Re: [lp-ca-on] Activism Location Re: Software Freedom Dialogue Strategy (was Re: SFD Street Activism)

[Logan Streondj]

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Hash: SHA256

Hi,

I've found a LaTeX package we can use to make scannable surveys.
It is called SDAPS, http://sdaps.org
I've done a test one for my mind administration business,
It went rather well. Two of three people I asked to fill in my survey
happily did so.  Admitedly I already knew these people from previous
mind administration gatherings. The third gave me in depth advice on
how to improve it, which I'm also grateful for.

What is interesting is that when I earlier announced to the same
people about my teaching sessions, they didn't seem particularly
interested. But after having filled in the surveys they seemed more so.

final pdf
<http://joyfullifestyle.ca/mind_administration/question_list/questionnai
re.pdf>

tex source
<http://joyfullifestyle.ca/mind_administration/question_list/question_li
st.tex>

I haven't yet manged to scan them in as I don't have a scanner, and
the pictures I took on a phone, haven't figured out how to command
line crop to just the page, and not including the surrounding scenery.

But if someone has a scanner can probably process them quite quickly.

I guess there are about 8 questions on the question_list I made, I
don't think we'd be able to fit much more than 10 on a single page.

I think we should stick to one page at least to start.

In terms of University Campuses, there are lots of residents that
would still be there on the weekends, at least for the more remote
Universities like Waterloo or Trent. They also are more likely to be
involved in local groups and activities, so are actually much better
to talk to than commuters. The weekend also means they are less likely
to be in a hurry to get to class, so will likely have more time to
talk and fill in a survey.

Also it has an email collection part at the bottom.
Perhaps they would be interested in the results of the survey,
or in doing an extended survey online, or joining the mailing list,
all of which options could be different check boxes.

