[Colchester] Linux Install party in Colchester

Thu Feb 14 02:26:33 GMT 2008

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Plans for
Colchester public install party

By Sam Tuke on 13.02.08

Contents:
1. Whom
this concerns
2. Summary
of planned activities
3. Abbreviated
minutes of relevant material from Colchester LUG meeting 07.02.08
4.
Progress since LUG meeting
5.
Summary of current situation and next steps
6. Meeting
of those concerned

1.

This email concerns those
associated with the Colchester LUG and Linux users in general who
have shown and now wish to show an interest in the organisation of a
local 'Install Party' of Linux on the machines of those who
attend.

Members of the LUG who are not interested in the
promotion of Linux amongst the public need have no part in the
proceeding described below, and should not feel any compulsion to get
involved.

This is an open project, not exclusive to attendees
of LUG meetings, and an attempt will be made to make use of the help
of anyone who volunteers themselves.

The more diversity of
skill, opinion and experience we have in the organisational team the
better!

2.

The primary purpose of
holding the 'install party' is to increase awareness and use of the
Linux Operating system amongst the general public of Colchester. All
details of the install party are designed with this in mind.

Loosely
then, we intend to hold an install party:
-that is at a public
location
-that is open to the public
-that promotes Linux and
free software
-that provides an opportunity for the public and
their computer to be introduced to Linux by 'experts'
-that is
completely free for the public, where possible
-that is entirely
run and organised voluntarily by free software enthusiasts

Hopefully
the above points are basic and uncontentious. They are nonetheless
open to revision.

3.

Having established the
foundational conception of the 'install party', discussion and
commentary about this event which occurred at the latest CLUG meeting
will now be reproduced. Talk and note taking at this event was not in
any particular order, I'll try and group together points of a similar
nature.

Abbreviated, (Unattributed) Minutes:

~
The meeting should be held in a 'public' place because of i. legal
implications and responsibilities (health and safety etc.); ii. easy
public access, problems locating the premises etc.; public
acceptability and image/presentation of the group/'party'

~
The chosen meeting location will ideally be well known to the public,
or at least be easily findable (have its own website with map
possibly, e.g. Colchester Central Library)

~The premises needs
to be low cost (ideally free) due to the 'party's' voluntary
nature

~The premises must be open at times suitable to the
'install party's' requirements
   -Suitable times for
the 'party' will primarily need to meet the needs of the
'installers', with the secondary goal of coinciding with periods
outside of common working hours to encourage public participation.
Evenings or weekends may be preferable

~ The premises needs to
provide the opportunity for Internet connectivity because of the need
for:
    - Problem solving, and

- Downloading (additional) software packages, such as drivers and
other user specific material

=

~ Prepared
(pre-downloaded) software should be brought to the 'party' by
installers because this will:
    - Speed up the
installation and configuration progress; no wait and search for
software online during the 'party' itself
    -
Minimise bandwidth requirements of on-site Internet connection

~
These 'pre-cached' packages could be chosen and organised in a
variety of ways:
    -Likely critical updates and
commonly used packages for the primary supported distro could simply
be downloaded and stored before hand
    - A simple
server machine could be set up to host packages, and/or auto cache
any packages downloaded on the day, possibly via a python script, to
make the process more efficient.
    - For distros
with smaller repositories, the repositories could be downloaded
before hand for optimum package availability (say, for those which
would fit on DL-DVD)

=

~ A variety of distributions on
liveCD should be brought in case demonstration is required for
intermediate users or those with specific tastes/requirements (say
five or six?)

~ Demo machines should be provided for those
completely unfamiliar with Linux/KDE/GNOME to dispense with their
fears. Ideally a selection of Distros would be available to try on
these demo machines

=

~ Whilst all types of prospective
Linux user should be catered for, thought needs to be given to the
party's specific target audience. Advanced/capable windows users
curious about the 'unknown' of other operating systems may be a good
and receptive demographic to target in this way in advertising and
distro selection etc.. Narrowing our focus in this way can make our
advertising material more effective, and appealing to too wide an
audience presents several problems.

~ Advertising of the event
will be key to its success or failure, good material needs to be
distributed widely (and in strategic places?)

~ Should the
event have an associated website? This would present the opportunity
to:
   - Submit requests for help in advance of the
meeting, guaranteeing time slots etc.
   - Submit
hardware information in advance of the 'party' to allow better
preparation; specific drivers downloaded, compatibility researched
etc.
   - Download a script to quickly retrieve the
client's crucial hardware and diagnostic information (this idea has
potential problems - suspicious software to prospective attendee, too
much effort for attendee, etc. etc.)

=

~ Liability
policies need to be resolved before the 'party' - will attendees need
to agree to a waiver? Paper or verbal?

~ An external USB hard
disk drive should be available to backup attendees data before any
dangerous procedures proceed. USB = wide compatibility, external =
mobile. Either one large or several smaller HDDs could be used. The
funding/sourcing of such a device was unresolved. Alternatively
attendees could be requested to backup all data before attending,
although some may not be able.

