about interviewing

[Sean DALY]

These are great questions, but if I may offer some advice, as a former
journalist and having done the Groklaw interviews for several years
(http://www.groklaw.net/staticpages/index.php?page=20080706000413933).

It could be said that the key info to draw out is: why choose to use
and contribute to Fedora, and not something else? There's a choice to
use Fedora there, a motivation that it's the right choice. What makes
Fedora stand out? (and by choice, I don't just mean other distros or
projects, but FOSS projects in general compared to vendors for
example)

There's an emotional attchment too - the "proud of?" question is right
on target. Would you recommend it to friends and family?

There's a context as well. While the PC industry is counting on the
Windows 7 launch [in three weeks], what makes Fedora a great
alternative?

Finally, it's a great idea to ask about the future of Fedora, but
that's also an opportunity to ask broader questions about how we use
our computers. What would you like to do with a computer that no one
can do today? The answer to that one could be beyond the bleeding edge
of development (touchscreen, tablet, speech recognition, telephony
integration) or beyond the industry's current shape (free open
document and audio-video formats for a level playing field, a call
upon online providers e.g. Google for more open technologies or to
OEMs to not exclude GNU/Linux distros, the nascent open hardware
movement).

Questions like these can generate interest outside Fedora and also
showcase how sharp Ambassadors are, building their credibility as
advisors.

Just suggestions.

Sean


On Thu, Oct 1, 2009 at 5:39 AM, Mel Chua <mel at redhat.com> wrote:
> On 09/30/2009 08:47 PM, Tareq Al Jurf wrote:
>>
>> Hi Mel i remember last month we discussed interviews with fedora
>> users i searched for the messages but couldn't find them :( so can u
>> send me the link that has the questions i'm going to interview a
>> couple of arabs Fedora users with skype webcam and i need some ideas
>
> I can't recall a link with questions off the top of my head, but some
> questions that usually make for good interviews...
>
> * Tell me the story of how you started using Fedora.
> * Tell me the story of how you started contributing to the Fedora
> community. What are you proudest of?
> * Show me something you've done in Fedora - what's your favorite program
> and how do you use it? Or what's the coolest thing you've done with
> Fedora that you think other people may not know about yet?
> * What questions do you have about Fedora?
> * What could we do better?
> * What would you like to see happen in Fedora in the future - both the
> distribution and the community?
>
> Basically, get people to tell you stories about their Fedora experience,
> and you should be all set. Copying the Marketing list in case anyone has
> more ideas - in general, you might get a faster response from the list than
> from my crowded inbox. :)
>
> Also, I'm not sure if we have a preferred free alternative to Skype - does
> anyone have any suggestions?
>
> --Mel
>
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