[IndiChix] [Volunteers] Structure of LinuxChix_India.

[Runa Bhattacharjee]

Hello

Vid Ayer wrote:
 > Hello Folks,
[snip]

Before going into the details about the issues discussed here, I guess we never explicitly mentioned 
about the present structure that has been in place. Currently, we have a group of 6 individuals who 
can be marked as the core group working behind the scenes setting up the infrastructure. These 6 
individuals are:

1. Aneesha Govil
2. Ankita Garg
3. Archana
4. Barkha Khatri
5. Runa Bhattacharjee
6. Vidya Ayer.

It can be said that the core group started their tasks before FOSS.in, to organise the logistics as 
well as taking impromptu decisions related to the BoF session (including procurement and financing 
of swag). It has been suggested that this group be retained as a core working group for the coming 
one year so as not to hinder the present process flow. To start off, we have started alottment of 
our communication infrastructure related tasks.

Email admins: Archana and Vidya
Irc admins: Barkha and Aneesha
Wiki admins: Ankita and Runa

We are yet to designate official spokespersons.


The primary aim this year is establishing the identity for LinuxChix - India Chapter and ensuring 
that the group's existence is promoted. The local requirements in India  would drive the group's 
focus and structure. A set of suggested goals is posted in the following page:

http://linuxchix.org.in/wiki/index.php/LCGoalsTalkpage

Like the parent organisation, this Chapter also aims to bring together Indian women interested in 
contributing/volunteering for FOSS projects and guide new entrants towards the main projects upstream.



> 
> 1] Domain :
> We currently use linuxchix.org.in, which Vaibhav had generously been
> helping us out with for the last 2 years. (Thanks Vaibhav:)).  We
> appreciate and value the help (technical and otherwise) we get from
> all folks but this is still a chapter of the international woman's
> group and an independent one at that, as in community driven, not
> corporate run. So for the most part its a conflict of purpose and
> confusing thing to have a man holding the above domain. Mirroring the
> parent organisation we should ideally keep the indian domain with some
> local Indian grrls and definitely one of the Tres'chix in the loop,
> just in case we local 'uns decide to go MIA one fine day.
> What do you all think ? Thoughts/criticisms/suggestions welcome.
> 
Although this is a group aimed at helping Indian women contribute to FOSS projects, it was a 
surprise at the amount of support that we received from the entire Indian FOSS community to help us 
get started. The parent LinuxChix organisation allows each chapter to the address the issue related 
to gender-neutrality for themselves. The Indian Chapter has promoted itself as an open group since 
its initial days. Perhaps it would make sense to clearly define the chapter's stance about the 
granularity of participation levels. Speaking for myself, I would perhaps not be able to thank 
enough, all the men who have been supporting the cause as their own.

> 2] Register LCIN legally in India:
> 
> This came up at the BoF while mentioning that few 'chix had
> contributed wholly for the T-shirts and the hurdles we face with
> organising events, and swag finalogistics (which is a necessary
> marketing evil). Since we are not registered we cannot approach
> companies to sponsor us. Although I am confident that we as a group
> will manage to do enough good work, inspiring firms to back us
> financially, its a catch22 situation and a bit thorny because the
> parent org is not yet registered.
> 
[snip]

I'd vote against this unless we have a clear identity and understand how the group is growing. 
Perhaps this can be taken up sometime next year. Even though the group has been around for ~ 2 
years, I would consider this as the first year in active action and what happens in the next 12 
months is crucial.

regards
Runa