CSCCE is collaborating with the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI)’s Essential Open Source Software (EOSS) program to deliver a series of 90-minute workshops focused on various aspects of community-building for CZI grantees. If you are interested in exploring a similar series of trainings for your organization, please reach out to training@cscce.org.
All CZI EOSS award grantees are welcome to attend the following workshops, which will take place every Tuesday from 9am – 10:30am Pacific / 12pm – 1:30pm Eastern beginning 18 October and continuing through 15 November 2022. You do not need to attend every workshop – please feel welcome to create the path through them that works for you!
Please use this sign-up form to indicate which workshops you would like to attend. To ensure that you receive appropriate onboarding information, please register on or before the Friday before each workshop takes place.
Questions? Contact the CSCCE Training Team at training@cscce.org.
Workshop descriptions
18 October: Introduction to the CSCCE Community Participation Model
Many open source software projects use the term “community” to describe the combination of staff and volunteers who develop, maintain, and use open source software and support the vital infrastrastructure around it. With this broad-reaching emphasis on community there comes a need for a cross-cutting set of terms to describe the similarities and differences between member activities within communities – from unconnected software users to highly active maintainers.
This workshop provides an overview of the CSCCE Community Participation Model which describes four modes of member engagement that can occur within a community – CONVEY/CONSUME, CONTRIBUTE, COLLABORATE, and CO-CREATE – and one that can occur outside of it: CHAMPION. Attendees will use the model to identify where activities in their own community fall – and start to explore barriers to participation that may be inhibiting movement of members across the different modes.
25 October: Five questions to consider when working with volunteers
Many open source software communities rely on volunteers to help with a range of tasks including to maintain and review software, report issues, create documentation and mentor others. During this session, participants will explore concerns related to working with volunteers and discuss how to center volunteers in a way that empowers and supports them in working together. We will discuss making contributor pathways visible so that work gets done, while being respectful of members’ different and fluctuating capacities to contribute. This reflection- and discussion-focused session will provide opportunities for participants to consider their own work with community volunteers and build their confidence as community leaders.
1 November: Creating core values statements
Often the nuanced application of a code of conduct depends upon a project, community, or organization having clearly articulated the values that underpin the desired member behaviors – but how do you codify your values? In this session we’ll work through an activity to create core values statements – which not only describe the values underpinning how contributors, maintainers and users would like to interact, but also include a definition of each value and examples of what they look like in action. Participants will leave feeling more able to engage in discussions about values and culture within their own projects and/or communities.
8 November: Gathering input and making decisions with community members
Leaders and community managers of open source software projects frequently strive to make decisions about future directions by gathering input from contributors and users. Multiple types of activities from project coordination meetings to community calls can require gathering input and decision-making with the participants. How do you negotiate power dynamics so that everyone feels able to express their opinions? And what does aligning feedback with your overall project outcomes look like? In this interactive session we will explore four broad decision-making modes (authority rule, consultation, voting, and consensus) and walk through different tools and how to deploy them in a way that enables all participants to contribute.
15 November: Identifying barriers to culture change efforts using Bolman and Deal’s Four-Frame Model
Leaders and volunteers working on open source software projects are often motivated by the implicit desire to improve STEM culture by promoting values such as transparency and reusability. Yet many culture change projects are met with general enthusiasm at the conceptual level, but fall short during their implementation. During this interactive session, we will facilitate a conversation about barriers to culture change efforts by introducing attendees to Bolman and Deal’s Four-Frame Model of looking at organizational and community challenges. This framework can equip change leaders with a holistic view of their community and identify where to focus their efforts if challenges arise while they are carrying out culture change efforts. During the session, participants will work in small groups to practice using Bolman and Deal’s four frames (structural, human resources, political, and symbolic) to diagnose organizational / community issues by referencing a case study.