path: root/english/vote/2024/platforms/srud.wml

#use wml::debian::template title="Platform for Sruthi Chandran" BARETITLE="true" NOHEADER="true"
#include "$(ENGLISHDIR)/vote/style.inc"

<font size="4" style="font-size: 14pt"><i><font size="4" style="font-size: 16pt"><b>DPL
platform 2024</b></font><b> (</b><font size="3" style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="font-weight: normal">This
an updated version of my 2021 platform)</span></font></i></font></p>
<p style="font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in">
<font size="4" style="font-size: 16pt"><b>Sruthi Chandran</b></font></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in"><a href="mailto:srud@d.o"><span style="font-variant: normal"><font size="3" style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">srud@d.o</span></span></font></span></a></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in"><br/>

</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in"><font size="4" style="font-size: 16pt"><b>Who
am I?</b></font></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in"><br/>

</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in">I am a librarian
turned Free Software enthusiast and Debian Developer from India. 
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in">Some of my
activities in Debian are:</p>
<ul>
	<li><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in">ruby,
	javascript, golang and font packages (totalling to around 200) since
	2016. (not very active nowadays)</p>
	<li><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in">Community Team
	delegate since Aug 2020.</p>
	<li><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in">Application
	Manager since Jul 2020</p>
	<li><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in">Outreach team
	since Aug/Sep 2020. 
	</p>
	<li><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in">Chief orga
	DebConf India 2023</p>
	<li><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in">DebConf
	Committee member since 2023</p>
</ul>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in"><br/>

</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in">I have been
mentoring people to contribute to Debian for many years now. I am
involved in organizing numerous packaging workshops and other Debian
events throughout India. I am also involved in organizing other free
software events like <a href="https://camp.fsf.org.in/">Free Software
Camp</a>.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in"><br/>

</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in"><font size="4" style="font-size: 16pt"><b>Why
am I contesting?</b></font></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in"><br/>

</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in">Concerned with the
skewed gender ratios within the Free Software community (and Debian)
I am working towards doing whatever I can to better the situation.
How many times did we have a non-(cis)male candidate for DPL? If I am
not wrong, when I contested in 2020, I was the second non-(cis)male
DPL candidate till date. As with my last two rounds of contesting for
DPL (2020 &amp; 2021), this year too my primary goal of contesting is
to bring the diversity issues for discussion. I believe I was
successful in that at-least to a small extend in my previous rounds.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in">I am aware that
Debian is doing things to increase diversity within Debian, but as we
can see, it is not sufficient. I am sad that there are only two women
Debian Developer from a large country like India. I believe diversity
is not something to be discussed only within Debian-women or
Debian-diversity. It should come up for discussion in each and every
aspect of the project.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in">DPL elections is an
important activity in our project and I plan to bring up the topic of
diversity for discussion every election till we have a non-(cis)male
DPL.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in">I feel that one
effective way to encourage diverse people to contribute is to have
more visibility for diversity already within the community. As more
and more women (both cis and trans), trans men, and genderqueer
people who are already part of the project become more visible
instead of staying hidden in some part of the project, more gender
diverse people will feel comfortable joining our community.
Geographic/ethnic diversity are also important areas which need
attention.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in"><br/>

</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in"><font size="4" style="font-size: 16pt"><b>What
are my plans as DPL?</b></font></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in"><br/>

