Matplotlib New Contributors Meeting May 2022

###### tags: `new contributors meetings` # Matplotlib New Contributors Meeting May 2022 Welcome to the monthly call for new contributors to the Matplotlib project 🎉 * Next meeting: May 10th, 2022 (Tuesday) @ 6PM UTC * Join via [Zoom](https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81285851006?pwd=Tks2QjRkNWh5NGw0TmU1RUwwOVluZz09) * if you need a passcode for zoom MPL should work * Our next meeting will be on: * June 7th, 2022 (Tuesday) @ 6PM UTC ### Code of Conduct We want to take a moment to remind you that this meeting, like all project spaces is meant to be open, welcoming, diverse, inclusive, and it's important for us to have a healthy community. Like all matplotlib spaces, and everyone participating in them, this meeting will follow our [code of conduct](https://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib/blob/main/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md). If you haven't read it yet, please take some time to do so later on as it already applies to you. For now, in short, please be kind and generous towards one another. ## Agenda **Present:** Noa Tamir (@noatamir), Greg Lucas (@greglucas), Andrew Fennell (@andrew-fennell), Oscar Gustafsson (@oscargus), Melissa Mendonça (@melissawm), Johnny Gill > please add your names (and github handle in brackets). This will makes it easier to stay in touch later in Gitter and on issues and pull requests (PRs) 😉 > This is optional since these notes will be recorded in our Github repository. If you'd like you can also paste your answer in the zoom chat 😉 *Feel free to add items for discussion to this agenda!* * Introductions: * Name * A bit about our experience with matplotlib/python as users * Newcomer: why are we interested to start working with the project * Maintainer/contributor: how long have we worked with the project and what do we primarily do * [name=Noa Tamir] Contributor Experience Lead, she/היא/sie * I joined Matplotlib in March so I'm relatively new as well. At the moment I am mostly working on documenation, and contributor exprience related issues (for example organizing this meeting). * [name=Greg Lucas] Matplotlib Maintainer, he/him * I joined Matplotlib about a year ago, but have been using it for quite some time now. I come from an Earth modeling and satellite data analysis background. In that regard, I am also a maintainer of another Python package, Cartopy, for plotting the data I work with on maps within Matplotlib. * [name=Oscar Gustafsson] Matplotlib Maintainer * Been part of the group of people with push access for a few months. Currently starting up an extension, mplsignal, for plotting signal processing related stuff. * [name=Melissa Mendonça] Contributor Experience Lead, she/her * I am a software engineer working with different open source projects on community building, technical and documentation contributions. I am a new contributor to matplotlib :) * [name=Johnny Gill] Old contributor * I contributed some code to draw tables, around 2003? I created a new project, blume, as a place to explore ideas around tables in matplotlib. It is turning into a toolkit to help me explore cosmological data with my other personal project gotu, which uses blume and matplotlib to explore the universe. * [name=Andrew Fennell] New contributor * I have been contributing to matplotlib for a little over a month. I am working on a variety of issues in an attempt to familiarize myself with the project. * Emerging Theme: Open Source Ettiqutte * [name=Andrew] Who can participate where and when actually? are there some unwritten rules here? * [name=Greg] Everyone! If you have seen an issue/PR and have something you want to contribute or comment on that issue/PR please do. The only real rule is to be courteous. * [name=Oscar] Maybe be a bit mindful when pinging someone. There's no rule, but patience is a virtue. * [name=Noa] What helps with overcoming "not knowing how to communicate" in the begining? * [name=Andrew] Joining a meeting to meet the person behind the github handle like we did today * [name=Andrew] Joining Gitter for ongoing communication that's more relaxed ### Action Items - [ ] [name=Noa] Add a link to this meeting in the welcome message - [ ] [name=Noa] Create a more encouraging post 1st PR message with a link to this meeting, and the community meeting? - [name=Melissa] Here's the one we use for NumPy https://github.com/numpy/numpy/pull/21436#issuecomment-1120342615 > Newcomers please add items to the agenda based on your interests! What would you like us to discuss? do you want to ask something? are you already working on a specific PR? you can add a link to it ✨ Would you like to get some guidance on how to navigate some of the code? Or learn how to add a test? We will do our best to answer or help you connect you with the right people ☺️ ## Useful Resources * [Our contributor Guide](https://matplotlib.org/devdocs/devel/contributing.html) * This is where we keep past meeting notes from the new contributors meeting [insert github link] * You will soon find today's meeting notes there * You can also have a look at topics and links that were shared before 🧐 * If you are curious, here's an article about [the architecture of Matplotlib](http://www.aosabook.org/en/matplotlib.html) ### Communication channels How will we communicate asynchronously while working on the project? * [Gitter](https://gitter.im/matplotlib/matplotlib) * A chat platform which is useful for shorter questions * #incubator channel, our non-public communication channel for new contributors * Ask Noa on chat now, or later on gitter to be invited * [Discourse](https://discourse.matplotlib.org/) * A forum platform which is useful for longer questions that are harder to ask on chat * [Developer mailing list](https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/matplotlib-devel) * We publish information which is important for contributors on this list. People from other projects might also share useful information or questions here. That said, it is also mirrored on our discourse 😉 (unless we there's a techincal issue like happened recently 🙄)