On 09/06/16 09:44, Blaise Alleyne wrote:
> On 28/08/16 01:29 AM, Logan Streondj wrote:
>> As in real-estate, it's all about location, location, location.
>> 
>> Now the real-estate we are vying for is people's minds in
>> relation to computers.
>> 
>> We are asking for a major life change, such as switching from
>> Apple or Microsoft products to Libre RYF GNU/Linux ones.
>> 
>> Based on my studies of such things, it is easiest to get people
>> to make major life changes, when they are already making other
>> major life changes.  Such as if they are transitioning from one
>> period of life to another, or are moving to a new place.
>> 
> 
> Yes!
> 
> 
>> The classic example of people transitioning from one period of
>> life to another is retirement, and university. Retirees have a
>> lot of money, though generally limited technical skills, and not
>> as much energy to invest into reading smallish letters on a
>> screen. University students, freshmen in particular, have limited
>> funds, and are eager to learn. So are our ideal candidate.
>> 
> 
> Yes!!
> 
> 
>> If properly formulated can get a slew of even non-IT students
>> using Linux, due to the cost savings, and productivity gains.
>> For instance LaTeX can properly format all submitted papers in a
>> professional manner, properly formatting all bibliographies,
>> greatly reducing a common student hassle.  Also the format can be
>> changed from one style to another to fit a different professors
>> needs with just a few words difference -- instead of having to
>> pour over formatting documents for hours.
>> 
> 
> Yes, lots of reasons why university students would experiment with
> new software.
> 
> I really think this kind of outreach would be most effective on a
> university campus.
> 
> The only reason I didn't mention university locations is that we're
> looking at weekends... If it were Mon-Thurs, or even a Fri, the St.
> George campus at U of T would be fantastic (maybe at St. George /
> College, right in from of the engineering / CS buildings; or at St.
> George / Harbord, at the centre of campus in front of the biggest
> library). Anytime maybe 10 or 11am until 6pm ish (when people are
> heading home or heading into night classes)
> 
> But on a Saturday or Sunday, a campus location wouldn't be worth
> it...
> 
> I was thinking maybe more to trial this in a larger group on a
> weekend at an off-campus location, and then if there were a few of
> us say in Toronto that wanted to cover U of T, hey, I'm on campus
> 3-4 days per week this semester...
> 
> I think campus locations would be great for recruitment, and
> perhaps even local campus clubs to continue this kind of outreach
> -- I'd love to help start a LibrePlanet UofT club (that is part of
> LibrePlanet ON, but a hyperlocal chapter that might run
> UofT-specific stuff in addition).
> 
> I think we could use a clipborading project like this to get
> students from universities, and in particular we might be able to
> recruit Computer Science, engineering or maybe philosophy students
> to have a LibrePlanet presence on their own campus...
> (Philosophy/theology classes have been the only non-technical 
> classes where I've spotted a couple other GNU/Linux users in the
> wild!)
> 
> 
>> As I was walking along the shores of Owen Sound watching the
>> fishermen fishing for their derby prizes, I noticed their lures,
>> their reels and their large nets.
>> 
>> Important is to both provide the lure (productivity gains, free 
>> software, good ethics), as well as the follow through, reeling
>> them into our community, and catching them in a safety net of
>> support, so the can get through the initial tough times of
>> learning command line, vim/emacs, ssh etc.
>> 
>> So a flyer like "What can Free Software do for You?", should
>> include all the elements. People like relationships, knowledge, 
>> energy/money and foundation/stability.
>> 
> 
> Yes... any ideas on a good existing example? Or maybe we create
> something really simple...
> 
> Even a business card with a few URLs on it could be great.
> 
> (We also talked about collecting emails of those who were really
> interested.)
> 
> 
> 
>> I found a map of the Universities of Ontario: 
>> https://bufa.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Ontario-Universities-Onlin
e.j
>>
>> 
pg
>> 
>> Of the places mentioned,  Waterloo and Toronto have multiple. I
>> figure if we have a rolling campaign should be able to cover
>> them all, over the course of a few years.
>> 
> 
> I think targeting the larger campuses, esp. those with well known
> computer science programs, like U of T and Waterloo, would make
> sense -- but cross-referencing that list with places where we have
> LibrePlanet Ontario members who'd actually have some daytime
> availability to do the initial recruitment (or else we'd need to
> find another way to recruit the first students and bootstrap a
> campus club).
> 
> Seneca @ York would be huge too, with their CDOT program, they run
> the annual Free Software and Open Source Symposium, which is one of
> the only large community-run general free software / open source
> conferences that I'm aware of in Toronto.
> 
> 
>> Obviously it would make sense to approach the ones strongest in
>> IT first, while it may be "preaching to the choir", can get some
>> regular members, and thus have ongoing local support groups
>> available for other future students.
>> 
>> Like I know for engineers they have elaborate frosh traditions, 
>> however I've not heard of any such things for IT people, perhaps
>> there could be crash courses in GNU/Linux, with camaraderie
>> gained through the mutual hardship of learning command line,
>> console editors, LaTeX and shell scripting.
>> 
> 
> 
> haha yeah. I'm *super* interested in this, and as a part-time U of
> T student still involved with a couple campus groups, I'd happily
> help start and run a LibrePlanet U of T!
> 
> I also have quite a bit of experience working with a national
> non-profit that provides support for campus clubs across Canada...
> I have some experience with campus activism and student groups... I
> think it would be a great way to reach people, influence society
> (through influencing the hackers and leaders of tomorrow), and
> bring a ton of new people into LibrePlanet ON... to build an army!
> 
> Blaise
> 
> 
>> On 08/25/16 10:59, Blaise Alleyne wrote:
>>> On 25/08/16 10:22 AM, Stephen Paul Weber wrote:
>>>>> Whether to congregate in one location to do this together,
>>>>> like the biggest city or most central city with members
>>>> 
>>>> I'm not opposed to making a trip to Toronto to do something
>>>> like this. There certainly is more foot traffic there on
>>>> average.  Do you have a sense of what places in Toronto would
>>>> be good to target for this sort of thing?
>>>> 
>> 
>>> Yes, from other activism.
>> 
>>> Like, an intersection like Queen/Spadina has a ton of
>>> pedestrian traffic -- and perhaps even more of a young and
>>> hipster ish crowd that might be somewhat receptive to this kind
>>> of thing? And people might be out for an afternoon or
>>> something.
>> 
>>> I've been around the downtown at many different
>>> intersections...
>> 
>>> While I think downtown Toronto would be a great place, I also
>>> don't think it would be totally necessary. If there's a
>>> location with enough steady foot traffic anywhere, it could be
>>> worth it -- like in the main stretch in Owen Sound on a
>>> weekend? Or a downtown / main street stretch or something, like
>>> King Street in Waterloo maybe? (Not sure what pedestrian
>>> traffic is like.)
>> 
>>> I think Toronto would make sense for a day that we're all
>>> trying to get together to do this and debrief. But I think it
>>> could also be fruitful for smaller groups to run this is
>>> smaller cities too.
>> 
>>> The limiting reagent here is more likely to be the number of 
>>> volunteers than the number of passers-by, because we have
>>> nothing visible (e.g. posters, video, display) here, so we're
>>> only going to reach the people we talk to. As long as there's
>>> enough of a steady stream of people that all our volunteers can
>>> be having frequent conversations, I think it's worth it. I
>>> think a lot of smaller places could have a stretch with a
>>> steady enough stream of pedestrians to keep a couple
>>> LibrePlanet volunteers busy.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
> 
> 