</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in"><span style="text-decoration: none"><font size="4" style="font-size: 14pt"><b>1.
</b></font></span><font size="4" style="font-size: 14pt"><u><b>Diversity</b></u></font></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in">
Since diversity is my primary focus, let me start with that. 
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in"><i><b>Diversity
budget</b></i></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in">
In-spite of spending a good amount of money on diversity, we seem to
not get the expected outcome. My first task as DPL would be to
revisit the existing spending pattern to analyse why and where we are
going wrong. When I say we should focus on diversity, I do not mean
that we should blindly spend money in the name of diversity. I am
personally aware of instances where the diversity budget expenditure
did bad instead of any good.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in">
Another thing I would focus with respect to the diversity budget is
to publicise it more so that people who deserve it get to know about
it so that we do not end up spending it just for the sake of
spending.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in"><i><b>Diversity
activities</b></i></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in">
I have heard that Debian-women project did some incredible work in
improving women contributors till it went dormant. Now we have the
Debian-diversity initiative, but this hasn’t gained much momentum
yet. I plan to streamline their activities and if possible have a
delegated team focusing on diversity. The delegated team shall
co-ordinate all the diversity related activities in Debian. This team
will also be involved in the decisions and expenditure of the
diversity budget.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in"><i><b>Local
activities</b></i></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in">
Debian-localgroups which was conceptualised by our current DPL is a
great idea to promote geographical diversity. I plan to use the
potential of localgroups to organize more local events and have more
diverse people contribute to Debian.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in"><span style="text-decoration: none"><font size="4" style="font-size: 14pt"><b>2.
</b></font></span><font size="4" style="font-size: 14pt"><u><b>Outreach</b></u></font></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in">
<font size="3" style="font-size: 12pt">My second focus area is
outreach activities. I have been working with the Debian-outreach
team for more than 3 years now. I feel outreach is one important
activity which often does not get its due importance. Our outreach
team end up being just co-ordinators for GSoC and Outreachy. I have a
couple of ideas planned out for outreach.</font></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in"><font size="3" style="font-size: 12pt"><i><b>Debian
camp</b></i></font></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in"><span style="font-variant: normal"><font size="3" style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">Debian
camp is a concept that I borrowed from <a href="https://camp.fsf.org.in/">Free
Software Camp</a></span></span></font></span> <font size="3" style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="font-weight: normal">for
which I was one of the core organizers. Basically the concept is to
have 3-4 months</span></font> <font size="3" style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="font-weight: normal">long
online mentorship program. The advantage of a Debian specific
mentorship program is that we can tailor the program according to our
specific needs.</span></font></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in"><font size="3" style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="font-weight: normal">There
will be two parts for the program. In the first part, the primary
focus will be on the philosophy of Debian (and free software) and why
one should contribute to Debian etc. We can have common sessions on
these</span></font> <font size="3" style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="font-weight: normal">topics</span></font>
<font size="3" style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="font-weight: normal">for
the mentees. In the second part, the mentees will work with mentors
on the projects of their choice.</span></font></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in">
<font size="3" style="font-size: 12pt">In this activity, I plan to
have the Debian-outreach team as the co-ordinators/facilitators who
work in collaboration with Debian-diversity, Debian-localgroups,
Debian Academy etc. The Debian-outreach team will be doing the
back-end activities of organizing, scheduling etc. while other teams
will be helping out with resource persons/mentors/projects etc. I
specifically intend to have Debian-localgroups involved so that we
can have localised activities and not just in English.</font></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in">
<font size="3" style="font-size: 12pt">The question of whether to pay
stipend or not could be discussed later and decided (we did not have
stipend for the Free Software Camp and still it was a success).</font></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in"><font size="3" style="font-size: 12pt"><i><b>DebConf
Boot-camp</b></i></font></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in">
<font size="3" style="font-size: 12pt">This is an in person camp
which can happen during the DebCamp (this is an idea I borrowed from
mollydb). I believe that there is nothing like in-person mentoring.</font></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in">
<font size="3" style="font-size: 12pt">Often we have new people who
attend the DebConf are confused on what and how to start
contributing. This bootstrapping activity can help them to find
directions. I do believe that we have a lot of people interested to
help out with this. Exact plan to have this worked out can be
discussed and decided later.</font></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in"><font size="3" style="font-size: 12pt"><i><b>Review
of current activities</b></i></font></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in">
