Contributing-Guidelines-and-Codes-of-Conduct-for-Open-Projects.srt

1
00:00:00,719 --> 00:00:03,809
Malvika Sharan: If you come to open
source Open Science space, there

2
00:00:03,809 --> 00:00:07,229
are three documents that are
essential to add to any project,

3
00:00:07,409 --> 00:00:12,029
when we heard earlier is about
license, choose the license, add

4
00:00:12,029 --> 00:00:16,049
a README. So you're choosing a
license so people know how to

5
00:00:16,049 --> 00:00:19,709
use your material. You write
README, so people know what it

6
00:00:19,709 --> 00:00:24,059
is about, and if it's useful for
me. And last one is contribution

7
00:00:24,059 --> 00:00:28,439
guideline and code of conduct.
So people can find your project

8
00:00:28,529 --> 00:00:31,199
and know how to use it, people
can find your project and know

9
00:00:31,199 --> 00:00:34,769
what it is about. But the
ultimate aim of any open source

10
00:00:34,769 --> 00:00:38,849
project is that allowing people
to build upon it, the innovation

11
00:00:38,849 --> 00:00:42,389
doesn't happen if there was
nothing before us. This is where

12
00:00:42,389 --> 00:00:45,149
the contribution guidelines is
very important. So people know

13
00:00:45,179 --> 00:00:50,159
that you're allowing them to use
it. But in a weird way, what we

14
00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:54,869
will do in my talk, I'll try to
keep it concise, but also in a

15
00:00:54,869 --> 00:00:58,859
way that you understand the
importance of involving people.

16
00:00:59,549 --> 00:01:02,099
So we will consider how to
create a positive culture for

17
00:01:02,099 --> 00:01:05,579
contribution and collaboration
and open projects give you a

18
00:01:05,579 --> 00:01:09,719
practical example of how a
CONTRIBUTING.md file looks like.

19
00:01:09,749 --> 00:01:12,599
But it doesn't need to be called
CONTRIBUTING.md. If you're not

20
00:01:12,599 --> 00:01:16,079
using GitHub, it could be just
contribution guideline. and

21
00:01:16,079 --> 00:01:20,369
choosing a code of conduct. And
please keep an eye on choosing,

22
00:01:20,459 --> 00:01:23,669
we are building on lots of open
source projects. So we don't

23
00:01:23,669 --> 00:01:25,889
need to build everything from
scratch. There's a lot of

24
00:01:25,889 --> 00:01:29,699
material references out there.
Pick one that matches most your

25
00:01:29,699 --> 00:01:35,549
values. So yeah, just so you
know, someone asked me if the

26
00:01:35,549 --> 00:01:39,479
Cat picture is used, I think
it has become our mascot. And

27
00:01:39,479 --> 00:01:42,059
that's why if you go to our
Slack channel in random, we're

28
00:01:42,059 --> 00:01:47,219
just literally randomly talking
about cats. So I'm Malvika

29
00:01:47,219 --> 00:01:49,889
Sharan, I am the community
manager of The Turing Way,

30
00:01:49,919 --> 00:01:55,199
which is the daytime job besides
open life science. That's not my

31
00:01:55,229 --> 00:01:58,109
Twitter, but I left it there
because a lot of ideas that I'm

32
00:01:58,109 --> 00:02:01,979
going to talk about comes from
Lilly Winfree. And I definitely

33
00:02:02,009 --> 00:02:06,929
totally recommend you to follow
her, you can

34
00:02:06,929 --> 00:02:10,619
follow me as well. But I'm
always talking on slack. So I

35
00:02:10,619 --> 00:02:14,309
don't think you need more noise
from me. So what is a project

36
00:02:14,309 --> 00:02:18,269
culture? When we want to build a
project culture, we need to

37
00:02:18,269 --> 00:02:21,929
think about if we want to build
a community, is this a project

38
00:02:21,929 --> 00:02:25,289
that I'm creating just for
myself? Or do I want people to

39
00:02:25,289 --> 00:02:29,669
come in and hang out with me? If
I want people to hang out with

40
00:02:29,669 --> 00:02:33,569
me? How do I want this community
to look like? How would we How

41
00:02:33,569 --> 00:02:38,099
would my members be? Are they
going to bring the same idea as

42
00:02:38,099 --> 00:02:41,099
me? Or are they going to be
diverse that they bring

43
00:02:41,099 --> 00:02:44,309
different perspective, they
challenged me in building my

44
00:02:44,309 --> 00:02:49,649
project, so I can achieve better
than I can do alone. These

