JacobMany people may think that Linux is just something that a group of people decided to make one day. You may think that all that goes on in a day in the Ubuntu world is just development. Wrong.
I am a part of the Ubuntu Ohio USA Local Community Organization (OhioLoCo). There we plan things on distributing and advocating Ubuntu, install fests, conferences, you name it. Our team leader (known as Vorian) considered applying for something many strive to get: an Ubuntu membership.
An Ubuntu membership entitles you to use the Ubuntu name and logo associated with your own name on anything, literally. Business cards. CDs. You name it. You also get a nice and fancy @ubuntu.com email address. These memberships cannot just happen; you must work for quite some time to qualify for them. Vorian was pretty ready for it, and if someone else didn't suggest he apply for membership then, I would have.
Once you apply for a membership, you must show up to a meeting that takes place once every two weeks. This is known as the Community Council. Once the meeting was started, we went through many topics, such as approval of two people to the Forum Council, Community team approval, and finally membership approval. Many people attend these meetings, and one of them is a name you might know: Mark Shuttleworth.
Most of the meeting goes through as a "normal" meeting would. Someone brings up a topic from a list created before the meeting, and it is discussed. There is a group of people, Mark included, that vote on these decisions. However, these meetings are long. I was there for three and a half hours. They are, on the other hand, very interesting and bring up interesting debates.
Come time for Vorian's membership approval, we were all nervous. He had his speech ready, and it was almost time for him to go. Once the previous member was approved, he was up. He gave a quick speech, and was asked if anyone was there to "cheer" for him. Mark even had a comment: "team ohio! land of the famous linuxfest :-)"
We all gave a shout out and showed our support. It was flawless. He was approved, and the meeting continued. However, in our Ohio-specific IRC channel, we were having a party of our own.
Earlier that day was the Forums Council meeting. There, Vorian was voted Secretary of the Forum Council, a high position indeed. He is very well-known among the forum administrators. That might have been part of why it was easier to get a membership also, but I think it was more of his Local Community experience. (Plus the fact that everyone seemed to like Ohio. ;))
(At that same Forum Council meeting, I was also nominated for leader of the "Unanswered Posts Team." Woot!)
