Seasons of Code: Methods of Encouraging FOSS Contributions
Various methods of encouraging FOSS contributions that have been tried. Their apparent merits and demerits.
Note: This post wasn’t published till 3rd February, 2024 because I lost interest in it. It eventually got published (at the older date) because I didn’t want to just discard them. But it hasn’t been updated or completed.
Is sharing software natural for human beings? Apparently the predominant philosophy in the world these days is that of copyright and intellectual property ownership on software. People have to be initiated into the world of Free and Open Source Software. (As is the case with open access and open data). The default tendency of human beings is to keep things to themselves in the hope of private profit.
On the other hand, FOSS is a stream of thought in which you realize that “code is cheap” and that therefore there is not a lot of reasons to keep code private.
How do you convince human beings that this is a good idea, though? You would want them to first become aware of the existence of a FOSS universe. And you would want them to experience it. Many initiatives have been done in many parts of the world (and some globally) to bring this advocacy to the large number of people who are using software. Are there some lessons we can draw from these?
Methods
Hackathons
Hackathons are events (usually 24 - 36 hours long) where people gather in large numbers at one point, often divided into small teams (of two, three, or four) where these teams build software that solves a specific problem (either from a problem list selected by the organizers or by the teams themselves)