- -- 
Logan Streondj,
A dream of Gaia's future.
blog: http://joyfullifestyle.ca
twitter: https://twitter.com/streondj

Speakable Programming for Every Language:
github: https://github.com/elspru/spel
intro: http://wyn.bot.nu/spel/src/vocab/gen/start.html


You can use encrypted email with me,
how to: https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org/en/
key fingerprint:
BD7E 6E2A E625 6D47 F7ED 30EC 86D8 FC7C FAD7 2729
Hi,

I've found a LaTeX package we can use to make scannable surveys.
It is called SDAPS, http://sdaps.org
I've done a test one for my mind administration business,
It went rather well. Two of three people I asked to fill in my survey
happily did so.  Admitedly I already knew these people from previous
mind administration gatherings. The third gave me in depth advice on how
to improve it, which I'm also grateful for.

What is interesting is that when I earlier announced to the same people
about my teaching sessions, they didn't seem particularly interested.
But after having filled in the surveys they seemed more so.

final pdf
<http://joyfullifestyle.ca/mind_administration/question_list/questionnai
re.pdf>

tex source
<http://joyfullifestyle.ca/mind_administration/question_list/question_li
st.tex>

I haven't yet manged to scan them in as I don't have a scanner, and the
pictures I took on a phone, haven't figured out how to command line crop
to just the page, and not including the surrounding scenery.

But if someone has a scanner can probably process them quite quickly.

I guess there are about 8 questions on the question_list I made, I don't
think we'd be able to fit much more than 10 on a single page.

I think we should stick to one page at least to start.

In terms of University Campuses, there are lots of residents that would
still be there on the weekends, at least for the more remote
Universities like Waterloo or Trent. They also are more likely to be
involved in local groups and activities, so are actually much better to
talk to than commuters. The weekend also means they are less likely to
be in a hurry to get to class, so will likely have more time to talk and
fill in a survey.

Also it has an email collection part at the bottom.
Perhaps they would be interested in the results of the survey,
or in doing an extended survey online, or joining the mailing list,
all of which options could be different check boxes.

