Idea for Ubuntu Women project

[catohornet]

I'm new to this forum and writing this type of code in general. I would love to contribute and yes I am a woman. I am looking for relatively short open source projects to work on to gain programming and design experience. So where do I start? what is involved in writing/creating something useful in Ubuntu for everyone. I know a few men who like cute desktop gadgets and icons as much as a woman would.

Thanks for your input to my inquiry.

[Havoc]

Well, your first try would be HERE .You don't need to be a programmer to help in there.If you're an artist, then you could either look into the Desktop Artwork goal, or the Sound Events goal.But, you don't have to be an artist to contribute.Actually, you don't need any qualifications.Just a will to help, and an open mind.You could translate, or make suggestions.Now, if you can actually help, go for it!
You could even make some extra money by working on Breezy Bounties .

I just thought it was nice of you to ask!

[Jun-Dai]

I think there are two separate ideas going on that have some merit, but in combination they are fairly appalling.

1. It would be nice to make women feel more comfortable in the Ubuntu community.
2. It would be nice if Ubuntu had some cute themes (I, as a male, would certainly like to see some. I have no objection to flowers or teddy bears).

It would not be unreasonable to develop a Christian or Muslim theme for Ubuntu, as at least those groups willingly adhere to a common culture that we can base the theme on. Trying to develop a theme for women, however, is far more problematic, because women do not share a common "culture" per se--the closest you can come is to find cultural elements that have strong associations with women in a particular culture. To define a Barbie theme wouldn't necessarily be an invalid suggestion, but to think of it as the theme for women to use in Ubuntu would be, because there are some men that like Barbie and many women that don't; Barbie is not a shared culture among women--above all, however, we really should not be trying to reinforce these associations, which is exactly what we would be doing by creating a Barbie theme for women.

This thread has been useful, not least because it provides the opportunity to criticize some ideas specifically, rather than vague general problems. I'm quite encouraged by some of the responses.

[aysiu]

I think there are two separate ideas going on that have some merit, but in combination they are fairly appalling.

1. It would be nice to make women feel more comfortable in the Ubuntu community.
2. It would be nice if Ubuntu had some cute themes (I, as a male, would certainly like to see some. I have no objection to flowers or teddy bears).

I agree. The whole reason this thread ended up all heated was the original assumption that #1 and #2 had anything to do with each other. I think I'm probably not the only male who finds the brown default Ubuntu theme quite ugly. I don't consider it a male theme. I consider it an ugly theme. Likewise, a cutesy teddy bear/flowers theme I wouldn't consider a womanly theme but rather a girly theme.

Nobody claims that Mac computers alienate women (or men, for that matter), but there's nothing definitely feminine or masculine about the aqua/chrome metal themes Apple favors.

Bottom line: brown is ugly. A small minority will inevitably like whatever horrible color/feel Ubuntu chooses as its default theme, but I think most people would agree brown is just not that appealing to most people of any gender.

That said, what's so difficult about going to Gnome-look and downloading and installing a new theme? I think that's what most people do anyway. If you use Ubuntu's default theme on a regular basis, please raise your hand... anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

If you want to encourage women in Linux, following these guidelines and suggestions would be a good start. I can't imagine most potential women Linux users think, "God, I would love everything about Linux. Too bad they chose this ugly brown theme. Linux isn't women-friendly. I think I'll go back to Windows now."

P.S. Oops. I just realized someone else already linked to the "encourage women in Linux" document. Too bad nobody paid attention to it.

[urbandryad]

maybe a women 'THEME' is the problem. Rather, lets just try out a generic project idea, and have it be only women who work on it. That way its an ubuntu 'women' project, but it'll be usable by multiple users?

Pesonally, I'd like to see another Music or Multimedia program based in Ubuntu-Gnome, that can rip CD's, play CD's, play music files, play movies and radio, manage music downloads and organize sort the music files, allow filename and organization within music folders, and sync with iPod/MP3 players and upload to them, etc etc.

