Re: [IAEP] FOSS survey results 2017

[James Cameron]

On Tue, Sep 26, 2017 at 07:41:19AM -0500, Laura Vargas wrote:
> Back on April our Community was invited to take part of the Open
> Source Survey 2017.
> 
> "The Open Source Survey is an open data project by GitHub and
> collaborators from academia, industry, and the broader open source
> community."
> 
> Survey data available for download here:
> http://opensourcesurvey.org/2017/
> 
> This survey was designed by GitHub with valuable input from the
> research and open source communities.
> 
> I copy and pasted the following findings about the importance of
> documentation:
> [...]

We welcome meaningful contributions to sugar-docs and help-activity in
github.com/sugarlabs.

Also in the survey findings, privately drawn to my attention by
another Sugar Labs participant;




Negative interactions are infrequent but highly visible, with
consequences for project activity.

Open source brings together people from all over the world, which
can lead to conflicts. While serious incidents are rare, the public
nature of open source makes negative interactions highly visible.

As a result, discouraging effects can extend far beyond the
individuals directly involved. Setting positive expectations of
behavior, and addressing negative incidents quickly, can improve
contributor retention and collaboration.

  • 18% of respondents have personally experienced a negative
interaction with another user in open source, but 50% have
witnessed one between other people. It's not possible to know
from this data whether the gap is due to people who experienced
such interactions leaving open source, or broad visibility of
incidents. Either way, negative interactions impact many more
than the immediate participants, so address problematic behavior
swiftly, politely, and publicly, to send a signal to potential
contributors that such behavior isn’t typical or tolerated.

  • By far, the most frequently encountered bad behavior is rudeness
(45% witnessed, 16% experienced), followed by name calling (20%
witnessed, 5% experienced) and stereotyping (11% witnessed, 3%
experienced). More serious incidents, such as sexual advances,
stalking, or doxxing are each encountered by less than 5% of
respondents and experienced by less than 2% (but cumulatively
witnessed by 14%, and experienced by 3%).

  • Negative experiences have real consequences for project
health. 21% of people who experienced or witnessed a negative
behavior said they stopped contributing to a project because of
it, and 8% started working in private channels more often.

  • Tooling that allows people to address problematic behavior
directly is the most effective way of addressing harassing
behavior. Blocking a user was reported to be more effective than
enforcement from third parties like maintainers, ISPs/hosting
services, or even legal resources. Give people tools to protect
themselves.



-- 
James Cameron
http://quozl.netrek.org/
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[IAEP] FOSS survey results 2017

[Laura Vargas]

Back on April our Community was invited to take part of the Open Source
Survey 2017.

"The Open Source Survey is an open data project by GitHub and collaborators
from academia, industry, and the broader open source community."

Survey data available for download here: http://opensourcesurvey.org/2017/

This survey was designed by GitHub with valuable input from the research
and open source communities.

I copy and pasted the following findings about the importance of
documentation:
Documentation is highly valued, but often overlooked

Documentation helps orient newcomers: how to use a project, how to
contribute back, the terms of use and contribution, and the standards of
conduct in a community. Improving that documentation is an impactful way to
contribute back to open source.

   - Incomplete or outdated documentation is a pervasive problem, observed
   by 93% of respondents, yet 60% of contributors say they rarely or never
   contribute to documentation. *When you run into documentation issues,
   help a maintainer out and open a pull request that improves them.*
   - Many people participate in open source on the job, where confidence in
   the terms of use is critical. Unsurprisingly, *licenses are by far the
   most important type of documentation to both users and contributors:*
   64% say an open source license is very important in deciding whether to use
   a project, and 67% say it is very important in deciding whether to
   contribute.
   - *Documentation helps create inclusive communities.* Documentation that
   clearly explains a project's processes, such as contributing guides and
   codes of conduct, is valued more by groups that are underrepresented in
   open source, like women.
   - Nearly a quarter of the open source community reads and writes English
   less than ‘very well.’ *When communicating on a project, use clear and
   accessible language for people who didn’t grow up speaking English, or read
   less-than-fluently.*

Regards,
-- 
Laura V.
* I SomosAZUCAR.Org*

“Solo la tecnología libre nos hará libres.”
~ L. Victoria

Happy Learning!
#LearningByDoing
#Projects4good
#IDesignATSugarLabs
#WeCanDoBetter
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