As with any other subject matter, open source has its own set of buzzwords, many of which are emotionally charged. Community is one such word. Lots and lots of talk about community.

I have come to loathe this word.

It seems to me that the word community is used in too many sentences accompanied by someone’s declaration of what they believe their inalienable rights to be! I am sorry to say this, but, being a member of a community does not entitle us, as much as it obligates us. We are called into action to participate, to help, to make a difference.

Since the following quote is seldom used…

I offer up a little ditty from JFK’s 1961 inaugural address:

Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.

You do the substitution.

Sharing work and benefit

A community occurs when a group of people decide to collectively pitch in and help towards common goals in order to improve their chances that these synergistic efforts will provide shared benefit. A community shares work and benefit of effort.

Early on, communities formed for survival purposes. Hunting, warding off enemies, gathering wood and finding fresh water were tasks performed by individuals.

Depending on community success, people lived or died. I am certain there were seldom pompous assertions of individual rights of entitlement in such a community. Just a nagging feeling that everyone might not make it through the night.

Amish

Check out Bill Coleman’s photography. Wow!

Another classic example of shared work, of course, is barn raising within the Amish community. Everyone comes together on the specified day and helps to get someone else’s barn built. Why? Because your family had this done or might need it done one day. Everyone had some type of job, man, woman and child. Helping one another is an expectation in the Amish community.

Communities today

Today, communities can be families and individuals who attend the same church, or belong to the same school, or simply live in close proximity to one another. The people of a community may share common roads, schools, elected boards, parks and the work that accompanies many local challenges.

Many choose to volunteer to help address these problems. There might be a local fund drive that someone must organize for a community project. Visiting older citizens and bringing them meals each day requires volunteers. Others may address poverty by making food and temporary housing available. Some mentor at risk school children.

But, by and large, most community members typically sit at home and watch television, or enjoy a backyard family barbeque, or mow their own lawns, or help their own children with homework.

In most communities, choosing whether or not to volunteer is perfectly acceptable. Typically, some volunteer more than others and most do not volunteer at all. It does not really matter since volunteerism is exactly what the word suggests: it is a stepping forward given your own free will in order to help, typically without any self-serving expectation.

Motivation or discouragement

Now, having said all of that, imagine for a moment that you are a volunteer who works every single Saturday, come rain or shine, hot or cold weather, to take care of our local park. If you do not do it, it doesn’t get done since the city budget it lacking.

Now, enters me. I am a frequent user of the park and I have my own ideas about how the work you are doing should be accomplished. I do not help with the upkeep, but, as a member of this community, it is my park, too! And, I think you should mow from north to south one weekend, then, change it up and mow from the east to the west, the next. It is better. Studies have demonstrated this!

Do you see where this is going?

You are certainly not highly motivated to return the following Saturday. You will be even less motivated to return if you know I will be there, too, walking right next to you screaming my instructions over the sound of your lawn mower.

You might even find yourself thinking…

Perhaps I shall pack the pruning sheers…

Even though the park has no bushes to maintain.

Open source community

With an open source project, I believe there are important layers of community.

The central layer are the developers. These are the most important people who have the skill, vision, interest, willingness and have made the time to build a solution. Absent this group, there is no project. Period. Nada thing.

Moving from the inside core of the community outward responsibilities decrease, as do rights.

Increased responsibility = increased rights.
Decreased responsibility = decreased rights.
No responsibilities = no rights.

Community input

As community members, we may be asked to offer ideas about what we want from the project. And, if we are so fortunate, we should certainly offer our requests in a most friendly and respectful manner!

Also, we need to remember that we are really not entitled to say what we want, but are permitted to share our ideas. And, we certainly are not entitled to expect any of our ideas to be selected, no matter how fabulous, nor should we expect the work to be accomplished by a certain date, even if the developers themselves first suggested the date!

Stepping forward

If we want, we can each find a way to help! To contribute what we are able for the common good. That is a responsible and fun way to belong to a community. However, life often has its own plans for us and many are not able to contribute to the common cause. That is also acceptable in most open source projects.

If we volunteer, it should increase the strength of our voice, but, it does not mean our ideas must now be selected.

There is no entitlement package just because we are fortunate enough to be the recipient of the result of an open source project.

Open source projects need communities

There is no community without a project and there is no project without a community. Community members are very important. Developers want the fruits of their labor to be broadly enjoyed. Frequently, a large community base is a key motivation for developers. And, there are always lots of jobs that must be done that do not require a developer’s skillset.

There are many opportunities to participate.

You know the saying that idle hands are the devil’s workshop? I think it is a fitting phrase for open source projects, as well. There tend to be far fewer people issues when most people are assigned meaningful jobs utilizing individual gifts.

When we are productively busy, we tend to use the word community more carefully. It begins to be used to define specific roles and responsibilities, more than it is used with an assertion of what we believe our individual rights must be.

An engaged community is a supportive community. A supportive community enlists and attracts others. Others bring unique talents and perspectives, thus strengthening and growing the project.

I encourage you to help with an open source project. It can be a most enjoyable and challenging experience. But, do so with an intent to offer your own time and talent towards a common purpose and leave your ego behind. And, trust me, it will require more patience and interpersonal skill then you have at the start.

I guarantee you will learn good and bad things about your personality, and, if you choose to adapt, you might even become a better, more useful person while you help pound a few nails into an exciting project soon to be available to the world.

• This article first appeared 2006-07-15 in Amy's excellent and thought provoking blog http://community.nebraska.edu/amyblog