[Gllug] Linux Volunteering: meet up Thursday 10th October

[Rev Simon Rumble]

On Tue 01 Oct, Jerry Bate bloviated thus:

> I think there's definitely potential for setting up some way for people
> to register as volunteers, and NGOs as clients, so they can find
> each other. I believe that some sort of database, or organization,
> was set up along these lines years ago in the UK,

The advantage of having a group of people is that, when the key person
is overseas or sick or busy on a contract, there are people who can
provide backup.  This is particularly important for things like
servers where you just can't afford downtime.

I'll explain how rent-a-geek works in this regard, with sub-mailing
lists for individual clients, at the meeting.

> I do like the idea of rent-a-geek. I think that what NGOs often need,
> though, is just some expert advice, which may just require a phone
> call or afternoon of someone's time.

This comes through trust and experience.  We often get asked questions
now about technology choices by our client NGOs.

> There are a few caveats I ought to point out to interested GLUUGers.
> Most charities don't use open-source software, or unix. Attitdues and
> policies are slowly changing, but there are some deep-rooted reasons
> for this, which won't go away easily.

Have a read of this by one of the rent-a-geekers about Community Aid
Abroad (Oxfam in Australia) and how the policy has changed in favour
of free software.
http://www.caa.org.au/groups/appropriate_IT/index.html

-- 
Rev Simon Rumble <simon at rumble.net>
www.rumble.net
Send email with subject "send key pub" for public key.

 "If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it,
  he is obligated to do so."
- Thomas Jefferson
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