KDEEdu/Meeting20091119IRC

Discussion of who is maintaining what

In top-down order from edu.kde.org:

• KAnagram: jpwhiting (though not overly)
• KHangman: annma
• KLettres: annma
• KWordQuis: Peter Hedlund
• Parley: Frederik, Daniel
• KAlgebra: apol
• Kig: pino, who adds 'kig is okay'
• Blinken: tsdgeos
• KGeography: tsdgeos
• KTurtle: piacentini, Niels, cies.
• Kalzium
  • To quote Carsen, Kalzium is maintained as in "it works". Currently I have 0.0 time for coding, the little coding I do is job related. I would love to see fresh blood in Kalzium but we all would, right? Perhaps I will find time to work on Kalzium of christmas but I doubt it because I am now a father and need time-off with my family.
• KStars: jason, kstar, some others
• Marble: fine
• Cantor: arieder, new for 4.4

Not on edu.kde.org:

• Rocs: not on the list, but is fine.

Watch list:

• Kiten: Kiruwa (8 commits this year) ?
• KBruch: 25 commits this year, not sure if UNESP team from Barzil are active.
• KMPlot: 13 commits this year, though no one responds to apol's emails.
• KTouch: 28 commits this year, none from a recognisable maintainer.
• Step: Needs help.

Discussion about the Watch List

• Given the apps work, removal is not on the agenda.
• piacentini raised the possibility of merging kmplot with kalgebra, as it almost supercedes its functionality at present. apol notes that the key feature in KMPlot missing from KAlgebra is implicit plotting, and (even better) suggests he could perhaps get it done for KAlgebra in KDE 4.5.
• Nightrose enquires about scouting for volunteers. For kalgebra-meets-kmplot, apol will talk to aucuhuasi about it as he also has pending patches. jpwhiting offers to blog about ktouch.
• Nightrose discusses issues in not wanting to scare people off by handing them maintainership, by beginning with reviewed patches. apol proposes using junior jobs for this, and fregl inadvertently offers to mentor.

Other Discussion

• sabineller has asked Eugune for a mascot

• apol notes that in terms of promotion, we need to define what kdeedu is.
  • we have apps for parents, young students, not-so-young-students, teachers etc.
  • No segmentation in the KDEEDU module.
  • 'Right now, kdeedu is just for students, not for teachers+students+fathers+etc.'.
  • '...except for rocs.'

• fregl notes it would be great to work with teachers on generating content, especially if it could be made easier.
  • piacentini notes there is an active (if small) community, but not many speak English.
  • jpwhiting suggests they could get a translator?
  • apol has tried to get teachers involved, but found it hard to get much feedback.
  • Nighrose suggests being specific, and asking for three pet problems. apol points out they are a potential source of junior jobs, and tsdgeos agrees that fixing three bugs per app would be well received.
  • fregl pontificates further on why kdeedu has limited contact with Linux school projects (e.g. scoelinux, edubuntu et al), which contact real teachers and students, and could provide feedback.
  • Nightrose suggests the short to medium term emphasis should be on attainable goals - feedback rather than conferences.

• Easy installation for Windows is a hurdle at moment:
  • jpwhiting suggests an installer that makes it as easy 'as firefox'?
  • fregl mentions having discussed MSI packages.
  • puchrojo notes that at present running Parley on windows takes a lot of disk space and uses considerable bandwidth.

• Apol notes consistency between kdeedu applications' user interfaces is weak.
  • Fregl agrees that a similar workflow would be good, although must avoid causing re-learning where possible.
  • Brand colours for kdeedu? e.g. KDevelop is green instead of blue.
  • kdegames did well with the Egyptian theme, motivates similar idea for kdeedu?

• Addressing the issue that people think they must use the KDE workspace to use kdeedu:
  • Nightrose notes that it is a problem for amarok also, and the promo folk are working on it.
  • Stress in the intro on edu.kde.org?
  • dani_l mentions the promo sprint, starting a new kde.org website that will (hopefully) contain pages for all applications.
  • as fregl puts it, promote that 'you don't need the plasma desktop in order to run kalzium etc.'
  • marketing spring was comparatively recently, so this aligns with general KDE attention at the moment.

• kstar will be busy over the next couple of years, so wants an active feature contributor for kstars; though he can do routine maintenance himself.

• Lowering the bar for what is needed to get started in kde development:
  • cmake complains about missing package, user gives up?
  • Cornelius's SDK ( [1] ), though he is short of time.
  • Pluggable applications, and hence python rather than C++?

• EDU Meeting
  • Invite from Mario Fuchs to Switzerland.
  • Nightrose raises issue of an organiser. Kenny busy with akademy?
  • Mario can handle local arrangements, but would need help from the team. Claudia?
  • Duration - fregl suggests long weekend? Spring?
  • Fregl suggests inviting 1 marketing + args guy if possible? Apol suggests teachers?

Action to be taken

• Scout for volunteers for apps on the watch-list, using blogs, mailing lists, and klassroom.
  • For kalgebra-meets-kmplot, apol will talk to aucuhuasi about it.
  • Also include kstars (due to kstar's busyness.)
• Possibility of using the 'fan' mechanism on Facebook, as currently done for amarok. Nightrose can create fan pages on demand for peoples' applications.
• Create some junior jobs for unmaintained apps.
• Find Klassroom mentors.
• Create YouTube introduction videos for apps.
• Write for the website explaining what kdeedu is about.
• Ask teachers for their three pet problems with kdeedu apps (perhaps for conversion into junior jobs.)
• Look for someone to help make the kdeedu apps feel more integrated.
• Document 'how to start changing stuff' + meta packages for distros etc.
• Decide tasks for organising EDU meeting.
• doodle.com poll for when people want the meeting (owner: sabineller.)
• Poll to arrange follow-up IRC meeting in 2 or 3 weeks (owner: Nightrose.)
• Ask annma to explain the issues surrounding GHNS, perhaps at next meeting.