[Preston] Minutes from the meeting - 30 Oct 2002

[Giacomo Lacava]

>3 - Ideas for keeping the mailing list flowing

To use the list as a "weekly logbook" of your linux activities, e.g. "on =
monday I couldn't figure out how to mount the mp3portablePlayer. I tried =
this and that, and finally got it running with somecommand -p". I know it =
could be time-consuming, but it would be the simplest way of sharing our =
linux knowledge; maybe we could start writing only the simple things.

> 5 - New ideas for promoting PLUG

Being in Preston only since august, I actually don't know where to =
start... The first thinking is about the City Council and the County =
Council: maybe it could be possible to organise a meeting with civil =
servants to explain what linux is and how it could be cost-effective for =
small public institutions to adopt it. Schools or no-profit associations =
could also be interested, if someone between us has good relationships =
with them.=20

We would need to build a list of linux-oriented companies in the area to =
talk with, asking for sponsorship in exchange for "pushing" them.

These activities, being "continuous", could also be repeated.

Another thing is an event in (or near) the university. Many students could =
be interested, I'm pretty sure a lot of them tried (or are thinking to =
try) linux all alone in their rooms, and gave up when their SuperGraphic3dB=
oard refused to work in the first place. Showing them that a linux =
community actually exists could be a good thing.
In the long term, we could think about a Linux Society lobbying for =
attention by the uni management to have space and machines.

2 - We could think about a "community project". Which are the needs of =
Preston citizens? Well, I don't know ;) but maybe we should think =
something to meet the requirements of the area. It is not enough to say =
(or show) that Linux can be as good (or as easy) as windows, we must show =
to people that is better for *their* needs.

> 7 - The website is going to get a re-design and hopefully become more =
useful

As I said at the meeting, if you need help with server-side code (php, =
java), I'll be happy to solve specific problems. I can't really offer to =
do all the work, but maybe I could be useful e.g. for the session-engine =
structure.=20
The site as you designed it is already a not-so-small project, so I =
strongly suggest to start working on it ASAP. Everything about it should =
be on the list, maybe with an additional [website] tag on the subject.

Ok, enough for today... I have a shitty Access database to interface with =
a super-shitty Visual J++ 6.0. Please kill me! =3D:(((

bye
Giacomo