Women & Mozilla Survey Results

Oct 29, 2010 GMT

WoMoz internal survey results and conclusions are now available. The blog post says that the main purpose of the survey was to "... detect areas of improvement related to gender issues in Mozilla and FLOSS communities," but also notes that finding women who are active contributors to Mozilla was a challenge. Only 18 of the 30 women contacted responded to the survey. From these responses, the survey team concluded that many of the women have experience with the Ubuntu project, so reaching out to Ubuntu Women might help attract more contributors. Some of the women who are contributing to Mozilla are doing so as a result of being contacted from somebody already involved with the...

Graner Fire Fund

Oct 28, 2010 GMT

My friend and colleague, Amber Graner, lost her home to a fire this week. Luckily, the family wasn't in the house at the time and no one was injured. Pete and Amber were at UDS, the kids were with relatives, and the dog was rescued from the fire. Even if you have home-owner's insurance, the immediate expenses add up as you scramble to get some necessities, including clothing, toiletries, food, and new housing. The Graner family is well-known in the open source community, and many of their colleagues and friends have expressed a desire to help them get back on their feet. I created a page for anyone who would like to chip in to help the Graner Family get some clothes and other...

Advancement for Women in Free Software

Oct 27, 2010 GMT

Deb Nicholson attended the recent Grace Hopper Conference and writes about what she took away from the event. She says, "I believe that helping more women reach positions of power will help not only those individuals personally and their projects generally to recruit more women, but it will help the free software movement overall." Check out her post and let her know your thoughts.

Linux Grandma Goes to UDS & IRC

Oct 26, 2010 GMT

Valorie Zimmerman, a.k.a. Linux Grandma, is attending UDS in Orlando this week, but she also plans to hang out in IRC. (Grandmas do tend to be excellent multi-taskers, after all.) Valorie points out a blog post by Laura Czajkowski, which explains how to get the most out of UDS remote participation. Check out Laura's post for information about the channel, how to register for remote participation, and other helpful tips.

Why You Should Be Interested in Open Data

Oct 26, 2010 GMT

Emma Jane Hogbin, Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound Green Party of Canada candidate, writes about the new Open Government Initiative launched by the Liberal Party of Canada. (Let's hear you say that sentence out loud three times... but I digress.) In her blog post, Emma explains the difference between "freely available information" and "open data". She says, "Freely available information can only be used as-is. Open data, on the other hand, is released into the public with the intention of it being remixed by other people." Check out her blog post for more of her thoughts on open data and open access to information.

Win a Free Pass to LISA '10

Oct 15, 2010 GMT

I have 2 free passes to give away to LISA '10 (includes the technical program and evening events only). If you would like to win one of the free passes, here's what you have to do: Send me an email (rkite@linuxpromagazine.com). The catch: Your email message must be in either limerick or haiku form, and it must include the word "LISA" or "Linux Pro". The first 2 qualifying submissions will earn the budding poets a free pass to LISA '10 and a Linux Pro t-shirt (so you can arrive at LISA in style, of course). Winning submissions will also be posted here on my blog.Happy Friday! And Happy Haikuing or Limericking!UPDATE: Congratulations to our winners!Julie Baumler...

Announcing our new Associate Web Editor

Oct 14, 2010 GMT

Back in my Sys Admin magazine days, we editors had a saying: Change is good... You go first.We've had a lot of change in our Linux New Media USA offices these past few weeks, and now we have additional change to announce. Our news editor, Trevan McGee, recently accepted a position at another company and starts his new job next week. We wish him good luck in his new adventure! I'm happy to announce that Amber Graner joins our team Monday as our new Associate Web Editor! I first wrote about Amber 588 days ago: Putting Open Source to the Mom Test Since then, Amber's had a lot of blog-worthy open source adventures and she has become an active, enthusiastic, well-respected member of our...