[maemo-community] Council Nomination: AndrewFBlack

[From: Andrew Black]

Hello most of you know me but for the ones who don't my name is Andrew F
Black and I am from Alabama, USA I have been in the Maemo Community for
about two(2) years now and I have jumped right in wanting to find a way to
give back.  I found this way in theme making.  In the past year I have
created and released over a dozen themes.  I have released themes for every
Maemo device including the 770 which I did not get until after I already had
my N810.  I have tried to help get more people interested in theming for
Maemo by publishing how-to guides and helping answer any questions I get
from new theme makers.

About a year ago not long after the start of the Mer project I jumped on
board to help give Mer some good themes.  I knew that at some point it would
take the community to keep support for the older devices.  I had not planned
on getting a N900 and wanted to do what I could to make sure the N8x0
devices had support.  In my work with Mer I traveled to several Linux
conferences.  Including SELF (South East Linux Fest) and the Florida Linux
Show last year.  I not only advertised and supported Mer at these events I
tried to get the word out on Maemo and the Nokia Internet Tablets/Phones all
together.  At these shows I was able to spread the word and help bring new
people into the community.

Due to the success of some of my Maemo4 themes, and because of my travels to
the Linux Conferences I was sent a N900 direct from Finland.  I was told to
use it for testing and designing themes for it months before you could even
buy one.  I also received it for when I go out representing the Maemo
Community at Linux shows I have the Newest Maemo Device.  I was very proud
and honored to be sent my N900 and I use it often to test new themes or
software I am working on.

That was the past now let me tell you what's going on now.  I have released
five(5) themes for Maemo5 so far and have a few more in the works.  The
first and most downloaded one is my maemo-org theme that is based off the
maemo.org color scheme.  I have worked hard on it and have been told by many
that it is the best theme I have ever done.  A theme of mine that is now in
extras-devel that I have yet to really talk about anywhere is my Picnic
theme.  It is based off a Winterboard theme and is more geared to Woman and
Children, but I use it my self and like the bright colors of it.  The icons
are replaced by these cute little square guys.  Also released recently is my
Buuf theme that is based of the popular Buuf icon set.  I have the base
theme for it done but have yet to replace that many icons on it.  I hope to
have an update to that soon.

Another recent project that I can only really take credit for coming up with
the idea for and helping in the design process is themaemo.org Talk
application.  It is in extras-devel right now since it depends on Qt4.6
which should be out of extras after the next firmware release.  The
maemo.org Talk application is a simple web browser that loads t.m.o on your
n900 using the minimalist theme and moves all links to menu options instead
of taking up room on the page.  This gives you more space on screen for the
sites content.  I need to give fiferboy credit for writing the program I
just had the idea and helped him plan it.

I am also working with a new way of theming that will allow users to
download themes piece by piece and create their own custom themes.  This
project is in its early stages but I hope to have something out in a few
weeks.  Keep an eye out on my blog for updates to this project.

One thing that I really want to see happen is the Maemo Community Outreach
program.  It will allow more people go to Linux or other Trade shows to talk
about Maemo and maemo.org.  I really think this is a great way of getting
new developers involved in out community.  I have been working with Texrat
and Quim on getting this started.  We have been in a holding period for a
while with Meego being announced but I really want to see this happen and
will work hard see it come to life.

The last thing I will talk about is my commitment to Mer on the N8x0
devices; I think we should push to get it in a stable form that will allow
us to run most Fremantle Applications on our older devices.  I also think we
should work with some of our community developers to port their applications
back to Diablo if at all possible.  I still use my N810 and want to see some
life kept in it for a few more years.  If I am elected to the Council or not
I will keep working on this project.

Summery of work

Diablo:
Windows XP theme
Buuf theme
LinuxMint theme
Frediablo theme
Mer-Echo theme

Fremantle:
Maemo-org theme
Buuf theme
Picnic theme
Simple-Pink theme
Buildon theme
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