[maemo-community] Discussion about Maemo community management...

[From: Tim]

Quim,

> Why out-dated? Please explain.

Actually, there's some humorous irony in the answer to this question... You
see, I don't mean that "you" are outdated -- far from it (as I'll explain)
-- just some of your comments. One in particular is:

>>> Still, I don't think anybody of us should assume the role of a
>>> community manager since the Maemo community should manage itself.

The irony comes from the fact that you've been community managing within
the open source world for years now. Your work has just never had a
name/salary attached to it (well, not always). The idea that a community
should manage itself (imho) is something that may have worked in the past
(hey, I come from the days of BBS's!), but is proving not to be so
sustainable for many community-driven sites in the present. (Mind you, I'm
speaking in generalities, as some specific cases would definitely prove me
wrong.)

And, by now, everyone should know what I think of the job Nokia has (and
maemo.org/Maemo SW have) done with this community (http://is.gd/jR9F). So,
don't take this as a criticism at all... I'm just starting to foresee a
tipping point...coming, but not here yet. (And, maybe it will never come!)

Anyway, here's a good presentation on online community managers:
http://is.gd/jRcP

I'm sure you'll see yourself (and the maemo.org staff) reflected in it to
some degree.

Just food for thought.

Tim

---
http://tim.samoff.com



On Tue, 17 Feb 2009 11:20:24 +0200, Quim Gil <quim.gil at nokia.com> wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Why out-dated? Please explain.
> 
> I actually can't find any community manager in the communities / social
> networks I'm part of. Yet many of them are quite vibrant, based on
> common goals and using efficient tools.
> 
> Then again, Nokia has actually little to say on this if what you are
> thinking about is a member of the maemo.org team. We agree on funding
> the Maemo community with some budget to have "liberated" contributors
> and then it's up to the community to decide what are the areas you want
> to cover with the liberated people & time.
> 
> Quim
> 
> ext Tim wrote:
>> Quim,
>> 
>> You make some good points, but they seem a little 'out-dated' to me when
>> considering the current state of online cmmunities/social networks. Not
>> that this is a _bad_ thing per se, just... We can choose to agree to
>> disagree on the subject. (And, honestly, the Community Council should
>> also be able to do much of what I outlined, if only for more time in the
>> day!) :)
>> 
>> Nevertheless, I'm glad I sent it to the List for future reference.
>> 
>> Tim
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On Mon, 16 Feb 2009 11:34:03 +0200
>> Quim Gil <quim.gil at nokia.com> wrote:
>> 
>>>
>>> ext Sebastian 'CrashandDie' Lauwers wrote:
>>>> At this point, I am more confused about the difference with Quim's
>>>> position. Could we have some more information in this area?
>>> My main focus is open source. This makes me look sometimes as a Maemo
>>> community manager since many contributors and topics have a link with
>>> this. But for instance I don't deal much with end users or developers
>>> for general topics. I don't touch hardware either, which is a topic of
>>> clear interest for the community.
>>>
>>> There is other people at Nokia working on these areas. They are
>>> working on Maemo 5 related tasks and their work will be more visible
>>> when Maemo 5 itself is more visible.
>>>
>>> Still, I don't think anybody of us should assume the role of a
>>> community manager since the Maemo community should manage itself.
>>>

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