Position statement for Jonathan McDowell

I am Jonathan McDowell, Noodles on IRC, and I'm standing for election to the SPI board.

Why am I standing?

Having been a contributing SPI member since October 2001 I have watched SPI find its feet, expanding beyond Debian as its primary member project to include a wide range of associated projects. Equally I've seen SPI overcome problems with its internal organisation to emerge stronger and more useful to the Free software world. I'm standing as a candidate who sees SPI's role as a facilitator for its associated projects, and thinks that by and large it's doing a good job at this. I have no agenda for change but instead intend to ensure we continue the good work already being done.

Who am I?

I've been a Debian developer since November 2000; originally maintaining a handful of packages but since expanding to include some Application Manager work and looking after the Debian keyring. I've been an OFTC user for many years. I've also contributed patches to many Free software projects, including OpenWRT, OpenEmbedded and the Linux kernel.

I used to part own and run Black Cat Networks, a small UK ISP which looked after SPI's various domains until it was sold back in July 2007. I've been involved in organising LUGs both when I lived in Norwich (ALUG) and more recently since moving back to Northern Ireland (BLUG).

I put myself forward as someone who will get the job done; I believe SPI serves a useful role in the FLOSS community and I aim to help it continue to do that if you elect me to the board.