Mailinglist Archive: opensuse-marketing (141 mails)

[Satoru Matsumoto <helios_reds@xxxxxxx>]

Hi Zonker, Bryen

Thank you for your replies.

Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier wrote:

> Yes, you can do a lot of things that ambassadors do without being an
> ambassador. One intent behind the ambassador program is to give people
> an idea what ambassadors do, and to start organizing efforts. It's not
> to say that some people weren't doing this already -- but some people
> would like guidance as to what they should be doing, plus
> identification as an ambassador so the role is more clear / crisp.

That's because why I thought '... signing up for this program will be a
good entrance for the people who want to contribute in marketing area.'

If someone wants to become an Ambassador, he or she can, as long as he
or she ...
* does some suggested works to help promote and introduce openSUSE
  distribution and/or project
* upholds the Guiding Principles
* conduct himself or herself in a professional and courteous manner

If I understand correctly, whether someone is an appropriate Ambassador
or not mostly depends on if he or she has a will to contribute openSUSE
or not. Any special skills or knowledges are not required for becoming
an Ambassador, right ?

That's very good for persons who are new to contributing FOSS community,
so I mentioned 'I hope as many persons as possible will support this
program and sign up'.

However, IMHO, this is an advantage of this program and also a
disadvantage in the same time.

We - I mean, guys on this list - can share an awareness of 'what kind of
persons are the Ambassadors'. But people outside our community or new to
openSUSE might consider Ambassadors 'official representative persons
from openSUSE project'.

When I participated in a panel discussion at Linux World/Tokyo last
year, I introduced myself as a CCO - Chief Chore ;-) Officer - of
openSUSE Japanese community. Of course it was a joke. I was afraid of
being misunderstood by audience that I were Novell person or one of the
*officially acknowledged* representative of openSUSE project. You know,
what I talked in the panel discussion are just my personal thoughts and
opinions, not the official comments by openSUSE project at all. I didn't
want to bring confusion for that.

If I introduced myself as an 'openSUSE Ambassador' at that time, don't
you think the audience might have easily considered me a kind of
representative of openSUSE project ?

> At the moment, no. In the near term, I see the ambassador group being
> the people who have a louder voice in planning our show presence and
> having some voice in what we as a project decide to sponsor.
>
> As for responsibilities: "If you're working to promote openSUSE in
> your area or online, you're an Ambassador in good standing as long as
> you uphold the Guiding Principles of the project and conduct yourself
> in a professional and courteous manner."

We should clarify the position of Ambassadors like:

a) Active persons who work for promoting and introducing openSUSE in
   their regions, countries or cities, but don't have any duties or
   responsibilities except being 'professional and courteous'

b) Persons who work for promoting and introducing openSUSE in their
   regions, countries or cities, have some rights and benefits on the
   bases of assuming obligation for something and can represent the
   openSUSE project

As long as I can see, our choice ATM is a). It may not be wrong.
However, IMHO, we have to watch out for jumbling a) and b).


Bryen wrote:

> The list of Ambassadors would give us a much easier reference point to
> connect people and events.  You and I, and everyone on this list, knows
> that you are the go-to guy for inquiries related to Japan.  But if
> someone in Japan came by one of our IRC channels to ask if there was
> someone in Japan that could participate in a Japanese event, whomever
> responds in that channel may not necessarily know you would be the best
> reference point.  However, with a list of Ambassadors, we can easily and
> quickly point that person to the correct representative for their
> region.

When I read about 'Ambassador(Spokesperson) program' for the first time,
I understood this is aimed to make *little Zonkers* in each region,
countries and cities, so that we can support users and potential
contributers more meticulously even if they are not good at English and
find difficulties to post questions directly to an appropriate mailing
list or forum in English. We, Non-English-Speakers, need some contacts
whom we can easily ask questions in our native languages.

I know it's not the one and only perpose of the Ambassador program, but
having such contacts is one of the most important things for us. And, as
you know, I'd like to be one of such contacts for Japanese. - I'm sure,
most of the Ambassadors who have already added their name to the list of
Ambassadors have same mind. ;-) ...And, yes, it might be helpful, if
there is a 'Language' column in the list, so that people can easily find
the persons, who can understand their language. As you know, in India or
China, for example, there are many languages in one country.

However, I want to ask again here, Bryen.

Is an Ambassador representative of openSUSE project or community, as you
mentioned above ?

You know, there's no need to be approved by someone, in order to become
an Ambassador. And, it must be impossible for everyone to do everything
that are suggested as Ambassadors ToDos alone as a volunteer. So,
someone who just wants to help out in the openSUSE booth at events, for
example, but doesn't have an interest in other things, enough experience
or knowledge on openSUSE, can also become an Ambassador, right ?  How
come such an Ambassador can be 'the correct representative'?

Fedora project also has Ambassador program and there is one Fedora
Ambassador in Japan, but as far as I heard from one of the members of
Fedora Japanese community, the Ambassador is not a Japanese and don't
speak Japanese. So, if we contact him to ask about Fedora Japanese
community by posting an e-mail in Japanese, he can't answer at all.

If we expect Ambassadors to be representatives somehow, we need to do
screening for that. For example:

- Everyone who wants to help promoting or introducing openSUSE, or be a
  contact for newbies in his/her region, country or city can register
  him/herself as an 'embassy staff' first. There's no need to be
  approved for this.

- After 1 year activity, each 'embassy staff' gets right to become an
  Ambassador. In order to become an Ambassador, the 'embassy staff' need
  to be approved somehow - approved by senior Ambassador ?  by board
  members ?  by Ambassador lead ?  or, voted by local community ?
  Therefore, 'embassy staffs' who want to become Ambassadors are
  strongly recommended to report their activities by joining marketing
  team IRC meetings, posting reports to -marketing list, writing blog
  entries, etc., so that others can easily see their daily activities.

Those are just my WAG (Wild Ass Guess), though.

Sorry for my redundant comments.

Best,

-- 
_/_/     Satoru Matsumoto - openSUSE Member - Japan _/_/
_/_/  Marketing/Weekly News/openFATE Screening Team _/_/
_/_/ mail: helios_reds_at_gmx.net / irc: HeliosReds _/_/
_/_/         http://blog.geeko.jp/author/heliosreds _/_/
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