Kevin Smith Application 2014
I'm Kevin Smith, xmpp:kevin@doomsong.co.uk, and I'm applying to retain my XSF membership. Email's mailto:kevin@kismith.co.uk.
TL;DR
This application is much as all my others have been, I'd like to keep going much as I've been going for the last few years.
History
I've been an XSF member since 2005 and a council member since 2006. I've chaired the last few XMPP Councils (including the current one).
Jabber/XMPP Projects
Code (most notable)
- In my day job I work for Isode on the M-Link server (among other things).
- I work on on the Swift client with Remko and others.
- I was project leader for the Psi client for about 5 years, until early 2009.
- I did the initial port of Swiften to Java to create the Stroke library.
Code (other)
- I wrote the SleekMigrate app for migrating between XMPP server software.
- I developed much of the SleekBot, which is a bot for running in MUCs, although I don't know if anyone uses this any more.
- My (abandoned) MaybeLater task manager system accepted new tasks through an XMPP bot.
- My (newer and highly unfinished) MaybeLater rewrite task manager system is entirely XMPP over BOSH.
- I have contributed to the SleekXMPP Python XMPP library.
XMPP Protocol
I'm a co-author of several XEPs and read all the XEPs that go through because of my place on Council.
XMPP documentation
- XMPP: The Definitive Guide for O'Reilly. Buy it please.
Plans for the future
As well as continuing work on Swift, I intend to continue contributing to XEPs and serving on Council. I also expect I'll keep doing XMPP stuffs at Isode.
XMPP - Why I like it
I came to Jabber because I was on Linux and didn't like the thought of using clients that had to play catch-up to the legacy networks; Jabber's open standard felt cleaner. As a geek, helping to set up the university Jabber server was also an appeal. I got drawn into development with Psi and learned more about the protocol decided it's a standard worth supporting. I've since had a great deal of contact with the communit(y|ies), and met a good bunch of people at FOSDEM, the XMPP Summits and the London meetups that help me want to keep being involved.
XSF Work
Some of the more interesting things I've done for the XSF in the past or do in the present include: Council chair, infrastructure, GSoC admin and XEP writing
Why I'm reapplying
So I can keep doing what I'm doing in the XSF.