OVERVIEW
Jim is a k-12 educator, somewhat recent GNU/Linux convert, tech nerd and mountain biker. He discovered a thing called the Breezy Badger in late 2005 and quickly became an enthusiast and advocate. He is currently involved in organizing the (ed)ubuntu presence at the Technology in Education conference in Copper Mountain, CO (June 19-22, 2007). In addition to presenting a session on FOSS and edubuntu thin-clients, he will be working at the Canonical booth in the exhibition hall. Canonical sponsorship of the booth was a direct result of Jim's efforts.

Recognizing that the strength of the FOSS movement is its community, Jim is busy soliciting the input of other enthusiasts in the Colorado area to develop a list of applications and sample lesson plans for teachers interested in FOSS. The lessons are being collected at https://wiki.edubuntu.org/Lessons. Additional information on the TIE conference appearance and planning can be found at https://wiki.edubuntu.com/TIEColorado

More recently, Jim started a new launchpad education related team: Education Enthusiasts (https://launchpad.net/~education-enthusiasts). Jim hopes that the team will offer the community a gateway into the schools and classroom around the US and the world.

Jim has also been active in the Ubuntu Forums since January 2006 where he goes by the name m.musashi. In the beginning Jim mainly asked questions as he sought to learn more about ubuntu. Now he tries to give back by trying to help other new users. His 1100+ posts are a record of his involvement. Jim is now working to better understand the "Answers" section of Launchpad and is busy helping users with less experience than himself.

You can follow my Ubuntu related ramblings on my blog -> http://ubuntukids.org/blog/. I'm also hoping to do something useful with my UbuntuKids (http://ubuntukids.org/) site but so far no good ideas have come along. Let me know if you have any ideas and would like to help get something going.

TIDBITS
Jim works in one of the few high schools in the area with a GNU/Linux thin-client lab. The lab runs the 7.04 version of edubuntu. Jim also had the chance to meet with Mark Shuttleworth in May 2007 to discuss thin-client implementations in schools. Jim was greatly impressed with the sabdfl's ideas and passion.

BRANDING
If you are wondering about the little furry icon on Jim's page, his name is Totoro - a character in the Miyazaki Hayao movie Tonari no Totoro (http://imdb.com/title/tt0096283/). In the movie, Totoro helps a couple children adapt to their new surroundings while their father is busy with a new job and their mother is in the hospital. Later in the movie, Totoro helps in finding the youngest child when she becomes lost. Jim believes that one of his main contribution to the ubuntu community is through his efforts to help newcomers adapt to the ubuntu way of doing things and helping them when they become lost (the other being advocacy in the education realm). For Jim, Totoro is a metaphor of his participation in the community.