Ubuntu Wiki

Open Week -- How to participate remotely at an Ubuntu Developer Summit -- Jorge Castro -- Fri, May 7

EDT -5

(02:01:36 PM) jcastro: Ok
(02:01:40 PM) jcastro: 2 sessions left!
(02:01:55 PM) jcastro: This one is going to be "How to Participate in the Ubuntu Developer Summit"
(02:02:12 PM) jcastro: where I will give you all the tips on how to follow along as we forge the Maverick Meerkat
(02:02:16 PM) jcastro: ok
(02:02:19 PM) jcastro: so first off
(02:02:21 PM) jcastro: what is UDS
(02:02:33 PM) jcastro: it's the Ubuntu Developer Summit, and like Ubuntu itself it happens every 6 months
(02:02:41 PM) jcastro: usually after a release
(02:02:57 PM) jcastro: we alternate between europe and north america
(02:03:03 PM) jcastro: so this time it's in Brussels, Belgium
(02:03:16 PM) jcastro: UDS is a week long and is full of sessions
(02:03:21 PM) jcastro: which I will get to in a minute
(02:03:46 PM) jcastro: ok, so before UDS actually begin all the teams are busy preparing their blueprints
(02:03:56 PM) jcastro: blueprints are how we figure out what will go into maverick
(02:04:13 PM) jcastro: https://blueprints.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/community-lucid-launchpad-upstream-improvements
(02:04:21 PM) jcastro: here's an example of a blueprint from last cycle
(02:04:41 PM) jcastro: you can subscribe to blueprints to follow along progress along the course of a cycle
(02:04:48 PM) jcastro: it will mail you everytime someone updates it
(02:04:56 PM) jcastro: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UDS-M/
(02:05:03 PM) jcastro: this is where we keep all the information for UDS.
(02:05:10 PM) jcastro: Click on the "Blueprints" link under discuss
(02:05:13 PM) jcastro: that will take you here:
(02:05:20 PM) jcastro: https://blueprints.edge.launchpad.net/sprints/uds-m
(02:05:32 PM) jcastro: this tells you everything that is being considered for discussion at UDS.
(02:05:55 PM) jcastro: what I do is open the ones I am interested in in tabs in my browser, and then subscribe to the ones I want to follow along.
(02:06:00 PM) jcastro: any questions on blueprints so far?
(02:06:36 PM) ClassBot: charlie-tca asked: are there going to be 322 sessions for the 322 blueprints?
(02:06:39 PM) jcastro: probably not
(02:06:45 PM) jcastro: I'll get to that bit in a second
(02:06:52 PM) jcastro: sometimes a session might have multiple blueprints
(02:07:08 PM) jcastro: ok so keep that page open
(02:07:12 PM) jcastro: now let's see how that maps to sessions
(02:07:22 PM) jcastro: go back to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UDS-M/
(02:07:30 PM) jcastro: and click on "Schedule" under "Attend"
(02:07:37 PM) jcastro: http://summit.ubuntu.com/uds-m/
(02:07:40 PM) jcastro: that takes us here
(02:07:45 PM) jcastro: this page is also important
(02:07:54 PM) jcastro: let's click to see what sessions are on Monday!
(02:08:05 PM) jcastro: http://summit.ubuntu.com/uds-m/2010-05-10/
(02:08:14 PM) jcastro: ok, as you can see here, you should see a big grid o' colors
(02:08:30 PM) jcastro: each of those blueprints can be a session (if they're approved)
(02:08:40 PM) jcastro: and they're color coded
(02:09:00 PM) jcastro: so, orange is desktop, purple is community, brown is foundations, light blue is server, etc.
(02:09:07 PM) jcastro: each of these sessions corresponds to a blueprint
(02:09:27 PM) jcastro: you can check what blueprint it is by clicking on the top left corner of each block (the little paper icons)
(02:09:34 PM) jcastro: that takes you to the corresponding blueprint
(02:10:11 PM) jcastro: so if you're participating remotely you'll want to note where your favorite blueprints are
(02:10:31 PM) jcastro: and then of course do the math on what time it is in your time zone compared to belgium
(02:10:37 PM) jcastro: you can use timeanddate.com for that
(02:11:06 PM) jcastro: for the keynotes we usually get the video out to the internet as soon as we can
(02:11:11 PM) jcastro: so there's nothing really to do there.
