lessons about community from science fiction - linuxcon chicago

LESSONS ABOUT COMMUNITY FROMSCIENCE FICTION

Presenta(on  (with  notes)  available  at  h3p://fastwonderblog.com/speaking/

Dawn M. Foster

Director  of  Community  at  Puppet  Labs@geekygirldawn

dawn@puppetlabs.com  

WHOAMI

• Geek, traveler, reader

• Past 13 years doing community & open source

• Read 73 books last year, mostly sci-fi / fantasy

• I keep a list:http://fastwonderblog.com/about/reading/

Photos by Josh Bancroft, Don Park

DON’T PANIC

Most things will work out

if you have smart, flexible

people in your community.

YOU ARE NOT ALONE

Many people working

together on a common goal.

LIKE FAMILIES

You can’t fully

understand unless you are

part of the community.

YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED

Bring new community

members into your

collective for new ideas

NO MINIONS

Community members

are valuable,

don’t treat them like minions.

NO RAGE

Take time to cool off and

don’t participate when

you are angry.

RECOGNITION

Do good things for

others and recognize

their contributions.

INDIVIDUALISM

Open source communities are

filled with crazy (but awesome)

individualists doing interesting things.

SPECIALIZATION IS FOR INSECTS

The best community members

are the ones who can help

in a wide variety of ways

COOL TECHNOLOGY

Participation in communities

is a great excuse to

play with new technologies.

TRAINING

Participation in open source communities

gives people real-life, on the “job”

training that can help them get work later.

LEARN FROM OTHERS

Get new ideas and insights

from other people and

other communities.

GOOD INTENTIONS

Assume community members

have good intentions and

focus on education and improvement.

“Undomesticated equines could not drag me away.”

MORE DIVERSITY

Focus on the ideas and

work together with people

from diverse backgrounds.

MORE WOMEN

Encourage women in our field

and get more women

speaking at our events

www.usenix.org/blog/my-daughters-high-school-programming-teacher

COMMUNITY METRICS

Measure community activity

to track progress, identify issues

and recognize great community members

NOT AS EASY AS IT SEEMS

Community management is not all parties

and fun travel. It’s also a lot of real work

and sometimes involves being the bad cop.

BOLDLY GO

Travel to strange new worlds

and meet interesting people

THANK YOUContact  info:  Dawn  Foster

@geekygirldawndawn@puppetlabs.comfastwonderblog.com

Some of my favorite modern sci-fi / fantasy authors:Hugh Howey

Lois McMaster BujoldBrandon Sanderson