j1mc

Revision 24 as of 2007-06-08 05:05:04

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About me

I've been using Ubuntu since March of 2006, and although I had some experience with other distributions prior to that time, Ubuntu was the first GNU/Linux distribution that got me "hooked" on Linux.

I studied communication in school, and was part of national-championship speech team, but because I'm also fairly knowledgeable about computers, I ended up with a job as a Human Resources Information Systems Analyst. I live in Chicago, Illinois, but work in Evanston, Illinois.

At this time I'm a participating member of the Ubuntu-Chicago Loco team, the [http://www.chicagolug.org Chicago GNU/Linux User Group], and am a regular volunteer at [http://www.freegeekchicago.org Free Geek Chicago]. My main Ubuntu-related contributions have been in the areas of Xubuntu ISO testing, Ubuntu-Chicago team activities, and Xubuntu documentation.

Ubuntu-Specific Contributions

A lot of my contributions don't involve me getting any additional karma points on Launchpad. Sad :( However, I'm a very active member of the Xubuntu team, and am also very involved with the Chicago Loco Team.

I've contributed the most to the ISO testing group, and have built up Xubuntu testing from a mostly non-existent group to one that is on-par with the rest of the Community testing teams. I'm glad to say that we've had a milestone release of Xubuntu for each release since I started coordinating testing. For the Gutsy Gibbon release I want to work even more closely with the testing team to eliminate duplication of efforts in test coordination, and to ensure thorough test coverage for all varieties of Ubuntu.

Within the Xubuntu community, I've also established myself as a friendly and enthusiastic team member. I assist end-users with questions on the #xubuntu irc channel and in the xubuntu-users mailing list, and have done a good deal of leg-work for Xubuntu developer team, including arranging and facilitating meetings, and (on short notice) co-facilitating the [https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MeetingLogs/openweekfeisty/xubuntu Xubuntu session] of Ubuntu Open Week.

I've also lead activities within our Loco team. My activities have included scheduling team meetings, preparing agendas, facilitating discussions, and working to ensure that group plans are put into action. As someone who has a lot to learn myself, I've been keen on increasing the knowledge-base of all of our participants. I've suggested a team presentation queue that has been put in place on the wiki, allowing us to see what we're want to talk about, and what we're interested in learning about.

Team Membership

  • Administrator Xubuntu Testers
  • Member of Xubuntu Documentation Team
  • Member of Xubuntu Users
  • Member of ISO Testing Team

  • Member of Ubuntu Chicago LoCo Team

  • Member of Ubuntu Illinois LoCo Team

Documentation

  • Collaborating with FreddyMartinez to completely revise Xubuntu documentation for the Gutsy Gibbon release

  • Very frequent contributor to Xubuntu Wiki pages ( Xubuntu/Meetings Xubuntu/ReleaseNotes/FeistyFawn )

  • Organized weekly summer documentation-writing sessions amongst Ubuntu-Chicago Loco Team members
  • Frequent bug reporter for the Xubuntu Desktop Guide during the 7.04 release cycle

Community, Advocacy, & Marketing

Support & Bug Triage

Skill Set

Because of my background in communication, I have a broad vocabulary and am able to write in a variety of styles. I am also curious as to how computers work, so I'm hopeful that these attributes will help me write good documentation.

In terms of "code," I have basic docbook-xml and intermediate data modeling skills, and I am learning shell scripting and python. However, other than writing documentation, I don't really expect to contribute much in the way of code for a few years. I try to triage and report bugs when I'm not doing ISO testing-related activities.

Plans & Goals

  • Coordinate community testing of Xubuntu, ensuring that our images are well-tested, and that our tests are well-reported on, prior to all milestone releases.
  • Promote and lead activity within the Chicago Ubuntu Loco team, focusing on both Ubuntu advocacy and loco-team member learning activities.
  • Ensure that Xubuntu documentation is accurate and thorough.
  • Contribute to upstream Xfce documentation
  • Start Learning packaging in 2008

Note: Thanks to [https://launchpad.net/~cody-somerville Cody Somerville] for allowing me to use his personal wiki page template.

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