On Mon, Aug 2, 2010 at 8:03 AM, Matthew Jadud <mja...@allegheny.edu> wrote: > On Sun, Aug 1, 2010 at 23:10, David Nalley <da...@gnsa.us> wrote: >> willingly offering time/people/resources/money to education in general >> and TOS.o specifically, but there's also a point at which too much >> help hinders rather than aids the growth of a community. > > I've heard this a few times now: "too much support hinders the growth > of a community." > > I'm going to claim this is false in the given context, and let others > push back. The TOS community is clearly a mixed bag: people who are > teaching open source "as a passion," and others who are working to > make it part of their professional practice. The former is in keeping > with the traditional conception of open source and open communities > (volunteer effort, come-and-go-as-you-please, being "productively > lost," etc.), while the blend in the latter case is unlike any model > that we're familiar with (but I welcome comparisons/examples). > > So, perhaps it is true that support hinders the growth of volunteer > communities (I'd like evidence). I doubt it is true when you're asking > professionals to fundamentally shift their day-to-day practice. > > Cheers, > Matt >
Hi Matt: I'll offer up some evidence. Fedora used to have RHT make all of it's media, swag, RHT employees were the only people who travelled to conferences to speak on Fedora's behalf, etc. That 'help' paralyzed people, mostly in NA. EMEA, at the same time, made their own Fedora media and swag, basically because they were ignored by the local RHT offices, excepting a few employees. The people in NA felt like speaking at conferences, and making stuff was a job held by RHT, and felt that we had precious little input, until we noticed what EMEA was doing. Incidentally - the community essentially does all swag, and media production in NA. And while CommArch and other RHT employees speak a lot - there are a number of people who I'd wager speak at more conferences than CommArch folks. There are similiar stories that could be told about the current Fedora Infrastructure versus the time when it was managed all by RHIT. Essentially it creates the sensation that whatever the large corporate entity is doing, particularly if they do it to the exclusion of others, must be so hard, difficult, or privileged that others must not be permitted, or qualified to do. Further it has the possibility to make people feel like they can't contribute to the project. There are a number of examples of situations that don't have happy endings unlike the above. Thankfully over the years RHT has learned that even though they might be able to do a good job at $foo, but giving the community a chance to get involved and participate is better for the growth of the community. I do think TOS community is very much like a traditional OSS community. There are professionals (in the IT world for instance), and there are those who are passionate merely because it excites them. This mirrors your "The TOS community is clearly a mixed bag: people who are teaching open source "as a passion," and others who are working to make it part of their professional practice." I, for instance, work in IT, My participation in F/LOSS is a part of and enhances my professional practice; while teaching open source is 'as a passion' _______________________________________________ tos mailing list tos@teachingopensource.org http://teachingopensource.org/mailman/listinfo/tos
