User:Kbrown/Path List

From Foss2Serve
Revision as of 15:37, 21 April 2016 by Heidi.ellis (Talk | contribs)
Jump to: navigation, search

Contents

Pathways Model - Candidate Paths to HFOSS Contribution

This page contains a list of possible paths for the HFOSS contribution pathways model and learning activities that may support a path step or allow students to gain general HFOSS knowledge.

Glossary

The following terms are used below to make the list more concise and avoid duplication.

  • Contributor - anyone who contributes to FOSS – code, design, docs, feedback, ideas, etc.
  • FOSS - free & open source software. “a FOSS”: a project; “FOSS”: the broader culture.
  • Forge - web site containing many FOSS – e.g. Sourceforge
  • Lead - anyone who coordinates or directs other contributors
  • Planet - blog aggregator for a FOSS or topic


Curated Paths

  1. Introduction to IRC
  2. Verify a bug
    1. Draft pathway on Dropbox
  3. Fix a bug
  4. Evaluate (and improve) installation instructions and submit revision to the project
    1. Draft of Download and Install on Dropbox
  5. Identify user roles and write user stories for a feature (Design a feature)
  6. Develop UML diagram from an existing project
  7. Create a new defect report from mailing list or personal experience
  8. Audit security: does the existing code meet security guidelines?
  9. Confirm, improve or create install and code setup on different platforms
  10. Contribute code
    1. Draft pathway on Dropbox

Candidate Paths

Project Promotion

  • Write an article about a topic related to FOSS and submit to a FOSS news blog/web site.
    • Good blogs/sites for publication?
  • Write a { review | tutorial | comparison } of { a | several } FOSS.
    • Good blogs/sites for publication?
  • Write an article on “what I wish I knew” - about FOSS; before starting a project or course.
  • Add a personal project blog to an appropriate planet (blog aggregator).
  • Create a lecture that provides a tour of the application domain landscape of FOSS.
    • Show market segment leaders (Apache, MySQL), tools (Eclipse, Notepad++), games (game engine), humanitarian, industry specific (e.g., ERP), etc. - this may be a pre/post-scavenger hunt lecture
    • Video it, Keep it short & modular for remixing.
    • Create a list of wanted topics, get community to contribute.
    • See examples from entrepreneurship education
    • http://www.prendismo.com/collection/ (was Cornell eClips)
    • http://ecorner.stanford.edu/

Specification & Coding

  • Contribute code
    • Build a feature (is this the same as "contribute code"? It's going to involve design and stakeholder analysis all the way through to production and testing)
    • Build a plugin (as in, this will not affect the rest of the codebase, so might have less stakeholder analysis, integration with the core etc)
    • Fix a bug
  • Design a feature (Business analysis and user experience design):
    • Conduct stakeholder analysis
    • Identify user roles and write user stories for a feature
    • Create wireframes for a feature
    • Gathering feedback on wireframes
    • Specify the MVP for a feature
    • Add information to ongoing discussion on design decisions
    • Ask relevant and appropriate questions to bound a problem

Community Development

  • Organize & conduct a { installation festival | tutorial session } for a { FOSS | feature }.
  • { Observe | participate in | support | organize } a hackathon.
  • Raise money or other resources for an open source project.
  • [meta] Promote a project of interest using multiple tools/channels. //other examples?//
  • Improve awareness of the project:
    • Evidence gathering - collect publicity on a project, collect information on breadth of use of an HFOSS project
      • How many people impacted?
      • How many deployments?
      • Data analysis of impact
    • Fundraising efforts/Funding models
    • Create/contribute to marketing for a project (social media)
      • Data analysis around social media
      • Blog posts
  • Help with community:
    • Find install instances (e.g. by social media search)
    • Find articles about application and its uses
    • Improve outreach to users
    • Improve project visibility (e.g. via social media strategy, tweeting etc)
    • Analyse project's social media reach and influence
    • Create/install a new theme for the project web site
  • Selecting/understanding an HFOSS community
    • Commitment factor in choosing a community
    • Community interactions

Documentation

  • Review a page and summarize problems found and submit proposed revision.
    • for existing pages, or proposed changes/additions by other students
  • Find & improve a page that could benefit from editing / rewriting / improvement.
    • Find references (to other pages or resources) and add them (with appropriate links).
  • Find a "stub" page and expand it with research and related references.
  • Create a new page with appropriate research & related references.
  • “Garden” a site or other documentation – prune, restructure, etc.
    • Instructor could clone or create a sandbox area for this.
    • Major restructuring might require advance planning.
  • Test documentation (e.g. installation instructions) and summarize problems found.
  • Rewrite & simplify installation instructions for typical (non-technical) computer users.
  • Write concise and helpful instructions to install and configure FOSS on a specific system.
    • Specify version or date when install instructions become obsolete.
  • Create or update a glossary or vocabulary list for a FOSS.
  • Translate a page to a different language using { automated tools | expert knowledge }.
  • Convert written docs to video docs.
  • Convert video docs to written docs.
  • Contribute documentation
  • Verify Installation instructions (on different platforms) - if it doesn't work, update the install instructions or file as issue, if it does work indicate the platform it works on
    • Update installation instructions
    • Create/Fix user documentation
    • Create/fix developer documentation
    • Create release packaging
    • Improve onboarding materials: install instructions, how to find issues lists etc.
    • Improve globalisation / localisation (e.g. translating UI and documentation to different languages)
    • Confirm, improve or create install and code setup on different platforms
  • Make the project more accessible
    • Build a demo server
    • Maintain a demo server
    • Maintain a download site
    • Maintain the project web site