On 09/06/16 09:44, Blaise Alleyne wrote:
> On 28/08/16 01:29 AM, Logan Streondj wrote:
>> As in real-estate, it's all about location, location, location.
>>
>> Now the real-estate we are vying for is people's minds in relation to
>> computers.
>>
>> We are asking for a major life change, such as switching from Apple o
r
>> Microsoft products to Libre RYF GNU/Linux ones.
>>
>> Based on my studies of such things, it is easiest to get people to
>> make major life changes, when they are already making other major lif
e
>> changes.  Such as if they are transitioning from one period of life t
o
>> another, or are moving to a new place.
>>
> 
> Yes!
> 
> 
>> The classic example of people transitioning from one period of life t
o
>> another is retirement, and university. Retirees have a lot of money,
>> though generally limited technical skills, and not as much energy to
>> invest into reading smallish letters on a screen.
>> University students, freshmen in particular, have limited funds, and
>> are eager to learn. So are our ideal candidate.
>>
> 
> Yes!!
> 
> 
>> If properly formulated can get a slew of even non-IT students using
>> Linux, due to the cost savings, and productivity gains.  For instance
>> LaTeX can properly format all submitted papers in a professional
>> manner, properly formatting all bibliographies, greatly reducing a
>> common student hassle.  Also the format can be changed from one style
>> to another to fit a different professors needs with just a few words
>> difference -- instead of having to pour over formatting documents for
>> hours.
>>
> 
> Yes, lots of reasons why university students would experiment with new
 software.
> 
> I really think this kind of outreach would be most effective on a univ
ersity campus.
> 
> The only reason I didn't mention university locations is that we're lo
oking at
> weekends... If it were Mon-Thurs, or even a Fri, the St. George campus
 at U of T
> would be fantastic (maybe at St. George / College, right in from of th
e
> engineering / CS buildings; or at St. George / Harbord, at the centre 
of campus
> in front of the biggest library). Anytime maybe 10 or 11am until 6pm i
sh (when
> people are heading home or heading into night classes)
> 
> But on a Saturday or Sunday, a campus location wouldn't be worth it...
> 
> I was thinking maybe more to trial this in a larger group on a weekend
 at an
> off-campus location, and then if there were a few of us say in Toronto
 that
> wanted to cover U of T, hey, I'm on campus 3-4 days per week this seme
ster...
> 
> I think campus locations would be great for recruitment, and perhaps e
ven local
> campus clubs to continue this kind of outreach -- I'd love to help sta
rt a
> LibrePlanet UofT club (that is part of LibrePlanet ON, but a hyperloca
l chapter
> that might run UofT-specific stuff in addition).
> 
> I think we could use a clipborading project like this to get students 
from
> universities, and in particular we might be able to recruit Computer S
cience,
> engineering or maybe philosophy students to have a LibrePlanet presenc
e on their
> own campus... (Philosophy/theology classes have been the only non-tech
nical
> classes where I've spotted a couple other GNU/Linux users in the wild!
)
> 
> 
>> As I was walking along the shores of Owen Sound watching the fisherme
n
>> fishing for their derby prizes, I noticed their lures, their reels an
d
>> their large nets.
>>
>> Important is to both provide the lure (productivity gains, free
>> software, good ethics), as well as the follow through, reeling them
>> into our community, and catching them in a safety net of support, so
>> the can get through the initial tough times of learning command line,
>> vim/emacs, ssh etc.
>>
>> So a flyer like "What can Free Software do for You?",
>> should include all the elements. People like relationships, knowledge
,
>> energy/money and foundation/stability.
>>
> 
> Yes... any ideas on a good existing example? Or maybe we create someth
ing really
> simple...
> 
> Even a business card with a few URLs on it could be great.
> 
> (We also talked about collecting emails of those who were really inter
ested.)
> 
> 
> 
>> I found a map of the Universities of Ontario:
>> https://bufa.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Ontario-Universities-Onlin
e.j
>> pg
>>
>> Of the places mentioned,  Waterloo and Toronto have multiple.
>> I figure if we have a rolling campaign should be able to cover them
