Task:Community Council/Candidate declarations for March 2009

Contents

[edit] Ryan Abel

Name
Ryan Abel
Company affiliation
None
maemo.org username
GeneralAntilles
Motivations
I had a lot of fun serving on the Council the first time around and I really feel the inaugural Council accomplished a lot in its 6-month term (see Andrew's post for a list ;)), as such, I'd like to serve a second term and continue working for the Maemo Community. There is still a lot of work to be done to see the accomplishment of major goals like improving Nokia's understanding of open source and encouraging greater collaboration between Nokia and the community. There are also a lot of smaller-scale project like integrating the Application Manager with Downloads, implementing a strong QA process for Extras, and improving the state of Maemo documentation (to name a few of my pet projects).
This is a pivotal time for Maemo, with Fremantle and the next tablet looming on the horizon and likely a major marketing shift for the platform within the next year or two the platform will be undergoing many major changes and quite a bit of activity, I'd like to be here to encourage things in the right direction.

[edit] Jamie Bennett

Name
Jamie Bennett
Company affiliation
None
maemo.org username
baloo
Introduction
I'm a Senior Software Developer for a large games company based in Holland (I'm actually based in the UK though) using embedded technologies to produce visually stunning games. A large part of my day job translates well to the vision required for a next-generate tablet, good UI, flowing user experience, rich graphics, functional whilst being compelling. I would like to bring this experience to the Nokia tablets.
As for Maemo, I organised the Maemo community presence at the Nokia's OSiM booth last year and was responsible for the video coverage at the first summit, something that I would like to continue to do this year.
I'm active in most parts of the community, maintain a blog at http://www.linuxuk.org and generally have a real passion for embedded technologies.
Any questions then just ask away.
Motivations
Maemo is at a defining moment in its history. When the 770 came out, maybe ahead of its time, the Nokia device was in a market space pretty much on its own. Today, the new device comes into a world where expectations are high, competitors are plentiful and success is not guaranteed. I want to be there to help translate the community's vision of what they want to see into something that is commercially viable for Nokia. I want to lend my professional experience to helping make the new tablets a success whist strengthening this unique community we have here, one that I am sure is the envy of many companies that try to straddle the open/closed source world.
I stood for council in the inaugural community elections but missed out to a great team that did an excellent job in their first 6 months. This time I would like to have the opportunity to do my part.

[edit] Alan Bruce

Name
Alan Bruce
maemo.org
qole
Corporate affiliation
None
Introduction
I am a prolific poster on ITT. If you have spent any time browsing those forums, you've seen my posts. If you want more information, please see my profile on maemo.org.
Motivations
Another well-known community member asked me to stand for the Community Council. I replied that I participated enough in the community as it is, and I wasn't interested in "entangling myself in politics and bureaucracy" for the meager rewards that this position would entail.
My encourager made me look again at my reasons for not standing, and they started to look petty and selfish. He also was very complimentary, and I can't resist a good ego-stroke.
He replied (in part):
I see your points, but... I would [like to] see enthusiastic, well-liked people in Council member positions... I see you as someone who has really made Maemo a better place. Yes, you have done this without being in a 'leadership' role, but (a) I'm certain that many people view you as a 'leader' already; (b) how cool is it to garner a position where your attitude and actions will motivate other users to follow suit..."
[I]f you truly want to see Maemo become a world-class platform, then... Well... I do think you'd make a good Council member based on the type of person you are, what you mean to the Maemo community, and how you might inspire others to think outside of the box."
So I will put my name up for a position on the Maemo Community Council, and you, the community, can decide if you really want me there.

