On 04/22/2012 02:27 PM, Patrick Shirkey wrote:
>
> On Sun, April 22, 2012 1:52 pm, Robin Gareus wrote:
>> On 04/22/2012 12:12 PM, Patrick Shirkey wrote:
>>>
>>> On Sun, April 22, 2012 11:24 am, Robin Gareus wrote:
>>>> On 04/22/2012 11:15 AM, Patrick Shirkey wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I'm still not sure why you don't want businesses to give people round
>>>>> here
>>>>> money.
>>>>
>>>> Not at all. "people 'round here" can take all the money they want from
>>>> anyone for whatever they deem fit.
>>>>
>>>> but linuxaudio.org itself will have a hard time. Usually money comes
>>>> with obligations and we are in no position to handle that properly.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Maybe I am naive but I thought our obligation as a consortium was to
>>> discuss these topics and come to a workable solution that benefits all
>>> members.
>>
>> just take it in stride. -- Your obligation as member of the management
>> board is also to meet with the others at least once a year :) [ see 2.
>> at http://linuxaudio.org/policy ]
>>
>
> Funny that no one brought it up until now...
I did. 4-5 times over the last 7 years.
Most of the LAO crowd meets at the Linux Audio Conference but the
majority of the Management Board has been absent there in recent years.
[..]
>> My personal opinion aside:
>>
>> I'm in favor to maintain a reasonable approach.
>> The freedom of the community (no user-tracking, no obligations WRT to
>> content posted on the site, no harassment, no discrimination, etc) takes
>> priority. We should _not_ be "completely anti advertising", but think
>> twice before adding ads or agreeing to 3rd party conditions.
>>
>> We can certainly express gratitude or favor companies that support
>> linuxaudio.org but must be careful about maintaining independence.
>>
>> It's not possible to generalize advertising campaigns, but online
>> marketing techniques usually come with strings attached..
>>
>> Nobody complained that you put a link to _your_ site on the pages _you_
>> maintain on *.linuxaudio.org - but 3rd party interests - esp paid - are
>> questionable.
>>
>
> Hence the request for clarification of Policy. Instead all I get is a knee
> jerk reaction and irrational prejudice. Hardly conducive to making
> progress...
I tried hard to explain the position and make it clear that it's not a
/knee jerk/ reaction.
let me try this way: the few bucks that linuxaudio.org could make via
adverstising on linuxaudio.org will - in commercial context - never be
able to pay for the services linuxaudio.org provides - and not even pay
for the administrative overhead.
If you have a viable business plan, we're all ear.
> So a policy that sets clear guidelines is completely out of the question?
Dunno, that's a question for the management board, not me.
linuxaudio.org has no treasurer, no guidelines or infrastructure to deal
with donations or money. There are no established procedures how the
Board needs to agree and how to deal with such funds.
Besides that, a policy would need to be in accordance to the rules of
the Commonwealth of Virginia and Virginia Tech (our host). Ico has
elaborated on that in his email to you from 04/20/2012 02:57 AM CEST on
the consortium list.
>From what I've learned: official policies are best avoided and replaced
with common-sense.
> Is it simply in the "Too Hard" basket?
It's in the "we're happily ignorant about it" basket :)
robin
On Mon, April 23, 2012 10:59 am, Daniel James wrote:
> Hi Patrick,
>
>> I have received the order details from the owners of the linuxaudio.com
>> domain.
>>
>> They are asking for $3130 for the domain.
>
> My personal view is that there is no return on that investment. If it
> belonged to a community member who would use the cash to develop our
> kind of software, I might feel differently, but I don't think that's the
> case here.
>
> Also, I wouldn't want to encourage domain name speculation.
>
>> We just need 313 people to contribute $10 each and we can have it.
>
> There are probably better causes to raise cash for, like sponsoring
> less-well-off developers so they can present at LAC.
>
I came to the same conclusion myself. That's why I secured
linux-audio.com
I think it works better as it provides a bit more distinction for our
immediate community and is not too different as to be completely confusing
for the uninitiated.
I'll also add that as long as that url is out of action it means our SEO
is better quality.
I do wonder what the owner would do with it if they did try to capitilise
on it. They would be hard pressed to compete with the whole community in
terms of SEO.
--
Patrick Shirkey
Boost Hardware Ltd
On Fri, April 20, 2012 11:10 am, Daniel James wrote:
> Hi Patrick,
>
>>>> I would like to proceed with this first "customer" and will need
>>>> to migrate the subdomains to the new location first.
