Changes

''Regardless of the steps that a project chooses, transparency will act in a central role in maintaining volunteerism.'' — Mako Hill

''Regardless of the steps that a project chooses, transparency will act in a central role in maintaining volunteerism.'' — Mako Hill

I thought we could use this text, taken from Mako's essay, [http://mako.cc/writing/funding_volunteers/funding_volunteers.html "Problems and Strategies in Financing Voluntary Free Software Projects"], as a starting point for a discussion on what sorts of activities Sugar Labs should be funding. In the essay, Mako takes a strong stance against the introduce of paid labor into a primarily voluntary free software project, so this is far from a neutral starting point. Nonetheless, let the discussion begin! --[[User:Walter|Walter]] 13:26, 28 May 2008 (UTC)

I thought we could use this text, taken from Mako's essay, [http://mako.cc/writing/funding_volunteers/funding_volunteers.html "Problems and Strategies in Financing Voluntary Free Software Projects"], as a starting point for a discussion on what sorts of activities Sugar Labs should be funding. In the essay, Mako takes a strong stance against the introduction of paid labor into a primarily voluntary free software project; so this is far from a neutral starting point. Nonetheless, let the discussion begin! --[[User:Walter|Walter]] 13:26, 28 May 2008 (UTC)

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"DebConf, the annual Debian conference, is a good example of '''strategic conference funding''' and is how the Debian project spends the vast majority of funding each year. Lodging, bandwidth, the conference venue, and food are normally paid for all attendees based on a first-come-first-served basis until funds are depleted. Additionally, travel aid is offered on a combination of need and merit based systems going first to speakers with accepted proposals, then to official Debian developers, and finally to qualified contributors to the project over the previous year. Funded conference attendance acts both as a reward for active volunteers and a step toward creating a positive, fun, and highly educational event for all attendees. Each year, there are participants who are less involved in the Debian project before the conference but who increase their involvement after. Additionally, DebConf acts as a venue for airing ideas and proposals between developers and for gathering feedback on controversial issues.

"DebConf, the annual Debian conference, is a good example of '''strategic conference funding''' and is how the Debian project spends the vast majority of funding each year. Lodging, bandwidth, the conference venue, and food are normally paid for all attendees based on a first-come-first-served basis until funds are depleted. Additionally, travel aid is offered on a combination of need and merit based systems going first to speakers with accepted proposals, then to official Debian developers, and finally to qualified contributors to the project over the previous year. Funded conference attendance acts both as a reward for active volunteers and a step toward creating a positive, fun, and highly educational event for all attendees. Each year, there are participants who are less involved in the Debian project before the conference but who increase their involvement after. Additionally, DebConf acts as a venue for airing ideas and proposals between developers and for gathering feedback on controversial issues.

"A related, and sometimes overlapping model of funding involves funding '''code sprints'''. Popular in the Python and Zope communities and with increasingly popularity elsewhere, sprints are intense sessions of development — usually around one week long. They are used as catalysts for development and have seen major leaps forward in the development of features and code within very small amount of time. Sprints are like conferences in most aspects except that the emphasis is more on the production of code and sustained hack-sessions than on presentations and discussions. They also usually involve less people than a conference and attendees are usually limited to the most actively involved volunteers on a project. The Plone Foundation and SLX Debian Labs in Norway has effectively used the funding of sprints to accomplish time-based development goals.

"A related, and sometimes overlapping model of funding involves funding '''code sprints'''. Popular in the Python and Zope communities and with increasingly popularity elsewhere, sprints are intense sessions of development — usually around one week long. They are used as catalysts for development and have seen major leaps forward in the development of features and code within very small amount of time. Sprints are like conferences in most aspects except that the emphasis is more on the production of code and sustained hack-sessions than on presentations and discussions. They also usually involve fewer people than a conference and attendees are usually limited to the most actively involved volunteers on a project. The Plone Foundation and SLX Debian Labs in Norway have effectively used the funding of sprints to accomplish time-based development goals."

"While conferences and sprints can be a clever way to spend money without sacrificing the voluntary nature of development projects, it is worth keeping one important caveat in mind. When a project selects people for funded attendance at the expense of others, it demonstrates favoritism that can be divisive. In the process of organizing these events, it is important to '''maintain a high degree of transparency and fairness'''. Organizers should use published and fair criteria to determine conference funded attendance and leave attendance open to all. Good criteria for fair selection includes "first come, first served," constructive activity on mailing lists, the number of important commits to a source code or documentation repository, or a good reputation among fellow developers (e.g., as determined by a fair and representative committee)."

"While conferences and sprints can be a clever way to spend money without sacrificing the voluntary nature of development projects, it is worth keeping one important caveat in mind. When a project selects people for funded attendance at the expense of others, it demonstrates favoritism that can be divisive. In the process of organizing these events, it is important to '''maintain a high degree of transparency and fairness'''. Organizers should use published and fair criteria to determine conference funded attendance and leave attendance open to all. Good criteria for fair selection includes "first come, first served," constructive activity on mailing lists, the number of important commits to a source code or documentation repository, or a good reputation among fellow developers (e.g., as determined by a fair and representative committee)."