson County (Lexington) Library on 09/03/07 #3 are remaining on 10/08/07 (w4ett)
• They are extra Canonical pressed disks (I had a few extra)...I have received 3 calls for tech support, since I included my card, so not a bad return on investment! (w4ett)

Get some ideas for those of us in rural areas of the state that can be handled singlehandedly or in a very small group without overwhelming any users. (JohnCub)

• Currently I simply keep a copy of ubuntu with me and give it to anyone that will take it. It doesn't seem like much but it, at the very least, gets the name out there. (JohnCub)

Set up local sub-teams in the Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga, and Tri-Cities so members can meet up in the real world. (saxonjf)

• I also suggest adding Jackson as a regional sub-team...then there will be coverage with approximately 100 miles between each population centre. (w4ett)
• Getting the ideas brought up from the meetups back onto the wiki or team-wide repository (desertc)
• Tennessee is a very wide state. The distance between Memphis and Johnson City is further than San Francisco and Los Angeles. Regional meetups will be good in some areas, but it may not be possible to cover the state so everyone has a meetup within a short driving distance. (desertc)

• For cities on the state lines, consider your neighbors over the boarder. Inquiring with neighboring LoCo teams, might generate as many attendants as soliciting our own state LoCo members. (desertc)

• We should set up cameras and TVs at each meeting, so we can conference amongst the meetings.

Getting Team LoCo Approved (desertc)

• LoCoGettingApproved =>Research and formulate a roadmap of activities/events that out new team is capable of completing to place us on the path to approval. (w4ett)

• We should contact computer clubs of all the downtown campuses (TSU, Vandy, Belmont, Lipscomb) to see if there's any interest there. (saxonjf)

Set Up regular IRC chat times (saxonjf)

• Set up a time, perhaps a couple days a week, when all members can expect to find others.
• This would not preclude other times, but allow chat to focus on times everyone knows to show up.

Mental roadmap of Ubuntu and LoCos

• JohnCub put together a concise team introduction page TennesseeTeam/Introduction.