45
00:02:49,649 --> 00:02:53,009
people are also who help you
build and guide the culture,

46
00:02:53,159 --> 00:02:57,269
right. But as a project leader,
it's your responsibility to set

47
00:02:57,269 --> 00:03:00,239
the tone for how your community
should look like. Therefore you

48
00:03:00,239 --> 00:03:03,059
need to make conscious decision
when you're writing a README

49
00:03:03,059 --> 00:03:06,419
page, or when you're selecting
the license. And when you're

50
00:03:06,419 --> 00:03:10,379
creating contribution pathway
for others. When you're creating

51
00:03:10,379 --> 00:03:13,409
these culture, you need to
understand what your personal

52
00:03:13,409 --> 00:03:16,799
values that you're bringing in
project are hence it becomes a

53
00:03:16,799 --> 00:03:20,819
project value. And how should
people behave? Setting

54
00:03:20,819 --> 00:03:24,269
expectation is very important.
When someone enters a new space,

55
00:03:24,299 --> 00:03:28,679
one of the biggest fear they
encounter is not knowing

56
00:03:28,679 --> 00:03:31,409
anything, they don't know what
to expect. They don't know how

57
00:03:31,409 --> 00:03:35,669
to behave, they don't know what
kind of behaviors are accepted.

58
00:03:35,969 --> 00:03:38,849
Therefore, it's important for
you to let them know that this

59
00:03:38,849 --> 00:03:42,089
is what this project stands for.
And this is how you can

60
00:03:42,089 --> 00:03:45,629
contribute. And there are a lot
of unwritten rule which you want

61
00:03:45,629 --> 00:03:48,839
to get out of your brain and
write it in a document that

62
00:03:48,839 --> 00:03:51,389
someone else can actually read
it because no one can read your

63
00:03:51,389 --> 00:03:57,029
brain yet. A project culture
involves more than just setting

64
00:03:57,029 --> 00:04:01,109
a GitHub repository or telling
people by email that hey, come

65
00:04:01,109 --> 00:04:05,429
and join me there is a lot more
to collaboration than that. It's

66
00:04:05,429 --> 00:04:09,029
more than just a common goal or
having different teams working

67
00:04:09,029 --> 00:04:12,059
on different parts, or
exchanging knowledge but also

68
00:04:12,059 --> 00:04:16,079
understand what actually creates
those kind of values. For

69
00:04:16,079 --> 00:04:19,829
example, if you have to be
intentional about the fact if

70
00:04:19,829 --> 00:04:23,219
you want a diverse team, and
therefore make an attempt to

71
00:04:23,249 --> 00:04:25,919
create a diverse team yourself,
things won't happen naturally,

72
00:04:25,919 --> 00:04:30,209
you need to invest into it. If
you want to create an inclusive

73
00:04:30,209 --> 00:04:32,999
workspace, you need to add a
code of conduct you need to make

74
00:04:32,999 --> 00:04:35,519
sure that people are treating
each other kindly, therefore,

75
00:04:35,549 --> 00:04:39,029
they want to be around each
other. And also when you open a

76
00:04:39,029 --> 00:04:43,319
conversation for discussion, say
that this is open for discussion

77
00:04:43,319 --> 00:04:46,589
and say that you're inviting
them to be part of it. So it's a

78
00:04:46,589 --> 00:04:50,309
language, it's set of norm,
people's expectation, the tools

79
00:04:50,309 --> 00:04:53,609
that you use and how decisions
are being made. It's a project

80
00:04:53,609 --> 00:04:54,359
identity.

81
00:04:56,430 --> 00:05:01,440
So how to build your culture
documents Clear contribution

82
00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:07,740
guideline and the code of
conduct that is enforced. Going

83
00:05:07,740 --> 00:05:12,000
back to what is community
community, in an ideal world is

84
00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:16,770
a set of different people who
come together and live in an

85
00:05:16,770 --> 00:05:20,940
ecosystem that is nurturing for
them. They don't have to be same

86
00:05:20,970 --> 00:05:24,000
opinion, they don't have to be
same background, they don't have

87
00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:27,000
to be same expertise, people
need, people should be allowed

88
00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:30,780
to bring them their skills, and
combine them in a way that their

89
00:05:31,230 --> 00:05:37,440
outcome is a lot more powerful
than the sum of their parts. And

90
00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:40,890
then what is contribution?
Right? If we just talk about

91
00:05:40,920 --> 00:05:45,270
GitHub in GitHub, again, next
week, we'll explore a lot more

92
00:05:45,270 --> 00:05:49,890
about GitHub. So if you're new
to it, I will try to make sure