>
> I agree with Ico that the value of the support and goodwill that we have
> from Virginia Tech and other educational institutions is far higher than
> what we could reasonably expect to earn from Internet advertising.
>
I don't see how advertising on some of the subdomains will stop any of
those institutions from continuing to support the goals of the Consortium.
If that was the case then all Universities would have to do *everything*
using not for profit solutions. I seriously doubt that the Universities of
the world want people and businesses to do everything for free. While that
is a personal political choice should the Consortium have a political
agenda against capitalism?
> If there are new companies that would like to support our work, there
> are other ways for them to do that - such as becoming an active member
> of the consortium, hosting LAC, sponsoring conference trips and the
> like. This will earn them more kudos than advertising, which would have
> a pretty low response rate anyway. Free Software developers don't buy
> much, they build what they need instead :-)
>
We should be offering those options already as that would give them access
to our immediate community. How then do we let the world know about their
support? One standard way is to provide promotional opportunities across
our online content.
Advertising and online promotions through a Linux Digital channel will
give companies exposure to anyone who happens to drop by any of the online
locations we place their advertisements. If we are going to restrict
ourselves to only focusing on institutions and people who are already part
of the community then we are missing a big opportunity for growth.
While a large part of the Linux Audio community is built on the efforts
and support of Universities and volunteers it seems like cutting our nose
to spite our face by restricting ourselves from providing support and
marketing opportunities to businesses that want to have that brand
association or leverage off the SEO potential from our combined and
continuing efforts on building out our content over the years.
> The online video channel idea sounds like it could be viable, but
> looking at the economics of YouTube advertising and what it takes to
> become a content partner there, I don't think our existing community is
> large enough to make it pay.
>
Youtube advertising relies on mass market principals. Our core "selling"
point is that we have valuable brand association. This gives us the
ability to set specific rates for allowing companies to associate their
brand with ours. Another opportunity we present is access to a dedicated
bunch of eyeballs. However it will work to our advantage too if we have
highly recognised brands associated with our content. Whether you like it
or not people who are new to Linux Audio will feel more confident in
taking a leap if they see brands they recognise.
> I would suggest looking at creating video tutorials on cross-platform
> Free Software like Ardour or Audacity as a related possibility. See:
>
> http://support.google.com/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=82839#AU
>
That could be useful but I don't have the time to make many videos myself
at the moment. However there is scope for other people to contribute
content for this purpose. There is already a lot out there in that regard
but I haven't had the time to collate it all and post it anywhere. I have
considered a section on lmv for tutorials but I am leaning towards a new
subdomain for that purpose. i.e journal.lao
> You may need permission from software authors to monetize videos
> containing screenshots (there is no allowance for Free Software in the
> policy):
>
> http://support.google.com/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=138161
>
That is a very unusual take on things. It might become an issue but I see
that as a very low risk. If anyone was upset about their software being
used to make videos or articles that are also hosted on sites with paid
advertising then we could provide a contact form for them to get in touch
with us for removal.
Did you or Dave have any issues with clearing rights for screenshots in
the books and articles that you have published professionally? That would
be useful information for an FAQ.
>>> Next to that, my personal take on advertising on linuaudio.org is that
>>> the Net is already crippled with ads. Online marketing techniques come
>>> with strings attached such as the general development of pervasive
>>> tracking systems
>
> I agree that Aymeric made a good point there.
>
Sure, we can have our own tracking/analytics if we choose to. I haven't
made any plans for any analytics or tracking but I think we have an
opportunity to provide a complete solution for any member of the community
to integrate into their website and help the channel expand. That would
have to come at a later date though and would be dependant on making some
cash first.
--
Patrick Shirkey
Boost Hardware Ltd
Patrick,
Please change the redirect from http://lau.linuxaudio.org/ to
http://linux-audio.com/ to be
"302 Moved temporarily"
and NOT "301 Moved Permanently"
We may want to put sth. else there.
thanks,
robin
Hi,
I have just purchased linuxaudiojournal.com
I will maintain that url as a for profit venture with paid advertising.
That way we can avoid the immediate issue of linuxaudio.org in regards to
paid advertising which gives us more flexibility with coming to a common
ground on the issue of commercialising aspects of the Consortiums remit.
One thing I think we should discuss is the boundaries and restrictions we
want for the Consortium. At the moment our policy is to provide support
for professionals who use Linux as an Audio platform.
