Building Open Source Source Communities Through Blogging
Open source does not mean working open. Open source refers to a small sliver of our work and refers to the license we assign to content we create.
Working openly builds open source conent but places an emphasis on learning out loud, reflecting on growth and sharing our triumphs.
When we work openly we build better open source software and open source comunities. In fcat five key benefits should drive every open source community to encourage members to blog.
Share your Story
Truth and reflection sell. In fact never sit through any seminar on SEO or social media (trutfhully skip all things SEO) that does not begin with this mantra. Good content is all that matters.
Every open source community has a mission. Never keep quiet about your mission and values.
A blog builds open source communities.
Recruitment and Retention
When you tell your story you attract other people who first want to listen, maybe tell a friend or better yet get involved. So much energy in open source community gets spent on thinking about how do we track contribution? How do we get more people involved in open source? Anyone know any designers?
Platform after platform gets built by community after community without realizing the web provided all the tools we need for recruitment and retention. Blogging begets blogging.
You also get metrics on contributions that go beyond the core commit. We know other layers of the onion [1] surrond core community members that contribute most of the code. Event planners, bug filers, and even the feature request as an issue crowd all support
The contributions nontechnical members make support the community as a whole and drawing in contributors, both those take push code or content, requires blogging.
Keep it DRY
Most commit messages are awful. Usually commiters leave a brief word or two and fail to capture changes in the code base let alone the decisions behind choices.
In many open source communities we often fall down repeated rabbit holes. When core committers also blog we reduce the risk of "repeating yourself" over and over again.
When someone may ask about a decision a blog post, which in open source communities averages 11 times the median length of a commit message will not only explain more to our members but it helps sustain our collective mission.
Build a Better Web
No one gets into open source to save moeny....Well if they do they won't be around long. We choose open because we know it leads to a better web and a better web leads to a better world.
Blogging can make it all happen. Every time you encourage a community member to capture their journey with open source you help build a better web making it more enjoyable and inclusive for all.
Have Fun
Most importantly blog because you enjoy open source. You may not enjoy writing. Even the best bloggers struggle with crafting words just as you struggle with code. Always boils down to text structure. Some languages are simply more declarative than others.
Let blogging declare you. Let it parse your history as an open source community. The average blog post in open source communities is only 150 words. And who says you have to use word? Photo blogs or video blogs (vlogs) can provide avenues of intention any day.
150 words, one picture, or two minutes of audio or video. You can do this. Your community can do this. Simply set a goal. Could be every day, once a week, before every pull request or commit. You decide. Just have fun.
