Community Building for Open Source Projects

# Community Building for Open Source Projects ###### tags: `planning` Community Building plans around RPL programs and open-source projects. ## Goals * Promote awareness of RPL programs and projects * Solicit feedback to improve RPL programs and projects * Encourage participation in RPL programs and projects * Provide a safe space for members to engage with RPL programs and projects * Raise Bus Factor above 1 There are several important aspects of community building: * Licensing * Clear governance structure * Community Participation Guidelines / Code of Conduct (and enforce it!) * Communication channels * Guides to help members understand and participate * Active outreach through social media, answering questions, attending events, hosting events, publishing articles, etc. ## Individual Projects Each project, in addition to code and other documentation, should include these files: * A README describing briefly what the project is, who it is intended for, and where to find more information * A LICENSE * CITATION guidelines * A TODO list spelling out upcoming goals with links to specific issues/features in the issue tracker * A copy of the CODE OF CONDUCT or COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION GUIDELINES * A guide to becoming a CONTRIBUTOR to the project, what we need, how to get started. Importantly this should spell out the projects goals (and non-goals, what is specifically out of scope), architecture, coding standards, contributor expectations, and why technical decisions have been made the way they have. This can be thought of as a "pre-mortem" ## Related documents * [Open Source Recommendation](/RNmeONuFS9SeklbxbNaWrg) * [Git Hosting Proposal](/87-I68M6RxuoTeOxK0pi3A) * [Communication Channels](/@dethe/H1PBcOkxO) ## Inspiration * [Ten Simple Rules to help newcomers become contributors](https://github.com/gvwilson/10-newcomers#ten-simple-rules-for-helping-newcomers-become-contributors-to-open-projects) * [Mozilla Community Participation Guidelines](https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/about/governance/policies/participation/) * [Ten Simple Rules for taking advantage of Git and Github](https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004947#sec011) * [Making your open-source project friendly for newcomers](https://manishearth.github.io/blog/2016/01/03/making-your-open-source-project-newcomer-friendly/) * [The Santa Clara Principles](https://santaclaraprinciples.org/) on Transparency and Accountability in Content Moderation * [The Power of Public Imagination](https://newpublic.org/signals) Public libraries save lives, but many are left out of new public innovations, and private companies control more and more of the public realm. How can we build a better internet that is inclusive for all?