ubuntu-ngo team mailing list archive

[Alan Bell <alan.bell@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The paper jams thing seems to be a great initiative.

Ubuntu as a whole is making a better general purpose operating system.
The paper jams we need to address are those which would help make Ubuntu
a better fit for the specific purpose of the NGO use case. Thus whilst
improved OpenOffice.org compatibility with other products would be nice
it isn't really a problem that has a particular impact on an NGO over
and above any other organisation. We need to look at the reasons why an
NGO in particular would have a paper jam preventing a switch to Ubuntu.

NGOs are offered heavy discounts on proprietary software, the vendors
adverse to freedom don't want anyone defecting to lower cost
alternatives. To address this we need to be not just as good as
alternatives, but clearly better. We also have to overcome the thinking
of people who shop for the biggest discount rather than shopping for the
best value - this is more of a marketing issue than a technical issue.

Accountancy is certainly an area where the charitable organisation has
different requirements to a textbook widget trading business. I believe
we could do a great GNUcash template set of accounts for a small
charity. This would be a handy thing to have not just for people who
want to actually use it but as a marketing tool to illustrate how Ubuntu
is targeted at the NGO sector and provides good value. This website/book
and sample account structure might be a nice place to start
http://www.nfpaccountinghelp.org/pages/free-resources/sample-chart-of-accounts.php

Training might be an area where we can do something. I am struggling to
put it in an NGO context though. The main Ubuntu documentation and
training efforts would seem to be equally applicable to all sectors.

Hardware. Where do charities get hardware from? Is there anything we can
do to help lower their costs by promoting new or second hand hardware
with Ubuntu pre-installed?

One area of Ubuntu that I find a bit of a struggle is getting a group of
machines to work together nicely. Setting up an LDAP directory server
that they can all authenticate to with desktops and occasionally offline
laptops. Mapping out how to do that would be nice, but I am not sure it
is an NGO specific problem.

Any other ideas would be great, keep them coming.

Alan.

Laura Czajkowski wrote:
> Aloha!
>
>
> Following on from the mail I sent the other day re discussions at UDS,
> one topic I'm getting around to following up this week is the concept of
> *paper jams*.   You may have read in the last cycle the 100 paper cuts
> set up  by the design team, it was pretty amazing to read. 
>
>
> It got me thinking about issues with NGOs that aren't bugs, but do
> effect one another and how best I could work on them after I highlight
> them in the interviews.
>
>
> I spoke with Ivanka who works with the design team asking her for some
> guidance as I hadn't a clue where to start and we came up with Paper
> Jams, something that is bigger than a paper cut!
>
>
> So I'm asking you, as there are a good few NGOs on this mailing list for
> some ideas please! lets not be shy and not answer the mail!
>
>
> /Step 1: point me at a case study for an NGO and I big it up on my blog
> and ubuntu designers twitter and my twitter etc. I will rope the rest of
> my team into it too/. - This has been done and I've shown Ivanka one of
> the interviews I covered. 
>
>
> *Step 2*: In the meantime we get together a list of problems we want to
> sort out. Let's have a bigger list that we publish and then choose one
> we want to get behind. - THIS is where I need you, the Ubuntu NGO teams
> _*feed back*_ PLEASE!!
>
>
> *Step 3*: Depending what issues we choose we hassle all the people we
> need to to get it sorted. If we go with the Server documentation one
> then we ask for documentation person/help or for translation. We coax
> and push and write blog posts that encourage and praise.
>
>
> Let's see what we can do in this Lucid Cycle!
>
>
> Laura
>
>