OStatic

Guerrilla Giving, Creative Contributions, and the Vitality of Open Source

It's so obvious, and it's still so easy to forget. Open source software is, well... open. People can modify it, give it back, pitch in, and use it as they wish. They can poke at and observe how scripts work and interact in one application, and apply those principles -- if not the code itself -- in their own projects. Still, it's so easy to forget it isn't simply about the code. Code is a major component, of course, and it's a driving force, but when it all boils down, it's still a means to an end, a tool, a way to get a job done.

It doesn't mean that code just has to work and have a function. There are oodles of other factors playing in -- usability, accessibility, and outright aesthetics. There's extensibility, compatibility, interoperability. There's spreading the word, demonstrating, advocating, and educating. And it sounds, sometimes, really endlessly time consuming. It can be -- but so can a few minutes of playing Fallout 3 before writing that email for work. Just ask my husband.

It doesn't have to be. Crazy as it is, contributing can be light work, and still effective. Sometimes, especially when it comes to advocacy, there are better results when alternative applications are mentioned and outlined in a general sense. Talk about the software further when asked, tell the person asking what the penguin (or the neat red swirly design) on your shirt represents.

I was taking a voyage through the Planet GNOME aggregated feeds, and through some strange cosmic convergence started spotting a lot of varied, creative, and schedule friendly ways that you can contribute to a project. Of course contributing code, features, and even reporting bugs is invaluable -- as are monetary contributions (and those can even be a lot of fun). It's just easy to forget that open source projects can make use of any supporter's talents -- even if that talent is simply the ability to post a banner on a website.

The GNOME Foundation's Stormy Peters wrote a rather inspiring post about how meaningful recommendations from family, friends, and virtual friends you may just "know" online really are. It does work, and it doesn't have to be intrusive or burdensome to the recommender, or the recommendee. A banner or button on a website can plant that seed of interest -- or there's the win-win for a project when supporters purchase swag such as t-shirts, mugs, or hats. It's a financial boost and a talking point -- and if I'm going to be using my chest as advertising space, I'd rather do it for Gentoo or Slackware than a clothing store in the mall.

Andreas Nilsson has some suggestions for the artistically inclined (who might be able to spare a little more time than it takes to pull on a shirt) on areas in the GNOME desktop where artwork and graphic design could use a little boost.

Of course, it doesn't just revolve around GNOME -- as Peters says, any open source project (and some organizations outside the realm of technology) can benefit from this type of guerrilla giving. One of open source software's many strengths is its localization and language support -- but contributors who can spare some time to provide better, fully fluent translations are valuable resources.

Little things really do mean a lot -- and they add up quickly. Open source software is fascinating in that it's more than the sum of its parts whether you look at the straight code or the community itself.

• miro
• open source
• GNOME
• support
• gentoo
• advocacy
• developer
• Slackware
• giving
• contribution
• donation

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