ubuntu-ngo team mailing list archive

[Andrew SB <a.starr.b@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi all,

First of all, just want to say that I'm excited to see that this is a
subject that people are thinking about. For many reasons, I think that
the NGO and non-profit world makes a lot of sense as an area for
Ubuntu to move into, and I can't wait to hear about the discussions
that were had at UDS about the issue.

Just to kick off some discussion, we should probably think about and
define some use cases. A few that I can think of:

1) Distributing Ubuntu-based computers to those that need them.
  * OEM installs? Documentation? What other things can we do to make
this easier on the NGO side?
  * Support for users once they get it home... Any special cases not
covered by existing community support mechanisms? Offline support?

2) Running Ubuntu in a community center or similar environment.
  * LTSP? Guest Account? Account lockdowns (Pessulus [1])?

3) In the NGO's office.
  * I think this is an important target. Ubuntu shouldn't just be the
"cheap windows" that they can give away to clients. Making Ubuntu
something that a NGO could use in all aspects of its work also makes
it easier for them to feel comfortable deploying and supporting it
with their clients.
  * What tools are needed beyond the normal desktop? Specialized
needs? CRMs (customer/constituent relationship management systems)?
    - SugarCRM seems to be a popular choice. [2] Has applications
beyond NGOs. Needs-packaging bug. [3]
    - CiviCRM is specifically focused on advocacy, non-profit and
non-governmental groups. [4] Highly extensible. Can integrate with
both Drupal and Joomla. (How would we decide which version to
package?) Seems to have a strong community.
  * Back-office server / Web server / Web presence. Is there more we
can do on these fronts than is already happening in ubuntu-server? Any
special needs for a NGO?

What can we do to encourage adoption that doesn't require technical
changes? Well, getting the stories of people that are already use
Ubuntu for their NGOs seems to be a good idea. As Daniel's blog post
shows, there's already quite a few. [5] There are probably many more
beyond those responses. I see that someone (Daniel?) has already set
up a blog. [6] I hope/assume that we can use that space to share those
stories. Maybe use interviews to do so? (Daniel, I swear I'll get to
that MOTU interview soon. :-) )

I've heard mentions in the past of LoCo Teams working with local
non-profits to distribute Ubuntu on donated old machines. Is there
more we can do to encourage this? Targeted promotional materials?
Should we send out a mailing to one of the LoCo lists looking for
people interested? What lessons can we learn from their experiences
that we should keep in mind as we move forward with this project?

There also seem to be a number of organizations that are pushing
opensource more generally in the nonprofit sector. [7][8] Anyone know
of more? Making connections with them could be useful. If nothing
else, they are probably good sources for looking at NGO use cases.

Looking forward to hearing your ideas,

- Andrew Starr-Bochicchio
  Ubuntu Developer

[1] http://live.gnome.org/Pessulus
[2] http://www.sugarcrm.com/crm/
[3] https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/bugs/253220
[4] http://civicrm.org/
[5] http://daniel.holba.ch/blog/?p=422
[6] http://ubuntungo.wordpress.com/
[7] http://www.nosi.net/
[8] http://www.tacticaltech.org/

PS: I CCed people that have signed up for the team, but don't seem to
be subscribed to the mailing list according to Launchpad. I hope
that's ok, and apologize if someone gets this twice.