Current projects at Blue Light

Things to know before you consider volunteering in Auroville and Blue Light

To get to know you better, please take the time and reflect a bit on the questions below. This will help you to get clearer what you want and help us to see whether your involvement is in the right place in Blue Light. We might find that your skills fit or if not, try to see where else your involvement can be helpful in Auroville.

• What makes you want to come and stay with us in Auroville?
• Why is the Blue Light project of special interest to you?
• What are your skills you want to offer during your stay?

Please send us a photo of you when applying for volunteering. You find our photo here.

Some practical considerations

What is your intended time frame for staying in Auroville? How many months? Which time of the year?
Granted you like Blue Light do you envision to work the full time with us?

Do you speak English? In Auroville most of the communication is in English.

Can you support yourself financially during your stay in Auroville? We recommend for volunteers between 8000 and 10 000 INR (Indian Rupees) which equivalents to 120 - 150 Euros or 190 - 230 US$ per month (Exchange rate 68 Rs per Euro or 43 Rs per US$). This amount can vary depending on your life style. You will need this money for accommodation, transport, food etc.

Are you the person we are looking for?

We are looking for geeks, geeks-in-the-making, open source enthusiasts or other computer savvy people. Blue Light provides you with an office environment and if you don't come with your laptop -  with a workstation. We have quite a mixed bunch of people around so we learn from each other.

Depending on the project at least 3 to 6 months of commitment is expected from you.

Part of the job is to meet Aurovilians. This is a great way to dive deeper into Auroville, how it works, what daily life looks like ...
We are using Open Source software wherever and whenever possible. This means researching Open Source projects, installing software on test computers, getting in contact with the developers or the community if needed and finally introducing solutions into working environments (offices) and providing user training.
We require proper documentation of your work so it's possible for others to get involved.

Our Projects

If you have Linux server administration skills ...

Well, almost all is welcome here. If you know how to secure a server or automate task via scripting, virtualisation, MySQL/PostgresSQL database ......

If you know how to program in Python, Java etc.

We are working on web-based solutions for our community needs. For further details please contact us.

If you know how to teach or train or have skills to develop training materials

If you like teaching (in English) to adults or teenagers check in with us. Whether you teach Libreoffice (text formatting or spreadsheets) or proper emailing or offer to introduce the community in fields like online social networking, Internet in general and security and privacy in particular - all this and much more is interesting for us.

If you have skills in the following software and could configure, optimise or train people

Do you know Drupal CMS? Auronet is our internal community platform and Drupal based.

Do you know LDAP?  We are in the process to introduce common address books via LDAP server and also have developed a LDAP based synchronisation tool.

Maybe you know a bit about Amanda backup software? Blue Light is using Amanda in a number of offices to do the daily backups. We are always curious to learn more about this software.

Or are you an OpenOffice or LibreOffice expert? We are introducing Ubuntu Linux and LibreOffice to our community and its offices. If you have skills you could share them either in solving problems or in training people. 

We are also using GNU-Cash for accounting.

We are using Jira and Confluence for our internal functioning and are open to get some real insider tips and tricks.

If you have some experience in open source POS (Point of Sales) software like  http://lemonpos.org/

If your skills are not mentioned here, please contact us and check in. We might still have a place for you.

And meet us on Facebook: http://goo.gl/liKwT

What sort of people does Blue Light need?

We are looking for people across the whole range of supporting, developing and researching Free and Open Source Software: from trainees to seasoned experts, from office juniors through accountants, business analysts, developers, office manager, project manager, systems administrators, technical writers and user support to researchers.

In some of the roles we do not need somebody full time so people who can work in several roles are especially welcome.  Part time people are welcome too.  Working part time leaves time for diverse other activities, including exploring Auroville.

Most of the team work physically in Auroville; some collaborators are outside. 

What sort of place is Auroville?

Auroville is a unique international town in south India.  There's a lot more information about Auroville at http://www.auroville.org/.

What would Blue Light like to know about me?

• How do you know about Blue Light and Auroville?
• What interests you about Auroville?
• What interests you about Blue Light?
• What are your education, skills and experience?
• When are you thinking of coming?  How long are you thinking of staying?
• How is your spoken and written English?

Practical considerations

Blue Light would love to be able to pay for your travel, to provide you with accommodation and food while you are here and to pay you a living allowance.  Unfortunately our cash flow allows none of that yet.  All we can offer now is lunch and generous helpings of local advice.

Peoples' "needs" vary so it is impossible to be precise about the cost of accommodation, transport, food etc. in Auroville.  Typically people spend INR 8,000 to 10,000 per month.  That is approximately EUR 100 to 150 EUR and USD 130 to 170. The exact figure depends on your life style.

Our climate is mostly warm or hot and damp; light clothes are essential.  Conventionally shoes are not worn in many buildings; it is convenient to have shoes that can easily be removed.  A battery flashlight is useful.

Transport is commonly by bicycle, moped or small motorcycle.  It is useful to be proficient with whichever you prefer before arriving.  For pedal cyclists, a rechargeable LED head light is recommended.

Many countries advise a course of immunisations before arriving in south India and taking malaria prophylactics while here.  Almost nobody who lives here long term takes any such special precautions.  You may like to take professional advice.

It is helpful if you bring your own computer, otherwise we will do what we can to provide a desktop computer.

What would I do?

That depends on what you can do, what you want to do and how it fits with what is needed at the time.

Our office administration needs are like any small organisation; they include the sort of work associated with accounting, assets management, human resources, office administrator, PA and team secretary.

We provide support from first line user support through technical support, training and consultancy so you could end up working in any (or all!) of those roles.

We recommend hardware for use in Free and Open Source systems and suppliers.  This requires learning about new products, reading reviews and monitoring how installed hardware works.  We build computers from components and repair/upgrade computers.

We do systems administration.  That includes automation, backups, configuration, documentation, installation, monitoring, problem management, projects, prototyping, security, solutions research, strategy and support.

We develop software.  For details of current and past projects, see the Projects page.

We participate in the Free and Open Source Software community, reporting bugs, answering questions and publishing both documentation (like this WIKI) and code.

Regards working hours, we provide first line support from 8:30 AM through 5 PM, Monday to Saturday.  Apart from that we choose our hours to suit ourselves, the team and our clients.  Some of us work half time.

You could join our team events.  Recently we have gone swimming in lakes at a stone mine and camped overnight in the hills.

If you took on a public facing role you would meet the people of Auroville, a great way to find out more about the many facets of Auroville.

Outside of Blue Light you could join in the many learning, experiencing and social activities that Auroville has to offer, some of which are listed on http://www.auroville.org/.

Once you get here and find out about Auroville, its organisations and people you might find something you want to do more than working with Blue Light.  That's cool with us too; Auroville is a place for personal growth.