Elections/Questionnaire

The question collection period is closed
The collection period ended at 23:59:59 UTC on January 27, 2014.

The following elections will take place in January 2014:

• Fedora Project Board (two seats: E1 and E2)
• FESCo (Engineering) (four seats)
• FAmSCo (Ambassadors) (three seats)

All dates and times noted are UTC time.

Please add questions you'd like to see asked to this page.

CLOSED The questionnaire is closed. No further questions will now be added. Please do not modify this page!

Fedora Project Board

Questions

Do you agree with, and are you committed to, the Fedora Foundations? If no, what do you believe should be changed?

• Neville A. Cross: I do agree and I am committed. People do asked me about using Fedora in obsolete hardware. Politely I point out that it is not possible to move forward looking back. Fedora is about innovation, cutting edge technology, it is its purpose. If people is not looking for the community drive, they are not looking for our distro. But there is need for a change in foundations. We need a fifth Foundation, Fun. We need to be able to provide engaging task that people enjoy doing.
• Haïkel Guémar: I am *fiercely* committed to the 4 Foundations, these are the very same values that brought me to Fedora in 2004 (and contribute since 2006).
  No compromise with them, that's what make fedoraproject.org an unique project and awesome.
  
  I'll just say that more than often we tend to forget that one: *Friends*. Remember that behind you mail client or irc client windows, there is another human being, so be excellent to each other.

Do you believe that it is incompatible with the Freedom foundation to allow in any way the installation of non-free software from Fedora products without an explicit and informed action on the part of the user/system administrator to allow the installation of such software?

• Neville A. Cross: I do think explicit information is need for non-free software installation, as it should be explicit notice for collecting user data. Fedora Project is very careful when it comes to licensing. As far as I know there is no way to install non-free software from our repos. A person have to configure additional repos or manually install software to get non-free software. So if a person do so, and do not read the information of whatever is installing from third parties, then it is not Fedora Project fault. I do believe Fedora standards for licensing are consistent and transparent, so people can understand and relay on them.
• Haïkel Guémar: Yes, it also violates our mission statement that is "to lead the advancement of free and open source software and content as a collaborative community."
  We have to educate and inform our audience about the issues brought by proprietary softwares and why we are promoting FOSS alternatives.
  That works for Fedora the distro, but we're also Fedora the platform used many downstream distros.
  
  As a platform, we should collaborate with our downstream communities on making it easy for them to customize Fedora for their needs.
  Even if they ship or make it easy to install proprietary *crap*, sadly freedom goes both ways. (FYI: if it's not obvious here, i'm aiming for jspaleta former spot)

With all the changes happening (or proposed) within Fedora, how important do you think it is to attract new contributors (actually, even otherwise - without the changes)? What would be your plan for the same?

• Neville A. Cross: It is important to keep the flow of people. Voluntary work is subject to people's life evolution. People get married, have kids, got more demanding jobs, grow old or are eaten by velociraptors. We need new contributors no matter what. In any case, we should lay out open our card on the table. We need to inform in a timely and transparent way what is going on, where are we going, why it is important whatever is been done. So people can step down or step up as Fedora evolves, just the same as people evolve.
• Haïkel Guémar: It's do or die ! Fedora.next won't succeed if we don't bring new contributors to barge in. The most critical area is my opinion are release engineering and QA, we'll need more people and more automation.
  My plan is simple: go spread the word ! I'd like fp.o to get involved in outreach programs (college, women, everyone !) or initiatives like Upstream University.
  http://upstream-university.org/
  
  Though we have an ambassador program, remember that EVERY ONE of YOU *IS* Fedora: go to install parties, conferences, schools, and speak up, lead workshops, mentor folks etc.
  NB: Well, as we are all Fedora, let's keep calling each other by our first name or it will be confusing. :o)

As a community, do you think that sharing knowledge is important? If so, how can this be achieved in Fedora's community?

• Neville A. Cross: It is critical to share knowledge. We can start from “hit by a bus” scenario, so we share knowledge to ensure continuity of the project. But more daily needs for sharing knowledge is to create ramps for new contributors. Teaching them basic skills for contributing and the Fedora style of doing things, will help get new contributors. For example, it is not just about design, people can master designing tools. It is also about how the team works, which tools they use to submit work, how it is approved, how the team communicate, from tools to netiquette. This is just an example, the same goes for all other teams. Small events are one way to share knowledge, teach people while they start doing things for Fedora. With the plus of gathering Fedora contributors to keep them motivated.
• Haïkel Guémar: No, we should keep ALL knowledge to ourselves :o)
  Seriously, if you think that way, you're not fit to join Fedora or any FOSS project.
  We're a highly distributed community covering many timezones, knowledge should be preserved and we have many tools for that (wiki, mailing-lists, bugzilla, many many trac instances, ask fedora, irc -use the log, Luke-, etc.)
  Though we already use these tools, we have to take care that it's properly done.
  Another point is to make all that content *reusable*, i mean easy to understand, easy to *search* or it will be useless. I think that HyperKitty, ask fedora are great for that, but we need to get more people engaged to tag/edit properly content (luring them with mooaarrrr badges !)
  