~ Attendees may be requested to
partition their drives before attending to speed up the installation
process and minimise liability of the 'installers'

=

~
Activity at the 'party' should always be present: this provides an
encouraging and professional atmosphere for those arriving. In this
regard, the activity in question going on is not so critical as that
there is activity going on. Installers will thus appear
occupied and receptive to newcomers.

~ A certain level of
presentability should be reached by 'installers' and 'party'
representatives - this helps ensure respect and trust from attendees
("no beer stained shirts")

=

~ Should help
with any other operating systems that Linux be offered?

- Benefits: potentially attracts greater interest and numbers;
attending is more desirable to public
   - Negative
effects: may inspire antagonism from local IT firms, potentially
sidetracks interest away from free software, requires skills
irrelevant to CLUG

End of Minutes

4. 

I have made some
inquiries regarding the location of the 'install party' I mentioned
no dates, and listed requirements as i. Power points (several); ii.
Space for 20-30 people (intended to represent need for equipment
space), and; iii. Internet access if possible. I have contacted:

1.
Colchester Central Library
2. Hole in the Wall Pub
3.
Colchester campus/institute
4. Community and volunteers centre
5.
Greenstead Community Centre

1. In a message left on my
voicemail a library representative said they would be happy to host
us, but were very busy with book festivals etc. and said availability
before April would be unlikely.

2. The Hole in the wall were
also very receptive, I spoke to the manager about the hire of their
small lower seating area in the rear right corner of the pub facing
its direction from the town centre (the same place we were sat at the
last CLUG meeting). He said that either evenings or Saturdays would
be fine, Saturdays they are open from 12-12. He gave the impression
that we could use the area for as long as we liked, and that
attendees and installers not consuming alcohol would not be a problem
(I said tea and coffees would likely be consumed). The manager also
said that wireless internet could be made available as they have
their own network there, which is not usually available for public
use. This can be discussed with the team there at a later date. The
above is all available for free. However, for those that haven't
seen this seating area, I'll try and explain its limitations.
Firstly, its obviously in a pub, which is not necessarily a good
image for the meet and may turn off many potential attendees, also
children may not be very welcome. It is a small space, currently with
four fairly large wooden tables occupying it, and the management may
not be willing to change its layout at all. If we could rearrange the
furniture the space may prove sufficient. There is only one electric
point from what I could see, that appeared to have been installed 40
years ago or more. Granted multi-sockets and extension cables can be
used, but its not an ideal situation by any means - pushing into
several kilowatts may not be a good idea on an old socket like this.
The suitability of The Hole in the Wall clearly needs more
discussion.

3. I was referred to the Colchester Venues dept.,
who quoted a variety of venues. The facilities I was offered were not
however aimed at community projects - meetings, but seemed designed
to cater largely for business and other commercial customers. I was
offered loan of lecture theatres, hotel 'function' suites (with
included food) and conference halls. The university facilities were
priced at £81.90 per day plus £63 for computer facilities
and C.£50 per hour for a technician to 'enable' the computer
facilities. Alternatively hotel prices started at £40 per
person attending. None of the facilities offered seemed suitable.
However, I tried to make contact with the 'Departmental Administrator
of Computing and Electronics' who might be help to offer other
options or support, possibly as an education event.

4. This
community centre is located near the Castle on Colchester high
street. They were quite receptive to my enquiries, but had
reservations about the capacity of the room they had to offer. No
specific answer was given to my inquiries about internet
availability. Hire it not available in at weekends (unless with
'CEO's' permission), or in the evenings. The rate for the hire of the
room by a voluntary organisation is £20. I was invited to go
and inspect the room in question to judge the suitability for myself,
which I have yet to do.

5. I received no reply from here on
separate occasions on a Friday, and left a message stating my
interest. I have yet to hear back from them.

5.

Currently
it seems we have no obvious choice of venue. Questions such as dates,
default distro, key installers, finance methods and others remain.
Assembling a list of individuals definitely wishing to participate in
this event would be a useful activity, and so I ask that such people
make themselves known either to me or to the recipients of the
mailinglist generally. We'll have a better idea of where we stand
once this is accomplished.

Scouting of alternative venues
should continue, and any suggestions would be appreciated. Centrality
and public awareness, as well as times of availability are critical
in this regard.

Work on promotional material can begin
immediately (posters, fliers). I intend to do this as soon as I have
time, and welcome any submissions from others. I'm also happy to hand
the project of poster design to anyone sufficiently skilled (I'm a
novice using svg) – again, let me know what you have to offer.

6.

I suggest that those wishing to
participate in any way with this event, and those who don't but have
something to say about it, join together on the CLUG IRC channel this
Monday 18th at 7pm to further discuss the contents of this
communication and the upcoming 'install party'. If anyone has a
problem with this suggestion email me to let me know.

Many thanks for
reading this mail, and supporting the 'install party' – together we
can have a big impact on Linux awareness and usership in this fine
county!
Contact me direct: samtuke [at] hotmail [dot] com

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