(02:11:32 PM) jcastro: ok, so now that you've figured out what sessions you want to participate let's get to actually participating in a session
(02:12:05 PM) jcastro: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UDS-M/RemoteParticipation
(02:12:08 PM) jcastro: now
(02:12:15 PM) jcastro: if you saw on the grid, on the top there was a list of rooms
(02:12:20 PM) jcastro: these have odd names
(02:12:23 PM) jcastro: cocobolo, etc.
(02:12:32 PM) jcastro: that column corresponds to what room the session will be in
(02:12:40 PM) jcastro: and each room has an IRC channel, which is listed on that page
(02:12:58 PM) jcastro: in the old days, we stuck all the sessions in the same track in the same room
(02:13:09 PM) jcastro: so you could just hang out in the "desktop" channel and follow along
(02:13:16 PM) jcastro: now we shuffle tracks and people around
(02:13:31 PM) jcastro: so remember that the IRC channels and the icecast streams are based on the ROOM
(02:13:44 PM) jcastro: and the schedule tells you what room the session you want is in
(02:14:05 PM) jcastro: thanks to the hard work of the IRC team we have a bot that will do the topics in each room
(02:14:10 PM) jcastro: so it's similar to this bot
(02:14:21 PM) ClassBot: qense asked: Why was decided to move people around? So they breathe fresh air?
(02:14:26 PM) jcastro: good question!
(02:14:37 PM) jcastro: actually it's to force people to move around and not camp out in their track room
(02:14:45 PM) jcastro: this leads to better mingling in the hallways, etc.
(02:14:58 PM) jcastro: instead of you sitting in the same room for a week
(02:15:05 PM) jcastro: ok
(02:15:15 PM) jcastro: so, these IRC channels are the main way to communicate with the session
(02:15:30 PM) jcastro: when UDS starts there will be a link to an icecast stream in the schedule and on this page
(02:15:41 PM) jcastro: you'll click on it and you'll hear the audio (live!) from the session
(02:15:49 PM) jcastro: in the actual room we have 2 projectors
(02:15:59 PM) jcastro: one with gobby (which I will get to)
(02:16:07 PM) jcastro: and another one with xchat
(02:16:18 PM) jcastro: people in the room will see the irc channel
(02:16:24 PM) jcastro: so you can basically "chat" to people in the room
(02:16:39 PM) jcastro: and they will just talk back to you, and you'll hear it over the icecast stream
(02:16:50 PM) jcastro: each room's irc client will be set to highlight the room
(02:16:57 PM) jcastro: so you'll talk like this in the channel:
(02:17:17 PM) jcastro: ubuntu-uds-amarente: Hey, what's up with windicators?
(02:17:34 PM) jcastro: and everyone in that room will see it highlighted in IRC on the projector, along with a notification bubble
(02:17:44 PM) jcastro: you'll find that it's quite easy to participate in this manner
(02:17:54 PM) jcastro: most sessions will have people paying attention to the IRC channel
(02:18:04 PM) jcastro: any questions on the IRC and icecast?
(02:18:43 PM) jcastro: the bot will put the session in the topic, so hopefully you won't be asking kernel questions when there's a design topic scheduled or something, heh
(02:18:58 PM) jcastro: ok
(02:19:06 PM) jcastro: the other piece of the live session is the gobby document
(02:19:22 PM) jcastro: gobby is a multiuser text editor that we use to take notes during the session
(02:19:37 PM) jcastro: think of it like gedit and xchat mushed together
(02:19:43 PM) jcastro: you need to install gobby
(02:19:51 PM) jcastro: and then in the document list the document will be named after the session
(02:20:09 PM) jcastro: so if you're in desktop-m-monoflamewar, the document and blueprint will all share that name
(02:20:34 PM) jcastro: when you open the document in gobby you'll notice people typing in real time to take notes.
(02:20:54 PM) jcastro: I find that keeping an eye on a gobby document during the session helps me keep track of what people are talking about
(02:21:07 PM) ClassBot: charlie-tca asked: do we need to type in the room name, or is that automatic when we hit send?
(02:21:18 PM) jcastro: you will be in the channel for that room
(02:21:40 PM) jcastro: however the xchat username will be the roomname, so it's probably best to type out the name so it's highlighted on the screen
(02:21:53 PM) jcastro: however most people running a session do a good job of monitoring IRC
(02:22:13 PM) jcastro: so that someone will type on the screen and you'll hear someone in the room right away go "Yes charlie, I agree with you!" or whatever
(02:23:16 PM) jcastro: the only annoying part I have found is having to switch your audio client to a new icecast url after every session
(02:23:35 PM) jcastro: however when they're set up they'll be linked from the schedule and this wiki page: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UDS-M/RemoteParticipation
(02:24:18 PM) jcastro: usually what I do is set my IRC client to autojoin all those rooms
(02:24:21 PM) jcastro: and then log them all
(02:24:35 PM) jcastro: so I can peruse the conversations later when I have more time
(02:24:54 PM) jcastro: any more questions on that?
