Potential press release for Red Hat to distribute

[Max Spevack]

Hey Kara,

Something that Fedora has been working on for a while now is the 
relicensing of all of its documentation and wiki to a Creative Commons 
license.  We just finished this process up (in time for Fedora 12), and 
one of the things that the Fedora Marketing team has done is written up 
a press release talking about this, and why it is important.

As a collective, we're curious to know if you think this is a press 
release that *Red Hat* would like to release through its official 
channel.  If so, we want to give Red Hat the first shot at it.

https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User:Ianweller/Creative_Commons_press_release

If not, then we'll push this news out through our various Fedora 
channels, but it seemed like a good idea to get your feedback first, as 
our primary contact for all Fedora press stuff at Red Hat.

We're hoping to make a habit out of putting together more press releases 
like this -- places where we make a point of focusing, and writing up in 
a formal way, news items that are important to the Fedora community, so 
making sure we have good communication back to you and Red Hat PR is 
important to me.

(Side note to the Fedora Marketing team -- Kara is one of Red Hat's PR 
gurus, and she is the person that Paul Frields and I work with for all 
Fedora and community-related press that goes through Red Hat.)

Thanks!

--Max

[Rahul Sundaram]

On 11/07/2009 04:55 AM, Max Spevack wrote:

>  We're hoping to make a habit out of putting together more press
> releases
>  like this -- places where we make a point of focusing, and writing up in
>  a formal way, news items that are important to the Fedora community, so
>  making sure we have good communication back to you and Red Hat PR is
>  important to me. 
I would certainly love that. I always disliked the fact that press
releases of Fedora has been written so far without broader community
input and I would like Red Hat to be the facilitator instead with Fedora
Marketing team writing it.

Rahul

[Mel Chua]

On 11/07/2009 08:18 PM, Rahul Sundaram wrote:
>  On 11/07/2009 04:55 AM, Max Spevack wrote:
>
> > We're hoping to make a habit out of putting together more press releases
> > like this -- places where we make a point of focusing, and writing up in
> > a formal way, news items that are important to the Fedora community, so
> > making sure we have good communication back to you and Red Hat PR is
> > important to me.
>
>  I would certainly love that. I always disliked the fact that press
>  releases of Fedora has been written so far without broader community
>  input and I would like Red Hat to be the facilitator instead with Fedora
>  Marketing team writing it. 
+1 - in order to do this, we need to build Fedora Marketing's ability to 
make things like press releases; efforts like Sakis's recent revision of 
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/How_to_write_a_Fedora_press_release are 
great examples of how we can teach each other how to hone these sorts of 
skills.

--Mel

[Kara Schiltz]

Hi Max,

I think this is a good news item that we could make some noise with in 
the press. It is something that I'd be willing to put out through the 
Red Hat channels. However, it's important to note that this press 
release and any other future Fedora press releases distributed by Red 
Hat would be subject to review and approval. That said, there could be 
changes (some minor and others perhaps a little more heavy) to a press 
release drafted by the community and distributed via Red Hat channels.

Red Hat always aims to stay true to the spirit of Fedora in the 
Fedora-related communications we distribute. But, as a publicly-traded 
company there are rules and regulations Red Hat must follow. All press 
releases must be reviewed by Red Hat's Legal team to ensure that we're 
adhering to SEC and company guidelines. We also try to follow AP style 
guidelines which could result in some formatting changes.

I'm very happy and eager to help in distributing Fedora communications 
via Red Hat channels. Please just keep in mind that there are some 
things to consider including the potential for a community-drafted press 
release to be edited from its original form. As mentioned above, it 
could be a minor change but there could also be more considerable 
changes depending on the subject matter.

Let me know if you'd like to move forward in pushing out the Creative 
Commons press release via Red Hat press channels. I'm happy to help get 
things started!

