Community Contributions to Open-Source Projects

Hugo Gruson

2022-05-01

Disclaimer

These slides only serve as a starting point for the discussion.

All content is only based on my personal experience. Actual research has been conducted in this area and I should definitely spend more time reading it.

Why should we encourage community contributions?

• social aspect: more motivation when part of a community
• addition of diverse experience, skills and backgrounds ➔ larger chance to converge to the “optimal” solution
• more contributors ➔ more time ➔ higher-quality code

Why should we contribute?

• opportunity for new collaborations
• save time for others (including your future self)

No magic formula

What motivates me to contribute to open-source?

Sense of duty / accomplishment

What discourages me to contribute to open-source?

• Lack of explicit invitation to contribute
• Lack of responsiveness / dead project
• Technical hurdles (detailed after)

Technical hurdles

• Lack of contributing documentation
• High mental load: spambots, new tools, etc.

Sustaining engagement

• Acknowledge contributors (making them co-authors or co-maintainers)