[Lopsa-regional-project] project start

[LOPSA-regional-support at LuftHans.com]

Am 07. Jan, 2006 schwätzte Eric Eisenhart so:

> On Fri, Jan 06, 2006 at 06:26:51PM -0700, der.hans wrote:
>> "Organize and implement technical and other support for local and regional
>> LOPSA affilitated groups. Also involved in defining the relationship
>> between local groups and LOPSA."
>
>> To start with I think we need to concentrate on defining what types of
>> groups we'd like to work with and make contact in our local areas.
>
> Well, I can think of 3 types of groups:
> 1) Existing sysadmin-specific groups, such as BayLISA
> 2) Existing related groups, such as Linux User Groups, especially if they
>   have a good portion of sysadmins.
> 3) Sysadmin-specific groups that haven't formed yet.
> (related groups that haven't formed intentionally omitted)

I concur.

> Does LOPSA want to be a "parent" organization for sysadmin specific groups
> or otherwise provide help along those lines?

I'd like LOPSA to parent regional groups. Deciding that is part of our
project charter. We should come up with a plan and present it to the board
for approval.

> Most groups probably need a domain, a website and maybe 3 mailing lists
> (announce, discuss/talk and organizers/board/steering; splitting up discuss
> probably only makes sense once a group gets fairly large).  Content
> Management of some sort for the web space is also very helpful.  Some groups
> would be happy with foo.lopsa.org and foo-announce at lopsa.org, others might
> really want their own domain; www.sysadfoo.org and announce at sysadfoo.org.

I'm pretty certain this is something the board wants LOPSA to be able to
provide. I am very certain we're not yet ready to offer it.

Michael and I have applied for a list for LOPSA-US-AZ, but haven't yet
gotten it.

Let's work on defining the LOPSA's desired roll and getting it approved by
the board.

> We're all sysadmins, so I'd expect most groups to have the *expertise* to
> set these things up, but time and other resources can be a problem; a server
> on your DSL will be unreliable at the most inconvenient time and using
> workplace resources can be unreliable in other ways.

There's also a beauty in saving effort :).

> I'm assuming there's really no way for LOPSA to help groups get physical
> meeting space, but that's definitely a potential challenge for groups.  Some
> spaces require insurance, too.  Meeting at the local pizza joint's always an
> option, but makes presentations difficult.

I think there are opportunities for LOPSA or LOPSA members to help with
acquiring physical space, sponsors for food, equipment, etc. Not sure
LOPSA wants to do so.

> Looks like there's a separate "speakers" project -- should we eventually
> work with them somewhat?  I suspect finding speakers is a challenge for any
> of the categories of groups.

Yes, as volunteer coordinator I definitely intend to encourage project to
work together. The regional group, speakers, campus reps, and membership
projects certainly seem to me to all be related.

>> There is some limited giveaway items available from LOPSA for regional
>> groups.
>
> Like stickers and T-shirts?

I believe those are the items currently in stock.

ciao,

der.hans
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