Thanks,
Kara

Max Spevack wrote:
>  Hey Kara,
>
>  Something that Fedora has been working on for a while now is the 
>  relicensing of all of its documentation and wiki to a Creative Commons 
>  license. We just finished this process up (in time for Fedora 12), and 
>  one of the things that the Fedora Marketing team has done is written 
>  up a press release talking about this, and why it is important.
>
>  As a collective, we're curious to know if you think this is a press 
>  release that *Red Hat* would like to release through its official 
>  channel. If so, we want to give Red Hat the first shot at it.
>
>  https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User:Ianweller/Creative_Commons_press_release 
>
>
>  If not, then we'll push this news out through our various Fedora 
>  channels, but it seemed like a good idea to get your feedback first, 
>  as our primary contact for all Fedora press stuff at Red Hat.
>
>  We're hoping to make a habit out of putting together more press 
>  releases like this -- places where we make a point of focusing, and 
>  writing up in a formal way, news items that are important to the 
>  Fedora community, so making sure we have good communication back to 
>  you and Red Hat PR is important to me.
>
>  (Side note to the Fedora Marketing team -- Kara is one of Red Hat's PR 
>  gurus, and she is the person that Paul Frields and I work with for all 
>  Fedora and community-related press that goes through Red Hat.)
>
>  Thanks!
>
>  --Max
>

[Rahul Sundaram]

On 11/10/2009 12:52 AM, Kara Schiltz wrote:
>  Hi Max,
>  
>  I think this is a good news item that we could make some noise with in
>  the press. It is something that I'd be willing to put out through the
>  Red Hat channels. However, it's important to note that this press
>  release and any other future Fedora press releases distributed by Red
>  Hat would be subject to review and approval. That said, there could be
>  changes (some minor and others perhaps a little more heavy) to a press
>  release drafted by the community and distributed via Red Hat channels.
>  
>  Red Hat always aims to stay true to the spirit of Fedora in the
>  Fedora-related communications we distribute. But, as a publicly-traded
>  company there are rules and regulations Red Hat must follow. All press
>  releases must be reviewed by Red Hat's Legal team to ensure that we're
>  adhering to SEC and company guidelines. We also try to follow AP style
>  guidelines which could result in some formatting changes. 
Can the rules be stated publicly to give us some guidance and help you
channel through quickly?

Rahul

[Max Spevack]

On Mon, 9 Nov 2009, Kara Schiltz wrote:

>  I think this is a good news item that we could make some noise with
> in 
>  the press. It is something that I'd be willing to put out through the 
>  Red Hat channels. However, it's important to note that this press 
>  release and any other future Fedora press releases distributed by Red 
>  Hat would be subject to review and approval. That said, there could be 
>  changes (some minor and others perhaps a little more heavy) to a press 
>  release drafted by the community and distributed via Red Hat channels.
>
>  Red Hat always aims to stay true to the spirit of Fedora in the 
>  Fedora-related communications we distribute. But, as a publicly-traded 
>  company there are rules and regulations Red Hat must follow. All press 
>  releases must be reviewed by Red Hat's Legal team to ensure that we're 
>  adhering to SEC and company guidelines. We also try to follow AP style 
>  guidelines which could result in some formatting changes. 
Of course -- and I never thought otherwise.  Let's compare past Fedora 
press releases with a (proposed) new method:

In the past, Paul Frields or I would draft something, show it to one or 
two people, and then hand it off to you for revisions, legal approval, 
etc.  Then it gets published.  The total number of press pieces was 
pretty low, and we only really did this at release time.

Now, we're trying to figure out a more community-friendly way of writing 
up things that look and feel like press releases.

We want to be able to give Red Hat first look at this stuff -- for you 
to be able to say "I like this one, let me work on turning it into 
something Red Hat can release" and then doing that, and for the other 
stuff to be distributed via blogs, Fedora Insight, etc -- less formal 
ways.

That's all.

>  Let me know if you'd like to move forward in pushing out the
> Creative 
>  Commons press release via Red Hat press channels. I'm happy to help 
>  get things started! 
So for this particular Creative Commons one, the questions we have for 
you are:

(1) Given the other press releases Red Hat is putting out in the near 
term, is this something you think is worthwhile for *that particular 
channel*?

