The Art of Community

Chapter 2. Planning Your Community

“We must all hang together, or assuredly, we shall all hang separately.”

—Benjamin Franklin

My best friend is a guy named Stuart Langridge, whom I call “Aq.” (He was nicknamed “Aquarius” in an online user group devoted to a fantasy author, for reasons that make my eyes glaze over when he tries to explain them.) I first met Aq in Wolverhampton in Central England, where I’d moved to go to university. We became fast friends.

With my curiosity initially piqued by Neil’s Linux User Group, I was eager to form my own: the cunningly named Wolverhampton Linux User Group. Six months later, Aq wandered into a meeting, complete with now-trademark bombastic personality.

Over the years, Aq and I shared many a pint and a curry, debating and discussing every imaginable topic about Free Software. No subject was out of reach, and we relished in each other’s passion for the subject. We also relished in the opportunity to prove each other wrong. These debates inspired many projects: one of them was LugRadio.

Throughout the life of LugRadio, Aq and I debated how we—or more specifically, I—recorded the show. As the resident musician in the fabulous foursome, with a room full of recording equipment, I handled recording and editing, using Mac OS X and the Cubase audio production system.

Yes, folks, you read that right: LugRadio was a show all about Free Software but recorded on a proprietary system, with a proprietary application. Fortunately, the community took good steed ...