Visual Design

  • Create a storyboard or paper prototype, evaluate with users, revise, & summarize, submit to project
    • Clif has paper prototyping references, workshop slides, etc.
  • Create instructional comics and submit to project
  • Create a font or icon set and submit to project

Quality & Testing

  • Choose an open defect or feature request from { mailing list | tracker | wiki }, verify that it exists, and expand & improve formal report (in tracker or wiki).
  • Brainstorm list of possible enhancements for project, choose a few to document (see above) and submit a feature request
  • Evaluate usability of a specified { feature | screen } and summarize results & conclusions (in tracker or wiki).
  • Test documentation.
    • Evaluate (and improve) installation instructions and submit revision to the project
    • Verify (and fix) development environment documentation and submit revision to the project
  • Develop an { automated test suite | repeatable test script }, contribute code, summarize results.
  • Test the system
    • Verify a bug
    • Report a bug
    • Add to the explanation of a bug
    • Test release candidates
    • Test security: can the existing code be compromised?
    • Audit security: does the existing code meet security guidelines?
    • Improve accessibility: audit app against disability guidelines (e.g. https://www.w3.org/standards/webdesign/accessibility)
    • Check app for gender/culture bias in text, images etc
  • Evaluate security for a FOSS project and report the results to the project
    • Look for common security flaws
    • Conduct penetration testing
    • Compare with commercial products, industry practices

Learning Activities

  • FOSS scavenger hunt: Study a FOSS to answer a set of questions (overview about project and product features)
    • Could also look at a forge (# of projects, what application domains, what languages, # added recently)


Privacy / Security

  • Evaluate security for a FOSS: how many intrusions, severity, etc.
    • Compare with commercial products, industry practices
  • Write privacy policy //need more detail//
  • Develop security guidelines //need more detail//
  • Write about implications of software choice for security. //need more detail//
    • Diaspora (Facebook clone) and problems w.r.t. privacy/security
    • FOSS DBs, etc. (OpenMRS) -- issues, privacy, etc.

Quality & Testing

  • Choose a fixed defect or feature, research its history (when & how reported, when & how fixed), and summarize in a 5 min format (in tracker, wiki, blog post, podcast, vlog, etc).
  • Test (perhaps a project that does JUnit testing).
    • Trace the execution of some piece of code.

Specification and Design

  • Explore a new feature for an existing project
    • Discuss how it might be implemented
    • Show actual code and implementation
  • Identify data structures used in a project.
  • Study code & docs, diagram system architecture, evaluate, summarize.
    • using guidelines supplied by instructor

Coding & Style

  • Analyze the sequence of function calls that produces a specified { feature | page | screen }.
  • Identify examples of a given { coding construct | data structure | pattern } in a FOSS.
    • could provide teachers with examples to use in other courses
  • Given specification & code, provide an itemized list of tasks and describe how each was met.
  • Given a problem and 2+ solutions to a problem, compare, summarize, & present.
    • naming conventions, coding style, efficiency, etc...
  • Given a problem, find 2+ solutions (to same or similar problem) and summarize the differences between the solutions.
  • Determine how well a { FOSS | component } meets its specifications.
  • Develop a code walkthrough
  • Find/study examples of well & poorly written code - style wise (layout, variable names)
    • Look at coding standard for an open source project (Java, Python)
    • Reformat code, rename variables, etc.
  • Given coding standard & sample code, list the changes needed for code to meet standard.
  • Given sample code, infer and document coding standard.
  • Analyze existing code to understand what it does and how it works.
  • Reformat, document, & refactor existing (others') code to make it more readable & consistent.
  • Given a comment, defect, or feature request, study & fix it, and submit as patch.
    • FOSS with plugins may be easier for this:
    • Drupal (e.g. shopping cart), Firefox, GreaseMonkey, Moodle
    • wiki formatting plugins
  • Develop UML diagram(s) for a FOSS and submit to the project
    • FOSS UML tool: http://argouml.tigris.org/
    • PC Clements, & DL Parnas. 1986. “A rational design process: How and why to fake it.” IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering 12 (2): 251-257.
  • Add comments to a piece of code that has no or poor comments.

Product Packaging and Distribution

  • Maintain a build host. //needs more detail//
  • Understand and identify installation and IT support needs. //needs more detail//
  • Configure FOSS according to given criteria or specification.
    • What are good examples of configurable FOSS - Drupal, wiki,
    • design & create a custom distribution
    • Share custom distribution with the FOSS community.

