[Start using an approach with obvious shortcomings and use the flywheel of growth to improve.]
[Starting simple creates low-hanging fruit for newcomers to get involved, which helps increase traction.]
[Start using an approach with obvious shortcomings and use the flywheel of growth to improve.]
[Starting simple creates low-hanging fruit for newcomers to get involved, which helps increase traction.]
[Find more contributors by: 1) always recruiting; 2) caring about people first, contributions second; 3) documenting your processes.]
Paying people to work on open source is good actually
Every time a maintainer finds a way to get paid, it’s a win.
Until we have fully automated luxury gay space communism every. single. person. who figures out a mechanism to write free software and still pay rent represents a win and we should celebrate accordingly.
YunoHost has an ‘Edit’ button on their homepage which lets you directly modify the content and send them a ‘patch’.
I wasn’t able to submit my change because of a ‘File not found’ error, but still find it fascinating to not require people to use GitHub or Git in order to contribute.
The logic is in the seemingly random ‘gertrude’ repository (which has not much of a README or description for what it is, and it looks like the ‘patch’ is just the full HTML page content; perhaps someone can manually integrate it later. They claim to require email verification to catch spam before actually sending the change.
If it was possible to put a mailto on the internet without spam, it could remove friction from this kind of collaboration and create steps for people to do larger things.
When confronted with a choice between more financial security (stability) or more meaning, what would persuade you to pursue the latter?
Each branch of Joe’s hugo-testing git repository is a scratchpad where he has over 750 attempted ‘solutions’ to help different people on the Hugo forum. Seems like discovery requires starting at a specific topic (as opposed to searching for the problem or solution), but it’s quite organized the way it is. How might being this prolific in helping others impact one’s own skills?
Send your users this welcome email
[Ask: “What’s happening in your world that brought you to this project?”]
Let’s talk about changing American foreign policy….
[Build power for yourself and your community instead of borrowing it from elected officials.]
[If you want to make a difference in areas where the USA invades, you’re better off buying solar panels or an electric car because it helps shift the dynamics to not require the resources for that intervention.]
[Welcome:
- Does everyone feel invited to participate?
- Does the space guarantee users a safe experience?
- Does the space encourage the humanization of others?
- Can people express themselves without compromising their identity and data?
Connect:
- Does the space cultivate a sense of belonging?
- Does the space encourage fruitful connections between groups that aren’t naturally alike?
- Does the space strengthen emotional, structural, and participative ties to geographically local communities?
- Does the space make it possible for people to be heard by those in positions of power?
Understand:
- Does the space allow for shared concerns to be raised for broad attention by society at large?
- Is the information being elevated and shared reliable, factual, and true?
- Does the space build civic competence and encourage democratic participation?
- Does the space promote thoughtful conversation and room for respectful disagreements?
Act:
- Does this space boost a community’s resilience in the face of significant stress or adversity?
- Does this space facilitate our ability to participate in each others’ lives and shape society?]
[Include enough context (such as what, when, why, and the plan) so that the reader can make more informed prioritization of how to handle it.]
How to start a movement | Derek Sivers
[The first follower transforms someone else from lone nut to leader, thereby giving legitimacy to the movement. Have courage to be that follower, as it isn’t always easy, but it can help set the wheels of change in motion.]
[Treat the first followers as equals so that the movement takes precedence over the leader.]
Birds Aren’t Real? How a Conspiracy Takes Flight
[The crisis of belief can only be addressed after the crisis of belonging.]
Callings & Roles for Collective Liberation | Slow Factory 🌍
Abolitionist, favors the end of forced labor and carceral punishment
Advocate, holds a cause or series of causes to heart and carries them to justice
Analyst, applies critical and systemic thinking, maps methods to understand issues
Architect, plans, and designs new structures for collective liberation
Artist, inspires people to be in touch with their humanity
Communicator, tells stories and touch the soul of millions of people
Designer, works in service to create for collective liberation
Developer, contracts and supervizes the building of new structures
Engineer, invents designs, analyzes, builds and tests complex systems & machines
Healer, heals intergenerational wounds and provides a path forward
Inventor, invents a particular process, system, culture or device that are good for people & planet
Luminary, inspires people to rise beyond their expectations
Negotiator, comes to an agreement with someone else in favor of the collective
Problem Solver, engineers tangible solutions to real life problems
Researcher, carries out academic, scientific, or investigative research
Scientist, has expert knowledge of one or more of the natural or physical sciences
Strategist, skilled in planning action or policy especially in climate crisis, war or politics
Trouble Maker, isn’t afraid to ruffle some feathers
Visionary, receives downloads from the Universe to guide people
Writer, writes books, stories, poetry, films, TV shows, articles, Op-Eds for new paradigms
[Note the context for when something is relevant so that it can be easily removed when things change.]
[Use git commit messages to document the reasoning behind certain changes.]
We might be unnecessarily framing our limitations within a common narrative around why developers struggle to find collaborators. Doing this distracts from our unfair advantage of creating connection, which has been and can be a basis for many meaningful possibilities in our life. In the same way we can try to go beyond money to focus on the underlying need, we can go beyond traditional pathways to finding collaboration to focus on connecting with people and changing their lives, trusting that this will feed into our process positively. What are ways we can cultivate these kind of bonds with friends and strangers? How can we compose experiences or solutions from our broad skillset to blow away people with life-changing magic?
Where most people use the term community, we can use connection to play into our strengths.
Take decisions and write them down.
The roads to funding your community network projects….
[Make goals that are quantifiable, and achievable: big enough to matter and small enough to win. You want to overshoot your goal every single time. Set it up so that you win every single time.]
[In pre-advertising: announce what you’re going to do and how people can get involved.]
[Naming your benefactors might create a burden of association when you are perceived as divisive. Maybe don’t tell them or mention them until its done.]
[Remind people of the cause but don’t focus on the negative aspect so that people walk away feeling positive. If they feel bad, they won’t return.]
[Don’t guess what they need: ask them.]
[Delivering on the goal means not failing: if you’re short, cover out of pocket.]
[Document the delivery so that the people involved can see it after and feel good about making it happen.]
Making people feel they’re participation made the difference isn’t just for humility, it’s to help them feel their impact.