From president at linux.org.au Thu Dec 7 17:55:31 2017 From: president at linux.org.au (Linux Australia President) Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2017 17:55:31 +1100 Subject: [Announce] Linux Australia December update Message-ID: <0c34ca09-9add-36e1-f61d-bf35e9579d69@linux.org.au> Hi everyone, Hoping that this note finds you and your loved ones well and safe, despite whatever inclement weather your region has chosen to throw at you. As we ease into the holiday season, I'd like to round off the year with a quick update on our activities, and position us into the start of the new year. linux.conf.au 22nd-26th January, Sydney It will be awesome. If you haven't got your ticket already, and you're planning to, please do - ticket sales have been strong and we don't want you to miss out. Auckland 2015 sold out, Geelong 2016 sold out, Hobart 2017 sold out, Sydney will likely sell out. Yes, because it will be awesome. The schedule is looking mighty fine, and Bruce, James and the team have pulled in some high calibre keynotes indeed - including Karen Sandler, Jessie Frazelle and Matthew Todd. Big ups too to event sponsors IBM (Penguin Sponsor), Sol1 (Adelie Sponsor), and Discourse (Fairy Penguin Sponsor). If your company hearts Linux as much as we do, then please do consider sponsoring - sponsorship at lca2018.org. Follow along on the Twitters @linuxconfau / #lca2018 or on the Book of Face at DrupalSouth Auckland 2017 wraps up Also in line for big ups are Nicole Kirsch, Pamela Clifford, Dave Sparks and the team led by Sparks Interactive, who delivered another excellent DrupalSouth recently in Auckland. If you'd like a recap, check out the Storify I made (yeah, I know, proprietary platform aggregating proprietary other platforms...) Rebranding We've almost finished rebranding work, very ably undertaken by Toby Ansell. We just have some Brand Guidelines to finalise, then we'll share with everyone. Yes, we've chosen what colour the bike shed will be. Elections Are you awesome? Know someone who is? It's Australia, so we like, need new leaders every five minutes or so, so now's your opportunity to put up your hand to help lead Linux Australia. You don't even need to be a British Citizen, or a Kiwi. Wait, no, the other thing. I jest. But in all seriousness, our organisation is awesome because of the awesome things that awesome people do. Put up your hand to be awesome, make new professional connections, get bossed around by the Pres - ^H^H^H enjoy growing your leadership skills, and above all, move open source in Australia forward. https://linux.org.au/membership/index.php?page=view-election&id=24 AGM and call for Agenda Items Our AGM will be held at linux.conf.au in Sydney and a Call for Agenda Items will go out shortly. Annual report and office bearer's reports Our Auditors are currently auditing our accounts for the financial year just gone, and these will be presented as part of the AGM in Sydney. We will be delivering our Office Bearer's reports in Annual Report form. Oooh shiny! Grants Programme We'll shortly be requesting updates from all Grant Recipients regarding their grant progress, and we'll include these in our annual report. On a parting note, will 2018 be the Year of Linux on the Desktop? https://www.techrepublic.com/article/2018-the-year-of-the-open-source-desktop-browser-and-office-suite/ Have a great holiday season, a great new year, and see you all in Sydney! Kind regards, Kathy -- Kathy Reid President Linux Australia 0418 130 636 president at linux.org.au http://linux.org.au Linux Australia Inc GPO Box 4788 Sydney NSW 2001 Australia ABN 56 987 117 479 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From president at linux.org.au Tue Dec 19 19:58:05 2017 From: president at linux.org.au (Linux Australia President) Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2017 19:58:05 +1100 Subject: [Announce] Should Linux Australia change its name to Open Source Australia? Message-ID: <5850b2ee-35f8-131a-b8ba-0bb32e4fab5a@linux.org.au> Hi everyone, Linux Australia is an incorporated association, registered in the state of NSW, and has been in operation since around 2001. Initially convened as a vehicle to operate linux.conf.au, the organisation's remit, activities and scope have broadened significantly over the last decade and a half. We think it's time to change the name of the organisation to better reflect our widened mission, values, activities, partnerships and influence. But wait, hasn't this been tried before? Yes. In 2012/2013, the Linux Australia Council, led then by John Ferlito, attempted a name change. Consensus could not be reached on a name to change *to*, and so Linux Australia remained Linux Australia. This time, we're learning from the outcome of that process, and would like to present to you a decision: Should Linux Australia change its name to Open Source Australia (Yes/No) Other aspects of the organisation - constitution, makeup and so on, are not proposed to be changed. We're communicating this now to provide the community with time to discuss this proposed change before the AGM, where the resolution will be tabled in the AGM agenda. The result of the vote will be tabled at the AGM. That is, if the majority vote 