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Who Do You Want to be Today? Thoughts on Community
Leslie Johnston
code4lib 2013
Before I begin: a cautionary tale about doing things when you first think of
doing them.
I have been thinking a lot lately about communities and community
building.
Why?
Because I recently shifted my job, which required a partial contextual
shift as to my place in a number of communities.
But then, it’s not unusual for me to be thinking about
where I fit in.
Geek/Nerd/Wonk?
Curator/Archivist?
Woman?
Leader?
I have many identities and participate in quite a few
communities.
And that’s as it should be.
But where does community fit into what we
(we? which we?)do?
Everywhere.
Let’s talk about software development.
Building software requires a community of people who
care, whether they are stakeholders, developers,
or users.
Releasing software requires a similar community of people who care.
Sustaining software requires a community of people who _really_ care ... enough to contribute time to identifying requirements, writing code, testing, documenting, and evangelizing.
And USING the software.
I cannot even begin to stress how important this is.
So…how do you build a community?
And sustain it?
Communication.
Inclusiveness.
Consideration.
On that note, everyone should read this blog post
on conference tweeting:
http://ryan.cordells.us/blog/2013/01 /26/mea‐culpa‐on‐conference‐
tweeting‐politeness‐and‐community‐ building/
And even more communication.
And a sense of ownership.
I’ve seen projects fail because they’re shared with the world but no one really takes ownership.
Well, not always fail.
But certainly not THRIVE.
And that’s what we’re looking for in our communities and in our projects.
That they thrive.
So what defines a successful community or product?
Participation.
Enthusiasm.
A sense of pride.
I’m part of that.I made that happen.That succeeded in part because of me.
Adoption.