<font size="3" style="font-size: 12pt">A thorough review of current
outreach activities is long overdue. We need to examine the
effectiveness of our GSoC and Outreachy participations, what we can
do better and what we can do new.</font></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in"><span style="text-decoration: none"><font size="4" style="font-size: 14pt"><b>3.
</b></font></span><font size="4" style="font-size: 14pt"><u><b>Community</b></u></font></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in">
<font size="3" style="font-size: 12pt">Debian community is a great
community. But that does not mean we are perfect. Some points I would
be interested to take up as DPL are:</font></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in"><font size="3" style="font-size: 12pt"><i><b>Welcoming</b></i></font></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in"><font size="3" style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="font-weight: normal">Even
when we say we are a welcoming community, for an outsider it might
not appear so. There are a lot of reasons for this. The main reason
being that online communication often leads to miscommunication and
unintended flame wars. As a community,</span></font> <font size="3" style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="font-weight: normal">we
need to work towards making Debian more welcoming to all – new
comers and old timers alike. I am very keen on facilitating
discussions on this as a DPL. </span></font>
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in"><font size="3" style="font-size: 12pt"><i><b>Change
embracing</b></i></font></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in">
<font size="3" style="font-size: 12pt">It is often observed that
Debian as a community is reluctant to change most of the time. As a
DPL, I would like to develop a culture of embracing change. I would
encourage and facilitate people proposing new ideas and processes for
improvement of Debian.</font></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in"><font size="4" style="font-size: 14pt"><b><span style="text-decoration: none">4.
</span><u>Debian as an organisation</u></b></font></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none">
<font size="4" style="font-size: 14pt"><i><b><font size="3" style="font-size: 12pt">Debian</font>
<font size="3" style="font-size: 12pt">Foundation</font> (?)</b></i></font></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in">
<font size="3" style="font-size: 12pt">In some of the previous years’
DPL campaigns, having Debian as a registered organisation has come
up. In 2020, Brian Gupta’s platform focused on forming Debian
Foundation and in 2022, Jonathan Carter mentioned about formal
registration of Debian as an organisation. While organising
DebConf23, I had to face some issues because Debian is not a
registered organisation, That is when I started thinking about this
concept seriously.</font></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in">
<font size="3" style="font-size: 12pt">So, as a DPL, I would be
definitely interested in exploring the possibilities, advantages and
disadvantages of having Debian registered. I am not saying that this
is my main agenda, but it will definitely be brought up if I am
elected.</font></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none">
<font size="3" style="font-size: 12pt"><i><b>Trusted organisations</b></i></font></p>
<p style="font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none">
<font size="3" style="font-size: 12pt">As one of the main
responsibilities of DPL is financial management, I would like to
revisit our relationship with the existing trusted organisations,
fund management procedure and if needed, explore the possibilities of
having more TOs to reduce dependency on one or two. During DebConf23
organising, we had to face numerous fund distribution issues. Some of
it definitely was specific to Indian scenario, but still I could
think of a lot of improvement that can be done with respect to fund
distribution through TOs. </font>
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in"><font size="4" style="font-size: 14pt"><b><span style="text-decoration: none">5.
</span><u>Financial</u></b></font></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none">
<font size="3" style="font-size: 12pt"><i><b>Accounting</b></i></font></p>
<p style="font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none">
<font size="3" style="font-size: 12pt">From previous DPLs, I have
heard that the current process of accounting of Debian assets is very
complicated. As DPL, I would like to put some focus on streamlining
and automating the accounting process across different TOs. I am
thinking about having some process set up by which we can have a
transparent and upto date asset information available. </font>
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in"><font size="4" style="font-size: 14pt"><b><span style="text-decoration: none">6.
</span><u>Miscellaneous</u></b></font></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none">
<font size="3" style="font-size: 12pt"><i><b>DPL</b></i> <i><b>helpers
(DPL committee?)</b></i></font></p>
<p style="font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none">
<font size="3" style="font-size: 12pt">I have heard from the previous
DPLs that the workload is too huge to be completed by a single
person. During my last round of contesting, someone suggested the
concept of having helpers for DPL. I agree with the thought process
and I intend to have 1-2 people to do some work that can be offloaded
from the DPL workload. This would help in reducing revert time and
increaing efficiency.</font></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in"><br/>

</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in"><font size="4" style="font-size: 16pt"><b>Time
commitment</b></font></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in">One advantage I have
over most of the previous and present DPL candidates is the amount of
time I will be able to commit for my DPL activities. My work setup is
such that I get to decide when and how much time I work. This means
that I can give good priority to the DPL activities.</p>