  One more thing, we should make sure that knowledge is also reusable outside the Fedora Community, and even tighter collaboration with other communities on that point.

Fedora Engineering Steering Committee (FESCo)

Questions

To achieve competitive advantage, have defined a strategy? Differentiation? Focus? Both?

• Stephen Gallagher:
• Dennis Gilmore:
• Miloslav Trmač:
• Marcela Mašláňová:
• Toshio Kuratomi:
• Kyle McMartin:

Do you agree with, and are you committed to, the Fedora Foundations? If no, what do you believe should be changed?

• Stephen Gallagher:
• Dennis Gilmore:
• Miloslav Trmač:
• Marcela Mašláňová:
• Toshio Kuratomi:
• Kyle McMartin:

Do you believe that it is incompatible with the Freedom foundation to allow in any way the installation of non-free software from Fedora products without an explicit and informed action on the part of the user/system administrator to allow the installation of such software?

• Stephen Gallagher:
• Dennis Gilmore:
• Miloslav Trmač:
• Marcela Mašláňová:
• Toshio Kuratomi:
• Kyle McMartin:

Fedora Ambassadors Steering Committee (FAmSCo)

Questions

How can we improve the management of budgets in all regions?

• Neville A. Cross: Specifically about management of budget, there are some bottle necks. One is to track down expenses on regional trac instances to build report in the wiki. Wiki does not have functions, so there is the issue about add manually and recalculate every edition. Going further there is the need for a better evaluation of the budget use. Right now we use blog post as evidence of budget use. But how we really flag budget use that does not have reports? How we go back to those expenses later on to evaluate what has been achieved later. Those are questions to ponder in FAmSCo, and look for ideas with regional budget wranglers and the community. There are some other issues about reaching all ambassadors, some countries have restriction for paypal transfer, some other have restriction with importing goods, even worse there are countries with both. We have improved our reach, but we have to look for more options.
• Truong Anh Tuan: The first step and also the most important for me is budget planning. Good planning will help us to manage budget better.
  
  At this time, both EMEA and LATAM are good in budget planning. There is not much information about NA. APAC does not do this well so I would like to focus on this region. These things we can do more to improve the budget plan (we are trying to do a few this year):
  • There should be, at least, an active ambassador per country (this year, there are just three countries making the plan: Vietnam, China and Taiwan)
  • All Fedora contributors (not just ambassadors) should be counted in regional events and activities. It is best to have ambassadors also participate in other teams such as marketing, design, package maintainer...
  • There should have regional events and activities which get Fedora contributors across the countries involved.

The best way to do those stuffs is at a face-to-face meeting like EMEA annual FAD. Of course, people should prepare everything well before coming. So that is the highest priority thing we will try to make this year.

The second thing we can do to improve budgets management is allocating budgets per region. At this time, region like EMEA has a tight budget plan. It does not make sense to cut it off when allocating. Doing that would make them to cut some events and activities out. If there is a limit of total budget, it is better to negotiate among the regions to fit them all.

• Marcel Ribeiro Dantas: To be honest, I'm very satisfied with budget management in Fedora. There is no doubt there's still room for improvements, after all there are always room for improvements. But FAmSCo (and I'd like to thank Alejandro from my region for doing his part astonishingly well) has done a great job lately!
  
  I think we should focus even more in transparency. Just like Linus' Law states for code, I think it's also very suitable in here. The more people are watching and understanding how budget management is done, the easier it gets to get nice feedbacks, corrections, suggestions and even more. Having a supportive community that really understands how key things are done, is the sort of thing that builds a solid base of contributors who are always ready to introduce people to the project in a clean and straightforward way.
  
  I'm sure my fellow ambassadors will have excellent proposals and I'm sure I could think of more things to address here. But I think transparency is something that we must focus now, not only regarding budget, if we really want to make Fedora a project that people feels pleasant contributing and not only filling a gap, but being part of a family.
• Jon Disnard:

How can we encourage ambassadors from all regions and maintain that strong bond with the community?

• Neville A. Cross: We can look for small events where ambassadors and other contributors transfer skills to possible contributors. This will create ramps for contributing, but also will provide face to face contact among contributors. That may help to strength the community. But we can only create opportunities, ultimately it is up to individuals to make that bond. We need to embrace the fedora style of friendliness, transparency and respect among colleagues. Most important of all is to have in mind have fun, that keep people working and sharing.
• Truong Anh Tuan: In a ideal world, ambassadors should participate in other teams. They can see exactly what other team members feel and do their job much better. So I think we should encourage all ambassadors to do that, even make it an mandatory rule: he/she should be participate in, at least, xxx months in another team before applying to ambassadors group.
• Marcel Ribeiro Dantas: I love the idea of regional bodies in Fedora (LATAM, APAC, EMEA and NA). It's not that divided, but it's not that "far" from real life either. Often we manage to meet in real life and it's such a pleasant experience. It's not only FAmSCo duty, but I think we should give the example making sure we can connect people and make sure they feel like family.
  
