[IndiChix] Website [was] Bangalore Meeting Minutes :: 2008Jan19

Sat Jan 26 03:45:18 UTC 2008

  >>like that spirit :)  Btw, hosting is not a problem, since there are
  >>ways folks willing to give us space/help out if we are dedicated
  >>enough.

  When Swati and I started this project,  Atul and VaibhaV let us use the space on the sever. We envisioned that this was always about cultivating a group for the technically inclined women. If there is a problem with the hosting service let us list those issues and address them. There is also an implication in the above statement that we do not have enough *folks* who are willing to help. That is just contrary to the situation that we have at hand. There are people who are willing to help and have been involved from day 0 in the project but are being alienated by categorizing them as men or NRI’s

  >>as i said earlier, taken care of..... LC are willing to provide us
  >>with the hosting. 

  I am curious if the LC people you are talking about are based in India. One of the volunteers was rejected because she is not living in India. Before doing that was it thought through of how much of the work that she was volunteering to do requires her physical presence? 

  By alienating out women who are not in India, you are effectively
  cutting out potential resources. Why? Just because they work outside
  India? What if one of the list / domain admins or the person who
  maintains the website travels outside India for work for an extended
  period of time, you will kick them out and change all WHOIS information
  for the domain and login information and everything else? And then
  change it back when they are back?

  This is like assuming that Free and Open Source projects can be
  contributed to only by people who do everything only for free just
  because of the word "Free" in it!

  >>Vaibhav, since you have not responded regarding transfer of the domain
  >>[linuxchix.org.in] to the women here, can I ask if you are against the
  >>idea ? If yes, why ? I would really like a response since its almost 2
  >>months since foss.in where you had told me you would not be able to do
  >>it (install mailman) and i said "i would find grrls to do it".

  Mailman, it was not technically possible for him to have it on the same box and thats why he clearly mentioned it. If you understand it technically this is not a big deal.
 Point the MX of a sub-domain to some other box and host whatever list
 you want there. 

 >>Anyway, LC agreed to support our request for mailman. 

  I still do not get the point. How is seeking help from LC better than people who are already involved in the project and can help? It is sad to see that group is loosing focus and concentrating on gender war. There were technical problems with having mailman on the same box and you will have some limitations with any box that you use on this earth!

  >> At the BOF we had decided on having a planet, among other things, to aggregate the
  >>'chix there.  I am not asking you to install a planet or do the work
  >>for us but when women are volunteering, it would be a shame to lose
  >>them due to silence. We may not be experts but I am sure there are
  >>enough folks willing to help us learn.

  Please get your facts straight before pointing fingers on people. http://planet.linuxchix.org.in has been up and active for a while now. And none of the men have worked on that! One of the active volunteers on the group worked on bringing it up. The announcement was due on the list since it was in a test mode. If you have been in close communication with your fellow volunteers and had more time to actually concentrate on technical details you would have known this.

  > Almost a year ago too some grrls volunteered and nothing hapenned,
  > after foss.in too women volunteered but we are still at square one.

  Who said nothing happened and why? You think none of the volunteers got access? 
  I myself created access rights for 3 women on the group. I found it incredible that in a short amount of time the volunteers actively worked on wiki and used it to plan the BOF sessions at FOSS.IN.  

  Square one? What is that? You mean the group a year back is no different
  than what it is now? What is holding it back? Let me guess, all the men
  and also the women who are not in India?

  >>To transfer, we need the email-id's of  3 women in question. Also
  >>keeping 3 different women reduces :
  ->> too much power in single hands, this being a community project.

  Power?  Hosting and domain are two very different things. Once a domain is paid for, there is nothing that needs to be done for years.

  A female student from a local college interested in learning new
  technologies would not be bothered with who owns the domain and who has
  the password to the lists and all the "control" items.

  * How does she use her existing skills and connections to start
  contributing?
  * What are the latest activities on the group?
  * What has the group achieved with its past activities?
  * What are the latest interesting discussions on the mailing list?

  Who (and from where) contributes to the group does not change the cause.

  Domain names are not what they used to be in the past. Once they are set
  up, other than paying for it, you do not have to do *anything* with it
  anymore. And that is all that we have done for the past few years.

  I really feel sad to see that the people who encouraged us in the project are labeled as *those men*.

  Thanks for your ear,
  Pooja

Vid Ayer <svaksha at gmail.com> wrote: On Jan 25, 2008 1:59 PM, Archu  wrote:
> more than merits we need to know the de-merits to track down the
> issues first. Please pour in the suggestions out here.

i meant the part about having a gal dedicated  to being the press
contact only to find the media image portrayed going all wrong in B&W.
That is a lot to deal with for the group and the individual too.

