Community Matters!!!111Community Matters!!!111

Kathiravelu PradeebanKathiravelu Pradeeban

AbiWordAbiWord

2

What is a What is a

community?community?

3

People with a common purpose or goalPeople with a common purpose or goal

Communicating with each otherCommunicating with each other

Contributing towards the goalContributing towards the goal

Like a big familyLike a big family

4

Open Source Communities!

Volunteers!Volunteers!

Not just developers!Not just developers!

5

I CAN HAZ CHEEZBURGER?

6

Your interest..

.. Not everyone gets a chance to live.... Not everyone gets a chance to live..

.. a second life .... a second life ..

7

♥

I put this image of a hexapus,

'cos I find it motivating!

8

Joining a community..

Find the right project.Find the right project.

Acquire the skills/expertise.Acquire the skills/expertise.

Netiquettes.Netiquettes.

Sign up to the lists.Sign up to the lists.

Join the relevant channel.Join the relevant channel.

Observe and adjust yourself. Observe and adjust yourself.

Get your basics and motives right.Get your basics and motives right.

9

10

Building a community

More challenging than joining a well-More challenging than joining a well-established community. established community.

GoalsGoals

How to bring new blood in!How to bring new blood in!

Effective Communications..Effective Communications..

11

What makes your organization lovable?

Expertise in the domain.Expertise in the domain.

Healthy culture.Healthy culture.

Defined best-practices.Defined best-practices.

Welcoming environment.Welcoming environment.

Research and Learning.Research and Learning.

Fun.Fun.

12

Technologies..

Project HostingProject Hosting

SourceForge, GitHub, Google Code, ..SourceForge, GitHub, Google Code, ..

Version Control SystemsVersion Control Systems

SVN, CVS, GIT, Mercurial, ..SVN, CVS, GIT, Mercurial, ..

Build ToolsBuild Tools

Ant, Maven, ..Ant, Maven, ..

Issue TrackerIssue Tracker

Bugzilla, Jira, Trac, ..Bugzilla, Jira, Trac, ..

13

Mailing Lists

Dev, User, Commit lists, sub-groups, ..

Internet Relay Chat (IRC)

Issue Tracker

Forums and wiki

Blogs

Communicating with the community..

14

Mailing lists

The principal discussion medium.The principal discussion medium.

AsynchronousAsynchronous

"bring it to the mailing list" "bring it to the mailing list"

Be friendly.Be friendly.

Say NO to toxic people.Say NO to toxic people.

Slow ?Slow ?

15

IRC

A real time medium.A real time medium.

Not logged mostly.Not logged mostly.

Not for major decision making.Not for major decision making.

Who hangs here?Who hangs here?

Mostly devs.Mostly devs.

Not many designers and localizers.Not many designers and localizers.

16

Network Etiquettes

Be Specific and clear.Be Specific and clear.

Research (google.. ;)) before asking.Research (google.. ;)) before asking.

Be helpful to others.Be helpful to others.

Be ethical; respect.Be ethical; respect.

NO CAPS! (UNLESS YOU ARE SHOUTING!)NO CAPS! (UNLESS YOU ARE SHOUTING!)

Don't take messages personally.Don't take messages personally.

Dn't snd ur sms msgs to thrds or lsts.Dn't snd ur sms msgs to thrds or lsts.

Language/EnglishLanguage/English

17

Proper Addressing..over the lists/irc/..

Address the devs and users properly.Address the devs and users properly.

First Name or Preferred calling name.First Name or Preferred calling name.

Be gender neutral.Be gender neutral.

Not too personal.Not too personal.

Use “Hi”, instead of “Dear”.Use “Hi”, instead of “Dear”.

18

User Community

90% - does not communicate.90% - does not communicate.

9% - submits bug reports.9% - submits bug reports.

1% - involves proactively.1% - involves proactively.

Localizers can help!Localizers can help!

19

Getting new blood in!

ExperienceExperience

Language(s) of the project.Language(s) of the project.

Project expertiseProject expertise

Bug reports and patches.Bug reports and patches.

Assisting others.Assisting others.

WillingnessWillingness

To contribute to the community back.To contribute to the community back.

We want committers and long time volunteers!We want committers and long time volunteers!

Not just users!Not just users!

20

Development Best Practices

Commit often.Commit often.

with with meaningful commit messagesmeaningful commit messages..

Get feedback from the community.Get feedback from the community.

Keep the community updated.Keep the community updated.

Major decisions through mailing lists.Major decisions through mailing lists.

F2F discussions with beer are not “decisions”!F2F discussions with beer are not “decisions”!

21

Be Known..

Be heardBe heard

AcademicsAcademics

EventsEvents

Collaboration!Collaboration!With other communities.With other communities.

The media.The media.The Internet.The Internet.

Be responsive to the users.Be responsive to the users.

22

References

Community Matters!!!111Community Matters!!!111

23

Thank you..Thank you..