  I have organized 4 F19 Release Parties (and one F20 so far) plus took part in two other release parties remotely (as a speaker) with one very strong reason, apart from all the other usual reasons. **Connect with people**. And connect them to Fedora! As an Ambassador I feel I must make Fedora "touchable", make it alive. So I bring pins, pens and other things I purchase and give it to people, I tell them news about Fedora, I tell them experiences I have had with the community and I do everything I can to make it like Fedora is just across the corner.
  
  I have met old contributors in events around Brazil who had claimed to feel like they were forgotten. They kept working with translation, for example, but had no contact with the community. That is sad and whenever I see such a thing, I feel like it's partially my fault, and that's why I feel it's a must to make fedora people feel really FEDORA people. I'd like to take advantage of this text to thank you for contributing to Fedora. I'm nobody, just a regular contributor and maybe telling you Fedora is better because of you may mean nothing. But for some people, it can mean a lot! So thank you! I feel happy that I'm not alone, and I can assure you, you are NOT alone! _o/
• Jon Disnard:

Could you give us your ideas you have to improve the community?

• Neville A. Cross: We need more small events sharing skills for contributing withe community. This will keep the community steady grow, but will motivate people. We need to share for fun activities to engage people. It may be challenges, learning opportunities or things that are outside of the usual mind set. For instance, why there is not more Fedora photo boots at events. It is challenging to built one, people will learn building one, it will engage people building a project and engage public looking at the cool stuff that Fedora Community can do. In the end such a project is fun and rewarding in several levels, but it is just one example.
• Truong Anh Tuan: It is not an easy question. We do a lot right now to make the community more active. However, sometimes, it depends on each single person. I really have no ideas until I understand what happening in their minds.
• Marcel Ribeiro Dantas: There is no purpose at thinking of a community without a solid contributor base, a real purpose behind the community and willingness to change the way something is. I'm very happy that Fedora has all these three. However, I'm sure we can be bigger and better than we've ever been.
  
  Right now I'm trying to organize FOSS events more often in Brazil. In my region in Brazil, we're currently 4 fedora ambassadors and we've had events in almost a monthly basis! That's great! It should be no different with Fedora. More events to connect people, more integration with Fedora Magazine and other ways to make sure people know what we're doing, how we're doing.To know that we exist!
  
  The sharing of experiences, ideas, and so on is what makes a great community.
• Jon Disnard:

Are you going to work on any plans that make budget transactions handling more transparent? What could be those plans?

• Neville A. Cross: As I commented, having the information in several places makes difficult for a person not involved on the process get an clear idea. If people does not attend to regional meeting, look at regional trac instances and look for the wiki report, people does not appreciate the transparency. That's a lot of work both ways, keeping records and looking at them. We need to make a easier way to report to the community. But in the end it is up to the individuals, for instance in LATAM there is a low participation in building the budget. That may look like few people are in charge, when in reality those are the ones that are taking from their time to keep the budget for the region. Ultimately, regional meeting participation is the key element for transparency.
• Truong Anh Tuan: AFAICS, it is transparent enough in almost regions. I just have no idea what are happening in NA. We have quite less information about NA budget and spend during the FY 2014. I think the best way is to make all public and up-to-dated on the wiki.
• Marcel Ribeiro Dantas: It would be nice if we could build statistics about expenses so that the entire community can know not only how much we spent but exactly how (separated by categories, for example), when and compare it to previous fiscal years. There are lots of interesting numbers we can obtain from that and I'm sure we can find contributors to design nice folders showing numbers, charts and drawings that tell contributors in a nice, clean and lighter way what has happened and what has changed.
  
  Apart from that, not everybody who gets sponsored/reimbursements write reports about their experiences. We should encourage it more (Alejandro has really encouraged us a lot, but I'm not sure how it happens at other countries/regions). It's a sad attempt making FAmSCo attempt to be more transparent if our ambassadors don't want to be transparent themselves. Got reimbursed/sponsored to attend an event? Writing a *complete* and *clear* report makes it clear that the sponsoring was nice or not, and based on that we can take better decisions in the future. In a transparent and fair way.
• Jon Disnard:

History

Questions from previous elections can be found here:

• Fedora 19 elections questionnaire
• Fedora 18 elections questionnaire
• Fedora 17 elections questionnaire
• Fedora 16 elections questionnaire
• Fedora 15 elections questionnaire
• Fedora 14 elections questionnaire
• Fedora 13 elections questionnaire
• Fedora 12 elections questionnaire