metalug.com.org.net.ca and the MetaLUG Foundation.

Tue Oct 31 01:30:56 UTC 2006

OK ubuntuers, here's the full poop;

Years ago, as a direct result of my frustrations with proprietary
software vendors, I discovered linux. A boxed version of Mandrake 7.2
was my gateway to the world of Open Source (yes, RMS, GNU too) and I
never looked back. In my earlier explorations, the desktop software
was, to put it gently, not-ready-for-prime-time, but I recognised the
underlying philosophies; freedom-as-in-speech, global colabouration,
gravitation towards best practices and open standards, stuck with it,
and was proven correct in my belief that the development model would
survive and flourish and result in software that was good, for all the
right reasons.

At first, it was lonely. I didn't meet another linux user for a year,
or so. I would boot back into Win98 (because I couldn't yet connect to
the net) and researched my way through RPM hell and code that
shouldn't have been called beta, and to burn linux .iso CD images.

Then I found TLUG and, even though cries for help were often met by
the RTFM squad, and threads that would go immediately OT, or radio
silence, it was encouraging to know that there existed like minded
individuals in my immediate area. Ifn I wuz crazy, I wasn't the only
one. Direct contact with a handful of generous souls kept me on the
path and (eventually) I was able to reformat my Windows partition.

Now linux is mainstream (in a grass rootsy, underground way) and I'm
on the Board of Directors of GTAlug, run linuxcaffe; a local coffee
shoppe with WiFi and more distros than you can shake a stick at. We've
been open for about a year and a half. Momentum is building. The
energy and enthusiasm for FLOSS is undeniable, and linuxcaffe may seem
like the eye of the hurricane.. but it ain't !
This thing's everywhere. It's like there was some dormant gene just
waiting for the
technology to catch up.

LUGs happen. Some of us will grok FLOSS and then have a need to gather
with other birds of a feather. This is a global happening and anywhere
that has electricity and an internet connection, has (or will soon
have) LUGs. This is good,

but,
user groups are naturally and necessarily geographically dispersed.
There is no consistent form and communication within a LUG is often ad
hoc. Communication IN BETWEEN lugs is spotty to non-existent. This
misses brilliant opportunities. Small groups of like minded
individuals gather in small groups around the planet and say pretty
much the same things to each other;  "if only more people knew about
this...", "if we could only scrape together some resources...", "if we
could just contact the Big Players..." and "this linux thing is
actually pretty cool, isn't it !". Although linux.ca and linux.com
both post large lists of lugs, inter-lug communication is dismal, as
demonstrated by our experience here in Toronto, where the synergies
between GTAlug, CLUE, NewTLUG, WestLUG, KWLug, are all but unrealised.

So I introduce to you, my local lug,  metalug.

It's a Linux User Group whose focus is Linux User Groups.

As yet, it's all in my head, but I've taken the liberty of registering
a few domains, and here's what I'd like to do with them;

metalug.com - the global lug site, that attempts to track lugs (and if
they exist, other metalugs) worldwide.

metalug.org - a gathering place for lug resources; website CMSs,
templates, membership management software, documents, how-to, and the
like.

metalug.net - a gateway for interlug communication, mailing list
hosting / interlug announcements etc.

metalug.ca - the Canadian metalug, listing all known Canadian LUGs
with maps and contact info and Canadian Interlug forums.

These will all be sister-sites, with seamless links in between, but
clear and distinct separation of function. OTOH, a single domain, with
sub-domains, may prove the saner way, and the other domains will
simply re-direct. idonno.

It's insanely ambitious, yes, but if we never start, it'll never happen.
No sites have been set-up, no DNS pointed, no domain hosts chosen and
this is the very first salvo. Do you like the idea ? Is it worth
putting effort into ? Does it exist elsewhere ?
And who's going to pay for all of this metalug mail, website, resources stuff ?
Who's going to pay people to actually put in all the work required to
set up and run metalug.com, and organise these workshops and create
promotional stuff ?
The MetaLUG Foundation, of course !

With the help of more the legally and bureaucratically inclined
members of our little community, I hope to realise a Foundation whose
goals are;

1) identify, catalog and map LUGs everywhere.
2) to foster synergies between LUGs and create effective channels both
inter-lug and upstream.
3) to aggregate resources to help make the creation or maintenance of
a LUG easy and fun.
4) to promote the use of GNU/linux and/or FLOSS.

The MetaLUG Foundation will raise funds through private and corporate
donations, and by offering large, paid workshops. The entire process
will have to be kept way out in the open and eat an all-dogfood diet.
Funds raised will go towards the above stated goals, often employing
the considerable skills found in our very midst. The MetaLUG
Foundation will buy mainstream advertising, with funds raised from the
grass roots to the glass towers.

dreaming ? [shrugs] it's what I do ! can't help it, and if I have your
ear, I'll use it.
The worst thing that could happen is that I'm branded as a flaming
linux fan-boy nutcase and get osrichsized !
The best thing that could happen is that some folks might like the
idea, and run with it ! Can I do it alone ? c'mon, no way, not in a
million years, I can't even configure a network printer, but could the
combined memberships of GTAlug, NewTLUG, KWlug et al ??
why maybe yes !
I think they could !
If they were so inclined,
so I toss it out there.

I'll be setting up metalug.com.net.org.ca initially as a means of
refining and defining the mission, and then running them to achieve
it. I hope you'll join me. I need help ;-)

djp

-- 
djp at linuxcaffe.ca
www.linuxcaffe.ca
geek chic and caffe cachet
326 Harbord Street,
Toronto, M6G 3A5,
(416) 534-2116