Community Organizing

OpenHatch isn't (just) about helping newcomers make specific contributors. It's about getting newcomers involved in communities - our own, and those of other open source projects.

To that end, we have a few different initiatives in mind.

Community for community-builders

We'd like to help those who are doing community-building work communicate with each other so we can provide each other with advice, support, and tools.

Plan:

• Start a mailing list
  • Step 1: Create mailing list
    • AL: Should this be a different list than events@oh?
  • Step 2: Invite community-builders
    • Make list of people to invite (OSCTC event organizers, other people we know who might be interested).
    • Draft and send email to said people inviting them to the list.
  • Step 3: Stimulate discussion
    • Come up with a few standing OH questions (eg the eternal freedom v guidance question) to ask in case people are shy.

• Have a monthly IRC meetup
  • Step 1: Create a doodle poll + send out to above mailing list.
  • Step 2: Wait a week, announce the results to list.
  • Step 3: Have the IRC meetup.

Community for past attendees

We could do a better job of reaching out to OSCTC attendees and inviting them to be an ongoing part of the OpenHatch community.

Plan:

• Reach out to individual attendees.
  • Step 1: At events through observation, and via the exit survey, note which attendees seem most enthusiastic about open source.
    • Email them within one month of the event specifically inviting them to become more involved by:
      • Hanging out on IRC and attending IRC meetups (see below).
      • Doing OPW/GSoC/other internship.
      • Doing additional curated first tasks.
  • Step 2: When tracking contributions made at events, follow up with students.
    • If their contribution was finished + accepted, give them feedback/congratulations.
    • If it's still in progress, encourage them to keep working on it.

• Monthly IRC meetup.
  • Step 1: Select an ongoing time to have an hour-long meetup.
  • Step 2: Find community members (such as representatives of GSoC, OPW, but also other groups) to come talk a bit about the opportunities their projects represent.
  • Step 3: Announce and invite people.

• Use alumni list more frequently.
  • Step 1: Monthly email to list approx 3-4 days before IRC meetup, including:
    • Curated first tasks.
    • Opportunities (OPW, GSoC, etc)
    • Reminding them of the IRC meetup.