Keeping the MyPaint list CC'ed. On 9 December 2011 05:27, Morgan Daley <dal...@allegheny.edu> wrote: > Hello, > First I would like to thank you for for your reply. I have tried contacting > multiple people in multiple different open source organizations, and your > the first one to reply, so thank you. Secondly thank you for CC'ing the > email to the MYPaint mailing list. > Some fallow up questions:
> When someone new joins the already existing MYPaint community how do you and > the MYPaint community integrate them in? Joining the community of contributors theoretically happens by someone just starting to work in an area*. This can be testing, software development, documentation, packaging, marketing, and similar. Because most of the communication channels and work-media (wiki, issue-tracker, forums etc.) are open for anyone to use, they can often 'integrate themselves'**. However, some resources, like the official source code repositories and the official website, can only be changed by a trusted set of people. Integrating someone who wants to work in these areas is a bit longer process. Typically they do work outside the official resources and then propose these changes to be taken in. Some of the existing contributors then review and accept the changes, possibly after asking for some modifications. Once the new contributor has gone through the proccess a couple of times and shown to be competent and reponsible, they are added to this trusted set of people. They are then 'fully integrated' in the project, and can integrate new people. * In practice, people often need some assistance; whether it is with the tools used, how a certain thing should be done, or simply affirmation that they are on the right way and doing good things. ** Alternatively, you could say that the act of having open communication channels and work-media is a way the project integrates people. > Why do you specifically, and others in general, work on MYPaint? The general case is very hard to answer comprehensively, but here are some thoughts: I think some reasons can be either general (why someone works in _a_ project of this kind), or specific (why someone works in _the_ project). General reasons can include: - Wanting to be part of a community of people that work together towards a shared vision / common goal - A belief in the idea of free and open source software, and wanting to contribute towards its success. - Wanting to improve ones own skills and get 'real life' experience Reasons why someone would work on one project specifically can include: - Having a strong personal interest in the topics the project touches on (for MyPaint this could for instance be graphics processing, digital painting, or any of the technologies involved) - Being a user of the software, and wanting to improve it for that reason (one of the significant reasons for the two most active MyPaint developers I believe) - Being a contributor to related projects, and wanting to improve the project due to the synergies (one of the reasons why I as a MyPaint contributor also did work on OpenRaster, GEGL and GIMP projects) - Knowing someone already involved in the project As for me personally, most of the reasons I work on MyPaint are part of the 'general' things mentioned above. The thing that caused me to start working on MyPaint specifically was more-or-less a coincidence: I was present in an IRC channel when a MyPaint contributor was giving a shout-out about the project and that they wanted help. I was interested in learning the technologies (Python, GTK+) involved, and had the time available to work on it, so I figured; why not? > You mentioned direct interaction between the community and the end user. > How does this direct interaction help the project with reaching its goal? As a volunteer project the motivation of the contributors is critical, and (as touched upon in the last email), the direct contact with (happy/satisfied) end users can be very motivating. So I think that is the first way it helps. Secondly it is neccesary for the project to get feedback from the end-users on which things are working well, and which things are not. This is in order to be able to steer the project in the right direction and making the right decisions. Traditional commercial projects will often use things like market studies, usability studies and similar to achieve this. For a volunteer, non-commercial project this can be hard to do due to the lack of fincancial resources, and having direct interaction between the project and its consumers (end-users) can be seen as an alternative. It is not without its challenges, for instance vocal minorities can tend overshadow the majority: A change might be acceptable or even good in the eyes of the majority, but small groups complaining loudly might form the majority of feedback you get. Or the other way around; a change can cause minor issues for a large group of people (but not major enough for any one of them to complain), but major benefits for a few (which might then go on to praise the decision). > Again thank you for your help, and I will make sure to send you the end > paper if that is what you wish. > Morgan Daley Cool, thanks! -- Jon Nordby - www.jonnor.com _______________________________________________ Mypaint-discuss mailing list Mypaint-discuss@gna.org https://mail.gna.org/listinfo/mypaint-discuss