[edit] Andrew Flegg

Name
Andrew Flegg
Company affiliation
None relevant to Maemo
maemo.org username
Jaffa
Motivations
I'm proud to have been a member of the inaugural Community Council. In the last six months, we've seen a sea-change in the way Maemo is progressing: the summit; community ownership of maemo.org; better use of Bugzilla; the realistic vision of a community-led "hacker edition" in Mer; a webmaster, docmaster, bugmaster and now debmaster all being paid for for us; open communication and - importantly - progress indicators like the pre-release SDKs, which would've been unheard of back in 2006/2007.
The Council has been involved in many of these, but would claim credit for few. I believe we've truly fulfilled our role as facilitators and would like to continue my role there. We've not got everything right, but I think we've proved the idea; and that it can be a cohesive force within the community.
I think there's still work to be done, though. Nokia are being more open, and projects like Tracker and GUPnP are being developed openly. Modest has slipped back into internal development; some patches to Application Manager have been merged, but the community's vision for application management in Diablo - and Fremantle - looks unlikely to have been realised. The system as a whole, and the application environment which so clearly defines the Maemo brand, are architected internally. Design decisions are taken internally.
Slowly, hopefully, we can change Nokia management into utilising the enthusiastic talent at their disposal in a way which is truly ground-breaking in the industry; with a root-to-tip collaboration between us all.
Thanks for reading this, and I'll happily answer any questions anyone has.

[edit] Stephen Gadsby

Name
Stephen Gadsby
Corporate affiliation
None
maemo.org username
sjgadsby
Introduction
Though I have a degree in computer science, I'm much more a technology generalist than a programmer. The primary focus of my day job is assisting users--with a wide range of comfort and skill levels--in integrating technology into their work. I create end user documentation for, and provide training in the use of, complex systems, and I also serve as the interface point between system designers and users, relaying information between the two groups and translating concepts into appropriate language for each.
Motivations
Last year, I became frustrated with the disconnect between Nokia and the community. As I looked for a way in which I could initiate change, Maemo Bugzilla stood out as a key point of failure. What should have been a primary meeting point of users and platform developers was largely ignored by both sides.
I began posting Bug Jars, weekly summaries of top issues and activity within Bugzilla, to Internet Tablet Talk (iTT). My immediate goal was to increase awareness of Bugzilla within the iTT user base. I reasoned that if more users knew of Bugzilla and saw top ten lists of bugs, some of them might begin voting up issues important to them, and in time, perhaps move on to submitting structured bug reports in Bugzilla in place of non-specific posts buried in iTT threads.
As I longer term goal, I hoped that if community usage of Bugzilla increased, Nokia might feel pressure to increase their own presence there beyond the odd comment by the mysterious "Maemo QA". This was a long shot, I knew, but it was a task I could undertake myself, and it was action. Rhetoric had shown no results.
In the end, of course, Bugzilla improvements are proceeding due, largely, to the efforts of Andre and Karsten, hired just after the Bug Jars began, and Nokia/community relations were put on a path of improvement by the inaugural Community Council. However, I still feel that drive to help move the community forward, and there remains a large expanse of ground to be covered before we're where we should be.
I welcome your questions and thoughts. Thank you.

[edit] Andrea Grandi

Name
Andrea Grandi
Company affiliation
None
maemo.org username
andy80
Introduction
My name is Andrea Grandi, I'm 28 and I live in Pistoia (Tuscany, ITALY). I'm a programmer, in particular very interested in Linux and opensource. I've been working for some years as computer programmer, then I decided to begin studing at university, and currently I'm attending at "Università degli studi di Firenze" to get the Computer Science degree. I spend lot of my time to manage the Pistoia Linux User Group I founded in 2001.
My life in community
I'm part of the community since I bought my first Nokia 770. I started contributing to the mailing lists, I wrote some tutorials (in italian language, then I translated them to english) and I ported SPIM (a MIPS emulator) to Nokia 770. Later I had the possibility to buy a N810 and I was able to experiment more with the Maemo SDK. I was at the Maemo Summit in Berlin, doing a light talk about Maemo development using Eclipse, PluThon and EsBox plugins.
Motivations
I really would like to be able to do more for the community and one of the best way could be to be part of the council, to help both users/developers to explain their requests to Nokia and Nokia to understand the requests from the community. There are a lot of fantastic ideas comung from the community that could improve what we are doing: the key is to organize them and giving them more attention. This is what I've always looked for: working together to build something great!