Learning Activities for General HFOSS Knowledge

Introduction

  • Read recent article(s) and { answer questions | summarize | critique | present material }.
    • e.g. product reviews, culture of writing software, use within some environment, etc.
    • sites: opensource.com,teachingopensource.org
    • print: Linux Journal, Linux Magazine
  • Interview a FOSS user and find out why they use FOSS, benefits/drawbacks, etc.
  • Study a FOSS contributor’s activities over time { week | month | semester } to understand the level of engagement and the type of interactions/contributions the person has made.
  • Interview a FOSS contributor to find out how they got involved, their role(s), their background, etc.
  • Shadow a FOSS contributor over time to see what they do, & summarize.

FOSS History

  • Research the history of a FOSS & summarize.
    • When did it start? How many releases? How many users?
    • Reading history on the site, talk to people involved, etc.
  • Review an archived discussion of a { chat | thread | forum | list } over a { day | week | month } and { summarize | categorize | reflect on } the content.
    • e.g. developer list, support list,
  • Study a completed defect or feature proposal, and create a concise summary, including details, people involved & their roles, steps taken.

Use & Evaluate

  • Search forge(s) or the Internet for FOSS that interests you.
  • Use & evaluate a FOSS that has been installed.
  • Download, install, use, & evaluate FOSS.
  • Read review(s) of FOSS, then download a "good" one, based on different criteria
    • e.g. community, features, ease of maintenance
  • Evaluate how good a FOSS would be to { use | contribute to} based on:
    • Size, maturity, level of activity, size of community, etc.
    • Features described in documentation or demos.
    • How easy it is to set up for use: e.g., download, install, customize, apply updates.
  • Compare and contrast 2+ FOSS to determine which to { use | contribute to }.
    • criteria from instructor, student, or target user
  • Install (help others install) one or more FOSS and/or FOSS plugins.
  • Install PortableApps on a flash drive, along with several portable FOSS for later use.
  • Install FOSS operating system on a flash drive.

Communication & Tools

  • Choose, investigate, and report on a forge. //what is the motivation or LO?//
  • View newest FOSS on a forge, then see how many new FOSS are created in a { day | week }.
  • Choose a (FOSS) RSS client, subscribe to RSS feeds for FOSS, read, and summarize.
    • RSS clients: Google Reader, RSSOwl
    • RSS feeds: any planet (feed aggregator), FOSS
  • Define IRC, determine why IRC is an appropriate means of communication within a community - what are the benefits, drawbacks?
  • Subscribe to an IRC channel, listen to a meeting, write summary of the content of the meeting and any observations about the mode of communication/type of communication.
  • Study IRC meetings: lurk; participate; write minutes or summary; plan agenda; run meeting.
  • Work remotely (using IRC, email, twitter, whatever) with another student to develop profiles for each other. (a web-page about you and your tech skills and interests).
  • Ask, comment on, answer, respond to question (on web forum, mailing list, IRC).
  • Study the social norms of communication within a FOSS community. (i.e. how to ask questions, respond, etc.)
  • Become familiar with public/private keys. //what is the motivation or LO?//
    • Generate public and private keys for use with SSH.
    • Install public key on remote server for passwordless access via SSH.
    • Exchange public keys with another student.
    • Use exchanged keys to send signs and/or encrypted messages.
    • Sign another student's public key
    • Get your public key signed by another student.
  • Sign a Contributors License Agreement (CLA) for a FOSS. //what is the motivation or LO?//
  • [meta] Learn to interact with the community by using various tools such as blogs, wiki changesets, ticketing systems, etc. // expand to specific tasks with specific tools //
  • [meta] Learn a tool, and teach others how to use it.
  • [meta] Learn that a text editor is a text editor, regardless of what it is. //how to do this?//
  • [meta] Learn how to choose a set of tools to use for a FOSS.

Culture, Intellectual Property

See: http://piratenpad.de/softhum-workshop-template-culture

  • Research how a FOSS is organized, summarize findings, & reflect.
    • How many people are employed, who is employed, how they get paid.
    • Business model - how is the project funded, who is in charge, etc.
  • Select a FOSS, identity primary contributors (no more than 10), find their educational and work experiences, and summarize.
  • Understand why a major company (like IBM for example) contributes to FOSS.
    • What are the market pressures involved from an economic point of view?
  • Study software licensing (in general) and then discuss FOSS intellectual property issues.
    • Why is it OK to download & install some software but not other?
    • Why would developers give up their rights?
  • Compare & contrast 2+ FOSS licenses (e.g. in a matrix).

Philosophy / Politics

  • Study why people choose to use FOSS as opposed to other software.
  • Read "Little Brother" (by Cory Doctorow) //what is the motivation or LO?//
  • Study the international influence in FOSS projects, both as contributors and consumers.
    • cultural perspectives – freedom from multinationals companies (e.g. China, India)
  • Study cultural/policy implications of CC, GPL, etc.
    • Implications for pre-health, pre-law, etc.
  • Explore implications of philosophy/culture of FOSS for public policy.
    • Uber database of FOSS public policy decisions. Linked from Mel's blog.
Retrieved from "http://foss2serve.org/index.php?title=User:Kbrown/Path_List&oldid=5462"
Personal tools
Namespaces
Variants
Actions
Events
Learning Resources
HFOSS Projects
Evaluation
Navigation
Toolbox