>> all, over the course of a few years.
>>
> 
> I think targeting the larger campuses, esp. those with well known comp
uter
> science programs, like U of T and Waterloo, would make sense -- but
> cross-referencing that list with places where we have LibrePlanet Onta
rio
> members who'd actually have some daytime availability to do the initia
l
> recruitment (or else we'd need to find another way to recruit the firs
t students
> and bootstrap a campus club).
> 
> Seneca @ York would be huge too, with their CDOT program, they run the
 annual
> Free Software and Open Source Symposium, which is one of the only larg
e
> community-run general free software / open source conferences that I'm
 aware of
> in Toronto.
> 
> 
>> Obviously it would make sense to approach the ones strongest in IT
>> first, while it may be "preaching to the choir", can get some regular
>> members, and thus have ongoing local support groups available for
>> other future students.
>>
>> Like I know for engineers they have elaborate frosh traditions,
>> however I've not heard of any such things for IT people,
>> perhaps there could be crash courses in GNU/Linux,
>> with camaraderie gained through the mutual hardship
>> of learning command line, console editors,
>> LaTeX and shell scripting.
>>
> 
> 
> haha yeah. I'm *super* interested in this, and as a part-time U of T s
tudent
> still involved with a couple campus groups, I'd happily help start and
 run a
> LibrePlanet U of T!
> 
> I also have quite a bit of experience working with a national non-prof
it that
> provides support for campus clubs across Canada... I have some experie
nce with
> campus activism and student groups... I think it would be a great way 
to reach
> people, influence society (through influencing the hackers and leaders
 of
> tomorrow), and bring a ton of new people into LibrePlanet ON... to bui
ld an army!
> 
> Blaise
> 
> 
>> On 08/25/16 10:59, Blaise Alleyne wrote:
>>> On 25/08/16 10:22 AM, Stephen Paul Weber wrote:
>>>>> Whether to congregate in one location to do this together, like
>>>>> the biggest city or most central city with members
>>>>
>>>> I'm not opposed to making a trip to Toronto to do something like
>>>> this. There certainly is more foot traffic there on average.  Do
>>>> you have a sense of what places in Toronto would be good to
>>>> target for this sort of thing?
>>>>
>>
>>> Yes, from other activism.
>>
>>> Like, an intersection like Queen/Spadina has a ton of pedestrian
>>> traffic -- and perhaps even more of a young and hipster ish crowd
>>> that might be somewhat receptive to this kind of thing? And people
>>> might be out for an afternoon or something.
>>
>>> I've been around the downtown at many different intersections...
>>
>>> While I think downtown Toronto would be a great place, I also don't
>>> think it would be totally necessary. If there's a location with
>>> enough steady foot traffic anywhere, it could be worth it -- like
>>> in the main stretch in Owen Sound on a weekend? Or a downtown /
>>> main street stretch or something, like King Street in Waterloo
>>> maybe? (Not sure what pedestrian traffic is like.)
>>
>>> I think Toronto would make sense for a day that we're all trying to
>>> get together to do this and debrief. But I think it could also be
>>> fruitful for smaller groups to run this is smaller cities too.
>>
>>> The limiting reagent here is more likely to be the number of
>>> volunteers than the number of passers-by, because we have nothing
>>> visible (e.g. posters, video, display) here, so we're only going to
>>> reach the people we talk to. As long as there's enough of a steady
>>> stream of people that all our volunteers can be having frequent
>>> conversations, I think it's worth it. I think a lot of smaller 
>>> places could have a stretch with a steady enough stream of
>>> pedestrians to keep a couple LibrePlanet volunteers busy.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
> 
> 

- -- 
Logan Streondj,
A dream of Gaia's future.
blog: http://joyfullifestyle.ca
twitter: https://twitter.com/streondj

Speakable Programming for Every Language:
github: https://github.com/elspru/spel
intro: http://wyn.bot.nu/spel/src/vocab/gen/start.html


You can use encrypted email with me,
how to: https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org/en/
key fingerprint:
BD7E 6E2A E625 6D47 F7ED 30EC 86D8 FC7C FAD7 2729
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