j1mc

Revision 28 as of 2007-06-08 22:16:10

Clear message

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 community 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've used the Xubuntu mailing lists and Ubuntu forums to regularly communicate testing goals and procedures, and it has helped the testing team to be successful. I've worked with the testing administrators, including heno, pochu, and stgraber, and I'm glad to say that we've had a milestone release of Xubuntu for each milestone release since I started coordinating testing. While I think this process is off to a good start, we're always looking to improves the process to better assist the developers.

Within the Xubuntu community, I've 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] during Ubuntu Open Week. I also regularly assist end-users with questions on the #xubuntu irc channel and in the xubuntu-users mailing list.

Within the Chicago-Ubuntu loco team, my activities have centered around herding Chicago-based cats, and encouraging learning and participation. I've helped scheduled team meetings, set agendas, facilitated team discussions, and pushed to put team plans into action. One pet project is setting up a team "presentation queue" to encourage ubuntu-related learning amongst team members. Subject matter experts to will use this to identify what they are able to talk about, and team members will identify topics that are of interest to them.

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.
  • Eliminate duplication of effort in the ISO testing team.
  • 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.

CategoryHomepage