(2) If so, then we fully expect that there will be some tweaks -- we are 
just trying to put together a draft, and the community goal over time is 
to get better and better such that the tweaks necessary are less, making 
your job easier.

(3) If not, we'll figure out other channels of publicizing this news.

Hope that's all a bit more clear.

Thanks as always,
Max

[was: Re: Potential press release for Red Hat to distribute]

[Mel Chua]

New subject line so as to not hijack the thread's focus on the CC press 
release (please carry on with that!)

>  Of course -- and I never thought otherwise.  Let's compare past
> Fedora
>  press releases with a (proposed) new method: 
...which I'd like to turn into a HOWTO ("you have something you'd like 
to publicize in press-release-ish format, and have worked through 
Sean/Sakis's tutorial - now what?") at some point during the F13 cycle, 
so I set a ticket to remind us of such. ;) 
https://fedorahosted.org/marketing-team/ticket/84#preview

This is something that might be a great thing to work together on - say, 
during an IRC sprint that's convenient for everyone who wants to come. 
It'd be either right before or right after the holidays; we'll figure 
this out after FUDCon, but wanted to toss out the ideaseed so folks know 
this is likely to come down our pipeline.

--Mel

[Kara Schiltz]

Max Spevack wrote:
>  On Mon, 9 Nov 2009, Kara Schiltz wrote:
>
> > I think this is a good news item that we could make some noise with 
> > in the press. It is something that I'd be willing to put out through 
> > the Red Hat channels. However, it's important to note that this press 
> > release and any other future Fedora press releases distributed by Red 
> > Hat would be subject to review and approval. That said, there could 
> > be changes (some minor and others perhaps a little more heavy) to a 
> > press release drafted by the community and distributed via Red Hat 
> > channels.
> >
> > Red Hat always aims to stay true to the spirit of Fedora in the 
> > Fedora-related communications we distribute. But, as a 
> > publicly-traded company there are rules and regulations Red Hat must 
> > follow. All press releases must be reviewed by Red Hat's Legal team 
> > to ensure that we're adhering to SEC and company guidelines. We also 
> > try to follow AP style guidelines which could result in some 
> > formatting changes.
>
>  Of course -- and I never thought otherwise. Let's compare past Fedora 
>  press releases with a (proposed) new method:
>
>  In the past, Paul Frields or I would draft something, show it to one 
>  or two people, and then hand it off to you for revisions, legal 
>  approval, etc. Then it gets published. The total number of press 
>  pieces was pretty low, and we only really did this at release time.
>
>  Now, we're trying to figure out a more community-friendly way of 
>  writing up things that look and feel like press releases.
>
>  We want to be able to give Red Hat first look at this stuff -- for you 
>  to be able to say "I like this one, let me work on turning it into 
>  something Red Hat can release" and then doing that, and for the other 
>  stuff to be distributed via blogs, Fedora Insight, etc -- less formal 
>  ways.
>
>  That's all. 
I'm completely on-board with this approach. Just keep me
engaged early 
in the process and I'm happy to gauge whether the news is something that 
might benefit from a harder push through the Red Hat press channels and 
distribution on the wire.
> > Let me know if you'd like to move forward in pushing out the Creative 
> > Commons press release via Red Hat press channels. I'm happy to help 
> > get things started!
>
>  So for this particular Creative Commons one, the questions we have for 
>  you are:
>
>  (1) Given the other press releases Red Hat is putting out in the near 
>  term, is this something you think is worthwhile for *that particular 
>  channel*? 
Yep.
>  (2) If so, then we fully expect that there will be some tweaks -- we 
>  are just trying to put together a draft, and the community goal over 
>  time is to get better and better such that the tweaks necessary are 
>  less, making your job easier. 
I'll get started with the review process of the
CC press release. Let me 
know if there are any further updates or if I can move forward with the 
current version of the draft.

Thanks!
Kara
>  (3) If not, we'll figure out other channels of publicizing this news.
>
>  Hope that's all a bit more clear.
>
>  Thanks as always,
>  Max