> We have the basic info about the list.. in the "About" page. But yes,
> the site's design needs to be changed, since every college student or
> a so called s/w enggs won't be aware of wiki and they just skip it
> away.
>
> > - information is not sequentially/logically ordered.
>
> More than the design, this is more important. Once the design is in
> place, we can take care of the order of data in the site, about
> organising the data, I think one can come up with the basic framework
> and then later get the comments and move on.

By design, i meant usability (not just art work or logo). so the
design aspect is woven together with content, layout, etc... but you
are right we do need to discuss the framework. Currently its
ambiguous. Do start a seperate thread on how we want the site to be ?

> Volunteers.. webcontent developing is the most interesting job for any
> newbie, since she can learn a lot abt content management   and how
> stuff looks and works :)

yes, so can we have a show of hands please.

> I can do that with some help, though haven't done before.

ok, so i am putting you up as a volunteer, cool.

> sure, we can look for alternate options and get going. We can have a
> discussion about the hosting and various options and come to a
> conclusion. I don't think finance should be an issue here. Even if it
> is we can sort it out.

I like that spirit :)  Btw, hosting is not a problem, since there are
always folks willing to give us space/help out if we are dedicated
enough.

On Jan 25, 2008 4:03 PM, Hassath  wrote:
>
> (Hmm. I seem to recall some people suggesting that 19th was a better
> date and so on. But looks like not many people turned up.)

*grin*
probably they are afraid we may dump work on them
/evil.grin.

> Huh? So strange. 'Entertainment' section- god!

/me was thankful men didnt turn up in hordes ... given our name, we
managed to attract quite a bit of attention from trolls at the BOF
*/me rolls eyes*

> Yes, sounds sensible. Anyone has any ideas about alternative hosting

as i said earlier, taken care of..... LC are willing to provide us
with the hosting. Modalities can be worked out whan we get a dedicated
team up and running. By that i dont mean we are going to thrust all
the work on one person because they volunteered.
grrls willing to say "hey i can do $small.task or need help with
$task" or maybe even pass the baton to new-chix when they are not able
to do so themselves is just what we need :)  You wont be pickled or
taunted if you say "i dont know, need help" and I would love to blog
about the great work you did (read credit where its due) :)

> > Vaibhav, as suggested in an earlier mail, could you kindly transfer
> > the domain registration to someone local, read female volunteers in
> > India and also keep one of the Tres Chix in the loop.
>
> That also sounds good- but in whose name should the domain be, then?
> Are there any volunteers?
> From what I know, the process of transferring a domain registration is trivial.

see names i suggested below, because they did take initiative first
and also because i can vouch they are women, having met them :) .

Vaibhav, since you have not responded regarding transfer of the domain
[linuxchix.org.in] to the women here, can I ask if you are against the
idea ? If yes, why ? I would really like a response since its almost 2
months since foss.in where you had told me you would not be able to do
it (install mailman) and i said "i would find grrls to do it".

Anyway, LC agreed to support our request for mailman. At the BOF we
had decided on having a planet, among other things, to aggregate the
'chix there.  I am not asking you to install a planet or do the work
for us but when women are volunteering, it would be a shame to lose
them due to silence. We may not be experts but I am sure there are
enough folks willing to help us learn.

Almost a year ago too some grrls volunteered and nothing hapenned,
after foss.in too women volunteered but we are still at square one. It
is clear, that we need to make decisions and "get on with it". Its
almost 2 months since foss .in, so if we dont do it now its not gonna
happen.

> > For the 3 contact points, I suggest 2 names from : Ankita, Aneesha,
> > Barkha, Runa, Archu since they have been actively involved in it.
>
> Well, once the domain is transferred, we can decide the names.

To transfer, we need the email-id's of  3 women in question. Also
keeping 3 different women reduces :
- too much power in single hands, this being a community project.
- the chance of "no response, grrls MIA"
- single person being burdened with responsibility (not work).

> > Grrls, We do need to get things in order so can we put this to vote please ?
>
> But if we are voting on whether to do this or not- I'm all for it.

Good.
Grrls, can we have some transparent and open list talk, especially
since you wont be criticised for having an opinion. So can we hear
from all the women here please.

> > Also, I have spoken to the TresChix about hosting so if we have a show
> > of hands (as in grrls willing to help out) it can be pushed ahead.
>
> I'm willing to help out- in whatever way I can.

great, Archana and you have volunteered so far.  IIRC, from the old
archives, a few other 'chix had volunteered too. Can they please
speakup again.  If we get a sizable team of women willing to work with
the existing team it would be great.

-- 
Vid
|| http://www.svaksha.com ||
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