Re-thinking Campus Ambassadors and Fedora Ambassadors [was:Re: We Need Change]

[sankarshan]

Prelude: This mail was cross-posted without it being explicitly
mentioned. So I took the following liberties : [1] restricted my
response to the Campus Ambassadors list (which seems a more apt place
for it and, [2] gave it a reasonably coherent subject line as opposed
to the somewhat generic one it originated with.

2010/2/12 sai ganesh <ganesai at fedoraproject.org>:

>            just a formal introduction .i became an ambassador just a month
> ago.My name is saiganesh a.k.a sai from India.i have been seeing how things
> are working around in fedora.i would like to suggest a few ideas for the
> campus ambassador program.unlike the fedora ambassador program ,the
> campus-ambassador program must be unique because we spread the Foss culture
> among the future generations of the world.also i want a clear distinction
> between fedora ambassador and fedora campus ambassador program.

The dictionary defines an Ambassador as "An official messenger and
representative." (Webster), so being purely pedantic, there isn't much
of a difference between a Campus Ambassador and, a Fedora Ambassador
except perhaps that the former is a bonafide resident/student on the
campus of an educational institution. This is what I interpret it as,
and, I could be way off-target here.

An interesting point here is the mention of the need to spread "FOSS
culture" which, by its very nature, should elevate the discussion to
things over and beyond just software. A culture encompasses a lot of
artifacts and constructs and, being able to absorb, adapt and adopt
pieces of it in one's life and society is sometimes a life-long quest.


> the things i noted where
>                                  1.Being a fedora ambassador means just you
> have to spread the Foss culture in around your city.But campus ambassador
> program is different, we spread the Foss ideas to students who in turn
> return back by contributing to them(Foss).so what i essentially say is that
> the idea of having a tech talk per semester will workout.but that is not
> enough.Clearly introducing the students to these Foss culture say For just
> one time per semester alone is not enough.what happens when they are stuck
> in a problem . These things are new to them.you may say mailing lists are
> there .But it takes time for new users to adapt themselves to Foss  kind of
> environment.so why cant we have a Fedora Activity day one per semester
> consisting of tech talks and introduction to Foss  . Followed by ,say 4
> weeks of  discussions on Sundays, we have our own LUG's.If someone is
> inspired on the fedora activity day .He or she tries the Foss technologies
> that week if he faces problems that week ,then the discussions group on
> Sunday can clear them out.

I would like to know if there are any impediments to doing what you
have written above. An audience relates to stories and, the more
engaging stories an Ambassador has, the better (s)he is as a role
model. A good role model is always vital to the success of an effort
and, is a bed-rock upon which future Ambassadors and contributors can
build their success.


>                                 2.The discussion groups is not only for
> problem solving.it also essentially consist of  discussion of fedora
> activities,new Foss technology, etc.i strongly recommend these groups also
> be funded.Because if someone is facing a problem and someone from the same
> college/university is there who can help out ,then it is going to help a lot
> in spreading Fedora and Foss.
> it is not going to be the heavy budget though. say $5 or $4 at the maximum
> that is going to cost for the purpose of printing posters , banners etc.this
> way we can easily spread the word in our colleges.

We can come to the part of funding in a while, but meanwhile let's
just focus on the activities. If the campus(es) already has/have
UserGroups, what are the steps needed for folks versed in the ways of
The Fedora Project to step up and do show-n-tell ?

>                               3.we can have yearly meet for the ambassadors
> of the same country where in they can discuss the future planning etc..

Indeed. There are a number of events through the year which can serve
as a basis for such meetings. However, meetings are successful if
there are decisions to be taken and, metrics to be worked on. So,
before a meeting is thought of, there needs to be grounds prepared for
ensuring results from meetings.

>                               4.the campus-ambassadors(students)  who prove
> their worth  in general can get some internship in Redhat or say even
> Discounts for Redhat GLS.

Which brings about an interesting point though. How do you measure the
"worth in general" ?

>                               5.we need more often to discuss these sort of
> ideas in the mailing lists  and IRC.

Indeed.


-- 
sankarshan mukhopadhyay
<http://sankarshan.randomink.org/blog>

Sent from Brisbane, Qld, Australia