On Sat, Apr 17, 2010 at 11:12 AM, inode0 <inode0@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > On Sat, Apr 17, 2010 at 11:55 AM, Nelson Marques <07721@xxxxxxx> wrote: >> On Fri, 2010-04-16 at 18:05 -0500, inode0 wrote: >>> On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 5:46 PM, Nelson Marques <07721@xxxxxxx> wrote: >>> > <snipped a lot of things here....> > One of the things that somewhat distresses me about the work of > ambassadors is that I have a feeling that a lot of resources might be > going in directions that aren't the most fruitful. I'm sure we have > contributors who come to the project in just about every way that one > can imagine. But I see very few who enter from the places we seem to > focus our energies most (handing out media at events and having random > people download media). That is not to suggest that doing those things > isn't of value, it is just to suggest that I'm not sure it is the best > way to draw contributors into the project. I see a very large number > of contributors join the project from working in related communities > where Fedora contributors are also present. Fedora contributors "rub > off" on others in common communities and with encouragement of the > right people we increase the contributor base. > One of the things we talked about as part of the Marketing Plan for F14 and beyond was "Building on-ramps" - i.e. creating ways for contributors to get involved, and one of those ways was "EasyFix" - things that can be easily done by a newcomer, without having a huge barrier to contribution. Another thing I'd like to note is that - and I may be wrong here - but I think a lot of people hear "contribute to open source" and they think, "I can't code." We really need to emphasize the distinction to prospective contributors that coding is NOT a requirement. Something I would love to see at events is to always have a FAD going on simultaneously - a room where prospective contributors can see Fedora people at work, having fun. A place where they can go and get involved. To expound: * People coming up to the booth don't just get a CD - they get a slip of paper (1/4 or 1/2 sheet) saying, "Hey, we're having a Fedora Activity Day. Want to come contribute?" and pull some of the content from http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Join onto that flyer. Something advertising loudly that there are many roles to fulfill in our project - NOT just coding. * A "New Contributor Wrangler" present at the FAD - someone (dedicated to this purpose) who can sit with someone and guide them through the following: ** Talk to the potential contributor about their interests / capabilities ** Signing up for an account in FAS ** Signing them up for a mailing list account and getting them into a FAS group - let them know when meetings are for that particular group. If they're getting mail, they may show up to meetings, or check things out. Maybe have a sheet highlighting what each individual group does, with how to sign up, when meetings are, and what they do. * Have a list of EasyFix items available for someone to work on. These could include things like: ** editing something off a list of wiki pages for content / grammar ** making wiki redirects for things like "Fedora_13_Artwork" point to "F13_Artwork" ** for more advanced users / coder types - a list of fonts to package ** for artist types - help us make a new banner for X ** for those who aren't shy - Want to interview some other Fedora contributors on video (or help film, etc) about why they are involved in Fedora and what they do? ** Bug zapping - specific items ** Help us install Fedora on this batch of donated machines for $localschool. ** Help us test this list of things that need to get tested on $newwebpage. ** etc. * Alternately, if FAD activities are appropriate for Potential Contributor's capabilities - get them involved in the FAD! * We have cookies! or dinner! or whatever! I don't know if this would work - maybe we'd pick up a bunch of new, ongoing contributors, or maybe 2 or 3, or possibly none. It would definitely be an experiment. I think it's worth trying - it wouldn't take much effort to pass out a piece of paper with the CD or random swag and say, oh hey, if you're interested in contributing.... Thoughts? -- marketing mailing list marketing@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing
