2010/7/22 Ross Gardler <rgard...@apache.org> > On 21/07/2010 19:33, Shane Curcuru wrote: > >> I was just wondering... >> >> The Labs project (a place where any committer can starup their own >> independent mini-"project" to work on, potentially with other >> committers) has been awfully quiet lately. >> >> I was wondering: is doing an article or FAQ or some sort of mentor >> outreach within ComDev a good way to increase the sense of community >> within Labs? >> > > Labs was specifically created as an infrastructure for collaboration. There > was never any intention for there to be community: > > "The aim is to provide the necessary resource to promote and maintain the > innovative power within the Apache community without the burden of community > building." [1] > > I do agree : Lab is not for community "building". Because there is already an "Apache comunity" somehow listening, and if possible participating, to what happens in Labs. All Apache committers already have commit rights, and are usually inclined to innovation.
The problem is : it is quite underutilized. In plain (italo-)english: I have an idea, I want to work for some time on the idea, this idea is creative and innovative, but still I'm the only one on this planet taking it seriously, maybe cause I'm a visionary or maybe because the idea is plain wrong or maybe because I'm not able to communicate it efficiently, who knows. Being a programmer, I start writing some code (or some slides, or some proof of concept .. let's call it "code"). This code can stay in my IDE for a few weeks/months, then end up in a folder on my hard drive for a few months/years, then disappears. Was the idea wrong? Was it just me not being able to give it momentum? Nobody will ever know. Currently Labs is somehow acting as that folder on my hard drive. Being formally a shared SVN folder is not bringing me much advantage, if i don't use the Apache community that folder is shared with, and this is where we (Labs in general, PIs expecially) are still missing something. Please note, I'm NOT telling Labs people (PMC, PIs, people on the mailing list etc..) are to blame for this. Simply it is not happening : PIs (that is: people working in labs) does not disclose what they are working on, does not ask for advice, does not post updates etc.. (I'm a PI ... and I don't post updates on my lab, nor ask for advice ... so I am one of those). as a conseguence, the mailing list if awfully quite. However we cannot expect PIs to do this spontaneously : the very reason they are in Labs is because community is not a simple task ( for them | for that idea ). We are mostly creative computer programmers, well known for not being terrific social creatures, so we need to be helped/stimulated/whatever, but not stressed. Whenever it happens that the community is triggered, and someone have a look at stuff in Labs, usually something happens (code is proposed to incubator, or incorporated into a TLP .. Amber being the most recent example), demostrating that the Labs model works if and when a PI tap into the power of the Apache community. IMHO this is the activity we should boost. It is not creating a community that commit code bits, but help PIs to communicate with the existing Apache community the creative and innovative side of their ideas, then eventually community will become involved and help the code moving "up the chain". What could a be good way of stimulating it? Without creating "burden" or psychological pressure on PIs? I'm not involved in ComDev so I cannot tell if the Mentor programme can help, I trust Ross opinion. Just wanted to give my two cents after two years in Labs. Simone