'No', we won't change the name. If the majority vote 'Yes', we will. If you are a member of Linux Australia, you will be able to vote on this resolution at: https://www.linux.org.au/membership/index.php?page=view-election&id=25 Voting will open 25th December 2017, the same time voting opens for Council Elections, and will close on 21 January, the same time voting closes for Council Elections. Let the discussion begin. Kind regards, Kathy -- Kathy Reid President Linux Australia 0418 130 636 president at linux.org.au http://linux.org.au Linux Australia Inc GPO Box 4788 Sydney NSW 2001 Australia ABN 56 987 117 479 From president at linux.org.au Thu Dec 21 21:04:29 2017 From: president at linux.org.au (Linux Australia President) Date: Thu, 21 Dec 2017 21:04:29 +1100 Subject: [Announce] REMINDER: Nominations for Council Elections closing 24th December, voting opens 25th December Message-ID: <7576cf3a-ffb7-140b-7e81-17715714d088@linux.org.au> Greetings awesome Humans, TL;DR: You have 3 days to nominate for Linux Australia Council. This is a reminder that nominations for Council Election close on 24th December, Christmas Eve, where you too may be partaking of $beverages and not realise that you are nearing the deadline to nominate. So, get in early! Yay! Punctuality! https://linux.org.au/membership/index.php?page=view-election&id=24 If you'd like to know the sort of activities that Council members undertake, the Position Descriptions here are a good read: https://github.com/linuxaustralia/position-descriptions Kind regards, Kathy -- Kathy Reid President Linux Australia 0418 130 636 president at linux.org.au http://linux.org.au Linux Australia Inc GPO Box 4788 Sydney NSW 2001 Australia ABN 56 987 117 479 From president at linux.org.au Mon Dec 25 01:14:08 2017 From: president at linux.org.au (Linux Australia President) Date: Mon, 25 Dec 2017 01:14:08 +1100 Subject: [Announce] [LACTTE] Should Linux Australia change its name to Open Source Australia? In-Reply-To: <5850b2ee-35f8-131a-b8ba-0bb32e4fab5a@linux.org.au> References: <5850b2ee-35f8-131a-b8ba-0bb32e4fab5a@linux.org.au> Message-ID: Hi everyone, Firstly, thanks to everyone for the open, candid and robust discussion of renaming. Secondly, apologies for the timing of this email, late on Christmas Eve. I've been spending the last couple of days with family and friends, and much as I love this community, they take precedence. To address a number of points that have been raised; Should the vote go ahead? Should we add more naming options? Council discussed this at length at Thursday night's Council meeting, noting how close the proposed Open Source Australia name was to Open Source Industry Australia. We followed up with Jack Burton on Friday as an OSIA representative to seek input as to next steps - and I'd like to publicly thank Jack for his time and professionalism. Essentially we had three options: 1. Stop the election/ballot on a new name, and allow for more time for community discussion on alternative names, and whether to rebrand at all 2. Add new names to the ballot 3. Allow the ballot to proceed, knowing the proposal to rename to Open Source Australia will likely be defeated Given the timeframes involved, and recognising that there are community opinions expressed for and against a name change, for many reasons, we have decided to proceed with the ballot, knowing that the name change will likely be defeated. I would also like to be transparent that this was not the preferred course of action from OSIA; we recognise that and this is in no way intended to antagonise that relationship - we've started something and we want to follow it through to a logical conclusion. Further, adding more potential names at this late stage is unlikely to be productive; the reason Open Source Australia was given as an alternate name is that it had the highest polling in the last name change poll around 5 years ago. Voting on the ballot is now open to Linux Australia members: https://linux.org.au/membership/index.php?page=view-election&id=25 What happens next? We have committed to changing the name if we receive a mandate, via a majority of votes on the ballot, to do so. This would be raised as a Special Resolution at the January AGM. If the ballot is defeated, we will not proceed to change the name in the short term. Regardless of outcome, the discussions around changing the name of Linux Australia will likely continue; this is a positive step. What I *would* encourage is some broader debate about not only what we label ourselves; but what it is that label encompasses. Our activities, our functions, our remit, our mandate. What do we want to do in the future? What do we start doing? What do we stop doing? A name has meaning. A name is powerful. Who are we? Should the ballot be defeated, further community discussions on proposed names may continue; these discussions may lead to another vote at a future time. Some finer points of discussion * If we change the name, do we need to change the Constitution? No, but we do need a Special Resolution to be passed, and then we need to apply to the Office of Fair Trading NSW to change the name. A Ballot would be used as evidence to show that members had been consulted on the decision. * If Linux