[PLUG] Minutes of meeting : Freedom Toaster

[Devendra Laulkar]

Hello all,

I think I am not communicating my ideas clearly enough.... 

On Tuesday 09 May 2006 22:57, Kunal Thakar wrote:
> > > > A better approach would be -
> > > > 1. Find someone ready to host and maintain the 'kiosk'.
> > > Are you implying to have a person at every location who will actually
> > burn the cd's ?
> > > Of course we will required to train staff regarding the use of toaster
> > and
> > > other details in general, but no person can be guranteed to be there at
> > the
> > > toaster location for something like 8 hours a day.

By training staff, I mean telling the store ppl what the kiosk is all about, 
how to turn it on and off, and how to give guidance to ppl who do ask 
questions,  NOT burn the cd's for janta.

> > Another approach could be take orders from the kiosk location such as
> > venus
> > traders an deliver CDs in 2-3 days. That way one doesn't have to come to
> > PLUG meeting to get any CDs. We just extend current mechanism of CD
> > distribution outside PLUG meetings.

This idea is low tech, would not require much investment too. But it requires 
lot of follow up work to be done. Some one will go to venus traders every 2-3 
days, see what orders have been placed, burn the corresponding cd's and give 
them back.
In any case, the time and work required to do this is too much. Unless of 
course you are thinking of setting up proper distribution channels by paying 
ppl money etc.

> Regarding
> the placement of the kiosk, Venus traders etc would be hard to convince
> since they dont have any incentive from a venture like this. 

I think they have. We'll be doing some publicity for the toaster so name of 
Venus traders will automatically appear at various places. And ppl will be 
coming to burn cd's. place like venus can attract more people. Also, some of 
the people will be buying CD's at their shop.

With a book store, the idea can be something like this : We will be providing 
etexts, audio ebooks etc. Maybe they can keep books related to them near the 
toaster and/or advertise the titles on the toaster. There is an entire 
classics section at most book stores. 

> I think 
> putting up the kiosks in colleges/IT companies is a better idea.

Hmm, maybe one somewhere near Hinjewadi perhaps ;)

> If we had a Indian version of Mark Shuttleworth, all our problems would
> have been solved :)

Well we could still find one....

-Devendra Laulkar.