Sugar Labs/Contacts
Sugar has a growing community that is ready to help you. Because users and contributors span the globe, a key element to the project is communication. Mailing lists, forums, IRC , Jabber and email provide quick and easy ways to communicate.
Mailing Lists
The full list of mailing lists is at http://lists.sugarlabs.org. Sometimes they multiply when one isn't watching.
A web-view of mailing lists in a fourm-like interface can be found at Nabble. Keep in mind that using Nabble has the following limitations:
- Nabble does not support posting to more than one mailing list at a time (cross-posting)
- Nabble does not index all sugar lists
- The authoritive record is on lists.sugarlabs.org
General List
- It's an Education Project - The primary education mailing list (see Self Organising Map archive for an overview of past weeks discussions).
Developer Lists
- Sugar - For developers (see Self Organising Map archive for and overview of past months discussions).
Starting a new list
The best way to start a new mailing list is to begin a discussion on a related list that already exists, and once the discussion becomes active, to ask for a separate list for that topic or that sort of traffic.
When you have a critical mass of people regularly talking about the same topic, request a mailing list by emailing the following information to IAEP list:
- The name you want for your mailing list, with alternative names if the first one is taken
- A description of the list, its purpose, and why it's needed (being able to say "we've been talking on this other list for a while, and the discussion has grown too big - see these archive links" is helpful)
- The name/email of the list admin, and of at least one other moderator (minimum one admin and one moderator)
- At least 10 names/emails of people who want to be the initial subscribers
Forums
Support Forum
- Support - The official support forum for G1G1 and OLPC
- total posts 6.887 • Total topics 1.324 • Total members 1.609 22:56, 20 April 2008 (EDT)
General Discussion
- olpcnews - A popular forum but not frequented by developers
- total posts 20.765 • Total topics 2.332 • Total members 2.754 22:56, 20 April 2008 (EDT)
Blogs
OLPC planet and Planet Sugar Labs - Aggregate a number of popular blogs on Sugar and OLPC. See blogs for a list of these blogs and instructions on adding more blogs to this feed.
IRC Chat
Most SL chat takes place on IRC (that's Internet Relay Chat). You can either use a computer based client to log in to IRC (like XOirc or X-Chat) or (sugarlabs mibbit thingie here).
IRC is mainly designed for group communication in discussion 'channels', but allows for personal chat and data transfer as well.
The SugarLabs Community uses a series of channels in the irc.freenode.net network. Check {{User irc}} to see how to register your participation in the IRC channels within the wiki, and to find the category where users are registered.
irc.freenode.net channels
| General: | |
| #sugar | Sugar development. |
| #sugar-meeting | The meeting channel for the sugar developers |
How to use irc channels
- Another web-based chat for all channels is mibbit, with nickname: (whatever you like), server: irc.freenode.net, and channel: #olpc-help (or whatever other channel you're trying to get into).
- Some helpful resources are here, and this tutorial, which also includes basic commands.
- Learn about IRC etiquette. Try here, here, or here.
- For IRC under sugar, install the latest XoIRC activity.
- Connect to one of the above channels, and say hello.
Jabber Networks
While the OLPC is designed with mesh wireless networking built in (where users can connect to each other without having a central wireless internet router/connection), Sugar users around the world may not be able to connect with others using the platform unless it's through the Internet, since mesh networking relies on a concentration of users (for example, in a classroom, school or business environment).
Jabber networks link Sugar users to each other in order to chat, interact and collaborate. There are global Sugar Jabber networks, or regional ones hosted by organizations and individuals around the world. You can choose whichever Jabber network you wish to connect to. Connecting Sugar to one of these networks will greatly enhance your Sugar experience.
Video
OLPC TV is dedicated to collecting videos related to OLPC. The site needs help recoding videos to play in Gnash, the Free Flash viewer.
Sugar Labs is led by its Oversight Board. The executive director is Walter Bender (walter AT sugarlabs DOT org).
We also have an ombudsman who will help mediate any disputes (ombudsman AT sugarlabs DOT org).
See our community contacts for additional contacts.
You also may contact us by mail:
- Walter Bender
- Executive Director
- Sugar Labs
- 22 Central Street
- Auburndale, MA USA 02466-2409