The Evolution of Community

My name is Joe Brockmeier, though most of my friends and colleagues call me Zonker. I’m a Linux geek, and have been using Linux since 1996 when I discovered Slackware Linux, and have been working with Linux and writing about it since about 1999.

I’ve written for Linux Magazine, Sys Admin, IBM developerWorks, Linux Weekly News, Enterprise Linux Magazine, NewsFactor, ComputorEdge, Corante, ZDNet, Unix Review, NewsForge.com, Linux.com, and a few other publications that slip my mind at the moment. I’ve also written and contributed to books about Slackware Linux, DocBook, Linux Networking, and other open source topics.

After covering Linux and open source for nine years as a tech journalist, I was pleased to have the opportunity to join Novell as openSUSE Community Manager. My job here will be to serve as an advocate for the openSUSE community to Novell, to make sure the openSUSE community has the tools it needs to function and grow, to put the word out about openSUSE and what’s going on within the project, and to promote openSUSE.

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Ross Turk has been with the OSTG family since 2000, and has served in multiple capacities during his tenure. Most recently, as the Engineering Manager for SourceForge.net, he spearheaded efforts to improve to the world’s largest destination for open source, including the new Software Map and Search and major navigation and aesthetic overhauls. In his current role, Ross is responsible for communicating with the SourceForge.net community and responding to their needs. During his twelve-year career, he has focused on assessing and optimizing the business and engineering processes of a wide variety of engineering organizations, always with a passion for Open Source methodologies.

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Jono Bacon works at Canonical as the Ubuntu Community Manager and works to grow, scale and lead the world-wide Ubuntu community. He is the author of four books, the most recent the Art Of Community published by O’Reilly.

Bacon previously had a background in journalism (writing for over 12 publications and three books) and also worked as a professional Open Source advocate at the UK government funded OpenAdvantage. He is a prominent member of the Open Source community, co-founder and presenter of LugRadio, contributor to projects such as Jokosher, KDE and GNOME, and an active musician.

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John Mark Walker has been a Free Software agitator and contributor for over a decade. At VA Linux Systems, he survived an IPO and learned the ins and outs of Open Source politics. He then went on to stints at No Starch Press, GroundWork, IDG World Expo (as LinuxWorld conference director), and Hyperic.

John Mark views the opening of software technologies as an inevitable expression of long-term economic trends driving down the price of commodity software and all commoditized knowledge, for that matter. His great quest is to figure out how to leverage the economies of scale driving the big picture into a micro-level view of successful community development for individual projects and companies. You can find his musings on Open Source at his blog, There is no Open Source Community.

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Jeremy has been riddled with open source cooties since the 90’s. From early adopter edge of network deployments, on over the chasm to broad acceptance among the Fortune 500 and working with communities at CollabNet, Red Hat, Lulu and Hyperic.

As Red Hat’s first Community Relations Manager, Jeremy lived through the transition from boxed product revenue to subscription revenue and helped launch the Fedora Project.

Turn ons: Southern Rock, Irish Ale, Buffalo Wings, New York Pizza Turn offs: locks, gates, walls, doors, Disney and the word ‘no’