[SeasonOfDocs] Communication channels

[Jennifer Rondeau]

+100 to all

A CoC is part of why I asked about governance in our Monday meeting -- I
took a look at the OSGeo Foundation website, and feel pretty good about
operating under their umbrella, including their CoC. The CoC itself is more
detailed than I think useful, but the reporting guidelines are excellent.
We'll need to decide on -- and make public -- a group to deal with CoC
issues, too.

On Wed, Jul 3, 2019 at 3:59 PM Erin McKean <emckean at google.com> wrote:

> Also under the heading of metadocumentation: as we open up to more
> contributors, we should have a Communication Guidelines page that expresses
> what channels are best for which kinds of questions/discussion/issues, and
> what to expect in terms of MTTA (mean time to answer), how/when to escalate
> (hint: it's not twenty minutes after posting by putting the project on
> blast on social media ...), and what channels we ignore/use in a limited
> fashion (eg "don't @ us on Instagram, we aren't there officially and won't
> answer questions posed there; our Twitter is announcements-only, DMs are
> closed"). CommGuidelines should also link to the relevant Code of Conduct.
>
> Speaking of which, we should have a CoC sooner rather than later!
>
> Erin
>
> On Wed, Jul 3, 2019 at 12:35 PM Jennifer Rondeau <
> jennifer.rondeau at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I like Cameron's list of communication channels, but I'd amend the
>> description of one of them, and suggest that we include one more pair of
>> related items (which I assume we'll be using anyway, but it could be useful
>> to spell it out in this context too):
>>
>> - amend: with the requirement of an agenda created ahead of time, it's my
>> experience that larger video conference meetings, if held regularly, can be
>> great facilitators of project and community velocity, and of general good
>> will. This suggestion isn't meant to replace smaller ad hoc or regular
>> meetings, however.
>>
>> - add: GitHub issues and pull requests. We're not ready for these yet,
>> but IME these can also be useful communication tools if guidelines for
>> their use are set up appropriately. And it's also useful to recommend when
>> to file an issue and when to file a PR. (Especially with doc-related
>> changes (as opposed to new docs), a PR without an issue can make a lot of
>> sense, even if it flies in the face of certain conventions.)
>>
>> On Wed, Jul 3, 2019 at 3:10 PM Cameron Shorter <cameron.shorter at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Clarence,
>>>
>>> Felicity has set up https://thegooddocs.slack.com for us already, which
>>> we can start using (although name may change). There is a good chance we
>>> will rebrand ourselves within the next few weeks, depending upon
>>> conversations Jennifer will be starting between us and the WriteTheDocs
>>> Guide community.
>>>
>>> I'd like to hear input on what communication channels we should use.
>>> Most of my Open Source work is on mature projects, 10+ years old, where
>>> conversations mainly happen on email lists, sometimes with an IRC channel
>>> as well. However, as I look into setting up a new project, it appears email
>>> lists are not provided by default open source hosting providers.
>>>
>>> Do people have opinions on what communication channels we should use?
>>> Each communication channel is optimised for different cadences and use
>>> cases.
>>>
>>> I'm inclined to suggest making use of:
>>>
>>> Email lists:
>>> * Good for 1 day cadence, crossing timezones and working within
>>> volunteer schedules
>>> * People tend to choose words carefully, allowing the community to grow
>>> to 50+ people relatively efficiently.
>>> * Can be archived to later searching
>>>
>>> Video conferencing:
>>> * Very personal which helps to build trust
>>> * Facilitates fast brain storming
>>> * Becomes unwieldy beyond 8+ people
>>> * Good for weekly cadence for small teams, or adhoc meetings for 2 or 3
>>> people
>>>
>>> Chat (eg slack):
>>> * Sits between email and video
>>> * Good for fast turnaround conversations, which can expand to ~ 30 people
>>> * Doesn't archive well
>>> On 4/7/19 2:30 am, Clarence Cromwell wrote:
>>>
>>> This project has a number of good things happening already. Would it be possible to have a slack group for this?
>>> It seems that we need a way to follow multiple conversations simultaneously, and email is no longer the best tool for that.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> SeasonOfDocs mailing listSeasonOfDocs at lists.osgeo.orghttps://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/seasonofdocs
>>>
>>> --
>>> Cameron Shorter
>>> Technology Demystifier
>>> Open Technologies and Geospatial Consultant
>>>
>>> M +61 (0) 419 142 254
>>>
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>>>
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>
>
> --
> Erin McKean | Developer Relations Program Manager, Open Source Strategy |
> emckean at google.com | she/her
>
>
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