Tuesday, October 22, 2024 From rOpenSci (https://ropensci.org/blog/2024/10/22/first-time-contributions/). Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under the CC-BY license.
Do you remember your first contribution to open source? Or are you still waiting to make it?
Contributing to open source can be very rewarding, but also incredibly intimidating. When we asked about first time contributions on the rOpenSci Slack, people recalled the challenges and mistakes they made, but mostly how much they learned from and enjoyed that experience. For open source maintainers, contributions can also lead to mixed feelings, as reviewing contributions and making your repository contributor-friendly1 can take time. Despite this, contributions can super helpful and mentoring contributors is rewarding!
Because of both the value and the challenge to both contributors and maintainers, we’re exited to announce a special series of activities to support first contributors to rOpenSci packages 🎉.
These activities consist of
Exact dates and times will depend on the availability of speakers and maintainers.
In the Community Call we’ll discus how maintainers can benefit from and support contributors, as well as how to go about making contributions and why you might want to.
In the coworking sessions rOpenSci staff will support rOpenSci package maintainers and contributors in making contributions. As a contributor, you can come to the coworking session to work with others or ask questions and you can continue to contribute throughout the week as part of this activity (of course you can continue to contribute afterwards as well).
If this sounds interesting, keep an eye on the Events page, our social media feeds on Mastodon and LinkedIn, or the rOpenSci Newsletter to hear when the dates are settled.
In the meanwhile we’re looking for some interested maintainers…
Because we want this to be an enjoyable and valuable experience for everyone, we want to solicit support from maintainers of rOpenSci packages. For each coworking mini-hack-a-thon, we’re looking for about 5 maintainers to support participants in making contributions to their packages.
However, we know that maintenance can be a challenge2 and finding the time to support others can also be difficult. That’s why we’re happy to announce that we have funding3 to offer a stipend to maintainers who participate.
To participate, we ask that maintainers fill out the application form (below) by Nov 24th, 20244.
Then, if participating, we ask that maintainers
If you participate, you can also expect that
Please fill out an application form by Nov 24th, 2024.
Note: We understand that without dates/times, you can’t fully commit to being available, but once we know who is interested in participating, we will try to find a time that works for everyone!
Great! These events are designed to support first time contributors, but any and all contributors are welcome! Stay tuned for more announcements about the Community Call date and dates of the Coworking sessions. Once we know which maintainers will be participating we’ll have a better idea of exactly when things will happen.
And remember, although these Coworking sessions will be a great time to participate, you can also make contributions asynchronously in the week around the event, or any other time by checking out issues on our Help Wanted page.
See blog posts Attract Contributors with ‘help wanted’ Issues and Set Up Your Package to Foster a Community – Community Call Summary ↩︎
See blog posts What Does It Mean to Maintain a Package? and My Experience With Long Term Maintenance Of An R Package ↩︎
Thanks to a NumFocus Small Development Grant 🎉 ↩︎
As we won’t have room for more than about 10 maintainers, we may need to select from among the applications, depending how many we receive. ↩︎
