Promoting Ubuntu without subsidizing bad media: some proposals

[A post to a lengthening thread on the Massachusetts Ubuntu e-mail list about raising $250,000 to put an Ubuntu ad in the New York Times.]

It's a lot (probably too much) to ask any group or organization to be the first, but we the people who give a damn about our human condition have to break a dependence on media that help the unconscionable become accepted.

I'll limit the political argument to an old post: http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/5/27/92450/8788

So, what's the practical situation?

There are a few things that should be in place before any expensive outreach:

1. Ability to take tax-deductible donations
2. Constituent/donor relationship management tools
3. Press and public outreach / inquiry handling... actually, a comprehensive marketing strategy. Probably (I may be wrong) more time and effort has to be spent on that before any ad makes sense as part of an overall marketing strategy.

What's the Ubuntu equivalent, for instance, to the GetFirefox.com site of a couple years ago?

Is Ubuntu itself where Firefox was two years ago? Hands-down better than the Microsoft alternative in virtually every respect? Damn close, actually, but ... ?

Does anyone have records of adoption rates, media buzz, and donations surrounding the Firefox NYT ad? How much did it really do?

Furthermore we're asking people to change their operating system, which despite the free live CD is a lot bigger request than downloading a web browser. This in itself may encourage the deeper sort of interaction that may be possible with a more decentralized campaign than a single high profile NYT ad.

What I, personally, want is a "PowerToUbuntu" web site where I, and anyone else interested, can put up money toward our must-have features– a funding model for free software that uses the strength of openness to the greatest advantage for the software, its (potential) users, and developers. We'll be getting web sites like this up for Drupal and GNU-Linux as soon as we can get around to it.

** ATTENTION: this idea is worth reading even if you hate everything else:

Funding "adoption studies" to bring various people (inner city schoolteacher, country mother, small-business owner, college student, nonprofit executive, newspaper reporter, First Peoples reservation family) into the Ubuntu universe with a sophisticated media strategy to get as much free news attention as possible, which would be a hell of a lot more than an ad, and with money to fund targeted development for overcoming the sticking points any of these people encounter– well, yeah, we're probably over $250,000 now but we're building something real and valuable and ours, and I would put $1,000 toward it. Someone register the Ubuntu Project .com or something.

** ok you can go back to ignoring me now **

Taking the more narrow 'get a message in front of a lot of people' approach:

Alternative to NYT #1 (the big leap of faith)

Give a few key web developers (shameless plug: http://AgaricDesign.com/ + http://MayFirst.org + ... ) $250,000 over 18 months and we'll build a democratic communication infrastructure that will reach more than a million people more effectively than the New York Times can.

You'll never be able to calculate in advance exactly how many people you can reach for how much money in a communication system where extent of distribution is decided democratically, but it's going to be a very long time before Ubuntu could compete with Microsoft in ad-buying power even if we wanted to. Once an under-no-one's-control, filtered-by-everyone (a bit at a time) media system is built, though, it's free for everyone.

(And it could so have a powered by Ubuntu button on every page, or a more general Free Software link that highlights Ubuntu if we stick with Debian!)

Alternative to NYT #2 (building on what our allies for humanity are already doing)

Contact Steve Anderson of http://coanews.org/ (CCd) and throw a thousand dollars his way to survey COA News many affiliates (and other independent media you think of, I've got a list growing in my head) about taking an Ubuntu ad and what their reach is. I think you'll get a better audience at better cost than the New York Times.

Combine 1 and 2 a little and help Anderson's Center for Information Awareness adopt and integrate independent media and support of free software messages into just-adopted (as open source and nonprofit) http://SocialWay.com

(Agaric Design Collective is serving as technical consultant, but we're out of our league.)

Any Java developers out there?

In solidarity in any case,

benjamin melançon
http://AgaricDesign.com - open source free software web development

Did I mention that I thought that being 501c3 and taking donations was important? If you think any of these ideas are so crazy they just might work, send a tax-deductible contribution to an organization founded to build democratic communications technology and infrastructure! The only group officially recognized by the commonwealth of Massachusetts and the U.S. government as:

People Who Give a Damn, Inc.
P.O. Box 241
Natick, MA 01760

(We'd take donations online but we don't believe in the Internet. OK, OK, it's coming.)