[edit] Kees Jongenburger

Name
Kees Jongenburger
maemo.org username
keesj
Corporate affiliation
I work for TomTom as embedded software engineer
Motivation
When I looks at everything Maemo represents I think we are in a challenging position . I think that we have plenty of open source software and a powerful company behind us. Of course we will also have great hardware, but that as said we are in a challenging position. At times of the 770 creating an open source portable Internet and media experience was something very special, but this is no longer enough. The rules are changing. There is now accessible open hardware out there that almost "fits in your pocket". There are also many embedded distributions out there, there is 3d hardware support, there are netbooks with 3G Internet, androids , openmoko's and IPhones. I think it's time for the community to be more pragmatic and focused on profit. Mer is a very nice example of how we as community can gain "profit" from Maemo, it enables US to use and change The Maemo software stack in interesting ways and make it run on interesting platforms. We need more things like this that enables business around and IN the community, this will drive development of the platform. Simply put we are lagging behind in terms of growing the community. Mer offers a nice and open solution for platform developers but we also need to find a solution to help casual users create market around their software. The new hardware and software stack will be great but we need to develop our vision to grow booth towards independence and business. This community needs food and I want to help selecting the ingredients for the menu.
I have been earning my life using and developing open source software in the last 12 years. I am following many embedded open source project (beagle, openmoko and Maemo being a few). I guess I am not the typical person who usually can be found in the council of "communities" but I think I can represent a good portion of the developers interested in Maemo development.
I have not done something like this before , therefore I try!

[edit] Tim Samoff

Name
Tim Samoff
Company affiliation
None
maemo.org username
timsamoff
Introduction
I'm a veteran graphic/web designer, filmmaker, and musician. I'm also 1/5 of the inaugural Maemo Community Council. During my time on the Council I've been instrumental in the development of the new maemo.org website (currently under development), hiring our new (and first) debmaster, communicating community-relevant issues with Nokia as well as the greater Maemo Community, organizing the first Maemo Summit, and more.
Motivation
If you hadn't heard by now, I'm not a developer. I'm a regular Maemo user who happens to have an eye for design aesthetic and general user experience. I have been an open source advocate for many years and have taken part (and have been intimately involved) with several open source communities over the years. I believe in the current philosophy behind Maemo (http://is.gd/ltB4), and I am passionate about being a part of the future possibilities. While my motivation might not be centered around developing software for this platform, it is centered around the desire to see our software (first- or third-party) live up to its potential and compete with other software platforms.
You can find me spouting off about Maemo at the above URL, my blog (below), Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, and Jaiku — just Google my name if you're really curious. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
(And, like our current Council Chair, I also like long walks on the beach.)

[edit] Aniello Del Sorbo

Name
Aniello Del Sorbo
Corporate affiliation
None
maemo.org username
anidel
Introduction
I am a software developer actually living and working in London. My main contribution to the Maemo.org community has been the Xournal port.
Motivations
For the fist time, since I've been part of a community, I finally have been able to actually feel being part of it. And this happened with the Maemo.org community.
This community, grown spontaneously, around the Nokia Internet Tablets has been amazing and is something I, personally, never found around any other commercial gadget.
I think this is mostly due because Nokia is actually asking for feedback from the community and is actually listening to it.
It may be not the first time that a commercial organization (particularly not one as big as Nokia) actually feeds a community around its devices, but surely Nokia is the first that is actually doing it the Right Way: they are listening.
They have a long history of upstream contributions in the open source department and this surely contributed in the decision to help foster an active community.
I want to help make sure Nokia knows that actively listening to an organized community greatly benefits both. I am sure they know that, but it is important that we do not fail them.
I sure think this will lead the way for other organizations (be them commercial or not) when it comes to participating to the open source world.
I am thrilled by the opportunity to help shape the way this two-way communication should be.
I really want to help voice the community concerns, suggestions and ideas, but mostly to help shape the better way to achieve this, so that these tools/methods would serve as an example.
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