[launch] Beanie Award Fund

From: Dunlap, Randy (randy.dunlap@intel.com)
Date: Thu Oct 26 2000 - 18:19:27 EST


Hi,

This is a notice that was sent to the
linux-usb-devel mailing list last month.

~Randy
_______________________________________________
|Randy Dunlap |
|randy.dunlap_at_intel.com 503-677-5408|
-----------------------------------------------

-----Original Message-----
From: Dunlap, Randy [mailto:randy.dunlap@intel.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2000 5:00 PM
To: 'l-u-d'
Subject: [linux-usb-devel] [launch] Beanie Award Fund

Hi,

At this time I'm announcing that the remainder of
the Slashdot Beanie award is available for expenses
for hardware or software that is used to further the
development of open source projects, preferably
Linux-USB-related or Linux-hotplug-related projects.

About the Linux-USB Purchase Request Fund
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Linux-USB Purchase Request fund (PRQ) is a limited-duration cash
distribution fund established with part of the Award made at the "2000
Slashdot Beanies", where the Linux USB community won US$10,000 for the
Most Improved Kernel Module - see
http://slashdot.org/articles/00/02/06/1950248.shtml.

The aim of the Linux-USB PRQ is to support the Open Source development
of Linux-USB. A secondary goal is to support related projects;
especially those that are likely to assist Linux-USB, such as other
hotplug support (devices or infrastructure).

The fund was started with US$6,300 in Sept. 2000. No additional
funds are being sought, and the PRQ will be wound up when all funds
are distributed.

Linux-USB Purchase Request Process
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1. Requests

A person or group makes a request of the Purchase Request
("PRQ") fund and the committee decides whether to grant or
deny the request.

Requests should be submitted to the PRQ team via a web-based
form (URL: http://www.linux-usb.org/beanieForm.html).

The PRQ team coordinator receives these requests and does
an initial review of them for missing information or invalid
requests. If the request is not invalid, the PRQ coordinator
logs and acknowledges it. The clock starts for the accepted
requests.

2. Qualifying Requests

Requests may be made for any hardware or software that enables
someone to contribute or continue to contribute to the
development of Linux, Linux-USB, or other open-source
Linux software projects, whether software development,
testing, or documentation.
Requests that appear most likely to advance USB support
on Linux are the primary focus, with a secondary focus
of Linux support for other PnP/hotplug buses on Linux.

Award decisions are based on many things, including
your proposal, qualifications, and track record.
No previous experience is required to get a first funding;
future funding may be based on results (positive or negative).

3. Monetary Range

The normal range of awards is expected to be US$60 to US$600, to
keep workload manageable while still assisting a reasonable number of
people. Awards outside this will only be made under exceptional
circumstances.

4. Permanence of Award

The award or grant from the purchase request fund is
"permanent." Whoever receives the award owns the hardware
or software that they purchase with it. (Of course, they
could also share it with others who could use it.)

There is no need or desire to provide receipts for the
purchase.

The recipient of an award can return the full amount of the
award within three (3) months of its receipt without
affecting future PRQ requests.

5. Consideration of Proposals

Every proposal is considered in isolation from the others,
on its own merits, and applications are accepted at any time
until the money pool is spent.

We have a goal of making a Yes/No decision within one week,
with a maximum of 2 weeks.

6. Tracking of Awards

Successful proposals are tracked on a web page while in progress
and after completion. Unsuccessful proposals are not reported to
anyone outside of the PRQ team and the requester(s).

To ensure that the purchase fund is actually helping people to
contribute to open source software, each recipient is asked to
post a message within three (3) months saying how this award
actually contributed to what they proposed. These reports will
be linked to the cumulative approved list so that it is evident
which recipients have not reported back.

7. Voting

The entire PRQ team (currently 7 members) votes or abstains
on each request.

The actual Purchase Request team members who decide on any
one funding request are not identified to the Linux-USB community.

All PRQ members are asked to vote on every PRQ proposal (or to
Abstain). Members of the PRQ team should abstain from voting
due to conflicts of interest and may abstain due to business or
personal time constraints or they feel unqualified to vote on
a particular proposal.

Valid votes are:
  YES (for Approval)
  NO (Comments optional but preferred)
  ABSTAIN

Each proposal is sent to the PRQ coordinator who checks only for
completeness. If a submission provides sufficient information to make a
decision, then the PRQ coordinator sends the submission out to the
entire PRQ team. Discussion and votes follow in the next one-week
period (maximum two weeks if necessary). PRQ team members may vote on a
proposal any number of times; only the last vote from each team member
counts. This discussion time also allows for declarations of conflict of
interest.

Votes go only to the coordinator. A straight majority of Yes votes is
required for proposals of US$300 or less to pass. A majority and at
least three (3) Yes votes are required for proposals greater than US$300.
Comments (might be suggestions on good approaches to coding,
useful contacts, basis for rejection) may be provided with votes. The
coordinator advises the applicant/applicants and provides whatever
comments are worth passing on.

Every PRQ team member is notified on each proposal by email
and every member is expected to reply to that message (it will go
to the PRQ coordinator, maybe CC:ed to everyone else - or maybe the
PRQ coordinator will email results later, in one message).
The PRQ coordinator will only need to count votes and notify the
treasurer about the check. Necessary maintenance of the web server
(if needed) is up to the PRQ coordinator also.

An application request, in form of email, is voted on by all
voting members (private mailing list @sf.net), with their votes
clearly stated. The PRQ coordinator receives all votes, verifies
signatures, and determines if the application is approved. All PRQ
traffic is always CC:ed to entire PRQ team and to noone else.

8. Notification of Approval or Rejection

After the PRQ team approves a request, the PRQ coordinator
notifies the Requester(s) of the Approval and the PRQ
treasurer (randy.dunlap@intel.com) of the amount and the
recipient's address. The treasurer forwards that information
to the checkbook holder/writer/accountant for a check to be
issued and mailed.

If the PRQ team rejects a proposal, the requester(s) is
also notified. The notification may include comments
about the proposal if appropriate or as available.

9. Unusual Requests

The PRQ coordinator may choose to inform other PRQ team members
about interesting, unusual or otherwise relevant requests that he
denied if this helps the team to understand the nature of common
requests and possibly dynamically reshape its acceptance/rejection
pattern. The identity of applicants rejected by the PRQ coordinator
does not need to be communicated to the PRQ team because the team is
more interested in statistics and unusual cases.

###

~Randy
___________________________________________________
|Randy Dunlap Intel Corp., DAL Sr. SW Engr.|
|randy.dunlap.at.intel.com 503-696-2055|
|NOTE: Any views presented here are mine alone |
|and may not represent the views of my employer. |
|_________________________________________________|

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