[TOS] better scope for TheOpenSourceWay.org

Heidi Ellis heidijcellis at gmail.com
Wed Sep 14 00:43:40 UTC 2011


Hi Karsten,

I've spent some time looking at the TOSW site. I like the content and
organization. I think that this is really useful for learning about
communities and learning about how to build communities. I like it!

You had asked about seeing a strong connection between TOS and TOSW. Right
now, I'm not seeing that. I'm thinking that having the graphic might be
helpful? 

I think that this is one of those "perspective" things. I believe (correct
me if I'm wrong) that most established FOSS community members have a "well,
duh!" understanding the community is what makes a FOSS project "work". They
view development through the lens of understanding that the first step in
working on a FOSS project is to join the community. Therefore, community is
important and all development occurs within that community. 

Many instructors however, initially approach FOSS projects looking for a
cool application for students to work on. Instructors, myself included, then
try to figure out how to make the environment work in a classroom. But as
we're learning about TOS, the issue of community tends to occur to us as
ancillary, not as a primary need for operating in a FOSS project. It is only
after we gain experience that we understand the importance of community.
(Note that I am referring here to the more typical type of  instructor who
comes to TOS not having made a significant contribution to a FOSS project.
There are indeed a number of valuable instructors who come to teaching with
FOSS community experience and I would expect that their viewpoints would be
different.)

The importance and role of community is something that I'm very much still
learning myself. I don't reach out and ask questions as often as I should. I
can't tell you the number of times Mel and/or Sebastian has kindly prodded
me to use the community as a resource, and to contribute back to the
community. And I'm still understanding how these communities work. 

Back to the web page content: You had mentioned that there could be a
stronger coupling between the activities and output of TOS.org and TOSW.org.
I would definitely like to see this, but I'm not sure how to accomplish it
:-) A clear statement of why community is important when involving students
in FOSS projects would be helpful, but I'm not sure whether it should go on
TOSW or TOS. 

Just my 2 cents,
Heidi


-----Original Message-----
From: tos-bounces at teachingopensource.org
[mailto:tos-bounces at teachingopensource.org] On Behalf Of Karsten Wade
Sent: Tuesday, August 23, 2011 5:14 PM
To: tos at teachingopensource.org
Subject: [TOS] better scope for TheOpenSourceWay.org

Hi:

We've been working on improving how the upstream project at
http://TheOpenSourceWay.org (TOSW.org) presents itself. I'm interested in
your input on the current version, which is quite beta.

There has been a lot of confusion that the TOSW.org website was just for
hosting a handbook. Our team has always meant more for the site, and when we
started drawing pictures we realized we had something more coherent than we
knew, with some holes filled.


How does the site resonate with you? Especially with your Teaching Open
Source (TOS) perspective? Is the connection to TOS more or less clear?

In brief, our drawing puts TOS activities as one of the important ways we
have of creating practitioners of the open source way. The latter being the
purpose of TOSW.org.

So materials such as the handbook, checklists, processes, and curriculum all
support the overall purpose. Activities such as POSSE, community consulting
and coaching, and writing sprints also support the overall purpose.

One reason I bring this up here, there could be a stronger coupling between
the activities and output of TOS.org and TOSW.org.

I'll work on getting that drawing we made in to a digital format for all to
peruse, it might help this discussion.

Thanks for your input,

- Karsten
--
name:  Karsten 'quaid' Wade, Sr. Community Gardener
team:   Red Hat Community Architecture & Leadership
uri:             http://communityleadershipteam.org
                        http://TheOpenSourceWay.org
gpg:                                       AD0E0C41



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