What is our position on the Music industry in general? Currently we
actively support hardware manufacturing and software development. We
support creative enterprise. Do we want to support other aspects of the
industry such as promotions and marketing? Do we have any policy on the
corporate scientific use of the Linux Audio tools? For example, many of
the tools we as a community build are actively used in highly profitable
medical, mining, space and geophysical industries.
Where do we stand on commercial radio and television? Both of those
sectors rely extensively on paid advertising for their income and feedback
development efforts to the community.
Do we have any problems with actively courting and supporting companies
that come from other enterprises than the Hardware/Software, Entertainment
and Educational sectors?
Cheers
--
Patrick Shirkey
Boost Hardware Ltd
Hi,
I have received the order details from the owners of the linuxaudio.com
domain.
They are asking for $3130 for the domain.
I'm not in a position to purchase this myself but it will not get any
cheaper over time.
If we had a regular source of income we would be able to consider
purchasing the domain on behalf of the Consortium. Otherwise I suppose a
funding drive is not out of the question.
We just need 313 people to contribute $10 each and we can have it.
Cheers
--
Patrick Shirkey
Boost Hardware Ltd
Easter Greetings to the list.
I have been contacted by a reputable audio company who would like to
sponsor the "audio quality howto" by placing an advertisement on the page
for a one year period.
http://lau.linuxaudio.org/audio_quality_howto.htm
Do we have an advertising policy for Linuxaudio.org?
If not can we come to some agreement on a rate for different spots across
the linuxaudio.org domain?
I am happy to put together some recommendations based on standard
corporate advertising rates for digital media here in Australia.
This will not be the only company who wants to be associated with Linux
Audio so if we can come up with a working policy then we might be able to
channel the funds into something useful further down the track. It is the
general rule of thumb in digital advertising that you will make the most
return by having targeted paid ads rather than generic ad placements and
as LAO has a large web presence thanks to the ongoing efforts at SEO and
keeping the content actively updated we are literally sitting on a
goldmine for targeted sponsored advertising.
If it is done tastefully and respectfully we can enhance the reputation of
Linux Audio through brand association with premium Audio products.
With some concerted effort LAO could also become a location for
professional journalists/writers to publish their work. I know we already
have a couple of those persons on this list who may be interested in
contributing high quality content if the funding was available.
ex. http://journal.linuxaudio.org
Cheers
--
Patrick Shirkey
Boost Hardware Ltd
On 01/17/2012 02:52 PM, Dave Phillips wrote:
> On 01/17/2012 08:37 AM, Ivica Ico Bukvic wrote:
>>> On 01/17/2012 01:33 PM, Jeremy Jongepier wrote:
>>>> On 01/17/12 13:21, Robin Gareus wrote:
>>>>> Do we create a custom page/article and link to the eff site
>>>>> https://action.eff.org/o/9042/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8173
>>>>> (someone needs to volunteer to do that -- Jeremy?)
>>> I take you're set to push out an article on the front-page. You should
>>> have permissions to do so.
>>>
>>> Mr. President (Ico) or Mr. Vice President (Dave) could you please
>>> sign-off this this political statement.
>>>
>>> robin
>> Signed :-)
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Consortium mailing list
>> Consortium(a)lists.linuxaudio.org
>> http://lists.linuxaudio.org/listinfo/consortium
>>
>
> Signed. :)
>
> Best,
>
> dp
>
linuxaudio.org has gone black. Just the entry page, all subdomains are
still available.
Best,
Jeremy
On 01/17/2012 11:40 AM, renato wrote:
> Folderol<folderol(a)ukfsn.org> wrote:
>
>> I am only one individual with a tiny Internet presence, but on
>> Wednesday my
>> website will consist of a single page with a message about SOPA and
>
>
>
> What about taking down linuxaudio.org also?
since SOPA/PIPA is threatening the core infrastructure of linux audio
development (among many other things), it could be argued that
linuxaudio.org should be taken down as well. i'm very much in favour of
that idea.
Hi all,
As you may or may not have noticed,
linuxaudio.org was rebooted today 15:06 UTC.
The server now features shiny (faster) new virtual HDDs (with backups
and everything..). Sponsored by the Virginia Tech Department of Music
and DISIS.
Cheer a loud "Hip Hip,..." to Ico, who made it possible in the first
place and send Kudos to Brian Maloney from the vt.edu tech dept for
outstanding excellent GNU/Linux support!
All systems go.
robin