93
00:05:49,890 --> 00:05:53,550
that I don't use jargons. But in
GitHub, you can go and write

94
00:05:53,550 --> 00:05:56,580
issues that a lot of you have
created in OLS3, you've

95
00:05:56,580 --> 00:05:59,760
created an issue and you've
become actually a contributor of

96
00:05:59,760 --> 00:06:03,870
that repository. And this is a
picture from The Turing Way,

97
00:06:03,870 --> 00:06:06,510
you can see Sarah here, and
that's me. And there are lots of

98
00:06:06,510 --> 00:06:12,300
other folks. In the GitHub, you
put it as a file, which is

99
00:06:12,300 --> 00:06:16,140
called contributing.md. And as I
said, if you're not working on

100
00:06:16,140 --> 00:06:18,690
GitHub, you would still create a
page that that would be called

101
00:06:18,690 --> 00:06:24,090
contributing or contribution
guideline. Why is it important?

102
00:06:24,180 --> 00:06:27,360
So you want to define what the
structure of contributions look

103
00:06:27,360 --> 00:06:31,950
like, provide guideline how to
make those contribution, you

104
00:06:32,040 --> 00:06:34,320
ensure that there is a
consistency across your

105
00:06:34,320 --> 00:06:37,230
community, if people are working
in different time zones, if they

106
00:06:37,230 --> 00:06:39,810
are not talking to each other,
at least they have one place

107
00:06:39,810 --> 00:06:43,740
where they know how to find
information. And when you write

108
00:06:43,740 --> 00:06:45,960
all these down, it actually
improves the efficiency, you

109
00:06:45,960 --> 00:06:49,890
don't need to always repeat
yourself and tell everyone over

110
00:06:49,890 --> 00:06:54,030
and over what what all these
guidelines stand for. And it

111
00:06:54,030 --> 00:06:57,030
also allows you to involve new
people, even if you don't know

112
00:06:57,030 --> 00:06:59,850
who they are, at the moment, if
they are able to find your

113
00:06:59,850 --> 00:07:02,670
repository, they have this
guideline to guide them how to

114
00:07:02,670 --> 00:07:06,060
contribute to your project. And
who's responsible for that,

115
00:07:06,420 --> 00:07:10,140
first of all owners, meaning
people who are leading the

116
00:07:10,140 --> 00:07:14,460
project, they are responsible to
create it. contributors, which

117
00:07:14,460 --> 00:07:17,940
are all members, they are
responsible to follow it. And

118
00:07:17,940 --> 00:07:21,810
consumers like users and
members, they can also decide if

119
00:07:21,810 --> 00:07:27,630
they want to share feedback with
you. So this is a very, very

120
00:07:27,630 --> 00:07:30,690
good contribution guideline from
the carpentries. The carpentries

121
00:07:30,690 --> 00:07:35,100
is another open source community
that teaches people how to teach

122
00:07:35,100 --> 00:07:39,810
computation. And it is a it is a
wonderful page, because it's

123
00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:43,650
it's just a community page that
gives you links to all the

124
00:07:43,650 --> 00:07:46,470
places you can find information.
So if you're lost, you want to

125
00:07:46,470 --> 00:07:49,140
come back to this page. And you
know, okay, I wanted to look at

126
00:07:49,140 --> 00:07:52,800
trainers or I wanted to look at
champions. So you if you have

127
00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:56,460
this one page, which is called
page of all links, that would be

128
00:07:56,460 --> 00:07:58,950
extremely useful for people to
come back and orient yourself.

129
00:07:58,950 --> 00:08:00,900
But these are generally
optional, because when the

130
00:08:00,900 --> 00:08:04,500
projects are quite new, you
don't really have a lot of files

131
00:08:04,500 --> 00:08:09,390
that you want to you want people
to read. You want to create a

132
00:08:09,390 --> 00:08:12,360
place for diverse community,
right? And you would expect that

133
00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:15,480
everything is going fine, and
everyone's super happy. But what

134
00:08:15,480 --> 00:08:19,290
happens if something goes goes
wrong? What if things are not

135
00:08:19,290 --> 00:08:23,430
ideal anymore, you want to make
sure that people have a place to

136
00:08:23,430 --> 00:08:26,880
feel welcome and protected.
Therefore you want to give them

137
00:08:26,880 --> 00:08:30,630
a code of conduct. Code of
Conduct is a set of rules,

138
00:08:30,810 --> 00:08:35,910
sorry, a set of rules that
outlines the social norms roles

139
00:08:35,910 --> 00:08:38,970
and responsibilities of an
individual project, party or

