Google Adwords - not sure if off-topic

[Robyn Bergeron]

On Sat, Apr 17, 2010 at 11:12 AM, inode0 <inode0 at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sat, Apr 17, 2010 at 11:55 AM, Nelson Marques <07721 at ipam.pt> wrote:
>> On Fri, 2010-04-16 at 18:05 -0500, inode0 wrote:
>>> On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 5:46 PM, Nelson Marques <07721 at ipam.pt> wrote:
>>> >

<snipped a lot of things here....>

> One of the things that somewhat distresses me about the work of
> ambassadors is that I have a feeling that a lot of resources might be
> going in directions that aren't the most fruitful. I'm sure we have
> contributors who come to the project in just about every way that one
> can imagine. But I see very few who enter from the places we seem to
> focus our energies most (handing out media at events and having random
> people download media). That is not to suggest that doing those things
> isn't of value, it is just to suggest that I'm not sure it is the best
> way to draw contributors into the project. I see a very large number
> of contributors join the project from working in related communities
> where Fedora contributors are also present. Fedora contributors "rub
> off" on others in common communities and with encouragement of the
> right people we increase the contributor base.
>

One of the things we talked about as part of the Marketing Plan for
F14 and beyond was "Building on-ramps" - i.e. creating ways for
contributors to get involved, and one of those ways was "EasyFix" -
things that can be easily done by a newcomer, without having a huge
barrier to contribution.

Another thing I'd like to note is that - and I may be wrong here - but
I think a lot of people hear "contribute to open source" and they
think, "I can't code."  We really need to emphasize the distinction to
prospective contributors that coding is NOT a requirement.

Something I would love to see at events is to always have a FAD going
on simultaneously - a room where prospective contributors can see
Fedora people at work, having fun. A place where they can go and get
involved.  To expound:

* People coming up to the booth don't just get a CD - they get a slip
of paper (1/4 or 1/2 sheet) saying, "Hey, we're having a Fedora
Activity Day. Want to come contribute?" and pull some of the content
from http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Join onto that flyer.  Something
advertising loudly that there are many roles to fulfill in our project
- NOT just coding.

* A "New Contributor Wrangler" present at the FAD - someone (dedicated
to this purpose) who can sit with someone and guide them through the
following:
     ** Talk to the potential contributor about their interests / capabilities
     ** Signing up for an account in FAS
     ** Signing them up for a mailing list account and getting them
into a FAS group - let them know when meetings are for that particular
group.  If they're getting mail, they may show up to meetings, or
check things out.  Maybe have a sheet highlighting what each
individual group does, with how to sign up, when meetings are, and
what they do.

* Have a list of EasyFix items available for someone to work on. These
could include things like:
     ** editing something off a list of wiki pages for content / grammar
     ** making wiki redirects for things like "Fedora_13_Artwork"
point to "F13_Artwork"
     ** for more advanced users / coder types - a list of fonts to package
     ** for artist types - help us make a new banner for X
     ** for those who aren't shy - Want to interview some other Fedora
contributors on video (or help film, etc) about why they are involved
in Fedora and what they do?
     ** Bug zapping - specific items
     ** Help us install Fedora on this batch of donated machines for
$localschool.
     ** Help us test this list of things that need to get tested on $newwebpage.
     ** etc.

* Alternately, if FAD activities are appropriate for Potential
Contributor's capabilities - get them involved in the FAD!

* We have cookies! or dinner! or whatever!

I don't know if this would work - maybe we'd pick up a bunch of new,
ongoing contributors, or maybe 2 or 3, or possibly none.  It would
definitely be an experiment.  I think it's worth trying - it wouldn't
take much effort to pass out a piece of paper with the CD or random
swag and say, oh hey, if you're interested in contributing....

Thoughts?