Australia becomes Something Else, would we still retain the trading name? Yes. We've traded as Linux Australia for over 15 years, and we would retain the trading name to prevent other organisations leveraging the name. If someone would like to form a "Linux" subcommittee, go right ahead. * Can't we just own the trading name Open Source Australia? We already do. * How much is the Linux Australia brand worth? We've never formally had the brand evaluated. Most conference brands are much more well known than the parent organisation brand. * Should OSIA merge with Linux Australia? This is a decision for OSIA first, and only an issue for Linux Australia should OSIA wish to broach it; this has not been formally broached. Our understanding is that OSIA are attempting a "reboot" to breathe new life into the organisation - and my feeling is that it is premature to ask this until the outcome of this measure is clearer. Discussions with OSIA over the last few days have highlighted a number of areas and specific paths with with Linux Australia and OSIA could co-operate as independent, yet collaborating organisations - my thanks are again extended to Jack Burton for outlining these. They centre around co-operation on approaches to government around policy formation. * Do I base leadership decisions on episodes of Bar Rescue? While I'm sure Bar Rescue is a fine series, I haven't had the pleasure of watching it myself. I'm currently binge-watching Berlin Station. /Wer rastet, der rostet./ Again, thank you to the community for a robust, and generally, respectful discussion and debate on this issue. Kind regards, Kathy On 19/12/17 19:58, Linux Australia President wrote: > Hi everyone, > > Linux Australia is an incorporated association, registered in the state > of NSW, and has been in operation since around 2001. Initially convened > as a vehicle to operate linux.conf.au, the organisation's remit, > activities and scope have broadened significantly over the last decade > and a half. > > We think it's time to change the name of the organisation to > better reflect our widened mission, values, activities, partnerships and > influence. > > But wait, hasn't this been tried before? > > Yes. In 2012/2013, the Linux Australia Council, led then by John > Ferlito, attempted a name change. Consensus could not be reached on a > name to change *to*, and so Linux Australia remained Linux Australia. > > This time, we're learning from the outcome of that process, and would > like to present to you a decision: > > Should Linux Australia change its name to Open Source Australia (Yes/No) > > Other aspects of the organisation - constitution, makeup and so on, are > not proposed to be changed. > > We're communicating this now to provide the community with time to > discuss this proposed change before the AGM, where the resolution will > be tabled in the AGM agenda. The result of the vote will be tabled > at the AGM. That is, if the majority vote 'No', we won't change the > name. If the majority vote 'Yes', we will. > > If you are a member of Linux Australia, you will be able to vote on this > resolution at: > > https://www.linux.org.au/membership/index.php?page=view-election&id=25 > > Voting will open 25th December 2017, the same time voting opens for > Council Elections, and will close on 21 January, the same time voting > closes for Council Elections. > > Let the discussion begin. > > Kind regards, > > Kathy > -- Kathy Reid President Linux Australia 0418 130 636 president at linux.org.au http://linux.org.au Linux Australia Inc GPO Box 4788 Sydney NSW 2001 Australia ABN 56 987 117 479 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From president at linux.org.au Mon Dec 25 01:24:29 2017 From: president at linux.org.au (Linux Australia President) Date: Mon, 25 Dec 2017 01:24:29 +1100 Subject: [Announce] Voting now open for Linux Australia Council elections In-Reply-To: <7576cf3a-ffb7-140b-7e81-17715714d088@linux.org.au> References: <7576cf3a-ffb7-140b-7e81-17715714d088@linux.org.au> Message-ID: <74add835-2a0a-9d96-de82-d50815a1fd28@linux.org.au> https://linux.org.au/membership/index.php?page=view-election&id=24 This is technically a moot point; there are fewer nominations than there are vacancies. We will call for nominations to vacant positions at the AGM at linux.conf.au and can vote on appointing candidates at that time. Kind regards, Kathy On 21/12/17 21:04, Linux Australia President wrote: > Greetings awesome Humans, > > TL;DR: You have 3 days to nominate for Linux Australia Council. > > This is a reminder that nominations for Council Election close on 24th > December, Christmas Eve, where you too may be partaking of $beverages > and not realise that you are nearing the deadline to nominate. So, get > in early! Yay! Punctuality! > > https://linux.org.au/membership/index.php?page=view-election&id=24 > > If you'd like to know the sort of activities that Council members > undertake, the Position Descriptions here are a good read: > > https://github.com/linuxaustralia/position-descriptions > > Kind regards, > > Kathy > -- Kathy Reid President Linux Australia 0418 130 636 president at linux.org.au http://linux.org.au Linux Australia Inc GPO Box 4788 Sydney NSW 2001 Australia ABN 56 987 117 479