What do people think about this? I know NOTHING about programming, but as an idea, maybe the ubuntu women can work on something like this? :3 Any other ideas that the ubuntu women can work on:

A graphics/multimedia release of Ubuntu (Like Collage Ubuntu, but more on Multimedia?)

Programs that run for ubuntu like simple paint and mini-apps for the panels. Like widgets. I've never done any programming before. But it'd be fun to learn to make my own mini games.

Maybe as a project, ubuntu women can TEACH other women in this forum how to program? You can start with me, how do I start learning to make my own program? C++ or Perl or Java or all three or none of these? I can teach women in turn to do html and webpage publishing, use Word programs, and the like. :3

What do you say?

[BinaryDigit]

maybe a women 'THEME' is the problem. Rather, lets just try out a generic project idea, and have it be only women who work on it. That way its an ubuntu 'women' project, but it'll be usable by multiple users?

Pesonally, I'd like to see another Music or Multimedia program based in Ubuntu-Gnome, that can rip CD's, play CD's, play music files, play movies and radio, manage music downloads and organize sort the music files, allow filename and organization within music folders, and sync with iPod/MP3 players and upload to them, etc etc.

What do people think about this? I know NOTHING about programming, but as an idea, maybe the ubuntu women can work on something like this? :3 Any other ideas that the ubuntu women can work on:

A graphics/multimedia release of Ubuntu (Like Collage Ubuntu, but more on Multimedia?)

Programs that run for ubuntu like simple paint and mini-apps for the panels. Like widgets. I've never done any programming before. But it'd be fun to learn to make my own mini games.

Maybe as a project, ubuntu women can TEACH other women in this forum how to program? You can start with me, how do I start learning to make my own program? C++ or Perl or Java or all three or none of these? I can teach women in turn to do html and webpage publishing, use Word programs, and the like. :3

What do you say?

I agree Although I did programming in college (cs degree) I haven't programmed in ages. This would be a good way to learn again and have women help each other!

[m3rna]

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What. The hell.
I am 16 years old.
I'm a girl.
I played with dolls when I was 4.
They now collect dust.
I use Linux, when I'm not busy doing crap on my Windows OS.

I think it's great that you think the women users of ubuntu to have their own project, theme, whatever, to distinguish themselves more, and show that women are able to be just as big of geeks as guys.

BUT!

Wtf is it with the flowers and the dolls nonsense? If I make an Ubuntu theme for women, it sure as crap isn't going to involve flowers, dolls, and pink. It's going to involve the symbol for women, black and green, and desktops with hot guys on them. In fact, just draw our version of Ubuntu-tan. Our version would be a hot, african dude. Wearing about as much clothes as the current ubuntu-tan.

THAT is what the women's project would be. Not silly flowers and emoticons. If I were to do that in the real world, to show that I'm a woman and involved with the community, I'd be laughed at. Great that guys want cute themes as well, but they are perfectly capable of making it. I think women should do what they really want.

Hot guys and awesome themes unbiased to gender. *cough*

[aysiu]

Wtf is it with the flowers and the dolls nonsense? If I make an Ubuntu theme for women, it sure as crap isn't going to involve flowers, dolls, and pink. It's going to involve the symbol for women, black and green, and desktops with hot guys on them. In fact, just draw our version of Ubuntu-tan. Our version would be a hot, african dude. Wearing about as much clothes as the current ubuntu-tan.

Some forum members apparently thought women and girls were the same thing. They're quite different.

[m3rna]

Some forum members apparently thought women and girls were the same thing. They're quite different.

Umm...last I remember, this thread was called Idea for Ubuntu Women project ?

I know they're different. I just think it's kind of strange that a male user posted this thread for women to do something to become more distinguished members of the ubuntu community, and suggest things like flowers, pink, and dolls, because that's what chicks like. *shrugs* I'm a girl, or a woman, whatever you call a teenager, and I know for a fact I wouldn't like any of those things as themes, and would be kind of irked to have those be the female options.

(especially since I know more than one guy who would probably use those instead of the girls)