[Debconf-team] debconf bursaries procedures 2013

[David Bremner <bremner@debian.org>]

Hi all;

Several messages on the "herb" private alias suggested this discussion
should happen publicly but I don't think that happened yet. So I will
try to repeat my impressions of what was discussed so far.
Also, I want to push things forward a bit.

This year we have enough travel sponsorship budget to cover all of the
applications received. Of course we still have a responsibility to use
Debian's resources wisely, so several people proposed the following procedure.

- Each member of the bursaries ("herb") team will examine the
  applications and make a list of any that they think should (perhaps) not
  be sponsored. We will then have an IRC meeting to reach concensus on
  these cases. Personally I think it would be most productive if people
  can share their list of "concerns" before the meeting. 

One question that came up is partial sponsorship. My personal opinion is
that question "Travel sponsorship needed in order for me to attend
DebConf" is relatively clear, and that it implies that amounts smaller
than that would not be helpful.  On the other hand, I thought it was
clear before too. Since we have the budget, granting such partial
funding would not deprive others of funding, so we could offer it with a
short response deadline.

This is mainly about travel sponsorship; as it turns out, the procedure
is roughly the same as what has been done in recent years for
accomodation sponsorship.

Hoping for a speedy discussion so the team can start work,

David