140
00:08:38,970 --> 00:08:43,170
organization. It's commonly
abbreviated as CoC. So

141
00:08:43,170 --> 00:08:46,890
generally, I would probably just
randomly say CoC, but that

142
00:08:46,890 --> 00:08:50,580
really stands for code of
conduct. Do you really need to

143
00:08:50,580 --> 00:08:54,420
CoC? Yes, you do need to
CoC to invites people to your

144
00:08:54,420 --> 00:08:57,060
project. It sets clear
expectation in your community

145
00:08:57,060 --> 00:09:01,050
and tells contributor that you
care about your community. Often

146
00:09:01,050 --> 00:09:05,550
the misconception is that CoC is
a policy that is making people

147
00:09:05,550 --> 00:09:08,310
scared about the fact that they
will be there will be

148
00:09:08,310 --> 00:09:12,750
consequences. But honestly, CoC
is setting tone for your

149
00:09:12,750 --> 00:09:16,020
community and making sure that
people who would generally not

150
00:09:16,020 --> 00:09:18,930
become part of another community
because they don't really know

151
00:09:18,930 --> 00:09:22,080
if you're welcome. It allows
them to look at what are the

152
00:09:22,080 --> 00:09:24,810
guidelines, if someone harasses
them? Would there be any

153
00:09:24,810 --> 00:09:28,680
consequences or not. And they
can make a choice based on your

154
00:09:28,830 --> 00:09:31,170
community culture if they want
to become part of it.

155
00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:35,880
There are some examples and I'm
going to just quickly show you

156
00:09:36,150 --> 00:09:39,690
CSV con, which is one of the
newest code of conduct that they

157
00:09:39,690 --> 00:09:43,560
had developed last year. It's a
conference. So they start with

158
00:09:43,650 --> 00:09:48,030
what this code of conduct is,
who does it apply on. And they

159
00:09:48,030 --> 00:09:50,550
also have two things which is
called enforcement and

160
00:09:50,550 --> 00:09:56,100
reporting. And I'll quickly go
through that part as well. So

161
00:09:56,100 --> 00:09:59,820
here it is, right. They have
code of conduct. Code of Conduct

162
00:09:59,820 --> 00:10:02,850
is Not just a box ticking item,
right? So it's not like oh, I

163
00:10:02,850 --> 00:10:05,520
want to add all the documents
that I would need to add. And

164
00:10:05,520 --> 00:10:08,070
therefore I need to add code of
conduct without really reading

165
00:10:08,070 --> 00:10:10,800
it or meaning it. It's not
enough. You need to add

166
00:10:10,830 --> 00:10:13,380
enforcement and reporting
guideline, you need to make sure

167
00:10:13,530 --> 00:10:18,990
that people know how to report
who the report is going to and

168
00:10:18,990 --> 00:10:22,380
what will be the process for
reports to be followed through.

169
00:10:22,980 --> 00:10:26,130
And often you would want to have
anonymous reporting, because you

170
00:10:26,130 --> 00:10:32,700
don't want to put pressure a lot
on people. So getting started, I

171
00:10:32,700 --> 00:10:35,970
would say that start by
brainstorming core words that

172
00:10:35,970 --> 00:10:39,300
represent your community value,
consider behavior that you want

173
00:10:39,300 --> 00:10:42,150
to encourage, think of the
process for incidents and

174
00:10:42,150 --> 00:10:45,030
complaints and what are the
consequences for those acting

175
00:10:45,030 --> 00:10:48,960
outside the norm, and understand
and accept your role as project

176
00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:55,830
lead. So before we go, at the
end, you need to understand that

177
00:10:55,830 --> 00:11:00,660
open source has a lot of work
that is always thankless people

178
00:11:00,690 --> 00:11:04,050
are doing a lot of work at the
background. Therefore, you need

179
00:11:04,050 --> 00:11:07,320
to encourage and reward good
practices, you can if you are

180
00:11:07,320 --> 00:11:10,500
willing to and if you have the
capacity to designate a code of

181
00:11:10,500 --> 00:11:14,310
conduct and safety committee to
Sir, make sure that your code of

182
00:11:14,310 --> 00:11:17,250
conduct is quite visible and
clear and communicate the

183
00:11:17,250 --> 00:11:20,880
process to contributors.
Generally, as I said, Don't try

184
00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:23,730
to create your own code of
conduct. There are a lot of

185
00:11:23,790 --> 00:11:26,100
great examples of code of
conduct that you can take and

186
00:11:26,100 --> 00:11:27,420
adopt for your community.