[FAmSCo] [CHINESE COMMUNITY] Fedora Board Recap 2011-06-07

[@gbraad]

Hi All,

On Fri, Jun 10, 2011 at 9:26 PM, Joerg Simon <jsimon at fedoraproject.org> wrote:
> 15:04 <kital> i will report back to the board that the mentoring Process
> for the Fedora Ambassador Membership Process in china is healthy - we
> did some small but important steps with establishing regioanl leadership
> - but still need to raise attention in chinese media, communities,
> educational institutes ..., if we want to
>              have more awareness for Fedora in China

I understand Haowei feels like things are not as he hoped it would.
China is a difficult area to target for several reasons, but most of
it all is related to a cultural difference (which can be addressed), a
language barrier (can be worked on) and the shear size (which can also
be dealt with). However, everything needs to be tackled step by step.

We have already tried to gain more presence by co-operating with other
Open Source projects, like Mozilla. But it is still only a minor win.
The relationships with the educational sector is improving, but the
influence by the government on these institutions causes resistance to
acceptance. Have already talked many times with Arics Poon from the
Beijing office about this... even my relations with Renmin (where my
wife works) does not make it easier. However, I do have contacts with
Tsinghua (in the form of some foreign teachers). Due to lack of time I
have not pursued this lead yet.

Hope to pick this up again soon... but be aware... due to the size of
China I am focusing at the moment on the Northern part and in
particular Beijing. The change of hosting a FUCcon in China is
possible, but some issues about this remains (internet connectivity).
Since the community in Beijing is rather small, most of the work is on
my shoulders :-s which is a far from ideal situation. This needs to be
raptor-proofed. Any help on this front would be helpful.

kind regards,


Gerard

-- 
Gerard Braad — 吉拉德
   F/OSS & IT Consultant in Beijing
   http://gbraad.nl  gpg: 0x592CFE75