TravisNewman

Hey everybody, I'm Travis (aka panickedthumb all over the 'net).

I'm a Moderator for the [http://www.ubuntuforums.org Official Ubuntu Forums], username is, you guessed it [http://www.ubuntuforums.org/member.php?userid=1132 panickedthumb].

Forum Responsibilities/Contribution

It's pretty obvious what gets done as a forum moderator, but specifically, I

• Moderate most forum sections, including software and hardware support, the off-topic forum (which as you can imagine is quite tricky at times), and others.
• Moderate not only by keeping things neat and cohesive, but by providing support for users of the forum
• Help in the decision making processes of many facets of the forum
• Recently set up an IRC channel on freenode for the moderators to more easily interact

CD Distribution

• I've given quite a few cds to some of my friends in computer classes, one friend who actually TEACHES two computer classes, and they've gotten great response from this. Ubuntu and education could very easily go hand in hand, and I believe this is a great institution to get people interested in Ubuntu.

UBAD

UBAD (short for Ubuntu Based Artist's Distribution) is the current codename for an as-of-yet-unnamed project to bring various metapackages, scripts, and utilities to Ubuntu, making it more compatible for Music Production, Graphic Design, Web Design (because if you've done web design, you KNOW that it is truly an art), and various other tasks that made the Mac famous. I believe that Ubuntu can be the platform that can compete with Apple if someone successfully provides these types of applications. This is where UBAD comes in.

Ubuntu Women

Also currently in the planning phase is the Ubuntu Women community created by forum member tsjoklat, kassetra, and myself. I know that I don't have the necessary equipment to be an Ubuntu Woman myself, but I think this is a needed part of the community. I've heard from some women who use Ubuntu but are too intimidated by the stereotypical male geek profile to participate in the community. While I've never seen this on our forums or in the community at large, I HAVE seen it many times in other Linux communities, so I know that this is a concern. While there are Ubuntu Women wikipages, they both simply call for inclusion in Debian Women or give links to websites about women in Linux.

Computing History

I got my first computer in 1998, a month after the beginning of my Senior Year of high school. At that point, I was still double clicking on links in IE, and having trouble with sending emails. By November of that year I had successfully installed Slackware Linux on my 266 Mhz Compaq Presario. It was slow going, and I still had no clue what I was doing, but that was the spark of interest that brought me where I am today. I consider myself to be moderately skilled at most distributions (the distro-specific parts, that is), but I'm pretty proficient in Ubuntu and Linux as a whole, and I try to help everyone out as best I can. In my opinion, Ubuntu is the best well-rounded and functional distribution that has ever been released, and I hope to contribute in every way possible to this wonderful community!