[Linux-aus] Nominating for President in 2018

Kathy Reid kathy at kathyreid.id.au
Thu Dec 7 16:53:25 AEDT 2017


Hi Ian,

Thanks for your email, and for your support.

In terms of whether the rebrand work will continue, this is highly
likely, however a new Council is free to make other determinations.
Certainly, if I'm re-elected, I will be pushing forward with this.

We're still finalising some of the details of the rebrand, and will
share when we have a more finished product.

The rebrand seeks to reflect our evolving identify, which still
resonating with the long history we have as a community.

Kind regards,

Kathy


On 06/12/17 20:27, Ian wrote:
> Hello Kathy, I support your nomination, I think it would be great for
> Linux Australia to have you in the role again.
> I sincerely thank you for your passion and dedication to LA that you
> have shown in the President's role and in previous roles.
>
> I must question this opening statement and seek your clarification:
> "We've almost completed a rebrand of the organisation, the outputs of
> which will then be applied to new web and membership systems next
> year, if I'm re-elected."
>
> Umm, please feel free to correct me but the work that has been done so
> far will very likely continue with the new Committee, whether you are
> on it or not. Yes?
>
> Maybe you were suggesting that you would continue to push this process
> forward if re-elected which I fully support. But that isn't how it
> reads at present.
>
> Good luck to you and all nominees for this election.
>
>
> On 5 December 2017 at 12:33, Kathy Reid via linux-aus
> <linux-aus at lists.linux.org.au <mailto:linux-aus at lists.linux.org.au>>
> wrote:
>
>     Hi everyone,
>
>     I am nominating for President of Linux Australia in 2018.
>
>     Over 2017, I've been incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity
>     to lead a dedicated, professional, committed and high-performing
>     team in Council. As a team, we have had rigourous debate on a
>     number of issues internally, but have strived to provide a united
>     face as the leadership of Linux Australia, supported incredibly by
>     several subcommittees.
>
>     We've delivered a number of key outcomes.
>
>     We've almost completed a rebrand of the organisation, the outputs
>     of which will then be applied to new web and membership systems
>     next year, if I'm re-elected. We've breathed new life into our
>     Grants Programme, which saw around $AUD 35k distributed to
>     multiple worthwhile projects, including Womens Wednesday's at
>     Ballarat Hackerspace, sponsorship of diversity and inclusion
>     initiatives, such as VALA Tech Camp, and cross-pollinating open
>     source with other disciplines, such as with bioinformatics -
>     through STEMformatics. We've provided behind-the-scenes support
>     for a number of events - although our involvement has largely been
>     hands off - ensuring infrastructure like bank accounts and seed
>     funding are in place. We've welcomed Linux Users Victoria as a
>     subcommittee, helping to reduce their administrative overheads,
>     and focus on what they do best - bringing together the Linux and
>     open source community in Melbourne and surrounds. We've liaised
>     and started to build relationships with other relevant
>     organisations in Australia and abroad - such as through our
>     WordPress MoU - although there is much work still to do here.
>     We've also done the boring administrivia that ensures our
>     established processes run smoothly - in building a pipeline for
>     future linux.conf.au <http://linux.conf.au> and ensuring we do
>     forward budget planning, that we have insurance coverage, that
>     we're complying with Fair Trading NSW law, and that our bills are
>     paid on time. We've also made strong efforts to communicate our
>     activities this year - providing space and opportunity for
>     feedback, criticism and dialogue. Thank you to those who have
>     taken that opportunity - while we may not have always solved an
>     issue, feedback helps us ensure we're in alignment with the wishes
>     of the Linux Australia community.
>
>     We've had our challenges.
>
>     Striking the balance between freedom of expression, and creating
>     an environment where *all* open source practitioners, developers
>     and users feel welcomed remains a challenge. Sometimes we get that
>     balance right, and sometimes we need to work harder to shift the
>     pendulum. While we have more diversity of genders attending Linux
>     Australia events, this is nowhere near parity. And our community
>     is overwhelmingly white - which is not reflective of the diversity
>     in Australia - not just diversity of ethnicity - but diversity of
>     viewpoints, diversity of thinking, diversity of approaches.
>     Together we do better.  We're also challenged by capacity. A
>     7-person volunteer Council puts in tens of hours per week just to
>     "keep things running" - one of the reasons that some of the goals
>     for this year have been delayed (web refresh and new member
>     database). We need to be realistic about what we can achieve with
>     an entirely voluntary leadership team, and a revenue model that is
>     based entirely on volunteer efforts. We do not want to see burnout
>     in our community or in Council.
>
>     Why me?
>
>     It would be easy to say "well, no-one else is silly enough to put
>     up their hand", but this would insult those whose steps I've
>     followed - Hugh, and Josh, and John, and James, and Stewart, and
>     Jon, and Pia, and Anand, and Terry. You shouldn't nominate me, or
>     vote for me because there's no one else. You should vote for me
>     because you have confidence in my ability to lead, and you believe
>     in the direction I want to take us in. If there are others with
>     other directions and visions - great - we benefit from a diversity
>     of strategies, and the desire and drive to fulfill them.
>
>     Where to?
>
>     Next year, I would like to continue the momentum we've built in
>     2017 - running the Grants Program again, and continuing to refresh
>     our aging systems. I would like us to continue to foster
>     relationships with other technology organisations and identifying
>     where we can work jointly on issues that affect us, and effect
>     greater change. We need to review whether our name - Linux
>     Australia - effectively captures what we do now. And we need to
>     continue to incrementally improve our operational processes, and
>     make things easier for those running events under our umbrella -
>     through templates, well documented procedures and so on. We also
>     need to be aware of the pipeline issue we face - we have fewer
>     younger and newer members, and we don't have strong methods for
>     attracting new members to our community. Those who survive and
>     thrive are those who can best adapt to change, and we need to evolve.
>
>     Full disclosure of interests:
>
>       * I currently contract with Mycroft.AI, an open-source company
>         specialising in natural language processing and artificial
>         intelligence
>       * I run my own microbusiness - kathyreid.com.au
>         <http://kathyreid.com.au>, where I contract in web development
>         and data visualisation
>       * I sit on two committees with G21 - the Geelong Regional
>         Alliance (Education and Training and Economic Development)
>       * I hold a BA in Indonesian and security studies, a BS in
>         Information Systems and an MBA (Computing)
>
>     Kind regards,
>
>     Kathy Reid
>
>     -- 
>     --
>     Kathy Reid
>
>            email: kathy at kathyreid.id.au <mailto:kathy at kathyreid.id.au>
>           mobile: 0418 130 636
>          twitter: @kathyreid
>
>
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>
>
>
> -- 
> -- Ian
>

-- 
--
Kathy Reid
Independent digital consultant

       email: kathy at kathyreid.id.au
      mobile: 0418 130 636
     twitter: @kathyreid
       video: https://zoom.us/j/3384470933
        blog: http://blog.kathyreid.id.au
    linkedin: https://au.linkedin.com/in/kathyreid
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