Fedora Repos on DVD

[Karlie Robinson]

Thomas Chung wrote:
 > On 6/17/07, Dimitris Glezos <dimitris at glezos.com> wrote:
 >> O/H Karlie Robinson έγραψε:
 >> > I haven't gotten much feed back from the Fedora Community on ways to
 >> > boost capacity (even just keep up with..) Free Media.
 >>
 >> First of all, a big 'bravo' for all those who have helped the Free 
Media project
 >> so far. I belive these new, mostly off-broadband users who have 
received a free
 >> media have probably spread the word about Fedora more than many 
others who
 >> simply downloaded it.

Word of mouth is working very well for the users of Free Media, but it's 
  working poorly within the Fedora Marketing Community.

Do you remember a thank you note I sent to the list a few weeks ago? The 
user shared his Fedora Free Media disc with no less than 38 people in 
Mozambique.

While it's unreasonable to think that every free media disc is getting 
that much use, Free Media does just as much for getting the word out - 
especially in under served areas.  (38 people who would never see the 
LinuxTag booth or attend a FUDCon etc)

 >>
 >> I've met some ambassadors who would be very interested in helping 
out, but found
 >> the whole FreeMedia project a bit complicated for them to 
participate. They
 >> prefer localized efforts, which sounds rational. They'd prefer if 
they received
 >> an email for each request in their language isntead of the web form. 
Also, I
 >> believe that eg. a greek user would prefer requesting a media from 
his local
 >> group of ambassadors instead of our (english) website.

While I do understand the language barrier, I don't understand the 
confusion about being local.

Thomas Chung does an excellent job sorting out each request into an easy 
to read list.  All anyone has to do is look for a request by country.

Steps are...
1) Join the free Media Mailing list
2) Check the wiki for the current list 
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Distribution/FreeMedia/F7DVD/June for 
someone near you (every month has it's own list)
3) search your email or the list archives for the address
4) Reply to the Free Media Mailing list with "I accept this request" so 
we know it's been filled.
5) mail the disc.

 >>
 >> I haven't studied in depth the current approach for sending media, 
however I'll
 >> jump straight to a suggestion. Probably some of the parts following 
are already
 >> happening. It's better than keep it in one's mind I guess, so the 
following is
 >> my 2 cents to the Free media program.
 >>
 >>  1. Let's find a way to have *translatable* web page with 
information for which
 >> countries we could send media to, and which members of the community 
can handle
 >> the requests. Probably a Google map? "Find your closest Fedora 
shop!" This
 >> shouldn't be on the wiki.

I think this creates way more work than is needed.
 >>
 >>  2. How very easy-to-understand, minimal-content pages on "How to 
request".
 >> Should be as easy as: "Fill in this form, choose the closest 
*person* to you
 >> from the following list".

Choosing the closest person will create more problems than it helps solve.

First off, this is a volunteer project so not everyone has the time and 
resources to accept discs every week.

Second, we already have this system in place... It's just the other way 
around (See above).  We choose the user rather than a user choosing us.

 >>
 >>  3. Have a very easy-to-understand page on how to become a 
volunteer. Should be
 >> as easy as "Fill in this form. Say how many requests you expect from 
your
 >> country/region. Say how many CDs per week you can send."

I agree that this should be easy.  I'm hoping this email will show how 
easy it is.

 >>
 >>  4. Send this person a package with X CDs inside, envelopes, some 
money to buy
 >> stamps and a poster or hat as a "thanks". He will buy stamps from 
his local post
 >> office, and for each request, put a CD in an envelope, stick a 
stamp, write an
 >> address, and slip it in the mailbox.

This further complicates the logistics.

As it is now, if you accept the request, you burn the disc, put it in a 
package and mail it.  Once in a while there are discs left over from 
events that will be used for Free Media.

 >>
 >>  5. Have him register on a wiki page where he sent the CDs and how 
many stamps
 >> he put on the envelope.

We do use the wiki for tracking, but Thomas Chung does the updates.
 >>
 >>
 >> In the question "who will code the website?", the answer could be 
"with clear
 >> enough specs, we can put a request to fedora-websites and someone 
could jump
 >> right in. Besides, we are on coding spree in coding new applications 
lately. :-)

There has been talk of automating the current system, but until we get 
to the point we can fill every request every month it seems kind of 
pointless to put resources into coding an application when we can't find 
enough people to burn/mail Free Media.
 >>
 >> My $.02
 >>
 >> -d
 >>
 >>
 >> --
 >> Dimitris Glezos
 >
 > Hi Dimitris,
 > Thank you for your feedback on FreeMedia Program.
 > It's a little off topic for this thread so I would like you to join
 > FreeMedia Program and  we can improve the program together.

Frankly, I don't think it is off topic to discuss the marketing 
potentioal of Free Media on the marketing list and keep the Free Media 
list on-task for sorting requests and replys.

Free Media is Grass Roots Marketing at it's finest, yet it's not treated 
that way.

 > To join, please see refer to following page:
 > http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Distribution/FreeMedia/Contributors

I also think it's in appropriate for someone to join a project before 
they know what they're getting into.

I hope this email has helped clear up the steps involved and show that 
it's really more simple that it seems.