[Freedombox-discuss] need-for-a-leader issue

[Jonas Smedegaard]

On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 09:24:55AM +0100, Michiel de Jong wrote:
>I'm not entirely sure where I stand about the need-for-a-leader issue. 
>As Bjarni said, I think the freedombox foundation (when they present 
>themselves on this list) could, and probably will, propose a leader at 
>some point.

I think the question is not so much in having a leader, but more on 
providing concrete tasks for those wanting to contribute but lacking an 
overview or insight to spot in what form contributions can possible be.

One way to provide that is by a clueful leader. Another, which I feel is 
more Debian-style and is my preference, is to see the providing-clues 
not as a leader task but a community task: Anyone having a clue about 
questions thrown at this list, on IRC or anywhere else seek to actively 
provide it - and preferrably provide it where it is most exposed, e.g. 
post a clue to the mailinglist even if asked at IRC so more are likely 
to receive it.

We are a lot of clueful people here!  Only _some_ clues are tied to 
Debian - those are just the most obvious ones to you guys coming from a 
different background than Debian.

Essentially I believe in *all* of us leading, and in responses to clever 
(or "stupid", as some call them) questions as driving force!

It probably feels odd with all the many choices ahead of us to not 
"vote" for a direction, or have a leader choose on for us, but remember 
that we are all volunteers here, not hired for the task: If a leader or 
a democracy outruled CoffeeScript or PHP or PageKite as The Way, then 
the result most likely would be a loss of volunteers rather than a more 
concentrated effort in those other directions ruled in.

Debian is famous for being slow in progress.  But also in being solid.  
The structures evolving in the Debian community are all driven by 
passionate experts, not just volunteers appointed to tasks.

So am I saying that FreedomBox will take years?  No!  I am saying that 
we can blend in with the large Debian community, providing our unique 
visions of box'ing the Freedoms that Debian (and the rest of the FLOSS 
community their packages represent) have been working on for ages, 
instead of seeing FreedomBox as an island.


  - Jonas

-- 
  * Jonas Smedegaard - idealist & Internet-arkitekt
  * Tlf.: +45 40843136  Website: http://dr.jones.dk/

  [x] quote me freely  [ ] ask before reusing  [ ] keep private
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