[fedora-india] DVD distribution and their impact

[P J P]

> On Monday, 30 November 2015 7:14 PM, sankarshan wrote:

> The program itself does not allow adding a cost to the distribution
> and recipient. If it did, the levying of a charge might indicate

> whether my conjecture is correct.

  That's not freebie marketing, but selling DVDs. Besides, even if the
demand is because it's free, it helps Fedora to gain users/consumers
if they use it.

> I wouldn't know. But I did forward a hypothesis that investing in the
> program is a way to "contribute". The URL of the program clearly
> indicates as such. My hypothesis further implied that considering that
> "Freemedia is contribution enough" is an impediment to thinking around
> the best ways to build, grow and sustain the community (and this time
> I don't draw a line between participants and contributors)


  I disagree. FreeMedia is freebie marketing. It should not stop us from
taking other initiatives to grow and sustain community. As said before
only reasonable expectation from Free DVDs is to gain user/consumer base.
Associating community growth and participation with it is wrong expectation.

 
> But my question to this list is - is everyone content with merely that bit?
> Or, do the readers think that something else could be done?


  I guess they are quite occupied to take up larger initiatives for
community growth/participation. It would take much larger continuous
effort to build it.

 
> My question was whether such a process was undertaken and how it can
> help Fedora "in" India.

  No, there was no process. As explained earlier, currently(so far)
our activities are running on quite ad-hoc basis. As and when volunteers
think of doing something. To take up big initiatives like community
building across India/APAC, it'd require much dedicated leadership
too to drive the volunteer base.
> I can speak for myself when I say that you are conflating the topic.
> The original question (which was kindly forked by Siddhesh) is in the
> form - "what is the impact of distribution of DVDs; is that helping us
> to grow the community; what can we do to expand the base of
> contributors"


Again, associating community growth with free DVD distribution is wrong.
For community growth/participation, we need other initiatives, ways of
engagement.


> Stopping the distribution of DVDs via the Freemedia and seeking
> volunteer help to create flows to help contributors is perhaps a way.
> 
> Why do I think Freemedia needs to be stopped? Because as on date there
> is exactly one volunteer for it and I strongly believe that his skills
> should be freed up for coaching contributors.


  IMO, it is up to him/her to decide that. If anything needs to be stopped
that is associating community growth/participation with the free media
distribution.


I disagree that FreeMedia distribution is stopping us from doing other
things. If it is, then that's a problem on our side, not with the
freemedia program.

> That was the first (and probably the most daft) idea which I chanced
> upon. There could be improvements or, even a different approach.


 Certainly.

---
   -P J P
http://feedmug.com