(02:25:33 PM) jcastro: ok moving on
(02:25:42 PM) jcastro: ok so you'll attend each session you care about
(02:25:54 PM) jcastro: and during the session you'll see people make TODO items out of things
(02:26:15 PM) jcastro: let me find an example
(02:26:35 PM) jcastro: https://blueprints.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/desktop-lucid-new-firefox-support-model
(02:26:39 PM) jcastro: ok so here's one from last time
(02:26:46 PM) jcastro: during the session people will be assigned things
(02:26:49 PM) jcastro: or volunteer for things
(02:27:07 PM) jcastro: this is where you see the task assignment
(02:27:15 PM) jcastro: it's the person's name, the task, and then the status
(02:27:16 PM) jcastro: so ...
(02:27:27 PM) jcastro: [jorge] Let's frobnicate the doohicky: TODO
(02:27:32 PM) jcastro: or DONE, or INPROGRESS
(02:27:48 PM) jcastro: for each blueprint each person will take what they need to do and break it up into tasks
(02:27:59 PM) jcastro: [chrisccoulson] identify extensions to be kept in archive - binary components or importance can qualify an extension: DONE
(02:28:01 PM) jcastro: for example
(02:28:21 PM) jcastro: now, remember at the beginning I said that you should subscribe to blueprints you are interested in?
(02:28:39 PM) jcastro: as the cycle progresses and people do these tasks, launchpad will send you a mail
(02:28:49 PM) jcastro: that gives you a good idea on how that spec is progressing
(02:29:34 PM) jcastro: and what we do is take all those tasks and keep track of them all
(02:29:36 PM) jcastro: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReleaseTeam/FeatureStatus
(02:29:45 PM) jcastro: currently the graphs are zeroed out
(02:29:53 PM) jcastro: but this is how you keep track of how we're looking for a release
(02:30:12 PM) jcastro: http://www.jonobacon.org/2010/04/23/lucid-community-team-review/
(02:30:25 PM) jcastro: here's a blog post on how we did it for our team this cycle
(02:30:29 PM) jcastro: but it applies to every team
(02:31:12 PM) jcastro: so, I encourage you to subscribe to things you want to keep track of
(02:31:22 PM) jcastro: and make a little filter in your email for launchpad blueprints
(02:31:34 PM) jcastro: ok, so other tidbots
(02:31:42 PM) jcastro: tidbits even. :D
(02:31:48 PM) jcastro: http://ubottu.com/uds-logs/
(02:31:54 PM) jcastro: here's the list of IRC logs per room
(02:32:01 PM) jcastro: which can come in handy if you miss a session
(02:32:53 PM) jcastro: any  more questions?
(02:33:13 PM) ClassBot: nealmcb asked: What about before the session?  Many/most blueprints don't have an associated wiki page (yet?) and a short paragraph doesn't do much to help people come prepared for a good discussion.  Can you encourage folks to put up more complete descriptions on the wiki?
(02:33:22 PM) jcastro: yes
(02:33:37 PM) jcastro: actually if it's blank it means the person is slacking *cough*
(02:34:00 PM) jcastro: or they just plan to open the page in gobby at the session and do it as part of the session
(02:34:41 PM) jcastro: we usually have a flickr feed of people taking photos during UDS
(02:34:43 PM) jcastro: http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=all&q=udslucid&m=tags
(02:34:55 PM) jcastro: if you are interested in following that, it'll probably be udsmaverick
(02:35:01 PM) jcastro: same for twitter and identi.ca
(02:35:54 PM) jcastro: this is where you can find funny things like mark with a funny hat: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8413078@N02/4127083362/
(02:36:43 PM) jcastro: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8413078@N02/4127063712/
(02:36:50 PM) jcastro: here is a picture of how the projectors are setup
(02:36:59 PM) jcastro: as you can see there, gobby on the right, and on the left is the irc client
(02:37:27 PM) jcastro: one thing to also remember is that the sessions are very fluid
(02:37:32 PM) jcastro: and might spawn other sessions
...