Open Stack

Jeremy Stanley wrote:
> On 2015-09-03 19:31:51 -0700 (-0700), APlimpton wrote:
> [...]
>> I think our two groups should partner on setting and delivering
>> small, specific goals that would benefit the community and in
>> particular assist with the on-boarding and retention of new
>> OpenStack members -- particularly the ones who are in the minority
>> demographics.
> 
> Absolutely, starting by identifying actionable problems is most
> likely to gain traction. Vague "what's all this ugly old stuff, why
> can't I just twitterface it to my OpenStack friendwall" sorts of
> complaints may be easy to come by but ultimately won't lead anywhere
> useful. There are some good pros/cons (specific to the meetings on
> IRC discussion) listed in the meeting etherpad from Wednesday:
> 
>     https://etherpad.openstack.org/p/9_2_15_WOS
> 
> Unfortunately the only detail about the problem there is that IRC is
> "less connected, interactive" and I don't even know what it's
> supposed to mean (opinion perhaps? others happen to feel that IRC is
> highly connected and extremely interactive). Specifics, please. This
> is where a log of the meeting itself might have been more helpful.

I suspect the "less connected" criticism points to the lack of trivial
mobile access. However there are solutions now to this issue, with
services like irccloud.com providing web/ios/android IRC clients. If you
pay a subscription, they will even maintain a proxy for you so that you
stay connected. So I don't think the usual excuses (it's ugly, it's not
on my phone, it's a pain to set up a proxy) are valid anymore.

"Less interactive" probably points to the fact that text communication
limits the bandwidth compared to voice communication: people usually
type slower than they can speak, and can project more emotions in voice
than in text. That is certainly true for a one-on-one discussion, or a
one-to-many presentation. However when you add more people speaking,
voice communication starts to be exclusive: you can't all talk at the
same time, so only the people that "have the mike" or dare to take it
will be able to use increased bandwidth. It is much easier for
introverts to make their point in text than to take an exclusive lock on
the "voice" and express it. It is much easier for non-native speakers to
write than to speak. So if the goal is to be inclusive, text
communication is a lot more efficient.

-- 
Thierry Carrez (ttx)