A Beginner’s Guide to Open Source with AnitaB.org
What is Open Source?
Referring to a project as open-source implies that anybody is free to utilize, analyse, transform and distribute your project for any purpose. These permissions are implemented through an open-source license. Open source has gained quite a momentum in recent years because it has lowered the hurdles to work on third party software and collaborate with the team. This has become a crucial factor in empowering people to create and develop projects quickly. Open source also enables users with an option to control their own computing, comparable to closed source. For example, a firm using open source software can pick someone to customise their own software, instead of relying entirely on a closed source vendor’s product decisions.
You might have come across another term known as Free Software. Free here stands for freedom and refers to the same collection of projects as open source. Many times you’ll also observe these terms coupled as “free and open-source software” (FOSS).
Open source might be perceived as the latest trend, but it saw its inception in the 1980s with the commencement of the GNU project by Richard Stallman.
Start your open source journey with AnitaB.org!
Before starting your journey, let’s learn about the organisation.
AnitaB.org is a social enterprise founded by Anita Borg that supports women in technical fields, as well as the organisations that employ them and the academic institutions training the next generation. Its mission statement is-
At AnitaB.org, we envision a future where the people who imagine and build technology mirror the people and societies for whom they build it. We connect, inspire, and guide women in computing, and organizations that view technology innovation as a strategic imperative.
True to its mission, AnitaB.org is playing an indispensable role in promoting open-source culture and helping millions of people all over the world in technology. Be it coding for the first time, raising an issue, opening PR, contributing to ongoing projects or creating new projects, one can learn a lot here. All you have to do is ASK! But the most powerful thing that one learns here is how to collaborate with diverse yet like-minded people!
Pretty impressive right? 😀 Let’s kick-start your journey!
- Go to their GitHub profile. Read their Code of Conduct and Reporting Guidelines to understand the organisation’s work culture.
- Check out the projects and choose the ones which resonate with your interests.
- Always check the README.md of any project before doing anything else! README.md contains necessary information about the project and how to set it up in your system.
- Then, check out the Wiki for detailed information relevant exclusively to that project repository.
- Now you understand what the project is about right? So set it up in your system and go through their issues and codebase to get a clear picture of where to start.
Connect with the community!
As a new open source contributor, the process can be pretty intimidating. How do you find the right project? What if you don’t know how to code? What if something goes wrong? This is where the community comes in! I can’t emphasize enough on how important it is for everyone. Community empowers us to be a part of something significant while maintaining our individuality and uniqueness.
The biggest blessing of open source is that it bridges the gap between technology and people!💖 It feels empowering to be able to make changes, even small ones.
Open source offers possibilities to practice leadership and management skills, such as resolving conflicts, forming teams of people, and prioritising work. Working with others on a shared project means you’ll have to demonstrate how you do things, as well as ask other people for guidance. This can be a fulfilling activity for everyone involved. The community also helps you grow a reputation and a career.
You can reach out to AnitaB.org community on Zulip 🖐. Make sure to introduce yourself and maintain a polite and courteous tone while making conversations on public channels. Refrain from private messaging admins and fellow volunteers unless absolutely necessary.
Is it the end yet?
Definitely not! Made your first contribution? If you haven’t done yet and are looking for different ways to contribute, we hope you’re motivated to take that extra step. Even if your contribution wasn’t accepted, remember to acknowledge when a maintainer put effort into helping you. Keep in mind that open source starts from one issue, comment, pull request, or high-five at a time. 😃
